September Meeting

We got a great start to our new MOPS year with our September meeting. There was lots of great food to enjoy and many new friends were made. We learned a lot about our steering committee through their great giveaways of their favorite items. Although caffeine products were pretty popular (e.g. chocolate, soda, coffee), by far the most popular favorite items among our moms seem to be centered around cleaning - whether it be Sally's soap, Cindy's toilet bowl cleaner, or any of the other many items given away obviously life here on Planet Mom requires a lot of work! We got to know many new members in our discussion groups and later enjoyed making some nice tote bags. Meanwhile our children had lots of fun as well in MOPPETS playing together, singing, hearing stories, etc. As usual, time flies when you are having fun and all too soon it was time to blast off again on our incredible journey here on Planet Mom!

A New Year, A New Blog!

It's that time of year again, the time when kids go back to school, temperatures begin to fall, and we excitedly start planning for the holidays. It's also time for MOPS to start back up again!

We are looking forward to another great year in MOPS. Whether you are new to MOPS or coming back for another year, you are sure to enjoy the fun and fellowship that make MOPS such an uplifting experience. We look forward to welcoming many new members to our MOPS family this year. We hope you all not only enjoy yourself and make new friends but also that you are able to feel refreshed by the experience of meeting with other moms together here on "Planet Mom" as we journey through the challenges of raising our little ones. More importantly, we hope you feel revived through the love of Jesus Christ and gain strength and encouragement to make it through the often stressful and tiring days of motherhood.

With this new year comes a new blog. We hope to make the blog interesting and informative, and we welcome any ideas you may have. In addition to updating it after MOPS meetings and playdates, we hope to include other fun things as well, e.g. favorite recipes, craft ideas, uplifting scripture/devotionals, etc. If you have anything you'd like to share with the group, please feel free to let us know. We'll give more details on how to contact us at the first meeting which will be held on Thursday, September 10. Childcare sign-in will begin at 9:00am.

We look forward to seeing you soon!!!

Playdate at Alcoa Fire Department

March MOPS

Hope everyone enjoyed the meeting this month.  I was unable to get a handout from the speaker but, I learned some valuable information and realized that I actually do a few things right.  However, we are going to have to reconsider the counting thing.  

Next month, our speaker is gong to be Nancy Twigg.  She will be talking about cost saving ideas.  Something, I am sure we can all use at this time.  

Below are just a few friendly reminders:

March 20 - Hobby Night at EMBC - 7:00

March 25 - Playdate at Foothills Gymnastics 10:30 - 11:30

March 27 - 28 - EMBC Consignment Sale  9:00 - 1:00

April 6 - Easter Egg Coloring at EMBC pavilion 10:30

April 21 - Mom's Night Out at Courtyard Grill 6:30

April 24 - 25 - Overflow at EMBC

June 15 - 19 - VBS 9:00 - 12:00

Hope this information is helpful to you.  Hope you are all having a great month.  Looking forward to seeing you in April!!!

Living BLESSED, Instead of STRESSED

MOPS Meeting

January 8

Speaker:  Sharon Hoffman

What an amazing meeting we had!!  I hope each of you left feeling BLESSED!!!

B - Bring your burden to the Lord.

Matthew 6:25-32

We must make a decision to live blessed (We need to focus on the blessings and praying for those in our life..... remember Sharon's ex. of her prayer notebook).

L - Love God and Love Your Family

Love them WELL - like God loves them.  God loves on us every day IF read His Word.

Isaiah 43

We cannot give out anything we don't have in us.

E - Encouragement

There are days when your child (or husband) will only get encouragement from you.

Live blessed, spew positivity, not negativity (what spews our when our family comes in the door?)

Ex - Remember the water bottle example - What goes in, must come out.  If we are not daily filling ourselves with the Word, we are not filing ourselves up with anything to spill out!

S - Sweet Speech

The tongue can be a fire.

Matthew 12:34 "Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks"

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it WAS destroyed in a day!

Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

S - Sizzle

Don't let your marriage fizzle.

The four A's

Accept

Admire

Adapt

Appreciate

The four A's are key!

It's my job to make my husband happy, it's GOD's job to make him holy.

E - Each other

We need each other.

D - Devotion to God

Other Mom's in Skit

Post Lunch:  Rebecca Tatum

Late Mom:  Mindy Lewis

Thursday, October 16

When you were a little girl, do you remember what you thought being a mom was going to be... Hopefully, this mornings MOPS meeting gave you a smile as thinking about all the reality of the 'adventures' that motherhood has brought into your life!

A big thank you to the girls who so graciously and bravely volunteered to help out in the skit this morning...

June Cleaver:  Angela Chaffin

Blue Plate Special:  Jodi Lomardo

New Mom:  Laura Hall

Taxi Mom:  Jodi Clark

Midnight Mom:  Cindy Casto

(Look for the rest of the moms on the next post.)

I love the creativity and fun you girls brought into our meeting this morning!  I know I have modeled many of those outfits myself... (well, maybe not the June Cleaver outfit!)  Not pictured is Tamara Miller.

I also loved our speaker, Ronda Paulson, she really really presented the 'reality' of motherhood in a dynamic way!  I appreciate Tamara Miller so much for linking her to us!!  As noted in our newsletter, she will be at a conference hosted by First Christian Church in January

Another big thank you to Faith's discussion group for bringing food... for Denise Atchely and Lisa Wilder for helping out in MOPPETS... and for all of you for being there!  Thanks for supporting this ministry.  I am excited that each of you came to MOPS this week... and for those of you missed out meeting... Hope you'll be there in November.