Mothers of Preschoolers - It's an organization that has saved many a women's sanity. Mine included. When I first moved to Prescott I didn't know a soul outside of my family. My sister kept saying, "You really need to have some friends of your own". She was kindly trying to say - get a life Judy and she pointed me in the direction of MOPS.
At MOPS I found a diverse group of moms that had one thing in common; children under 5. It was so refreshing to drop 
Sam off at childcare, pass Perrin off to a Grandma type in the nursery and quietly slip off to graze at the prepared brunch before joining 120 other women. At first I was a little hesitant at dropping off my kids with strangers when I knew they were going to "FREAK OUT!" on the caretakers. But before long, okay it was 6 months with Perrin, the kids became comfortable with the surroundings and actually said "Bye Mom" when I dropped them off.
Sam off at childcare, pass Perrin off to a Grandma type in the nursery and quietly slip off to graze at the prepared brunch before joining 120 other women. At first I was a little hesitant at dropping off my kids with strangers when I knew they were going to "FREAK OUT!" on the caretakers. But before long, okay it was 6 months with Perrin, the kids became comfortable with the surroundings and actually said "Bye Mom" when I dropped them off. As the years have passed I've gotten more and more involved with MOPS on a leadership level. Two years in a row I joined a rowdy group at convention in Tennessee and then Orlando, where we deepened our relationships with Jesus, each other and learned how to be better moms. Last year and this upcoming year I am the Discussion Group Coordinator which means I get to help the table leaders as they love on the women in MOPS. I see it as Young Life for moms. We meet moms where they're at and love on them in the good, bad and ugly. It's an amazing ministry and I'm very blessed to be part of it.
One of th
e best parts of MOPS is all the women I've met. Anna, pictured left, has become a dear friend to me and I can't imagine doing mommy life in this season without her. She has two little people, Faith who is 3 and Casey who's 1. Perrin often says "I like Casey. He's cute" giggle, giggle, giggle. So funny.
e best parts of MOPS is all the women I've met. Anna, pictured left, has become a dear friend to me and I can't imagine doing mommy life in this season without her. She has two little people, Faith who is 3 and Casey who's 1. Perrin often says "I like Casey. He's cute" giggle, giggle, giggle. So funny. As I've met different moms through MOPS, Balin and I have made a point to engage with the families on a faith level. Last year we started a small group (sometimes not so small) with friends I met through MOPS so that we could have a venue to discuss spiritual matters and Jesus. I invited 10 women I met in MOPS and they came twice a month with their kids and husbands. Balin loved building friendships with these men and has become good friends with most of the men. The fruit of this group has been amazing as many have attended church with Balin and I and are willing to engage in conversation that goes deeper than what the kids are doing or how work is going. Unfortunately there is so little time in our lives to dig deep with people and establish the relationship that is needed to ask the hard questions in life. Questions like; "Is this all there is to life or were you expecting something more? Is there a God out there and if there is what's he like?" Balin has found that a good dark beer and a cigar on a summer night naturally leads to conversation that is searching and fulfilling. My girlfriends and I will take any moment without kids - that's one of the reasons we love MOPS. www.mops.org
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