MOPS and Donation

This morning was a MOPS morning for the kiddos and I. MOPS is something I look forward to every other week, as it's a Christ-centered community group for moms.. We get to converse, eat brunch, participate in Bible Study, and learn new and different ways to improve ourselves as a mother and wife. The kiddos also enjoy themselves in the Moppets program.

Right before our morning prayer, our moppets coordinator, Nikki, was needing a prayer request. She was telling us about a co-worker who had just given birth to a baby boy. He has an extremely severe congenital heart defect, and wasn't expected to make it past birth. He is currently being treated in the CICU at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Please keep this precious baby boy and his family in your thoughts and prayers. The mother is still in the hospital, and the father has been traveling back and forth from his wife to his newborn son. I will definitely keep you all updated if I hear anything more. Right after she told us about this brave little heart warrior, I stood up and mentioned the importance of this special week, Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week. I gave everyone information on why it's so important for CHD to gain awareness, etc. I also told them about my plan to donate in memory of my good friend's baby boy, and told them about the non-profit organization, It's My Heart.

We also had a lovely couple, Steve and Loretta, from Marriage Works! Ohio come and speak to us. They spoke about the many tools needed to utilize marriage and relationship. Those being, relationship assessments, understanding personality differences, communication skills, conflict resolution techniques, intimacy & understanding the 5 love languages, and setting goals and achieving growth. Being a military wife, I have found that many of these "tools" have been placed in the back of the tool box. Both Jesse and I sometimes take are precious time together for granted and I learned how important it is to just have 16 minutes a day of our undivided attention. Once Jesse returns home from the middle east, we're planning on taking one of the Marriage Works! Ohio class sessions. I think it's very important for married couples, or any couples for that matter how valuable relationships are. Jesse and I are definitely looking forward to learning different ways to help keep that intimate spark alive in our marriage, even at the most darkest times(Jesse's upcoming deployment).

After Steve and Loretta spoke with us, Loretta sought me out to talk about Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week and the organization I was discussing earlier in the morning. She then told me she would love to donate, and wrote me a $25.00 check to send to It's My Heart. It definitely brought a tear to my eye, because it made me feel like I was able to gain another supporter of CHD awareness. I thanked her from the bottom of my heart. I wish the world was full of more people like that. "You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back."