As if having a second child isn’t enough of a change, we also went through me leaving my job to stay home, trying to sell a house, and The Hubby starting medical school all at the same time back in 2008.
I’m pretty sure we had gone insane.
Being these things we are life changes we really wanted, we were happy to go through them. But I also knew I needed a little help getting into my stay-at-home mom groove. You may think being a teacher would have prepared me to be at home with little ones all day. Um, no. It’s very different.
And that’s when MOPS entered my life. Actually, I had been jealous of all my stay-at-home mom friends attending MOPS for two years after I had Big J while I continued working. I was ready for it.
The first morning of MOPS arrived and I was getting the kiddos – 2 years old and 2 months old – and Little J had one of his biggest blowouts EVER. Yes, it was that memorable. At least it was at home, but all you mamas out there know how that can just throw off your morning, right?!
We made it to MOPS…somehow in clean clothing…and Big J had no trouble going to childcare. I happily settled in to a table with some warm breakfast foods and pretty tables and I was surrounded by other ADULTS! I was still reeling a little from our messy morning, but it just felt so good to sit there and have a conversation.
Now here’s my favorite part, because this is when the community of MOPS became just what I needed at just the right time…
The MOPS coordinator got up to introduce the leadership team and each one was giving away one of her favorite things. She started and said her kids were prone to massive blowouts and that a stain stick had become her best friend. The person whose child had most recently had a blowout would win the stain stick! BINGO! I was the winner!
It may sound weird that I bonded with these moms over poop, but it’s true. It doesn’t get much more real than that, people, and in that moment I felt like they GOT ME.
Some of my MOPS friends at our glam end-of-the-year awards ceremony!
I continued in MOPS for three years, with two years as a co-coordinator, and stopped going to homeschool Big J. Those three years of connecting, bonding, encouraging moms really changed me in so many areas. It was great for my transition to staying at home because I was surrounded by moms going through the same daily joys and trails, as well as ones who had been there, done that, and SURVIVED!
And what makes MOPS different is that faith is at the center of it all. Even when we are home along with our kids, we’re never actually alone. He is walking with us every step of the way. One year, the MOPS verse of the year was from Psalm 139 and I think of it often…
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast. ~Psalm 139:10
Even there represents EVERYWHERE. He is always with us, always seeing us, always guiding us, even in the laundry room and the kitchen and the doctor’s office and the playground and the grocery store.
I am feeling very blessed today to share with you about MOPS because I believe so strongly in what they are doing to connect and empower moms in Christ, but I’m even more excited because I get to giveaway a one year MOPS membership! Just enter below!
Thank you to MOPS for asking me to be a part of this fun month and giveaway! Check out the MOPS site for all the benefits of membership and to find a group near you. And take a peek at their brand new blog, Hello, Darling while you’re there!
I'm Erin, a wife, boy mom x 3, writer, and runner in Nebraska! I'm excited to share all my favorites relating to faith, family, fashion, and fitness in this space! Enjoy! 
I am beginning MOPS this week. I am an accidental SAHM and it has taken me a while to get in the groove. I am so excited to begin.
Another “accidental SAHM” here. I’ve been thinking lately that I should join, especially now that we’re in a new city and don’t know anyone!
I am a SAHM to a 3 year old son and a 1 year old son. While I am the children’s minister at our small church, I would love to have more interaction that’s not centered around the job. I would love this!
I have been wanting to join too! It would be nice to be around other mommies!!
MOPS has been such a blessing to me too!
I’m new to MOPS. I’m about to go to my first meeting. I want to find a community of women with whom I can develop relationships!
I went to my first meeting last month. It was the best thing ever and it’s exactly what I need right now in my life.
I am part of a MOPS group and I absolutely love it. They were so wonderful and sweet. I came in as a stranger and this group of moms embraced and loved on me and cared for me after I gave birth to baby #2 just a few months later.
Jusy fpund a mops group tp be apart of! Soooooo excited and grateful to have found it!
I’m a member of our local MOPS group and in charge of the Moppets.
I love MOPS! I am the hospitality coordinator in our group.
What are you looking for a community of moms?
Someone who shares my faith, struggles, and overall a welcoming place where I can just be me and have a shoulder to laugh, cry, or grumble on if needed. Also somewhere I can learn to apply my faith to my mommy hood.
Are you part of a MOPS group or thinking about joining one?
I would love to be a part of a MOPS group we just can’t afford for me to pay for it right now. 🙁 Being forced into a SAHM spot not that I don’t love it and want to be and my husband loosing 2/3 of his income 9 months ago has been a struggle. But God has a plan and if I win this I can join a group! 😀 Yay!! Thank you for the opportunity!
I just wanted to comment at how much MOPS helped me, especially when I lived in Lincoln. Our MOPS group was fantastic and took me in – my emotional tears and the mess I was – and I am so thankful to have known you there. 🙂
I want to hear more about this end-of-the-year awards ceremony. That sounds like such fun. Could you email me and tell me more about it?
MOPS was the best thing that happened to me! I love love love Mops! I stopped going 2nd semester last year because we moved and I had to go to a new group. It was so difficult… it was also far away. But I’m going to give it a try again. this would help me SO much financially!!! But I’m praying it goes to the woman God intends it!
Hi Erin, Thank you so much for your blog on MOPS. As coordinator of our MOPS groups at DUMC in Denver, NC, it was nice to hear your perspective. I was forwarded your site and this entry from one of my mom friends who is patiently waiting in the wings to become a mentor mom at our Twilight group!! Thank you so much for sharing! Hugs, Paula Baker, Coordinator, MOPS DUMC, Denver, NC
This is so weird you just posted this!!! I was trying to figure out yesterday where I can go to MOPs. The one I originally wanted to go to was on Fridays, but now you know I have Bible study that day! Do you have any suggestions for a good Omaha MOPs group?? We have to talk!