Sleep Is Overrated

We’ve asked Kathy Trobee, a fellow Mungarian mom, to let us know about the impact one of our family ministries has had on her and her family. If you know a new first time mom, please invite her to the group that will meet on Tuesdays for six weeks starting July 9th in the coffee bar. 

Here’s a small excerpt of the list of things I thought about when I had my daughter, Caroline, in 2017:

1. Sleep
2. Caroline sleeping too much
3. Caroline not sleeping enough
4. My body
5. Sleep
6. Why my husband was somehow still interested in my body
7. Was I ever going to get used to loving someone this much?
8. Who I was going to talk to all day
9. Did no one else notice that the world was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT?
10. Sleep

Before I had Caroline, I heard a lot about “mom squads.” I have been blessed by a wonderful community here in Dallas, so I thought it might be nice to make mom friends, but that I wouldn’t need them. It only took a few weeks after Caroline was born for me to realize how wrong that was. I needed women in my life going through the exact same thing. I needed women who were also thinking about that list of things at 2 AM while holding a perfect but exhausting child. I needed women who would remind me that God was present in the day to day of caring for a new baby. I needed women who were free at 10am on a Tuesday! And praise God, Munger’s First Time Mom group provided me with that.

Caroline was four months old when the original First Time Mom group started. We went, even though we were exhausted and didn’t know anyone else. That might have been the best decision I made as a new mom! Immediately, I felt connected to the church in a more significant way. I learned important things about transitioning to parenthood from the speakers. Most importantly, I found relationships with other moms.

This ministry is so important! I’m now involved in facilitating the group, which has been a blessing in a different way. The First Time Mom group meets at the church every week for 6-8 weeks. Often there is a speaker – a more experienced Munger mom – to talk about a major part of new motherhood. Those speakers are a gift; they are women who have a perspective on the difficult things new moms are encountering every day. But what is even more valuable is the community that forms from meeting together every week in that wonderful, vulnerable, exhausting baby stage.

The friends I made through participating in the First Time Mom group have moved from “mom friend” and “playdates” to “best friend” and “girls nights.” It is hard to put into words how much of a blessing these women have been in my life over the last two years. And we’re not alone – out of every session, I have seen women connect with one another in a way that outlasts the two months of the group.

The Bible has a lot of verses about community. Hebrews 10 says “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” James 5 says “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other.” Galatians says “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” All of these reasons, and more, are why the First Time Mom group is a blessing.