An Artiste, I Am Not

I don't think I've mentioned yet that I am now the leader of my church's MOPS group. This has led to some serious self-examination including berating myself for the way I pray in public, spending a lot of time preparing to give devotions that usually have much more to do with what I'm struggling with than anything the other mothers need to hear, and trying to squeeze in lots of planning, phone calls, and emails during naptime.

I have loved being part of MOPS and so far things are going well with my current position, but wow, it's a big job. And I know some of you who knew me in my past life are thinking..."A big job? But she used to plan DC fly-ins for 60 people with national political speakers?" Trust me, at least on those projects, I wasn't both the person planning the event and the person standing at the podium talking...and I didn't have to pray out loud at the beginning and the end of every meeting either. :-)

And for those of you who have no idea what MOPS is, it stands for Mothers of Preschoolers: a group of mothers of young children who meet at our church twice a month and enjoy spiritual refreshment in the form of enlightening speakers, craft projects, and cooking demonstrations while their children are taken care of for two hours. For a lot of mothers, this is their only outlet, their only opportunity to get a break and have a chance to sit and talk with other moms about the challenges of motherhood.

Tomorrow's meeting is focusing on Easter Fun - how to celebrate the true meaning of Easter, sharing Easter recipes, and of course, a demonstration of an Easter craft to make with your children. Guess who got saddled with making the Easter craft? The least artistically-inclined person I know - me. So here's what we're making - Little Edible Easter Baskets. Easter baskets made from rice krispie bar mix and pushed into cupcake tins, twizzlers for handles, coconut flakes dyed green for grass and jelly beans or chocolate eggs to complete the basket. Since we can't have 30 women with very sticky hands tomorrow, I made the baskets this afternoon while my children napped. My kitchen looks like a bomb went off, but here's the finished product.

Exhibit A - The Jelly Bean version



















Exhibit B - The Chocolate Egg Version




















And finally, here's what 30 half made Easter baskets look like. I'm pretty sure that after tomorrow's meeting, I won't have to head up any craft projects for a while. :-)