When we moved into our neighborhood three years ago, I would have never thought that I would have found a bond and a strength in the friends that I have made around me. I am blessed to live in a neighborhood and surrounding 'hoods' that are full of stay at home moms, and I am even more blessed to have gotten to know them in the ways that I have. They mean everything to me for many reasons, but mainly because we all share similar lives and can walk through the hard times, the fun times and laugh as we raise kids and go through marriage together.
It started out with some of us expressing that we were interested in play groups through our neighborhood Facebook page. This got a few of us together and we seemed to hit it off. Slowly, but surely, by meeting new moms that moved in next door or across the street, we all started pulling in more moms. Right now, we have a pretty steady group of 5 and sometimes more of us with 1-2 kids (ages 4 months to 5 years) each that try to meet up once a week for a play group. Our children have bonded and have become friends that they even ask when they get to see each other again and for us moms, we have found that its nice to be able to talk during those times about anything and everything.
Its been healthy for me. I love knowing that there are girls going through the same things I am. Lets face it, we all worry about our kids...from the silly minor things, like they won't eat anything but spaghetti...to the big things like health issues and so on. And its been great to talk about each of our stresses from money to finding ourselves through being a mom and wife now.
We then decided that we all needed a girls night. So periodically, we try to get together just us moms...no kids and no husbands and just talk...and talk and talk. Sometimes, its nice to talk about things that isn't kid related! This has led us to getting together for dinners and letting our husbands meet. We've all met at parks on the weekends with our husbands and had them have a chance to get to know each other too! All around, our families are bonding in such ways that I feel very fortunate to know so many wonderful people!
And recently, some of us girls decided we wanted to start a bible study together. We felt like, we have become friends, we have stressed together, we have laughed together and we have made some pretty fun memories..but now its time to grow in God and see how He can bond us in a different way. Not through our kids or our husbands, but through Him. Our first trial run went great this week and next week, we are bringing in, yet more moms (some even from different neighborhoods) and sharing the blessing of being able to do this with more. I love it and I am so excited to be able to know such amazing, Godly, generous women.
We have become more than neighbors. We have become each others saviors, when one of us feels sick and needs someone to watch our kids while we rest, or one of us has somewhere to be and we need a babysitter for an hour or so, we all offer and are happy to help. I have even done the, "I need butter. Can I borrow a stick?" when my kids have been napping and I started baking only to find I was out of butter. We have become each others life lines, when one of us needs time out of the house, we schedule an impromptu play date and meet up. We have become each others companions when a husband is out of town and we want some company in the evening, we all oblige and bring wine!
If you are a stay at home mom, or even a working mom, I would encourage you to find people around you or in church or somewhere that you can experience life together with. It makes us all feel normal that we are going through the same struggles and think the same things. Its been fun having game nights and getting to know each other for who we are and not just seeing who the mom part of us are. Find some friends, get together, share things and you will be surprised how much more enriched your life will be by the people you connect with around you.
Who knows whats next for us...maybe someday soon, when our kids are all in school full time, we can have a weekend away!
Until next time...
