I heart MOPS

Today was the last MOPS meeting for this year. I can't say enough about how much of a blessing MOPS has been to me the last several years. I've met so many wonderful women who have become close friends.

Can't wait to see what next year has in store!




Project 365 - Day 112

I am the ugly winner

We had a fun contest at MOPS this morning. Whoever wore the ugliest Christmas sweater won a prize. A friend gave me the idea of checking out the thrift store. I took the kids and they all got into the fun, searching racks upon racks for the tackiest sweater we could find.


Here is what we chose:

And a close-up:

You can't really tell in the pictures, but the sleeves are each a different color, too. I guess it's not TOO bad but just a bit much in the winter festivity department. Maybe one snowman...but 4? And a cat? And I've never really thought of hot pink as a Christmas color before.

But from this ugliness, I did win a very pretty ornament:

It opens up so you can put something inside of it:




And now what do I do with the sweater??

early Halloween fun

A nearby town had trick-or-treating last night. We met with a group from MOPS and walked around, letting the kids visit each shop for candy. It got cold and windy, but was still great fun!

MOPS

Saturday we went to a MOPS picnic to kick off the new year. That got me to thinking about my experience with the organization.



I didn't know about MOPS when I had my first child and I sure wish I had. In many ways, it was a very lonely time for me. I did join a MOPS group when my dd (age 8) was about a year old. I'm sorry to say it was not a good experience. A friend and I called and registered with a local group, and were excited to attend our first meeting. It was in January and we didn't know this particular group had been full. We just happened to call at a time when two ladies had moved on so there was room for us.



However, some of the members were resentful that we'd been able to join when they had friends who they had been wanting to bring in and they hadn't been made aware of the open 2 spots. This was told to us right away by ladies at our table. So right from the beginning, we felt very unwelcome.


The childcare area was overly full with not enough helpers. So my daughter did not do well there. After 3 tries, my friend and I decided MOPS was not for us.


Fast forward 4 years. My two closest friends at the time moved away within months of each other. I felt bereft and lonely again, and prayed for God to bring new friends into my life. Within a month, I saw a notice in the bulletin at church that a MOPS group was forming. I rushed to the sign-up table and filled out the form and checked the box that said I would be willing to help.

The coordinator -- a sweet, sweet Godly woman named Starr -- called me to see what I would feel comfortable helping with. I had no idea and she said just to show up and we'd figure it out. She came up to me at the first meeting with a huge hug. I felt welcome immediately.

I helped wherever they needed me that first year and was a hospitality leader the next 2 years. This year I'm stepping out of the steering team but will still attend regularly. I hope to help other moms feel welcome when they walk in, just like Starr did for me.

God also has much bigger plans for us than we do for ourselves, doesn't he? I asked for a friend or two and he blessed me so abundantly with many.