MOPS India

In October I and a group of 12 Harmony MOPS moms went to the MOPS convention aka MomCon for those who haven't been in MOPS for as long as I.  It was an incredible weekend.  Seriously, inspiring, convicting, encouraging, practical, exhausting ... I loved it.  I was able to go with some family, great friends, and some girls who have become great friends.  Being with Joy and Aunt Candy and the other ladies I'm not biologically connected to for 3 days and learning next to them was really a gift and a blessing.

As our weekend was nearing an end Joy and I were finishing up our shopping - they had an amazing resource area full of great stuff - we were in the MOPS area buying pens and other supplies for our group.  While waiting in line and browsing we saw a display of scarves and being Kelly girls were drawn in by the beautiful colors and patterns and the unique qualities each of these scarves had.  No two were alike.  We were looking them over and chatting about them when a lady dressed in a bright red sari came up behind us filming the display on her phone.  She asked if we liked the scarves and we both said yes and seeing the filming going on asked her to tell us about them.  She then said that moms from the new groups of Indian (like India the country - think Slumdog Millionaire) MOPS were making the scarves and she had brought enough scarves to sell so that they would be able to fund a website that would market MOPS India and sell their creations to help support the women in the group and the families they represented.  Wow!  This was the only thing like that in the MOPSshop.    She asked if we would like to take what she had left and sell them and send her the money later.  Wow! again.  We both said we'd love to help, but how would that work.  This is the when the American mentor to this beautiful Indian woman stepped in saying, she thinks that all American's are trustworthy and helpful and would never take advantage - but even though I'm sure you two are very nice, we know that isn't true, can you come back here and we will talk about it a bit more and I'll explain what is going on and help you figure out if you can help or not.  Smart lady.

Now I must add, we wandered in to shop after having just heard Jen Hatmaker talk about doing not just talking about the love of Christ.  Getting involved and getting your hands dirty to help people around the world.  Stop living in your safe bubble and raising your children to be safe and happy and start raising brave disciples of Jesus Christ.  Brave moms have brave kids.  Wow!  Do something, do something, do something.

So to say I was convicted and inspired and trying to digest all that at the very moment we stepped behind the curtain would be an understatement.  I want my kids to be brave and I want to be used by Jesus to help people, I just didn't know how.  I walked into that room not knowing how to help anyone, everyone I know is like me.  Raising safe and happy kids and worrying that I haven't given them enough discipline, opportunities ... you know all that rich in the world, but poor in the work stuff Americans drown in.

Behind the curtain of the MOPSshop i learned of a group of women, so poor and broken in spirit they are without hope and trapped in their situations.  They are in a culture where they are not valued, in fact daughters are a burden.  A baby girl represents half your earnings to be used in a dowry to pay someone to marry her, so a daughter is met with grief and fear for many families.  A son is celebrated and seen as a gift.  This is what is leading to so much sex trafficking and infanticide in India.  The thought of that broke my heart.  I thought of my own daughter and the joy she has been bringing us since the day she was born and my heart was sad that not every little girl is welcomed into her family.    We should all be welcomed, cherished, valued.  This view of girls seems to grow with them and their is very little value of a woman in the culture, she is valued by bringing a dowry, sons, and work into a home, but as a person has little worth.  Enter the woman in the beautiful red sari.

She is very respected and valued in her family and community and as you can probably guess she is not poor but she has a burden for the poor women living around her.  She must have heard Jen Hatmakers message before I did, because she decided to do something.  She met with a group of 80 women, much like her, who wanted change in India and they decided to start MOPS groups in their homes.  In the last six months 80 MOPS groups has grown into 6,000.  Each time a group outgrew the home they met in, about 15 moms, they started a new group.  That is 75,000 women who for the first time are being poured into instead of being taken from.  75,000 women who are finding their value to Jesus.  75,000 moms who are changing their view of themselves and changing their families.  75,000 women who want to do more than meet as a MOPS group, they want to work together to make change in their community and home.  What would you do if you were one of these women?  I'm not sure what I would do, but these women have begun to make scarves.

They are selling these scarves to start a website to market their scarves and maybe other items to sell to support their families and change their family, community, and hopefully culture.  More money means less girls in the sex trade and fewer girls falling victim to infanticide.  Maybe you can guess what happened next ... Joy and I looked at each other and said we are in - we want to help, but first we have a couple calls to make.

We had to see if we could sell the scarves at an open house that a group in our area has each year.  The Missional Mamas are a group of moms who wanted to do something and so they find a variety of goods to sell and send the money raised to support all the different groups who are creating the products.  There is jewelry, tshirts, scarves, clothing, bags, hair accessories ... the list is long, but the causes are great.  Sex trafficking, poverty, dirty water, abused and neglected women and children,  ... there is a world of problems out there, but this group of ladies found a way to do something.  They gladly welcomed our scarves into the mix and encouraged our desire to help.  The next call was a little harder to make, the hubbies.  We needed to put some money in to make it happen, that always requires a bit of discussion since neither of us have unlimited spending.  After Joy and I individually cried on the phones while telling Grant and Curtis the story of the Indian scarves and the women and girls behind them, they both said you need to do it and were willing to back it up with their wallets.  Wow!  We wrote a check and walked out with 100 scarves, feeling a bit crazy, but really excited to be able to get involved.

So here is where you come in, we need to sell these scarves to send the money to the MOPS India group.  We are doing something small, but it is what we can do.  Who knows what God will do with this step, we could sell no scarves or we could sell out.  I just knew that listening to the story, which I've only scratched the surface of sharing here, and looking at Joy we had to do something, and we did.  Do you want to buy a scarf?

It's been awhile ...

I know it's been nearly two and a half years, but I'm going to try to do this blog thing again.  I have been thinking about it a lot in the last six months.  I will be doing something and think I should write about this, and then ... life happens, I put it off, and wham - forget.  So I'll try again.   I could write about my lack of follow through, but I won't go there.  I will just try again.  

I love the process of writing and how it enables me to work through my thoughts, feelings, basically my stuff, so here we go again.  I wrote a bit in the last newsletter/Table Talk for MOPS and it felt so good, I need to keep it going.  God is really at work on some stuff in my heart, and has been for a while, so I guess I'll share it here with my 7 followers :) yep not a famous blogger here, but a woman who occasionally puts her words out into the void (vague movie reference) of the internet with no expectation that anyone will read it, but rather just to help myself find my own voice again.  

Here is what I wrote for our last MOPS.  It was something God has been working on in me.  I am going to finish my thoughts on the theme verse, hopefully you'll see it on this blog :) and probably will share it in the next Table Talk (our MOPS meeting notes/newsletter).

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) - 

This verse has been on my mind since I saw it in our MOPS theme materials last spring.  I remember thinking, I really like that, but masterpiece is that me?  I continue to think, masterpiece, ME?  I’m just a mom, surviving more than thriving the journey to adulthood that I’m now guiding, but still feel like I’m traveling.  In the last few weeks and months God has been working on the masterpiece mindset in me.  I’ve been trying to really digest this verse and what I think God is trying to tell me, although I admit, I’m stuck on the beginning.  (What’s that song, let’s start at the very beginning - a very good place to start …) I finally made it to that duh place, the Bible, isn’t it funny how sometimes you are working through a verse or something someone says and instead of going straight to the source first you try to figure it out on your own.  Rarely does this end well, start at the source. 

Ephesians 2:10 just happens to fall right after Ephesians 2:8-9, you Awana veterans you know this: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [h]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  To hear, right after the gift of salvation, that I am God’s masterpiece clicks.  Why is it hard for me to see myself the way God sees me. This took me, somehow, to how I think about my own children, they are getting old enough that they are beginning to be critical of themselves and how they measure up to those around them.  What do I see?  A masterpiece, sure they are flawed and have failures, but I see them through my mom eyes and no matter what else, they are a beautiful masterpiece and those flaws and failures make them unique and special.  That is how God sees me, and you.  We are his children, his masterpiece.  Somewhere in my heart I heard God whisper, My grace through Jesus removed the mess, so I can see you, my masterpiece.

MomCon was an incredible time for me, some things God has been working on in me are starting to come together.  There were so many messages that I’ve been finding all over my life in the last months, I may finally be getting it.  There was a song that was repeated over and over and instead of getting sick of it, I GOT it.  “You make beautiful things,You make beautiful things out of the dust, You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of us, You make me new, You are making me new, You make me new, You are making me new.”  A message God has been working on in me, somewhere in that song it came singing out of my heart, “even me, You made a beautiful thing out of even me”.  In order for me to hear the other messages He had for me, I had to get to the place where I realize and embraced that I can be His Masterpiece. - Rebekah’s Rambling …

Today - June 10

Well, today is the day - I hope.  I am to be induced with Baby Beekman #3, as long as all those natural labor girls didn't come in through the night.  I did sleep a bit, but must admit I'm nervous and anxious. 

It's just all the stuff you hear about #3. 

Seriously, I'm not nervous about labor and delivery, although I pray it goes well.  Quick and uneventful.  But today, I'm having a baby.  A whole person, who suddenly will be forever a part of our lives.  His/her wants and needs will be voiced, joining a small chorus of voices at my house. 

Exciting, but scary right?

I mean really, am I a person that a Pampers commercial - which was on a constant loop on my television yesterday after I learned that today was the day - can send into either tears or a panic.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk3gOHfeIcU&feature=relmfu  Evidently I am. 

So today, as the minutes crawl closer to the time I call the doctor and then journey into the hospital.  (Wow, it's not like I'm riding a donkey carrying the child of God in my womb :) guess being past your due date brings the drama.)  I will just cling to the fact that the maker of the world thought that this was a good idea for ME and my family.  Now, when you say it like that it kind of is a big deal.  A new life should be, right?  All my nerves are part of understanding that this is a big responsibility and a miracle, something to cherish and work hard for.  I think that at "show time" I will be ready for the show and cling to the fact that they are born little for a reason.  You get a chance to grow with them. 

So here's to growing with the child God has chosen to be a part of our family as well as to finding that I do in fact have bones in my ankles and shape to my legs.  Welcome Baby Beekman #3!!  Good riddance cankles :)

"The Far Country" is free

So, it's been a while.  I need to catch up, but I'm not doing that tonight. 

I just wanted to share a link so that you could check out some free tunes.  Andrew Peterson, seriously one of my favorite artists - EVER, is giving away free downloads of his 2005 or 2006 album "The Far Country".  (Now this is not my favorite of his albums, but I would definitely pay to have it again - so to get a free download is AWESOME.)    http://andrew-peterson.com/

If I remember right, these songs were inspired by heaven thus "The Far Country".  (Wow, that was impressive - thus - hahahaha)  It isn't sad about death, but hopeful at what is to come.  I bought this album for my mom, but I promptly stole it, I think I returned it, but I should double check that.  I hope you love it. 

He is a little folky, but is an amazing story teller and has an incredible way with words.  I always listen to his songs and think, what an awesome way to put that, or boy that is a spin on that thought that I needed.  He has a group of musicians that he works with, none of which are rich or famous, but all who I have been blessed to hear have an incredible gift with music.  To be able to move someones heart and mind with the words, rhythms, and melodies that you create or God creates within you is an incredible gift.  I truly hope that you are moved by his artistry and lyric driven music and check out some of his other music, maybe you will be a true fan and get it all - like me - I think I have it all :) if not, I probably will be picking it up the next time I get to a show. 

Here are the lyrics to his song More.  I hope that these words help you to understand the power in the music of Andrew Peterson. 

This is not the end here at this grave, This is just a hole that someone made, Every hole was made to fill, And every heart can feel it still--Our nature hates a vacuum

This is not the hardest part of all, This is just the seed that has to fall, All our lives we till the ground, Until we lay our sorrows down, And watch the sky for rain

There is more, More than all this pain, More than all the falling down, And the getting up again, There is more, More than we can see, From our tiny vantage point, In this vast eternity, There is more

A thing resounds when it rings true, Ringing all the bells inside of you, Like a golden sky on a summer eve, Your heart is tugging at your sleeve, And you cannot say why, There must be more

There is more, More than we can stand, Standing in the glory, Of a love that never ends, There is more, More than we can guess, More and more, forever more, And not a second less

There is more than what the naked eye can see, Clothing all our days with mystery, Watching over everything, Wilder than our wildest dreams, Could ever dream to be, There is more

The end of the week of Michael

Well, this week I have been getting a bit of a hard time from my family.  They have called it "the week of Michael", as if that is a bad thing :).  All because each day for the past week I have asked Michael what it is that he would want to do before he started kindergarten.  The list has been varied.  Play checkers, go to the pool, make chocolate chip cookie pie . . . it has been a good week.  All leading up to tomorrow, the start of kindergarten. 

So here on the eve of beginning life as a school mom I am full of insecurity, excitement, hope, worry . . .  name the emotion it is in me NOW!!  Where has the time gone?  How can he be 5? 

We have been talking a lot about what to expect, how to act, but even though he feels excited and full of anticipation, I have evidently not been listening to my own pep talks.  I'm thinking about how much I will miss of his life.  I'm wondering if I have done the mom thing well enough to send him off well into a whole new life.  So tonight when he told me that I didn't need him to walk him into the school tomorrow, I was both sad and happy.  Happy that he feels so ready, but sad that so quickly he is independent and doesn't need me.  We did decide that I would walk him in tomorrow and leave right away and then we would see how Tuesday would go.  Good plan right?  We talked about hugs and kisses before, not at the school. 

I know that what I told him is true.  This is an important step on his journey to who God wants him to be.  This is where we begin to figure out what God has planned for his life.  This is just the beginning.  Why is that so easy to say, know it is true, and yet is so hard to embrace.  I could go on about why I am blue and what I have said to him, but really said to me, but I am going to stop myself . . . HERE!

Now the plan for tomorrow.  Up in plenty of time to pray, get myself ready and then get my kindergartner going.  For him, shower, pancakes, pray, into the van (I know I am close enough to walk, but I want to be in the privacy of my van for the crying, not walking down the sidewalk making a scene) hug and kiss, then walk to the classroom and leave him there excited and curious as to what the day will bring.  I will then return to my van, cry for a bit, head to a mom date with great friends at Olde World for some commiserating (may cry a bit more - but hoping to keep the tears to a minimum, no guarantees) then off for a walk with Sally, her Maddy, and my Adah, return home make banana bread for an after school snack, then return to the school to pick up my boy.  Hopefully he is still excited.  Return home and hear all about his day over his favorite snack.  Good plan right?

So glad we were able to take this last week to focus on the great things about summer and family.  HOORAY for the week of Michael.  I think it maybe become a tradition.  Not always the week of Michael, Adah may not like that when it is her turn to go to school.  Oh brother, not ready to deal with that yet, so forget I said that. 

The exciting thing about Michael going to school is that Adah and I will get to be together all day, just us girls.  Some solid time to learn all about the daughter God blessed me with.  I love the prospect of that!!  We haven't had much time just us girls, so this is an awesome opportunity to figure out some of those things that are easy to miss when there is more than one person competing for your attention.  I think that she will miss Michael, but we will find our rhythm.  Such a blessing hidden within a change and the sadness that change brings.  But isn't that one of the things God does best? 

Here is what I have been praying with Michael and a verse I love when things are unknown:  Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Isn't that a great way to send your favorite boy to kindergarten? 

Baby Shower :)

Today at camp I was blessed to be able to attend a baby shower of a dear friend, Sarah.  We go way back, she was in my cabin when I was a counselor here, many moons ago.  Now she and her sweet hubby work at MY camp East Iowa Bible Camp with my sweet sister Sarah and her hubby.  What a blessing all children are, but it seems like you acknowledge the miracle more when it is a long wished and prayed for child, like this little girl is.  We can't wait to meet you and tell you stories of your parents enduring faith, hope, and love for the miracle of you.  See you in September :)

So, today we had to give some mom advice to Sarah as she begins to embark on this life altering journey of enlarging her family.  This activity has made me think a bit about some of my mom advice.  So when I begin to reflect and have the time to actually do it, I sit down and do this, blog a bit. 

1) Find a way to celebrate each child's person - both the stuff you love as well as the stuff that takes some adjusting to.  Strengths are show even in bad behavior or just the stuff that you don't get that may drive you crazy.
2) Do something that lets the child know that they create joy in you - just by being themselves.
3) Realize that you get to grow with your child, and praise God that they aren't born with a long memory or the ability to tell all your beginner's mistakes.  There is a learning curve.  Enjoy the time of learning.
4) Begin to practice hard and uncomfortable conversations, before they can talk back.  I started talking about what is private and who should be touching it with Michael as a baby, so I could get past my nerves and weirdness before he could ask me any questions or remember how I goofed it up.
5) Laugh a lot and remember whether you laugh or cry you still have to clean up the mess.  The laughing makes it easier. 
6) Find a way to say "I Love You" so that they hear it even when you don't say the words. 
7) Enjoy this time.  It is short, too short. 

I hope that you will find the joy (there will still be rotten days, but as a whole) in motherhood that I have found and that I saw in my mom.  I knew that she loved me and loved being my mom, because she said it or showed it nearly every day of my life.  That is a power that is unmet by any superhero, TMZ character, politician, or power broker.  It is the power of a God loving parent who can bless their child with the unconditional love they need to grow, fall, thrive, fail, and succeed.  I pray that one day even after all my mess ups my kids will say, "Mom was many things, some good, some crazy, and some that I don't want to be, but she was a person with great love for me."  Today I pray that will be your story as well. 

God bless you Sarah and Tyson and your growing family.  I pray for an uneventful birth and a healthy child and many years to hold your entire family close. 

Sorry Target Shoppers . . .

Today, I was hoping to run a few errands after the stop at the Dr. for some meds to fix the strep throat I caught from my son.  We were just going to run into a couple places, quick, smooth, in my typical mother of the year fashion. 

The fatal flaw in my day was daring to pee. 

Yes, that evidently turns children into non-obeying, personal space crashing, annoying little rug rats that get everyone talking. 

I told them on the way in, a quick stop in the bathroom for me and then into the fun double cart for some bargain hunting and maybe even checking for a Lightning McQueen backpack.  We walked into a beautifully empty and recently cleaned bathroom.  I made the unforgivable mistake of thinking, well it will only take me 30 seconds, so instead of hogging the handicapped stall, I will just hop into a little one and the kids will wait for me right outside where I can see their little feet, surely no one will come in.  Suddenly with me indisposed and the bathroom filling up there were little people coming under my door and the door next to mine.  Seriously, Adah crawled under my neighbors door and under the stall wall and into my space.  Mortified I said, just sit still to both the gigglers sitting at my feet.  Hoping we could hide in there until everyone had left and my mother of the year status would remain untarnished.  NOPE, throw that prize out the window.  So there I am trying to finish everything up and holding onto people to stop them from crawling under the stalls again.  Adah got her fanny backed under the next stall again and Michael escaped.  I caught screaming Adah who remained in my grip, until I was all buttoned and zipped.  After washing my hands and explaining why we had to leave the store RIGHT NOW!! I was able to leave the Target bathroom with two blessed howling children.  No I didn't beat them, but leaving Target without actually entering the store is evidently an equivalent to my sweet angels.  We were in the store less than 2 minutes, but it was quite a trip. 

NO TREAT FOR YOU!!!!  (Read that like the Soup Nazi would say it - if you have no idea who that is, it is sad that you have missed so much Seinfeld - I will pray that you will develop a sense of humor)

If you were in the Target bathroom with me today, I really apologize for the intrusion into your privacy and forcing you to listen to me disciplining my kids.  "It is not okay to crawl under the stall or the door. . . "  There was big talk about choices and consequences.  But inside it was just me going - HOLY CRAP, I hope I don't see anyone who was in this bathroom and the best way to do that is to LEAVE.  Sad, crying children in tow - I'm sure that didn't make a scene at all. 

So tonight as I tuck in my bundles of joy, we will be having talks about bathroom etiquette.  Hopefully the next time we will make it past the dollar spot.  Maybe I will just hold it.

Love being a mom :) it keeps you humble. 

This story reminds me of something I read last week "You can either laugh or cry, but either way you have to clean up the mess.  Laughter somehow makes it easier."  Don't you love that?