MOSAIC OF MOMS

LITTLE FLOCK, Ark. — Ayoung stay-at-home mother cries inside her parked car while her 6-month-old son naps in the back seat. Feeling alone and exhausted, she prays to God for strength during this stage of herlife.

Jennifer Mullen said her prayer focused on her desire and struggle to be good at something. Her conversation with God that day in a coffee shop parking lot made her realize nothing was more important than being a good mother, she said.

The experience also led her to create Mosaic of Moms, a faith-based blog she writes with three other stay-at-home moms.

“Being a mom is something to be proud of,” Mullen said. “I wanted to create a community where moms would be encouraged.”

Mullen, 32, who has written in a journal since junior high school, said one of her personal goals was to be published. A goal she shared with her husband, Michael, an information technology administrator, was to build a website that would encourage Christians, she said. The mom blog seemed a perfect fi t.

Mullen last spring pitched the idea of the blog to her friends Melissa Pope, Gretchen Speer and Kerri Young. She met the womenin 2008 when she joined Mothers of Preschoolers at First Church of the Nazarene in Rogers, where she and Pope attend church. Mullen said she prayed all summer about the blog. The four women met in August to discuss how to get started and launched the site in September.

Young suggested the name of the blog, Mosaic of Moms.

“We decided that Mosaic of Moms is a perfect word picture of not only our individual stories and experiences that God is weaving together to create a larger picture for His glory, but also our different types of personalitiesand approaches to mothering, which will be reflected in the blog and hopefully be used by God to paint a beautiful expression of His glory,” Young said.

Mullen said at fi rst glance the women may not seem that different from each other. “We’re all white, middle-class, Christian, stay-at-home moms.” Even though those traits helped bring them together, the four women come from various backgrounds, are in different stages of motherhood and offer varying perspectives on life.

Mullen lives in Lowell with her husband of six and a half years, her 4-year-old daughter and now 15-month-old son. A native of north-central Arkansas, she taught special education for six years before choosing to become a stay-athome mom. She tutors twice a week.

Mullen said her experience as a teacher helps with parenting because she knows what children need to learn before they begin school.

“I know the techniques and I understand the psychology of children and the developmental stages of children,” she said.

Mullen blogs about what she and her daughter call “Mommy School.” She has found a website, www.hubbardscupboard.org, that off ers age-appropriate Biblebased activities for children that address math, literacy, science and social studies. For the lesson on creation, Mullen and her daughter made a booklet, which showed a picture of what God created on each of the days of the week.

Speer, 30, lives in Rogers with Derek, her husband of nearly 10 years, and their four children, ages 8, 6, 4 and 18 months. They attend Fellowship Bible Church of Northwest Arkansas.

Speer said she always knew she wanted to be a mother. She baby-sat while growing up in southeast Kansas and worked in the nursery at church as much as she could, she said. As a college student she worked nights part time in a hospital emergency room. “That experience gave me abetter understanding of how the world can be,” she said. “It has made me a more protective mother.”

Speer also said her parents are very organized people. Even though she doesn’t come by that naturally, she said she understands the need for households to be orderly. She has posted several practical applications on the blog, such as tips for meal planning and tips for making a grocery list.

Pope, 42, lives in Little Flock with Mark, her husband of 17 years, and their three daughters, ages 10, 8 and 5.

She spends a lot of her time volunteering at her daughters’ schools and at church, usually with the children’s ministry,she said. Service to others and generosity are values she said she learned from her parents while growing up in Wichita, Kan. While service to others is important to Pope, she said moms also must remember to take care of themselves.

“Every mom needs to take time to develop her own interests and grow as a person,” Pope said.

Pope, a scrapbook consultant, has written blogs about how she spends time relaxing and about how mothers can carve out time for themselves and why that is important.

Young, 36, lives in Siloam Springs with Brent, her husband of 11 1 /2 years and their three children, ages 6, 3 and 8 months. They attendCommunity Christian Fellowship in Siloam Springs.

Young, the daughter of a Navy chaplain, grew up all over the world. She said watching her two youngest brothers grow up, who are 10 and 13 years younger than she is, made her realize how fast life goes by.

“When life is frustrating and stressful I know I need to stop and see what God is doing in this moment,” Young said.

Young has written posts about embracing each day, such as the one Jan. 16, which shared an analogy between speedboats and sailboats. People can choose to go through life as either of these vessels, she said, but those who zoom through life as speedboats miss what is right in front of them.

She wrote, “Yes, I am excited about what God is going to do, but I also want to praise Him for what He is already doing and be fully present here and now.”

Each woman blogs two to three times a week for oneweek every month. Each week they write a devotional related to parenting and provide something practical, such as recipes, instructions to create chore charts and activities to teach children about God. All posts begin with a Bible verse related to the day’s topic. Guest bloggers provide content on occasion.

Mullen said the blog has had about 5,000 clicks since it started and the Mosaic of Moms Facebook page had 67 “likes” as of Jan. 26. The bloggers say they want to boost their readership numbers and interact more with their audience. One way they are working on this is with giveaways.

The blog has offered two giveaways so far. Readers were asked to comment on a topic, such as what they were thankful for when it comes to parenting, and winners were chosen at random. Prizes were a small carry-all bag anda photo album. The next giveaway is slated for April.

Another way the bloggers want to interact with readers is through prayers. The women encourage readers to send them prayer requests. So far they have received only one. Mullen said the women prayed individually for the reader. Each also wrote a response to the woman, which Mullen posted on the blog Jan. 30.

Mullen said one of her favorite things about the blog is that all four women are transparent in their posts.

“Motherhood is a very difficult, emotionally trying journey. None of us put up a picture that it is easy,” she said. “The blog is not just about being with your children. It’s about developing yourself as more than just a mom.”

All four women say the blog ministers to them, as well. They are moms who need encouraging, too.