MOPS Moments

OK, I have a confession to make...years ago (like 8-10 years ago), when I was a children's pastor, a good friend of mine launched a new ministry to young mothers at our church. About twice a month, I remember seeing what seemed like dozens of moms with scores of children arrive at the church to eat, talk, do a craft, and hear a speaker. And I remember thinking (this is the confession part), "I will never be one of those women."

While this might sound like the negative thinking of a lonely single woman who didn't think she would ever marry, let alone have children, that was not the context of my thoughts. I thought (or at least hoped) I would get married, and I could definitely see myself having children (assuming I got the marrying part taken care of, that is)...I just never thought that I would have the desire or need to get out of the house and do crafts with a bunch of other "needy" moms. A terrible perspective, I know. And the only reason I am even admitting to these thoughts now is that now, 8-10 years later, I am eating my words (or thoughts, maybe). I have become a stay-at-home-mom who longs for adult conversation and intellectual stimulation (other than Noggin and Nick Jr.) and who counts serving on jury duty as a chance to get out of the house. (Incidentally, my friend who started MOPS at our church is now a children's pastor; we traded places - pretty ironic.)

Now that I am an official "Mother Of PreSchooler," I have a different outlook on the ministry. It has changed even more drastically after my 3 days spent at the MOPS convention in Nashville Tennessee, but that trip wil lhave to wait until my next post. Unlike "Deb Wuertley, Overtly" I do not have the patience to write long posts - too much to proof at night.

Second Child Syndrome

Before we had Madelyn, I heard stories of how a family changes so much after a second child and even more about the things you had time to do with a first child that you would not have time to do with your second (or third or fourth). I optimistically thought that our family might be different. Maybe I would keep up on the sticker calendar of Baby's First Year (wait...I didn't even do that with our first child.) Or that we would take a monthly photo of our precious daughter by a certain object so that we could track her growth in comparison to it. (ummm...didn't do that with Elisha either.) I would at least put the photos we did take in some sort of a scrapbook to have a meaningful, organized record of our child's life (you guessed it...so far I have the ultrasound and baby shower photos in Elisha's album.)

So, here we are, eight months into our second child, and we - finally - had her first professional photos taken. Our dear friend Gia (who is an amazingly talented photographer) was actually here for Madelyn's birth. She had come to stay for the weekend while she was in town doing some photo shoots. The night after she arrived, I went into the hospital with complications; and Madelyn was born a little over 24 hours later. Unfortunately, we were not able to capture any photos while Madelyn was in the hospital because only parents and grandparents were allowed in the nursery. She did, however, stay with Elisha during the weekend, and we consider her visit a providential gift, despite the lack of photos.

She was in town again a couple of weeks ago and graciously agreed to spend some time with our family as well as take some photos of Madelyn. You can see the set here and also check out all of Gia's work at her website. They are so beautiful! Now if I can just get her photo in a frame sometime before her first birthday...

Rub A Dub Dub

I was giving Madelyn a bath the other night and realized it had been awhile since we got pictures of bathtime. Most of the pictures turned out blurry, but a couple were in focus (as well as modest.) For fun, I pulled up a photo of one of Madelyn's first baths at home...what a difference! It's hard to remember how little and skinny she was now that she has plenty of rolls and "padding."