april mops craft

this month was our annual mother's tea and this year we were honoring the women who influence us as mothers by having them as our guests.  it is typically our largest meeting of the year and we had a great turn out last night - around 40.  

the craft for the meeting was a painted interior conversation jar filled with questions, statements and Bible verses for family conversation.  i did a little googling to come up with what went in the jars and then added a few of my own.  to make the topic slips a little sturdier, we glued them to strips of card stock.  now here was my first underestimation, cutting the card stock.  i cut all of the paper into 1x3 inch rectangles, but i didn't really do the math on how many i actually needed until two days ago - oops.  photographed are 2000 strips of paper that i cut!  i did have a rotary tool and did a few pages at a time but a lot of it was easier to hand cut.

the next obstacle was getting everything to the meeting.  i had 50 glass jars, at least 30 bottles of paint, paint brushes, scissors, etc for the craft, a huge gift bag to collect washcloths for the pregnancy crisis center (our april service project - also organized by me), several other bags with miscellaneous items i needed for the meeting and all four kids - in the rain!  but we made it.  i gave the kids little jobs to help unpack everything and get it set up.

oh and then just to make preparations a little more interesting for me, i volunteered to do the devotional too!  here is what i shared:

women were created by God to 'help' (gen 2:18).  it is so a part of our God given nature that it isn't always celebrated or even noticed!  i know that i have missed helpers in my own life until many years later - by letting me do things on my own, they were helping me.  

tonight we are celebrating the women who have come along beside us to help - whether in our role as "mom" or to help us not forget that we are more than just a mom.  whether directly or indirectly the women in our lives help shape our children and who they will become.  2 timothy 1:5 - "i have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother lois and in your mother eunice and i am persuaded, now lives in you also."

there is no 'wading' into motherhood - you are all in, 24-7 from the start!  God did have mercy on us by babies only requiring basic need fulfillment - feeding, sleeping and cleaning.  baby steps.

i am so thankful that i don't have to do it alone.  i find it comforting to think that women came before me and dealt with some of the same issues - i am not the first and i won't be the last.  

you have all left a legacy by being an influence, a helper, to the moms here tonight.

ecclesiastics 4:9-10 - two are better than one, because they have a good return on their work: if one falls down, his friend can help him up!

short and sweet.  i was a little frazzled from all the preparations so i pretty much read it word for word more than i would have but i think it worked.

i didn't realize i was doing so much for the meeting (i also wrote up a few short things for the newsletter (end of year teacher gift ideas and the next service project), but it all got done. not that the boys helped. the two bigs were having quite a day and there was a lot - a lot - of crying.  and there was a lot of poop where it wasn't supposed to be from the two little boys.

i don't document this for praise.  what i do is not normal.  i do it because i never do anything the easy way and it is often comical.  plus, someday when my kids don't understand why my brain has given up (like we did to my mom), i can point back and show them.  love.