MOMSnext: A group for mothers of school-age kids.
At MOPS International we believe Better Moms Make a Better World. This is true during the preschool years and beyond. As mothers enter the school years, new challenges and issues arise, but the need for community and hope remains. For this reason we are launching a ministry to mothers of school-age kids.
For thirty-six years MOPS International has been reaching out to mothers of preschoolers to encourage, equip and develop them to be better moms. Now this group format will encourage, equip and develop moms in the next phase of mothering. All of the excellent MOPS leadership resources will be available to group leaders as they start groups around the world.
A mother’s influence is great during the school years. Join us as we launch this ministry to reach more mothers with community and hope that is life-changing.
For more information or to start a group for mothers of school-age kids, call 1-888-910-6677 or email charters@MOPS.org.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
A Deeper Kind of Love by Rebecca Harrison
I found this on the MOPS website
A Deeper Kind of Love
by Rebecca Harrison
I have always been independent and stubborn. I did everything for myself and rarely accepted help. I've always been an organizer - who had so much on her plate that she needed to go on a calendar diet. I'd trust myself more than others to get a job done. I'd take care of everyone else, except myself. Until last September.
I woke up laying on the table in the hospital, four hours after saying one last prayer. I now had to use a dry-erase board to communicate and a syringe to feed myself. I had worn braces for two years, and my jaw surgery was part of the journey to fix my teeth. I knew it would correct my crooked bite, but I did not realize the impact the surgery would have on my overscheduled but organized life.
Before my surgery, I prepared a seven page “to-do” list for my mom who became my clone for a few weeks during recovery. I didn't realize just how much I do as a mom until I had to write it down for someone else to take my place. I had my whole life prepared before my surgery. Then something happened after surgery that I didn't prepare for.
I had an unexpected reaction to the blood loss from the surgery and I couldn't ask for help fast enough on my dry-erase board. I needed someone to get into my head and tell the nurse what I wanted to say. My mom panicked and called for help, and I realized I needed her to stay. I wanted her to help me. I was tired of being independent. I sank into my hospital bed and allowed my life to simply happen.
After that extended hospital stay, I came home without expectations, and my kids surprised me. My son told me to use the force and call for help with his electronic light saber. When I pulled the trigger I heard echoes of, “Hurry, Mom needs our help!” My daughter drew pictures of her and I holding hands with her name, my name, and hearts around the dry-erase board. She knew I couldn't sing to her, so she sang to me in her sweet voice. My youngest stared at my stitches and swollen head like I was Frankenstein's monster. But when her fear of what I looked like was overcome by her love, she would cautiously and gently place her hand in mine and say, “I love you, Mom.”
That surgery was my wake-up call to let my guard down, let others take care of me, and trust people. With my new smile, I've entered the next phase of life with less independence and more appreciation for help and love from people God has placed in my life.
Rebecca Harrison, M.A., is a freelance writer and community college teacher.
She lives with her husband and three children, ages 10, 4, and 3 in North Alabama. She is a member of Capshaw Baptist MOPS.
A Deeper Kind of Love
by Rebecca Harrison
I have always been independent and stubborn. I did everything for myself and rarely accepted help. I've always been an organizer - who had so much on her plate that she needed to go on a calendar diet. I'd trust myself more than others to get a job done. I'd take care of everyone else, except myself. Until last September.
I woke up laying on the table in the hospital, four hours after saying one last prayer. I now had to use a dry-erase board to communicate and a syringe to feed myself. I had worn braces for two years, and my jaw surgery was part of the journey to fix my teeth. I knew it would correct my crooked bite, but I did not realize the impact the surgery would have on my overscheduled but organized life.
Before my surgery, I prepared a seven page “to-do” list for my mom who became my clone for a few weeks during recovery. I didn't realize just how much I do as a mom until I had to write it down for someone else to take my place. I had my whole life prepared before my surgery. Then something happened after surgery that I didn't prepare for.
I had an unexpected reaction to the blood loss from the surgery and I couldn't ask for help fast enough on my dry-erase board. I needed someone to get into my head and tell the nurse what I wanted to say. My mom panicked and called for help, and I realized I needed her to stay. I wanted her to help me. I was tired of being independent. I sank into my hospital bed and allowed my life to simply happen.
After that extended hospital stay, I came home without expectations, and my kids surprised me. My son told me to use the force and call for help with his electronic light saber. When I pulled the trigger I heard echoes of, “Hurry, Mom needs our help!” My daughter drew pictures of her and I holding hands with her name, my name, and hearts around the dry-erase board. She knew I couldn't sing to her, so she sang to me in her sweet voice. My youngest stared at my stitches and swollen head like I was Frankenstein's monster. But when her fear of what I looked like was overcome by her love, she would cautiously and gently place her hand in mine and say, “I love you, Mom.”
That surgery was my wake-up call to let my guard down, let others take care of me, and trust people. With my new smile, I've entered the next phase of life with less independence and more appreciation for help and love from people God has placed in my life.
Rebecca Harrison, M.A., is a freelance writer and community college teacher.
She lives with her husband and three children, ages 10, 4, and 3 in North Alabama. She is a member of Capshaw Baptist MOPS.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Graduating MOPS
Ladies,
I wanted to thank you all for the wonderful years I have spent in MOPS. It is a true blessing to spend time with ladies who accept you for who you are. I always felt that I did not have to put on "the perfect family" face when I was with you. As I type this blog my children are not going to bed. We have all been there. I just take a deep breath in as I type and think tomorrow is another day, this is not the end of the world. Keep up the good work!
I love you all!
Heather
Thursday, February 5, 2009
What Remains: The "Love Chapter" For Parents
If I spend my days building skyscrapers with blocks, assembling cool stuff out of LEGOs and creating relationships with other moms at Starbucks, but have not love, I am only the siren of the kids' ride-on fire truck, annoyingly stuck on hold.
If I have the gift of knowing which child attempted to flush the Hot Wheels down the toilet and which one pushed her sister, and if I have faith that somehow we'll survive life's emergencies, but not love, I am nothing.
Love is patient when someone isn't ready to use the big girl potty. It is kind when my husband has a hard day. It doesn't envy my neighbor who drives the new sport utility vehicle I can't afford.
It is not rude, snapping at my spouse or children when things don't go my way. It is not easily angered at perceived or real injustices. It always protects the smallest, sweetest family confidences; always trusts God to provide my children's needs; always hopes in the freshness of tomorrow and the bright future of family; always perseveres amid hardship and doubt.
Where there are sleepless nights, they shall end. Where there are diapers, Little League and dioramas built from shoe boxes, they will cease. Where there is knowledge of baby-care trends, discipline strategies and boy-girl problems, it will pass away.
Now these three remain: faith, lived out in my daily circumstances and instilled in my children; hope, of one day rejoicing with my family in heaven; and love, which covers over a multitude of less-than-perfect moments.
But the greatest of these is love.
It is what remains... long after I am gone ...
by
Cindy Sigler Dagnan
If I have the gift of knowing which child attempted to flush the Hot Wheels down the toilet and which one pushed her sister, and if I have faith that somehow we'll survive life's emergencies, but not love, I am nothing.
Love is patient when someone isn't ready to use the big girl potty. It is kind when my husband has a hard day. It doesn't envy my neighbor who drives the new sport utility vehicle I can't afford.
It is not rude, snapping at my spouse or children when things don't go my way. It is not easily angered at perceived or real injustices. It always protects the smallest, sweetest family confidences; always trusts God to provide my children's needs; always hopes in the freshness of tomorrow and the bright future of family; always perseveres amid hardship and doubt.
Where there are sleepless nights, they shall end. Where there are diapers, Little League and dioramas built from shoe boxes, they will cease. Where there is knowledge of baby-care trends, discipline strategies and boy-girl problems, it will pass away.
Now these three remain: faith, lived out in my daily circumstances and instilled in my children; hope, of one day rejoicing with my family in heaven; and love, which covers over a multitude of less-than-perfect moments.
But the greatest of these is love.
It is what remains... long after I am gone ...
by
Cindy Sigler Dagnan
Valentine
For God So loVed the world
the He gAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
so thaT everyone who
believes In Him
may Not perish,
but have Eternal life.
- John 3:16
the He gAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
so thaT everyone who
believes In Him
may Not perish,
but have Eternal life.
- John 3:16
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