Gatherings

For the past 2 weeks, I have been busy with a translation job, some peg doll orders and getting together with friends. Since we moved to Mooresville nearly a year ago, I have met so many nice and genuine people and I feel blessed to be part of an awesome MOPS group (mothers of preschoolers). Over the past few months, our group has grown and we now have 36 active members, and more joining every month.  While the children are being cared for in another room, we ladies enjoy spending 2 hours every other Thursday morning together to fellowship, have small group discuss, do some creative activities and to learn something new. The group regularly hosts speakers on topics relevant to us mothers. This is also a great way to meet and build friendships and I'm happy that I'm part of this fantastic group. We also have a monthly bible study group, a play date for the kids and a Mom's Night Out. 

This month, I hosted two events at my house: a 31 party and a get-together for a dear friend, Betsy Jo, who was back in town for a short visit. Our house may not be grand, but it is cozy and the carpets are clean to sit together, drink a glass of wine and have good conversations. 

The theme of the party was based on the board game Clue, which was a fun way to see the new products Thirty-one sells. I love their organizational products and ordered some bags for myself and as gifts. It was a low-key evening, where we enjoyed chatting with each other while eating some desserts, drinking wine and hot apple cider and doing some shopping.  

The next week, I had 13 lovely ladies over for a get-together. It was a late night, where we all were able to catch up with Betsy Jo, fellowship while eating appetizers, desserts and drinking a glass of wine or two. Originally, we had planned to go out to a bar, but it would have been very loud there which makes it difficult to talk to each other, so I offered up my house to meet. It worked out great as Derrick was out of town and I was able to participate while the kids slept upstairs.  

This month, our MNO (mom's night out) was held at a local pottery studio. So yesterday evening, 18 people showed up to paint some pottery and fellowship. It was a fun evening and I truly enjoyed painting a big platter while hanging out with friends. Here are some snapshots from last night:

 The almost finished product. It needs to be glazed and then will be ready for pick-up in a week.

Our fun troop:

Also, bi-weekly, a few of us from the MOPS group meet on a Monday night for our book club. Sometimes, we are as many as 9 people and some days it's only a few but every book discussion is great for my soul as we exchange our stories and support each other in this thing called Motherhood. So far, we have tackled two books ("For the Love" and "Desperate: Hope for Moms") and each of them gave me good insights, inspirations and laughs. This picture is grainy but these are some of the wonderful ladies from our book club. 

As you can tell, my social schedule is keeping me busy but I would not want to have it any other way. Having friends to hang out and talk with is so important because it keeps me from going insane when raising two little ones.