Group #3...

Hey, ladies!! This time, I was sooo excited, because 2 ladies from the neighborhood were brave enough to come! I had put a sign out on our fence inviting everyone, and they actually took the invitation!

Their names are Maria and Yolanda. It's exciting because Maria has lived in this neighborhood for over 20 years, and Yolanda for about 6. So, they know basically everyone who lives around here... which means, there could be more neighbors coming by. Yay!

This time, I just did the first topic with them--the value of playing with your kids. I'd had another topic (discipline) prepared, but decided it might be "heavy" for first timers. I'm glad God put that in my heart, because a lot of times when I have something planned, I just go with it. Other options don't come to mind... So, this was good and they really seemed to enjoy it. They talked about what is difficult for them and at the end said "We really need this therapy." Haha.

So, keep praying for us!

Thanks.

ALSO! Big congratulations to Jennifer Gonzalez and Beka Parman. They both have welcomed babies into the world... Jennifer had a baby boy, and Beka had a baby girl. Check out their profile to see the names! ;) May God bless you, mommas!!

PS-- For now, the next mom's group is set for January 18. We are planning on doing it once a month.

Help me plan for Meeting #3! :)

I am planning on doing one more meeting before the holiday craziness begins!

I think both moms would really like to (need to) talk about Godly discipline plans. Can you all share what has worked for you? Specific things... and what is your "philosophy" of discipline? What is discipline? Why discipline (what is the goal/purpose)? How to discipline??? What does God say to you about discipline??

I wait to hear your wisdom!! :-D

2nd Meeting: Our Words

Take-away:

Psalm 19:14 --

"May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You,

oh Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer."

The attendance was still at "one" this meeting... but it was a "new one". Ruth couldn't come because her dad had just undergone an operation and she was taking care of him. Check out what Adriana has to say in the "Meet the Moms" tab.

We had a good chat about the harm or the good that our words can do. Our words of encouragement ("You're so smart... I believe in you... You are a blessing... You can do it... I love you...") can be what is needed for your child (or husband!) to lead a successful life. On the flip side, our negative words ("Get out of my way... You're a failure... Why do you alwaaaays do that?... You never do anything right...") can wound and crush a life.

We read through this devotional... with the addition of these verses:

Psalm 141:3--- "Set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips."

Proverbs 18:21-- "Death and life are in the power of the tongue."

Psalm 19:14-- see above

Thanks for your prayers and support....

First Meeting... The Power of Playing with your Child

Hi, mommas!

So, we had our first meeting yesterday. Only one friend came (Ruth--check her out on the Meet the Moms tab)... but we still had a good time. She seems excited about what the group is about and hopefully she can help encourage others to come. She has a car and offered to pick people up, too!

We talked about some information that I found regarding the importance of playing with your child-- both psychologically and developmentally. I wanted to start with this, because often kids are just kind of "dragged along" places and not really paid much attention to.

The devotional we looked at was "In Search of a Zesty Life" (check it out here). The thought there being: For us to want to play with our kids, we'll have to be full of zest ourselves! ;)

I am doing a "Take-Away" each meeting also. Basically, I want to do just a phrase or quote that kind of summarizes our chat that they can put on their fridge or somewhere to remind themselves of what we talked about. This meeting's take-away was:

Children spell "love":
T-I-M-E

(Thanks to my sis for that one!) ;)

Have a wonderful week, and thanks for your prayers.

--Liz

Progress....

So! I have talked to the pastor here about my ideas, and she is "on board". Her only recommendation was that we'd start off at one meeting (per group) a month, until we see how interested the ladies are.

Our first group is planned for the morning of August 17.

Can you ladies throw ideas at me of what we could do for the first few meetings? I would like to do an activity where we get to know each other a little more as well as talk about why this age (and the mom's presence during this stage) is so important. Anything?? Even links to interesting articles, ice-breaker games, SIMPLE crafts... We also want to do a devotional/reflective time with prayer at each meeting--so, if you have any thoughts there, pass them on!

Hope your summer is going well!!

Today's thoughts

The first post. So glad you are along for the ride... from step one! :)

So far, I have thought of about 6 mamás that "qualify" for the group-- that is: they have children 5 and under.

• I want to focus on that age group because it is SUCH an important part of our babies' lives. Here's some homework for you: Do you know specific information dealing with the importance of these first 5 years?

• I am also thinking of having 4 main focuses:

1--Your Child (this would include development, nutrition, sleep needs, reading, education, milestones, emotional, discipline, personality, play time etc, etc)
2--You as a Mom (the importance of your role, ways to become a better mom, ways to make things easier, what the Bible says about moms/parents, etc...)
3--You as a Wife (marriage focus)
4--You as a Person (focus on womanhood, soul issues, beauty, health, hobbies)

• I am thinking I will focus on one of these 4 things each week. What do you think? Other ideas for focuses? How would you group it differently?

• The school schedule here is half-day. So some mom's have kids that go to school from 8a-1p and some have kids in school from 1:30p-6:30p. So, I am planning on having a "A Group" (those with kids in school in the morning) that meets Tuesday mornings twice a month. I will also have a "B Group" (that have kids in afternoon school) that meets on Thursday afternoons twice a month. I will stagger these, so I will have a group every week, but the Groups will really be every other week (if that makes sense).

• The other idea has to do with a tendancy I have seen here of being quick to voice "What you should do..." opinions, or judgements. There is also a tendancy of storing up juicy personal tidbits about people to tell others. This, obviously, often makes it very difficult for there to be genuine times of sharing between the people (and I know this is not only limited to Mexico, maybe just a little more prevelant.) So, my thought is to write words like "impatience", "pride", "gossip", "judging" and the like on pieces of paper and then giving them to the ladies to read. After reading and discussing, they would then rip these words and throw them in the trash. I also plan on writing a sort of "pledge" to honor, support, and protect each other, not to be quick to judge, etc on a poster and have it on display at all the meetings. Any other thoughts to this??

• I plan on having a little questionaire for the ladies the first time they attend the club. Things like birthday, interests, number/ages of children, areas of expertise, hobbies, prayer requests, etc. That way we can get to know everyone rather quickly right away!

• I think I will keep the format somewhat like a discussion group. Possibly print out an article or something and give it to them the week before I'd like to discuss it. I think if I do it more like a "teaching" format, they might say, "Well, your babies aren't so perfect..." ;)

• Child care... we will just have to see how many come! If it is like 5 kids, I think we will be good. Otherwise, I may employ one of my cousins. :)

• Snacks: Something simple... possibly rotating ladies who bring something.

• Ah! One of the most exciting ideas: If some of you desire, you can sign on to become a prayer partner with/for a particular amiga. I hope to post pictures and info on each lady...and I would email you her weekly prayer request/praises.