For stay-at-home moms, raising children can sometimes be a lonely time.
“You forget there’s life outside your walls,” said Jennifer Coltrane, a young mother of three.
“And how important social connections are,” said Casiee Wolfe, mother of two.
The two women are part of a group of six who have organized MOPS — Mothers of Preschoolers — that will begin meeting Monday in the basement of Wesley United Methodist Church, corner of Buckeye and Madison.
The meetings will be from 9 to 11 a.m. the second and fourth Mondays of the month and are open to mothers who have a child age 5 or younger. Child care will be provided.
The goal of MOPS is to provide Christian fellowship and support for mothers, as well as their children who will be overseen by qualified caregivers.
The meetings will be lightly structured to include a time of fellowship, devotions and a group study of a book or video. Themes revolve around the value of motherhood and the inherent challenges of raising children.
Nicole Schowengerdt, mother of Noah, 4, and Bella, 2, found MOPS to be very rewarding while she and her husband, Daniel, lived in Liberal. As a native of Kansas City, Nicole said the town tucked in southwest Kansas was a “culture shock,” but that the motherhood program was a fast path to her making new friends. The Schowengerdts have lived in Iola less than six months. He is an attorney with Johnson Law Office.
Autumn Peeper sees the program as a way to really talk with other young mothers.
“At ‘play dates’ in the park we always spent our time chasing our children,” she said. “We never got to know each other as we wanted to.”
Autumn is the wife of Bill Peeper, Iola High School basketball coach and history instructor. They have two children, BreAnna, 7, and Mason, 3.
Adie Sparks said having an infant can make it difficult to get out of the house with any predictability.
“My life revolves around her naps and feeding schedule,” she said of daughter Bailey, 1. Adie is married to Ryan Sparks, who works with his father, Terry, at State Farm Insurance.
Adie was a former teacher in Chanute.
Jennifer Coltrane wishes something like MOPS had been around when she first moved to Iola almost nine years ago.
Originally from Lansing, Coltrane found being “in a new town with a baby, a huge change.” Coltrane is married to Aaron, who farms with his dad, Ron Coltrane. Jennifer and Aaron have three children, Audrey, 8, Rebekah, 6, and Micah, 1.
