St Pauls Stafford

We have a fabulous theme for MOPS in 2010: Together On Planet Mum.

Here’s a snippet about it from the MOPS Australia site…

When you become a mum, all your relationships change. It’s like you have landed on a different planet—Planet Mum—and the relationships on Planet Mum don’t look like the ones on your previous planet. Your relationship with yourself is different—you are a mum! Your relationship with your husband, girlfriends, extended family, community and God have all changed. Many of these changes are positive, some are not. Even positive change requires adjustments on your part. During the 2010 MOPS year, we will explore how to thrive in relationships Together on Planet Mum.

We hope you can come along and join us as we journey together as mums!  Click here for this year’s dates and topics.

Our theme this morning was “Dodgem Cars” and our guest speaker was from RACQ’s child restraints department.  Lots of good information on keeping our kids safe in the car.  I’ve sent off for some of the brochures for our group, but in the meantime you can read the information yourself here).

The theme for MOPS internationally and throughout Australia in 2009 is “Adventures in Mothering”.

Motherhood is so much like an amusement park with all its thrills and spills, ups and downs. Each week at MOPS we will theme our meetings in keeping with rides and attractions you might find at a carnival (or the Ekka!) Check out the logo for 2009. In the midst of the rides is a tent with the MOPS flag flying. In 2009 we hope that our MOPS group will be a safe haven for you when you need a break from the mothering rollercoaster.

I’m a bit of a twitcher (aka bird watcher), and throughout my pregnancy I’ve been watching a butcherbird in the tree outside my kitchen window.  As I prepared the nursery for our new arrival, she diligently collected sticks, one by one, to build her nest.  And as my due date came and went, I somehow took comfort in the fact that she too was waiting for her eggs to hatch.  Now I take delight in watching her teach her two little fledglings to fly.  They still move awkwardly, but the mother butcherbird coaxes them out of the nest and onto the surrounding branches, and reassures them with her song.

This term under the theme of The Home Factor we’ll look at how our homes are a place from which our children launch out into the world.  May you be brave in encouraging your children to stretch their wings, and may they be reassured by your voice. 

Blessings,  Cath.  xx

Some days I breathe a sigh of relief when I hear my husband come home and shut the front door. That’s it. We’re done for the day and we’re all home, safe and sound. As that door closes it represents a shutting out, and a shutting in. We shut out the world. Shut out busyness. Shut out noise. Shut out the weather. Shut out other people’s expectations. And we shut ourselves inside our sanctuary. Our refuge from the craziness outside. Our place to just let down, and be ourselves. It doesn’t matter if the place is untidy or unfinished – it’s still our place, and we all belong.

This term under the theme of The Home Factor we’ll look at how our homes are a place to “cocoon” and let down. May your home be a safe place for you and your family. May it be your refuge, and your place to cocoon.

Blessings, Cath. xx