Welcome to MOPs!

MOPs is an international ministry that exists to  provide time and space for moms to connect with each other, to be encouraged and enriched in the early years of motherhood when it matters most. At every meeting you can expect practical parenting tools and tips, mentoring by experienced moms, time to chat, and childcare for your kids.

Whether you are a mom of one or five, a mom who is feeling especially messy or feeling kind of organized today, a mom who calls herself a Christian or who doesn't, MOPs is for all moms who love their kids and want to be in a community that empowers moms and grows together. Because we at MOPs believe in motherhood and moms. And we believe that better moms make a better world.

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Welcome to MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) 2013-2014! Whether you are brand new to our group, or a veteran MOP, we are so glad you are here!

This year is going to be inspiring and exciting at MOPs, in part due to our theme: A Beautiful Mess; Embrace Your Story. Let me share a little what those themes mean to me and what you’ll hear this year throughout our meetings, speakers, stories, and discussions.

Motherhood is beautiful. At MOPs we believe that YOU are raising the future of our world. Every child is a gift from God, and important in His plan. You have an amazing role, a glorious job. And we want to help, because motherhood is also very complicated – in other words, motherhood is messy.

Babies are born and soon they make their first messy diaper. Spit-ups on just-put-on clean clothes require another change. Later, pureed carrots need washing out of onesies. Soon toys scatter, hair tangles, noses run, food spills, beds get wet. Let’s not even talk about potty training. Or the flu…

Messes are everywhere in motherhood. But the ones you can remove with some soap and water are the simple ones. What about our children’s separation anxieties, bedtime shenanigans, picky eating, terrible 2 year old tantrums, or deliberate disobedience? Those are more challenging kinds of messy situations.

But, let’s face it, the messes don’t begin and end with the kids. Sometimes we really are a mess ourselves:  loneliness, sleep deprivation, fatigue, hormones, discouragement, worry, impatience, and fear are the messes on our shoulders that go deeper than the spit up.

That’s why there is MOPs. Because motherhood is a big beautiful job, but not one of us is mess-free. We embrace that here at MOPs, because God makes beauty in our mess: Loving our toddlers who are lying in the middle of the store’s floor throwing a tantrum about cereal, instead of losing it ourselves, is beautiful. Working on our own bad attitude, instead of drowning in it, is beautiful. Patiently teaching a 4 year old that a 4^th cup of water is not an appropriate bedtime expectation (when we were hoping to be in bed ourselves three cups of water ago) is beautiful. (And I need some tips from you!)

Empowered by God’s love, we learn to see our mess with fresh eyes, to see the opportunity for love and beauty right in the midst of our mess. And we as mothers have a unique opportunity to participate in His plan to re-create beauty out of a messy, messed-up world.

And sometimes it’s because we’ve been through a messy situation, and seen God’s beauty in it, we can extend grace, peace, comfort and wisdom to a mom in a similar messy position.  Beauty because of messy life journeys, not just despite them, is exciting. Finding that beauty together is inspiring.

So as moms, we all have beautiful and messy stories and journeys to share. So share with us, grow with us, embrace your story, and write some more.  This is the place to do it.  Welcome, to MOPs!