About
“Mamahood is a club you never knew existed or that you needed until you are holding that little squish in your arms thinking, ‘okayyyy what do I do now???’ Am I right? We all know because we have gone through it!
Kristen Combo, Co-Founder of Equipped
What is Equipped?
Equipped is a ministry that serves to support and encourage new mothers, with babies 0-12 months old, by bringing them into community with other women and equipping them in motherhood with God’s wisdom, as it is revealed to us through scripture and the Catholic Church.
How it Works
Each meeting focuses on a particular area in life that has been significantly impacted upon entering the vocation of motherhood and includes fellowship, a guest speaker, and small group discussion. The in person program runs as a 7-week long series and most parishes run it two to three times a year.
​
By purchasing the program, we have 7 beautiful speaker videos for each week already made for you. We have a manual on exactly how you can run it at your parish and the support you need to get it started.
"Wow - Equipped was such a blessing to me as a new mama! From the moment I walked in and someone said, "Can I hold your baby for you? Go and grab breakfast." I knew I would love it. Seriously, they so took care of me and my heart! Love this ministry and the women who so generously give their time to it". -Sheryl Doolittle
Meet the Founders
Get to know a little more about the women who founded the Equipped ministry!
Jenna Scott
Let me introduce you all to one of the greatest people I (Kristen) know…
This is Jenna Scott (the pregnant one), wife of Davis, mom of 6 with another baby on the way! She has Clara (9.5), Asher (8), Siena (7), Felicity (5), Josephine (3 and my cutie godchild!) and Margaret (2).
Jenna is truly one of the most amazing moms that I know. She is the fun, smiling, patient mom that we all strive to be more like. I’ve known Jenna since we had our first babies and I have looked up to her parenting, positive motherhood, wisdom well beyond her years, and the way she interacts and loves others so well.
Jenna is the most amazing “starter” of great ideas and it was a no brainer when I was having these thoughts and feelings about starting a ministry for new moms that I went to her. It was in her immediate and beautiful “yes” that Equipped was formed.
Jenna is also a super prayerful and intentional woman of faith. She loves the Lord completely and totally and will defend the faith unashamedly. She gets so much joy and energy from baking, computer coding 🙃, and being in a room full of people.
Jenna is the mastermind behind the Equipped handbook and so much more and I am so blessed to get to do this with her!!
Kristen Combo
Hi, I'm Kristen! I am a wife to Jacob, mom of 5 sweet kiddos, and I have a total passion for helping new mamas with their transition to motherhood!
​
When I first had baby Kolbe, the community that I had made as a single person started to look different. My friends didn’t understand my new life of nap times and feeding schedules, but honestly I wasn’t that great of a friend either, because that’s all I wanted to talk about. I had all these questions and I felt a little lost in my new vocation as “mom”. I remember these two experienced moms kind of took me under their wing and let me ask them all of my questions. They spent time with me and even introduced me to other moms in my same life stage. It was such a blessing because I know many first time moms don’t have anyone to help them through this transition.
Fast forward a few years and the Holy Spirit really placed it on my heart to start a ministry for first time mamas. I really pushed back (for like a year! I’m always so busy), but one time I told my bestie, Jenna, about this call and she responded, “me too and I’ve been pushing it away for so long. I think we should do it” and thus Equipped was born.
The Holy Spirit has interwoven Himself into every aspect of Equipped. Every little problem we have had has stayed little and resolved itself pretty easily. It has been so apparent that we are truly doing what the Lord wants us to do right now. We are so glad that you are wanting to join us on this journey! It really is the most beautiful ministry and way to make an impact on new moms and their families!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is your Equipped session going to be only for moms at your parish or moms in your area?
For example, we attend one of the largest Catholic churches in the country, but we have always opened up Equipped to moms in the DFW area. This has ensured that we have enough new moms to fill an in person session, 2-3 times per year, plus this has opened up the volunteer pool of potential people who can help. We still do registration through the parish we attend, but moms from all over can attend.
Where are you going to host Equipped?
We have found that the best situation for the DFW Equipped is to be hosted in a home. It is more comfortable with the couches, places for the babies, homey feel, and it also has been a more neutral gathering spot for moms who are away from their Catholic faith, or aren’t even Catholic! This is not to say that you can’t host it at your church, just keep the comfortable and a non formal experience in mind for this to potentially be an evangelizing opportunity too. Couches, carpet for babies to crawl and play on, and a homey feel is very important to the ambiance.
Is someone going to help lead it with you?
You can definitely do it by yourself, but life is a lot more fun with a friend and it makes it less of a burden on you when you can split the duties.
Are you going to utilize the videos we provide or are you going to find your own speakers to speak on the 7 specific topics?
You can even do a mix! If you know a great mom who has a lot of wisdom to share, use her! Decide which topic you would like to hear her speak on, and ask her to speak! Ideally, women who are participating in Equipped can get to know your speakers to have resources within your own parish if they have future questions or need support. We have included basic outlines for each talk with important points for the moms to hear, and then they can fill in their own stories, experiences, and flair! But if you can’t think of anyone or maybe want to start simply, just use the videos provided. That is what they are there for! You can always change it in future sessions!
What dates is it going to start and end on? Are there any weeks you need to take a break because of holidays or school holidays for the volunteers? Will it run in the morning or at night?
Equipped is a 7 week series. Ideally it is run two to three times a year to allow moms on maternity leave to attend and to make sure that you only have moms with babies within the 0-12 month range. There may be a week that you need to “skip” because of a holiday but we don’t recommend skipping more than one week a session. On that skipped week too, it is a great idea to encourage the moms to get together outside of Equipped at a coffee shop, someone’s house, a playground, etc. Also, we have found 9:30-11:30 am to be a great time to host Equipped but that doesn’t mean you can’t do a night session either! Do what works best for your moms! Sometimes this is a mom’s first outing outside the house with her new baby, so you want to make it convenient for her to attend.
What do I need to get started?
You need this leader handbook and the new mom handbook, speakers or videos to use, volunteers, a marketing mindset to intentionally invite new moms, and a love for new mamas and helping them develop community.
How much should you charge?
Here is a sample budget based on what we use to cover our costs (group registration fee, handbooks, etc). Feel free to make it work for you! Typically we ended up charging $35 and it always evened out in the end. Also, we ask people to donate the food for breakfast, so if you don’t have that option, make sure you factor that into your budget.
​
​
Equipped
for
Motherhood