This past summer Daniel + I finally settled on a church where we both feel at home. After living here for almost 3 years – bouncing from church to church, we FINALLY feel like we fit. We wanted a more laid-bak, less traditional, but not overly corporate church that still shared our core values and beliefs. White Rock “campus” of Fellowship Bible Church (meets at Hotchkiss Elementary near NW Hwy + Abrams) seems to be a pretty perfect fit. At the end of summer, when they announced that the Fall semester of MOPS was kicking-off at the Park Lane campus, I jumped at the opportunity to get registered.

After Olivia was born, my mom mentioned that she thought MOPS would be great way for me to get connected with other young moms in the area. Since I’m basically the first in my immediate circle of friends to take the plunge into parenthood – I was feeling just slightly isolated.  If you aren’t already familiar, MOPS, stands for Mothers of Preschoolers, is a community of mothers of kids, ages birth through kindergarden. MOPS offers fellowship between all types of moms; helping moms to meet and build friendships with other moms. Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure I would be ready to leave Olivia for 3+ hours in the care of a stranger.  Never imagining that I would send Olivia to daycare… I’d never really given any thought to when (At what age) I would be ready. The first time we took Olivia to the nursery at church was around 6 months and it was… WONDERFUL. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to not have to split our focus on hushing the cries and coos with listening to the sermon. My only other hesitation (about MOPS) was that the 9am-12am meeting time was smack dab in the middle of Olivia’s morning nap and certainly overlapped with a feeding. Of course, when it came time – Olivia did GREAT. I was able to feed her RIGHT before and RIGHT after and she even napped for 30 min in the nursery. I don’t know why it surprises me everytime… she really is the best, most mild mannered, and happy baby.

So now, every other Friday morning we head to the Fellowship Park Lane Campus. MOPS starts with breakfast and chit-chat followed by an ice-breaker of some sort. We listen to a speaker – inspirational, motivational, informational… etc. – and finish with some casual discussion. It’s been nice to start to connect with some other moms in the area. Already looking forward to meeting more friends with kiddos who live closer to us. MOPS has been the perfect addition to our weekly routine. (Also participating in MBS @ Fellowship Park Lane on alternating Fridays) 

Find a MOPS Group near you here.