#10 Playgroup!

In my last two posts I talked about how I worked for Cleveland Hope for two years as a US/C2 missionary and during that time my husband and I joined a team to help start Bridge Church at Perry.  Well after my two years at Cleveland Hope were over I needed another job, and it worked out that because Bridge was a new church they could receive funding to help employ a US/C2 missionary to help with the work in Perry.   So I signed up for another two years as a US/C2 missionary and basically got paid to do my dream job at Bridge Church.  (I didn't get paid a whole lot, but it did come with a great insurance package for me and Darin so it was well worth the small salary to get to do what  I love and not have to buy our own health insurance.)

While I worked for Bridge I was in a support staff role with a focus on preschool ministry and helping with the youth.  I also did whatever else I was asked to do, but those were my focus areas.  One of my assignments was to focus on outreaching to preschool families, so I decided to start a weekly playgroup for the moms in our community.  I had helped with some playgroups at the church I worked at in Australia, it was one of my favorite ministries I got to participate in during my time there, and that is how I got the idea to start a playgroup in Perry.  There was one key problem however, at that time I had no child to bring with me to playgroup.  So I felt a little weird about advertising for people to come to this playgroup and bring your kids to hang out with this lady who has no children.   It could have been really awkward....  Thankfully however I did have some great ladies at Bridge Church who did have children and were excited about this outreach opportunity and a chance to connect regularly with other ladies who had small children.

Barb, the saint who hosted every week for months!

So I got the ball rolling on this ministry with three ladies from church, Jodi, Elizabeth and Barb (and their kids.)  In the beginning we met every Wednesday afternoon at Barb's house.  She was a saint to let us use her house every week!  We were going for consistency with location as we were advertising this in the community but man looking back on this I realize what a hard thing that is to have something at your house every week. If you ever read this Barb, I'm sorry you had to host it every week that first half of the year, and I'm so thankful for your generous, giving spirit!

Elizabeth and I at the summer Luau.

We had so much fun getting to know each other during those first few months. We were pretty organized in the beginning as well. We would take turns doing a game, a story, a craft and bringing snack.  We started to slowly add some other people as well.  Kris Vonburg joined us that Spring, she had just moved to the area and was looking to connect with other moms and kids.  She was a joy to get to know and was always willing to host playgroup anytime we needed a house (you know after we decided to not make Barb host it every week!)    We also added Becky, Amy, Laura, Stacy, Jeanette and Mary over the next 6 months.  In fact the group got so big that by the fall we split into two groups for awhile because the amount of kids would have been overwhelming to just have one group.  That first summer instead of having it at someone's house we planned weekly field trips to places like Indian Point, various beaches around the area, parks and other fun spots to take kids.  It was a really fun summer, probably one of my favorite summers since we have been at Bridge Church. We built a great community and it was cool because some of the ladies with older school age children were able to come and join in the fun.

Landon and Chase, best friends forever!

During those first few months of playgroup I found out that I was going to have a baby to bring to playgroup!  I remember I got to go to a playgroup meeting right after we had our first doctor's appointment that confirmed the pregnancy with an ultrasound and we were ready to start telling people.  So those ladies were some of the first people I got to tell (besides family).  I remember I was standing in the kitchen talking to Jodi and Becky and I mentioned I had been to the doctor and Becky said, "Why what's wrong with you?" I said, "Nothing, I'm just pregnant!"  Then I will never forget Jodi started jumping up and down, clapping her hands, squealed and gave me a huge hug.  It was the absolute best reaction I ever have gotten when telling someone I am expecting.   It made me love her even more to know how excited she was for us. (We also got to find out a few weeks later that Jodi would be having a little boy not long after Landon was born. We said they would be best friends, and we were right!)  The other ladies of course were excited about my news as well.  Barb came in and said I heard squealing and I bet I know why (her husband Jake is my hair stylist and he had picked up on a few things so I knew he suspected but he was gracious enough to let us keep our secret until we were ready to tell.)

Jodi and Luke at playgroup.

It was so wonderful to be able to share that news with those ladies that I had come to love so much and build a really special relationships with that year.  They were all such a wonderful support to me during my pregnancy, in my early months of learning to be a mom and even now they continue to be a huge source of encouragement during those rough mommy moments.  They helped throw my baby shower, gave me lots of good advice and were just wonderful examples of what God honoring mothers look like.

In December of that first year of playgroup Landon was born and I finally had a child to bring to playgroup.  I no longer was eyed suspiciously by new women who were wondering why this childless women was helping to run a playgroup.  When Landon was about 8 months old I started taking him to baby time at the library.   I got to connect with quite a few women who also had just had their first child.  However I was having a hard time moving beyond just a surface, relationship with anyone, because you only saw them for a half an hour once a week.  I remember our Valentines party for playgroup was coming up and I decided to make up invitations and  pass them out to the ladies at story time.  We always tried to do really fun holiday parties for the kids.  Two of the ladies I invited, Shelly and Cristie came that first day with their kids (even though I know it was cutting into nap time).  I'm so glad they did, they both ended up becoming some of my really great friends and supports during these first few years of discovering how to be a mommy.  Landon and I did mommy and me swim lessons with Cristie and her little boy.   Shelly and I discovered we both liked to ride bikes and we would have bike riding playdates with our husbands and kids.  Its pretty cool because now our husbands, Mike and Darin have become good friends.  We also all got to experience having our second child within the next year or so. Cristie went first, then Shelly and I was the last one to add number two.  So I got to watch how they did it and take notes from them!

I'm so thankful for all the ladies that I've been able to connect with through playgroup over the past 4 years.  There is too many to mention them all but they have all been great friends and are wonderful, loving mothers.  This past year we didn't end up having it, schedules got busy, life got overwhelming and it just didn't work out.  I hope we can get it started again one day. It was a great opportunity to connect and I always really enjoyed doing it.  Its great to get to be around a group of women where you can be real and honest and not have to hide your mommy failures. You get to hear how you're not alone and we all mess up but we try to do better the next time.  I love having friends that you don't have to worry about getting the "judging mommy looks" and I'm thankful for how playgroup has allowed me to connect with those kind of women.