Our First Meeting

Hi there, Ladies!
Just wanted to let you know that we’ll be meeting tomorrow at my house. I think most of you know how to get here, but I’ve included directions below for those who haven’t been here before. Please feel free to pass along this email to those whom you’re inviting also.

For those of you who have missed the last meeting or two, I just want to fill you in on some ideas that have been passed around. We’ve been trying hard to establish what this group should “look” like. We know that it will constantly evolve, but these are some of the things we’ve discussed. First and foremost, we’d like there to be a purpose to our socialization. Meeting each other and getting to know each other more intimately is necessary and fun. We’d also like there to be a spiritual component to our group. I think everyone has agreed there is a need in each one of us to find spiritual and emotional support from other women. This is what this group is all about. However we’d really like to not make this into a Bible Study meeting. There are other resources (such as church) for that kind of need. Our needs may change however so let’s allow for occasional examination on what are our group needs and wants.

If someone comes across anything that would be beneficial to the group, please feel free to share! We don’t have much time in our daily lives to watch TV, read a book or magazine, or surf the web, but we all have ideas and questions about family life, faith, love, friendships, etc. We’ve been sharing some insights and thoughts about friendship between women. I’d like to continue talking about female friendship for awhile. If you have any ideas on this or good books to recommend, please do tell.

Another idea was for everyone to write down a couple questions/topics that you’d like discussed such as how do you incorporate your faith into your family/children’s lives? Or how does your family choose to handle the finances? Or what is your parenting philosophy on discipline? We could throw these questions/ideas into a hat and pick one a week. We would then mull it over to discuss for next week’s meeting. If you are so inclined as to do some of your own research on the topic, all the better! If you can only commit to thinking about the topic for the 10 minutes it will take you to show up that next Friday morning, no problem! We all understand that our time and energy are precious resources so whatever works for you is fine.

As far as inviting other women to our group…we are looking forward to meeting new women and expanding our community. We’d like to keep that community an overall spiritual one however, so please make sure that whomever you think would fit in well with our group is a committed Christian and that she “plays well with others”. There may be a time when we’ll have to limit the number of guests as our houses are only so big (especially mine!), but that time has not yet come.

We’ve decided to hold our Mom’s group every week. We know that not all moms will be able to make it on a weekly basis, but we wanted to make it a somewhat constant source of support to those who need it on a weekly basis (like me!). Plus if we had it bi-monthly, all it would take is one time to miss, and you’d have to wait a whole month in between meetings. Building and investing in a community takes more than once-a-month meetings. Remember that this is an investment in your life. As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, investing in your female friendships will benefit your other relationships (such as your marriage) as well.

I want to stress to you that this group is all about looking forward to Friday morning each week. After surviving Monday through Thursday, I so enjoy the fact that Friday morning is finally here! A time to get to know all of you, a time to relax and recharge, a time to be filled up with new ideas and a time to drink coffee and eat goodies. I would never want this time to be another scheduled “burden” on your calendar. I never want you to force yourself to come. I want you to see this time as sacred for you. Never forget this is all about taking care of each other and taking care of you!

I’ll close with an excerpt from a book that I read the other week that sums up some of our thoughts and feelings on what we may be looking for in a friend:
“Wanted: A few good women to form a circle of friends. Must be smart, fun-loving, always there when I need them. The type who’ll love my kids, drop dinner by when I’m stressed, always see the best in me, and never complain about their lives or anything I do. Gift-givers and surprise-party throwers a plus. Required: A commitment to never change, move away, or like anybody else better than me.” Funny, but true!

I’m very excited to see what God has in mind for this group!

Love,
Crystal