Part of last week and this past weekend, I had the privilege to attend to attend the annual MOPS mom convention in Kansas City, which by the way I love, for the first time and one word, AMAZING!!!!
I just loved every aspect of it. Being in a room filled with 3500 other women who are all connected to me by being a mom, was just so surreal. I have known forever that there are millions of mothers out there, but until I saw 3500 of them in one room, it was just a head knowledge.
After four years of being a mom, I still feel weird when I say that I am a mom. I mean I'M A MOM!! Crazy! This means I am responsible for another human being's life! That just seems so big. i mean we as parents are responsible for their growth, education, spiritual growth etc... the list goes on. When you think about it like that it's a little overwhelming!
Especially after wanting this for all of my life, the fact that it is not a dream anymore, but rather my real life, still is such an amazing thought to me.Anyways, back to mu subject, lol. Being in this room filled with 3500 other moms really made me realize, that I am apart of something bigger in life. You don't necessarily see in your own private MOPS group at home, or at least mine since its only 12 moms, but when you are put into a huge room with that many, it does something to you! And you you know it wasn't that they were all moms, but all moms of preschoolers like myself. So Cool!
Then there were the speakers, wow amazing, they poke on so many different things and so many great resources to bring home with me. One of my most favorites, I mean I had a lot of favorites including Beth More, but one that really spoke to me right off the bat was titled, Connection over Comparison by Shauna Nequist. It was about how we tend to compare ourselves to others around us and, therefore, we are not connecting to them. We spend so much time judging someone and summing them up just by looking at them. We see a mom dressed in really nice clothes with nice heels on and has a ice car and her kids looked put together perfectly, and you think to yourself, or even talk to another mom about it and say "must be nice". However, you don;t know her story, she could have a lot going on and you could be missing out on a great friendship. I think this is SO true. How many friendships are we missing out on because we are in a sense judging a book by its cover? I have done that, I have of my best friends at first I thought to myself "must be nice"or I summed them up, thinking we have nothing in common, but later when I get to know the person I found we had more in common than I ever thought. So As I encourage myself, I encourage you to instead of saying to yourself, "must be nice" go up to the mom and talk to her, you never know you and your kindness could be exactly what she needs, and you know what that's what God calls us to do anyways right?
This years them in MOPS is actually one of my favorites, it's "A Beautiful Mess" meaning in the midst of of all the messes in our lives as moms, you know messy house, running late because of anything related to your child, tantums in the middle of the store,paint or even spit up on your clothes, dirty diapers...etc.. You can still find the beauty of motherhood in all of that! It's amazing to me that a mess can be beautiful, and it is beautiful every moment of our motherhood journey. Just think from the moment that baby is born covered with ll that gunk and sometimes bloody from the birth, and the first words out of a other's mouth are "my BEAUTIFUL precious baby" even though it's a mess. I remember seeing my son fro the first time and although he was cleaned up by the time I saw him, the first words were "my beautiful miracle" Beautiful! Even tantrums, because tantrums are a sign of your child growing and becoming their own person, Beautiful.
So I guess I encourage you as I am encouraging myself to SEE the beautiful in everything and try to see it in people. And if you have a preschooler or a baby I encourage you to find a MOPS group near you, it really is an amazing organization, just go on MOPS international website and find a group near you. I am glad I looked for one after being pushed by my mother in law to do so, because I have made some great friendships through it and I have grown as a mom and a woman of God.
I just loved every aspect of it. Being in a room filled with 3500 other women who are all connected to me by being a mom, was just so surreal. I have known forever that there are millions of mothers out there, but until I saw 3500 of them in one room, it was just a head knowledge.
After four years of being a mom, I still feel weird when I say that I am a mom. I mean I'M A MOM!! Crazy! This means I am responsible for another human being's life! That just seems so big. i mean we as parents are responsible for their growth, education, spiritual growth etc... the list goes on. When you think about it like that it's a little overwhelming!
Especially after wanting this for all of my life, the fact that it is not a dream anymore, but rather my real life, still is such an amazing thought to me.Anyways, back to mu subject, lol. Being in this room filled with 3500 other moms really made me realize, that I am apart of something bigger in life. You don't necessarily see in your own private MOPS group at home, or at least mine since its only 12 moms, but when you are put into a huge room with that many, it does something to you! And you you know it wasn't that they were all moms, but all moms of preschoolers like myself. So Cool!
Then there were the speakers, wow amazing, they poke on so many different things and so many great resources to bring home with me. One of my most favorites, I mean I had a lot of favorites including Beth More, but one that really spoke to me right off the bat was titled, Connection over Comparison by Shauna Nequist. It was about how we tend to compare ourselves to others around us and, therefore, we are not connecting to them. We spend so much time judging someone and summing them up just by looking at them. We see a mom dressed in really nice clothes with nice heels on and has a ice car and her kids looked put together perfectly, and you think to yourself, or even talk to another mom about it and say "must be nice". However, you don;t know her story, she could have a lot going on and you could be missing out on a great friendship. I think this is SO true. How many friendships are we missing out on because we are in a sense judging a book by its cover? I have done that, I have of my best friends at first I thought to myself "must be nice"or I summed them up, thinking we have nothing in common, but later when I get to know the person I found we had more in common than I ever thought. So As I encourage myself, I encourage you to instead of saying to yourself, "must be nice" go up to the mom and talk to her, you never know you and your kindness could be exactly what she needs, and you know what that's what God calls us to do anyways right?
This years them in MOPS is actually one of my favorites, it's "A Beautiful Mess" meaning in the midst of of all the messes in our lives as moms, you know messy house, running late because of anything related to your child, tantums in the middle of the store,paint or even spit up on your clothes, dirty diapers...etc.. You can still find the beauty of motherhood in all of that! It's amazing to me that a mess can be beautiful, and it is beautiful every moment of our motherhood journey. Just think from the moment that baby is born covered with ll that gunk and sometimes bloody from the birth, and the first words out of a other's mouth are "my BEAUTIFUL precious baby" even though it's a mess. I remember seeing my son fro the first time and although he was cleaned up by the time I saw him, the first words were "my beautiful miracle" Beautiful! Even tantrums, because tantrums are a sign of your child growing and becoming their own person, Beautiful.
So I guess I encourage you as I am encouraging myself to SEE the beautiful in everything and try to see it in people. And if you have a preschooler or a baby I encourage you to find a MOPS group near you, it really is an amazing organization, just go on MOPS international website and find a group near you. I am glad I looked for one after being pushed by my mother in law to do so, because I have made some great friendships through it and I have grown as a mom and a woman of God.
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