MOPS will save my life.

   So every other Tuesday we will be rotating as a free day and MOPS.  I went to my first MOPS meeting today and I'm pretty sure this group is going to not only save my life, but my sanity and my family.  For those of you who don't know, MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers, its a Christian based organization that is run by a lot of churches in town.  Since I am currently without a church home, I had searched for some that were near me. I thought about going to my old church that I used to go to when I was younger but over all, it was a little far away.  I emailed a couple of different groups and the first group to email me back was so welcoming and warm that I got a real good feel for them.  The church I'm not really familiar with but I grew in that area so I knew of  it.
   I was in contact with leader of this group for a few weeks and she was so nice in answering all my questions, and then I was given a "mentor" mom to basically be my first friend.  Let me say as funny as this may sound, what a LIFE SAVER it was to walk into this place knowing that someone was looking for me and I had already made contact with.  MOPS will be every other week and I will be there, kid free for three hours with other mothers who are in my same boat.
   I dropped off Emma at her classroom first.  I'll admit I was a bit worried, as Em has never been in a "preschool" setting before, just Gammie (my mom) and myself.  I got a shock when I dropped her off and had to take Connor to another room (of course with 100+ moms in this group, why would I think there would only be 1 room with 2-5 year olds HA HA).  I was hoping that Connor would be with her so she wouldn't be scared, but in the end I'm actually glad they weren't, she needs to get used to being without myself or Connor when she goes to events like this.  I won't always be there and neither will Connor since he's 2 years older.  She did fine I'm told :)
  Connor I went to drop off and sadly the teacher was a little over excited to see him so he got scared ha ha! But of course they brought out the cars and he was okay after a few minutes.  When I picked him up he gave me this gem.

I love it.  I love how Connor put everyone who lives in our house on here (Jon's brother Chris is currently residing with us).  He was so excited to see me when I picked him as well.  He told me how he learned about Adam and Eve and some crocodiles.  I'm so happy that Connor will be getting some Christian education in this adventure of home school. Being without a church home sometimes stinks, but I know the right one will come along soon.
   Now it can be pretty intimidating to enter in to a fellowship hall and see 100+ women all chatting and eating breakfast and I don't know A SINGLE PERSON HERE.  I'll be honest when I come to these types of things I tend to freeze up.  But I put my name badge on and walked to my table like I had been going there for years.
  Let me just say, that I'm pretty sure this group is going to save my life.  My life is not perfect by any standards, like all families we have our issues too (don't worry everyone, we are all fine lol) and we get stuck in ruts that we just can't seem to get out of.  Overworked husbands and lonely and friendless wives can lead to a mental barrier that we can't seem to get thru.  But being with this group of women today, I know that I'm not alone, that we are all in the same boat and going thru the same issues and as long as we can share together, there isn't anything we can't overcome. We won't have to go thru this alone or keep it bottled up.  It will make us stronger in the end.  Just for a tidbit, at my table, 2 other mom's have 4 year old boys and 2 year old daughters, in fact one of the mom's I found out today, that her son shares a birthday with my son (which is today by the way) they were in fact born the same year, at the SAME hospital! So basically we were both there at the same time. Crazy!
  I say moms (or dads) if you feel you are alone in this world when it comes to doing what I'm doing, SAHM trying to do everything, find a group like this.  I have only been here for one meeting and I already feel a lot better about what's going on in my life and how to make it better. It won't happen over night, but knowing that I'm not alone, makes all the difference in the world.