Thursday, September 19, 2013

WELCOME BACK!!!!!!!

It was so good to get back to our MOPS meeting this morning. We were welcomed back by our fearless leader, coordinator Tracie Sexton. Our leadership team provided an awesome breakfast
spread!!! We enjoyed the minute-it-to-win-it games and our inner competitive natures came out!!
Thank you to Sherry Crossley and team...the room décor looked fabulous. We had a great time
socializing and creating our name tag and journals. Thanks to Kim Heavey for the awesome craft
supplies. This is going to be an amazing year as we share our beautiful messes together. See you on October 3rd!!!!











Saturday, June 8, 2013

Last Meeting!

 Our last MOPS meeting of the season was filled with food, fun & lots of laughs! 

We all had fun collecting tickets for all of the giveaways that were donated, 
 but the most fun was had playing MOPS Minute to Win It!

Here's some funny pictures from that morning, definitely a silly time!







We hope that all of you had a great MOPS year, and we'll see you again in the fall!

Also, don't forget to meet up with your MOPS friends this summer:

Mom's Night Out!

Way back in April.. we had a fun Mom's Night Out at the Art Bayou! 


 We all had tons of fun selecting our pieces & deciding how we were going to paint them, 
we have a bunch of creative mom's in our group!

 



Our finished bisque pieces, all painted & ready to be fired!


Here's all of our completed creations! 


Art Bayou is always a great night out, we hope to have more of you join us next time!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

March 14th Meeting

This write-up unfortunately will not even come close to giving our last meeting the recognition it deserves! We were amazed by six uniquely different yet equally amazing couples that graced us with their presence for our Pastor Panel!


We learned that marriage is the most important relationship in our homes. The kids are only with us for so long, we are with our spouses for the rest of our lives! We need to learn to nurture & grow our relationships with our husbands. 

Most importantly, we need to respect our spouse & treat them how we would like to be treated, which of course can sometimes be hard, especially if you have had a trying day with the kids!

Here are some suggestions from our couples on how to show respect & love:
  • Be careful how you talk to each other in public
  • Be your spouse's biggest fan
  • Be quick to forgive & apologize, it sets a great example for your children!
Many questions from our moms were about raising children, which all but one of our panel couples have done, or are in the process of doing! It was entertaining to listen to the panel's responses & laugh at some of their parenting experiences!


Our panel gave us a great list of advice for parenting preschoolers too!
  • Laugh more, cry less
  • Relish in the moment
  • Enjoy every stage that your child is in
  • Take the time, it goes by too quickly!
  • Keep them home as long as you can!
  • Celebrate who God has made your child to be, not who you want them to be!
Overall, it was a wonderful meeting full of insightful information that we all can use! 

A HUGE thanks to all of the gracespring Pastors & their wives that spent their morning with us!





Sunday, March 10, 2013

February 28th Meeting

Our last meeting in February was a relaxed one, 
everyone spent time working on a fun message frame craft! 

We all had a choice between a black or brown 5 x 7 frame, 
with a dry erase marker attached to the back.


There were TONS of embellishments & paper for everyone
 to customize their frames & get creative.


Some girls mentioned that they were going to switch out the scrapbook paper background
each season, and others wanted to match a certain room decor..
each frame was very different & unique! 


Everyone had a good time crafting together!


Some important notes from our meeting:

  • Our MOPS group has grown! We now meet in a different larger room to accommodate all of us!

  • Steering has some open positions for next year, and there are also other areas in MOPS that you can volunteer to help with as well. Information & sign up sheets are available at each meeting, serving with MOPS is a very rewarding experience, please consider signing up!

  • Our spring Mom2Mom Sale is a go! We have started spreading the word & need all of you to please to help with this potentially wonderful fundraiser for our MOPS group! Tell your friends, family, etc..  & please offer to volunteer your time to help too! 
         Click here for our Facebook event page for info about the sale & how to sign up for a table!

  • Last, but certainly not least, Rachael Johnson gave birth at home on March 2nd to a beautiful little girl, Kathleen Elizabeth Johnson! Kathleen was born at 5:48 am, weighing 7lbs. 9oz. Congratulations to Rachael & her family! 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

January 24th Meeting

With the bad weather keeping almost half of our MOPS group away, those of us that did make it were entertained by our speaker, Tracey Solomon!

Tracey spoke to us on Missional Mothering a.k.a parenting.. where becoming a mom is like becoming a missionary. After nine months of fundraising, buying supplies & trip preparation, you land on a desert island where the natives (our children) are restless! (And so are you!)

Tracey stressed the importance of getting to know our children & engage in their lives.

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it"

Tracey says, "We mother missionally because we mother for a higher goal- to raise children who love God and others. We love as if our lives depend on it- because theirs do."

Tracey Solomon is actively involved with MOPS International, you can read more about her on her blog.

Missed this meeting's newsletter? You can find it here!

January 10th Meeting

It was so nice to get back to MOPS after the long holiday break!

Each discussion group took turns visiting a different speaker during our "3 Corners" meeting. 

Family Finances with Jamie Arledge:


Jamie talked to us about the importance of making a budget, 
and being frugal about the choices that we make for our families. 
She also shared the story of her own financial journey & answered our many questions! 

Here are some of the resources that Jamie recommended: 

Crown Financial Ministries- Great information on budgeting & debt reduction.
Dave Ramsey Online- Dave's website is excellent & has a great mortgage repayment calculator.
Miserly Moms- A great website with tips on budgeting from other moms!
Better Budgeting- Free worksheets, calculators, recipes & a helpful newsletter!

Meal Planning with Ida Wetters: 


Ida spoke to us about the importance of taking the time to plan out our weekly meals. She suggested to start by listing what we already cook into catergories.. beef, chicken, pork etc.. and then add in new recipes to try as well. Then make up a menu, choosing meals from the categories that you have made. 
She said that Pinterest is her go to place for new recipes to try. 

Ida also showed us the weekly menu planner that she had made to display her meals for the week. You can find a tutorial for that project here

Photography Tips with Cindy Corstange:


Cindy spoke to us about the importance of not being so critical with our picture taking, as she believes that just getting pictures of our family, even if they're not perfect, is what matters. 

She told us that the best pictures come when we least expect them, and if we must have a perfect shot, then to try to always use the light around us to highlight what we are taking a picture of. 

Cindy is a photojournalistic photographer who owns her own business, The Open Shutter Photography.