PaulAnn Baptist Church MOPS

Kristi McClellan was born and raised in a small town west of Phoenix, Arizona. She decided to have an adventure by coming to Texas for college, and there she met her husband Ross, both premedical students at the time. They married at the beginning of medical school in Houston. Their first son, Michael, was born in the teaching hospital in 1984. After medical school graduation, Kristi decided to take some time out to be a full-time mom, and fell so in love with motherhood that she never went back to medicine. Karen, Jonathan, and Daniel, now in their 20's and late teens, joined the family, and kept Kristi busy and fulfilled. She homeschooled the children for sixteen years, teaching them until each entered the 9th grade. Those years were a great joy to her. Now that she is retired from homeschooling, Kristi keeps busy with Daniel, who is a high school senior, visiting the grown kids, gardening, reading, enjoying time with friends, and doing volunteer work. She thinks back to those hectic but wonderful years when the house was full of toddlers and preschoolers and wishes she had had a MOPS group to join then!

The long days of summer are just about over. While most moms look forward to sending their kids back to school, we don’t always enjoy the return of a full schedule and full plates. It’s easy for stress levels to rise when we think about all we need to do—getting the kids into new routines, helping with homework, driving to after-school lessons and practices, as well as keeping up with church activities. But take heart! There are ways to make time for you during these busy back-to-school days.

 Enjoy the quiet. Whether you’re an early morning riser or you prefer a later bedtime, making time each day for yourself while the kids are in bed can give you the spiritual recharge you need. Keep the television or radio off and pull out your Bible or an inspiring devotional or book and spend a few minutes reconnecting with God. Ask yourself this question: How can I embrace today?

Mix fitness with friends. Drop off the kids at school or put them on the school bus and meet a friend for a quick 30-minute walk or an aerobics class at your local community center.

Use the car line to your advantage. If you pick up your child from school,

consider arriving 45 minutes to an hour early to park and use that time to relax and refocus. I know many moms who will keep a book or favorite magazine to read during this time or catch up on phone calls with friends. You can also use these spare minutes to work on a Bible study.

Speaking of Bible studies … Many churches launch their new Bible study classes in the fall. If your church does not offer these types of classes, then look at other churches in your community who do and consider signing up for one. Quite often, classes are offered on a wide range of topics as well as days and nights and times of the week that will fit your busy schedule. Not only will you receive spiritual encouragement, but you may also meet new friends!

Form your own breakfast club. Invite four or five other moms to join you once a week for coffee or breakfast after the kids are at school. If some of you still have little ones at home, consider meeting at a fast-food chain with a playground. Make it a regular weekly appointment on your schedule to reconnect and discover that you’re not as alone (or crazy) as you thought you were.

Lessons for preschool children enrolled in Paul Ann Baptists Church's MOPPETTs group will be learning the following subjects each month:

September: “Creation”

October: “Jesus Loves Me”

November: “Thankfulness”

December: “Christmas”

Each month children will have the opportunity to learn a memory verse that has meaning for the topic of the month. Each week a different facet of the theme will be studied. Babies and toddlers too young for formal lessons will participate in Baby Church lessons each week. These lessons reinforce the themes of "Praising God", "The Bible is God's Word," and "Jesus Loves Me."

Chatting with an elderly woman in the supermarket check-out, I joked that I just might drive around for an hour on the way home in order to keep my snoozing newborn asleep.

She laughed, adding, “Not with the price of gas, you won’t!”

What that woman didn’t realize was that, to the exhausted mother of a newborn, a sleeping baby is priceless. $4 a gallon for gas? Fill me up. Heck, go ahead and triple the price. It’s worth it to hear that glorious sound of snoring in the back seat.

Three months into this roller-coaster ride of motherhood, I’ve learned more than I ever did in four years at college. I feel as if I’ve earned a bachelor’s degree in parenting, and yet something tells me that, years from now, there still will be more to learn.

I’ve read entire books, scoured magazine articles and searched the web for answers. Some weeks, it’s about feeding. Other weeks, it’s sleep training. And yet, with all that information, there were some things I simply had to learn on my own.