The Blessing of MOPS

No, I'm not talking about those stringy dirty things we use to clean our floors (or did before the era of the Swiffer)! MOPS stands for Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers...and was such a blessing for me!

I joined the most amazing group of women yesterday morning at my church - women who are, for the most part, in the same stage of mothering that I am! There are two women who no longer have preschoolers at home...their children are all grown up and they now have grandchildren...they are our Mentor Moms. One of these Mentor Moms was also my teaching mentor my first year of teaching. Dee Todor is one of the most amazing women I know. When I moved here and started my first year of teaching with a tough group of kids and their parents, Dee took me under her wing and guided me through my journey. She never once made me feel foolish...but always guided me with love to help me become a better teacher. I still have a note she wrote to me after observing my class one day...it became a part of my teaching portfolio! So, I'm thrilled to know that now I have the opportunity to tuck myself beneath her wing again and this time learn how to be a better mom!

The group is lead by my friend Jennifer P., whom I've known as long as I've lived here. We both started teaching the same year at FBA and our lives have been intertwined in one way or another since that day...something for which I am very grateful! We have shared both joy, uncertainty, and sorrow together...always willing to pray for one another.

Another precious friend, Jennifer G., is also one of the leaders in this group. She has a sweet little boy named Andrew who is one of the cutest little guys I've ever seen!

My dear friend Terri also gets to be a part of this group this year. We were both teaching up until this year, so this is a first for both of us. Terri's oldest son Hunter is one of Christopher's best buddies, she also has a precious little baby boy, Nathanael.

I was so blessed to know so many of the women in the group - I was so afraid I wouldn't know that many people (and the only ones I knew would be there were all leaders). If you know me, doing anything new, no matter how much I want to, is always hard for me. I'm just so uncertain, not sure if I fit in, that sometimes I hold back and miss out on so much. But, as I walked in the room, I saw some ladies from a Creative Correction class I took a few months ago through our Ladies Ministry and they invited me to join them at our table.

We had some time to get to know each other, heard the beautiful testimony of one of the members, and listened to a message from MOPS International. I am so looking forward to going back in a couple weeks! I've always longed to do "Mommy-things" like this and I enjoyed every single minute of it! If you have the option to join a group like this, I hope you will! Words alone are not adequate to tell you how much my heart was blessed by attending this group...you may just have to experience it yourself!