Moms in Touch International

Today's guest post is written by my friend, Becky Boggio. She is involved in a ministry called Moms in Touch International. She spoke about it at the Code Blue women's event at WFA and you could hear how passionate she was about this ministry during her talk. I had never heard about Moms in Touch before and figured a lot of you might not have either. Becky excitedly agreed to share with us today and fill us in on this amazing ministry.

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I am so excited that Jamie invited me to share information about a ministry called Moms in Touch International (MITI). MITI was started by a woman named Fern Nichols in 1984 when her two oldest children were entering junior high and Fern felt a burden on her heart about how different their lives would be at this age in school. Through prayer she asked God to give her another mom who shared her burden who she could pray with and God led her to such a woman. They began to meet together to pray and then invited other mothers to join them. As moms began to share how God was working in their lives during these prayer sessions other groups began as well. This all occurred while Fern and her family were residing in British Columbia. In 1985 the Nichols family moved to California and Fern continued to feel God’s calling for her to grow this ministry. Today the Moms in Touch Ministry have groups that meet in every state in the country and in 130 different countries around the world. The Moms in Touch International Booklet has been translated into more than 48 languages.
There are groups that meet at all school age levels from pre-school through college, there are career-aged groups, grandmothers, prison ministry, home schooled groups, and special needs groups.
Being part of this ministry has blessed me so much and telling my story is my favorite part of it. Two years ago, October 2009, I read an article about Moms in Touch International (www.momsintouch.org), a ministry of mothers that meet weekly to pray for their children, the issues the children face at school, and for the children’s schools (teachers, administration, etc).   I browsed their website and discovered that out of all the schools in the Waukesha School District there were only two that had a registered group of mothers praying for their schools (as of late September 2011 that number has increased to eight).  I immediately felt as though a darkness was covering Waukesha.  I emailed a couple of my friends and suggested that we informally send out prayer requests for our kids, as we have them, in an effort to try and change this but those requests came in few and far between.  At the time it just didn’t seem possible to find an extra hour in the week to commit to something. 
Fast forward to Christmas time, when I received a Christmas letter from a family friend, Marion.  She and my mother grew up together and I have known her and her children (who are about 8-10 years older than me) my whole life.  In Marion’s letter she mentioned that her daughter, Sherri, was still involved in Moms in Touch.  I assumed it was participating in prayer groups for her kids.  I went on the website again to see if Sherri’s name was on some sort of contact list so I could connect.  I clicked on the state of WI to narrow down my search and Sherri’s picture popped up as the Moms in Touch State Coordinator.  Wow!  I totally believe this was God at work. 
I contacted Sherri and she enthusiastically told me about the ministry and encouraged me to set up a group.  I started a group for my children’s school, Prairie Elementary, and while the number of participants is low we know God is at work. My connection with Sherri has allowed me the opportunity to participate in the Moms IN Touch annual Retreat the last two years. It is really a getaway for the Moms in Touch leadership of the state but others who pray or lead groups are invited as well. We spend our time trying to figure out how to spread the word of this ministry and share the incredible stories of how the prayers of us as mothers have been answered by God for our children! We serve an amazing God!
If you would like to learn more about this ministry please go to the Moms in Touch website and connect. Or ask Jamie for my contact info and I will be happy to discuss with you!

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Thank you, Becky!!

Park and Rec

When my oldest was young, I discovered Park and Rec and it was a lifesaver. Around the time she was 4 turning 5 and kindergarten was still far off, I needed to find something to keep her busy. She was (is) an active girl and bored easily. 



By the end of that winter, I had found out about Park and Rec and the great classes they offer. I signed her up for at least 3 or 4 of them including preschool. She tumbled, she created, she had something else to do besides drive me crazy. 



The classes were perfect for us. They are relatively inexpensive. They are not a big time commitment. There are a variety of different classes to try out for all ages. 

One of the best things we did was sign her up for preschool at Fox Tales Preschool through Park and Rec. The teachers are wonderful.  They love the kids and care about each one. I have sent all of my kids there that are old enough. 



I sent my son to 3 year old preschool. It was one morning a week. He brought his lunch; it was cute. He didn't come home a rocket scientist but it started him on this path to learning. It put him in a situation with new kids and new rules and gave him new experiences that I couldn't give him. It also started the process of testing him for speech therapy. (Which he needs, more than I realized, but that's another post.)

Fox Tales preschool is now one of the sites for the district's 4K program. This means that it is now 3 days a week instead of 2 and it's FREE! After paying to send 2 of my kiddos, that fact makes me smile. :)

I would encourage you, no matter where you live, to look into Park and Rec in your area. You might be surprised at the fun things they offer.  

School days, school days ...

Yesterday we went and took care of that dreaded task called "school shopping". As an adult it is way less fun than I remember it being as a kid. Mostly, I'm sure because I'm the one footing the bill.
 
The lists they give out don't help, either. Most of the time the lists are so specific that it is nearly impossible to find what they are asking for.

This year was better. The lists weren't as specific and I think I've loosened up a bit. I've realized that if I can't find yellow 1 1/2 x 2" post-its, multi-color 1 3/8 x 1 7/8" post-its will do. (Do you see how you could drive yourself crazy?)

Anyway, this year the girls were able to pick out any color notebooks and folders they wanted (instead of 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 eggplant ...). This was exciting. It was even more exciting because at Wal-mart they have Dayspring notebooks, folders, binders, and pencil cases with Bible verses and Christian sayings on them.


I almost dropped over when I saw them mixed in with the other school supplies. How cool is that?? I think it's very cool.
 

I always feel like they are trying to push God out of schools. I was thrilled to see these simple school supplies promoting God's love and Word.



My kids thought it was pretty cool, too. They bought a couple of Dayspring items along with their sparkly unicorn, panda bear, and other fun, girly stuff.

  

Thank you, Dayspring, for helping my girls shine their lights a little brighter in their schools!

Go check it out, and buy some so Wal-mart knows we like it, we like it a lot!




**I also bought Soul Surfer on DVD yesterday. Check that out, too.**


Disclaimer: No one is compensating me for my opinion. I have no stock in Wal-mart, Dayspring or Soul Surfer. I only have stock in the kingdom of God.