Moms are moms

Sigh. I know that seems so simple, but it was a huge relief to me in the last few weeks to realize this truth all over again in this new place. Sometimes you can get so comfortable in a place (that you live) that you forget that those who live else where can still be so similar to you. I don't know how it happens, but this move threw me into all kinds of fears.
Come on, I'm a hormonal woman moving 17 hrs away from her home of nearly 5 years, some fear is to be expected, but not to be meeting other new moms. It was a weird fear, I'll confess.
New moms sitting on the park bench? What to say? It should be a no brainer.
"Hi, I'm Katrina, and I see you have children, so do I.  How old are yours? Mine are such and such. Great, have you lived in the area long? I just moved. Where is the nearest super Target? Where do you take your kids on rainy days? Is there a chick-fil-a near here? Want to have coffee some time?"
Those are all so simple to say and the flow is usually pretty smooth too.
I've had a lot of luck with this opening line, "Wow, your kids are cute, what are their names?" and the rest of the conversation comes along great.
The fun thing is though, I haven't had to start all the opening lines. On my first Sunday morning at Morning Star (the Sunday where I also spent a good portion of the morning sobbing and hiding in the bathroom missing IHOP) as I went to pick up my baby from the nursery one of the women working asked me if I was new and invited me to her mom's group.  It was that easy. The next easiest step was to actually go and meet a whole room full of new moms and it was great. We talked and drank coffee and our kids played. Just like in Kansas City and those are just a few of my favorite things to do with moms (the coffee and the talking and the kids playing, but not in that order necessarily).
So I'm saying all of this as a triumph, an answer to my prayers, that making new mom friends is not hard at all. The Lord has given me boldness and He has opened doors almost everywhere for me to strike up conversations with other women. It has been a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
And then, a bunch of my new mom friends decided to go on vacation, so I made friends with my local library and complied a summer reading list.

Some people have expressed interest in this list, so here it is, in no particular order. The ones in red are books from my childhood that I am re-reading to sensor them before deciding whether to read them to my children or not. The rest are because I'm interested in them or have heard of them at random.

1. The Strong-willed Child by Dr. James Dobson
2. The Centurion's Wife by Davis Bunn & Janette Oke
3. The Priest, The Prophet, The Warrior, The Prince, The Scribe (5 book series) by Francine Rivers
4. Unashamed by Francine Rivers
5. The Circle Series by Ted Dekker
6. Wesley & the People Called Methodists by R. Heitzenrater
7. Ashes & Ice by Tracie Peterson
8. Rivers of Gold by Tracie Peterson
9. The Good Master by Kate Sered
10. The Singing Tree by Kate Sered
11. The Trumpeter Swan by E.B. White
12. The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven by Kevin Malarkey
13. Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson
14. Plain Perfect by Beth Wiseman

So there you have it, my book list. Titles may fall off as time goes on and new ones could be added, but that is what I have so far and a good new library system to borrow from. Yeah for books! 

The end.