Why I Wrote "Home is Where the Mom Is"

I joined MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) when Cody and Morgan were toddlers. During a typical MOPS meeting we’d drop off our kids (baby-sitting was provided by volunteers), eat breakfast—sitting down!--(a different group of MOPS moms prepared breakfast for every meeting), have a short devotional, speaker, craft time, and discussion. MOPS met one morning a month, and it was a morning that I looked forward to every month!

(For more about MOPS, and how to find a group near you, go to www.mops.org )

I quickly became friends with many of the moms, and I’m still friends with many of them…although now we are talking about high-school trials and empty nests rather than potty training and stranger anxiety. MOPS was the highlight of the month for many of us; the time of sharing our stories, our faith and our worries with other moms encouraged us and renewed our commitment to motherhood, no matter how little sleep we’d gotten the night before or what trials we were facing. We often marveled at how these few hours completely refreshed us—and we wondered why we didn’t take time for ourselves more often!

Of course there were serious talks, too. As young moms we were often uncertain about what was “normal” behavior (both our own and our kids’!) and how we should deal with sleep (or lack of sleep) issues, new siblings, and behavior. We would discuss the latest “research” and what the “experts” were saying…and then shared our “real life” solutions, which usually seemed the best solutions of all!

In the months before I joined MOPS, I had been sending query letters (outlining articles I wanted to write) to many parenting magazines. Unfortunately none of my ideas were right for the magazines, so I had lots of ideas…and nowhere to use them.

I don’t remember how I finally connected my talks with other moms at MOPS, my desire to write a book, and all of the article ideas I had, but one day I did…and the idea for Home is Where the Mom Is was born. I knew then that I wanted to write a book for moms, with several main themes; encouraging moms to take care of themselves, encouraging moms to consider “real life” advice as well as that from “experts,” and encouraging moms to nurture their own faith, and that of their families.

I told friends about my plans to write a book, and they were very enthusiastic about giving me ideas of topics to include. Many MOPS moms filled out questionnaires and gave their advice and “real life” ideas about a wide range of parenting issues; these “real life” ideas are included in Home is Where the Mom Is and are part of what makes it unique.

Click on the “Table of Contents” tab at the top of this page to see the comprehensive range of issues covered in Home is Where the Mom Is!

In the next post…Giving Birth to a Book