November Meetings

Our fist meeting in November was a speaker, a local Christian counselor who talked to us about taking time to enjoy and love ourselves. As moms, we tend to put every bodies needs ahead of our own and in short, that makes us cranky and not a good parents. So we are going to work on that, right ladies? Our next meeting was a craft project, where we made fleece blankets and are donating them to the hospital for the Linus Project. Every child in need at the hospital is given a blanket to keep. I think we ended up with around 15 blankets to be donated in MOPS' honor. What a great philanthropic project. Thanks Debra for setting everything up.

MOPS Fellowship Dinner at Harbor

This was our service dinner at Harbor for this semester. Our Theme was "Country Cooking Makes you Good Looking". We had Bar-B-Q Chicken, Rice and steamed vegetables with several homemade dessert made by our Mops Moms. We decorated the tables with our craft pumpkins we made at MOPS that day and had out red and white checked table cloths, candles and wildflowers on each table. Also we had country music playing in the background. Thanks everyone who came to help and also those who donated a dessert. You will be blessed for your generosity.

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35

Pumpkin Craft from October 20th, 2010

Look how adorable all these little pumpkins turned out. Debra and Keely gave instructions and then once the moms got their pumpkins, glitter and glass beads, the creativity began to flow. Perfect accent for you dinning table or front porch. Thanks Girls. Great Idea. Also Shalissa volunteered to do our devotional today. How blessed we were to hear what was on her heart. A reminder that God is our parent and wants the best for us and to bring him our mess ups, just like we want our children to do with us. Thanks Shalissa.

Fall and Pumpkins always remind me of one of my favorite verses:

To Every Thing There is a Season - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Game Day - 5th Wednesday

Today was a "Bonus" MOPS meeting because it was a 5th Wednesday. It only happens a couple of times every semester. So we usually have a very informal, fun game day full of laughs and lots of food and coffee. We played some really silly games and did a fun ice breaker. Also Kathy did her first devotion today, short but very good about reminding us how to be a friend. Great Job Kathy, I know you were very nervous. Nice to have a relaxed meeting where we are not on such a tight schedule.
See all you girls on October 6th.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work." Ecclesiastes 4:9

2nd Meeting of Fall 2010

Our second meeting of September we had a local pediatric dentist for our speaker. Her name was Stephanie Heaney, D.D.S., P.A.. She has 2 girls of her own and gave us several tips on how much fun - and important- it is for brushing and flossing. Also she sent us home with new toothbrushes for the kids and sugar free gum. Thanks Dr. Heaney, we really enjoyed your talk and learned alot. Also our pastor at Harbor, Brother Donald Shields, came and gave a short introduction and welcome to our Mops Moms. He also prayed for us that God would bless our group and give us wisdom as we raise our children and reiterated the fact how important the MOPS time is in a child's life.

1st Meeting of Fall 2010

Wow what a great meeting. Many returning Mops Moms as well as 8 new faces. Praise God our group is growing.
We worked on our nametags for our first meeting and as you can see we have some pretty crafty ladies this semester.
"God has done great things for us and we are filled with JOY." Psalms 126:3

Mops Wednesday Night Dinner

Tonight was our MOPS Group's turn to serve dinner at Harbor. It is a ton of work, but very rewarding. There were several mom helpers that came early to set up. We had red and white checked tablecloths with candles and flower center pieces, along with Italian opera music for a little ambiance. As you can see from the photo there was Tonya, me, Kathy, Keely, Tracey and Amy. Also helping but not pictured was Mollie(our childcare worker didn't show up so she got stuck with most of the childcare duties, Thanks Mollie) Dee and Kristen were all a great help too. We served homemade lasagna, salad, toasted garlic bread and for dessert there was chocolate trifle, banana pudding and trays of brownies. Yum. Thanks Ladies, it was a huge success, every one raved about it.

"When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes." Isaiah 66:13-15

Magnet Craft

It was craft day today at MOPS. My favorite. We made small magnets for the refrigerator to hold up the abundant artwork and photos of our children. they were made from small glass disks about the size of a quarter. We decoupaged on stickers, pictures and/or patterned scrapbook paper (thanks Ms. Debbie for bringing all our supplies). Once they dried we glued super-strong disk magnets to the back. How simple.

"...to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship." Exodus 35:32-33

Womens Shelter Speaker

Today's meeting was a speaker from the local Women's and Children's Domestic Violence Shelter. The director spoke to us how their program worked and what we as moms and as a community could do to help. Several of the ladies brought towels and toiletry items to donate, as well as a large donation of baskets and assorted towels from the entire group. What a generous bunch of women we have in our MOPS group. You all will make such a difference in the lives of other women by your generosity. Thank you.

"They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness."
Psalm 145:6-8

Shelley's Going away Party

How sad. No words needed. We can't believe your gone. Miss you terribly. What a vital part of MOPS you were.
"Two are better than one,..." Ecclesiastes 4:8

Moms Night Out

We were there, where were you? We had seven moms come to Moms Night Out at The Little Dipper. We had a blast and extremely good food. There were assorted cheeses, vegetables, bread, CHOCOLATE, Brownies, rice crispies, pretzels and such for dipping. Thanks Tobi, for making the reservations. Good Choice. All those that attended were, Tobi, Nancy, Keely, Kristen, Melissa, Kathy and me. Thanks for the laughs girls, can't wait until the next night out! What a great group of gals. I thank God everyday that you all are there for support, encouragement, laughter and love.
"After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before." Job 42:9-11

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

This week was a speaker and boy was she on fire for saving money with a coupon. Her name is Kim Oakley and she is Leslie's Aunt. We can only hope to be as good a steward with our money and time as she is with hers. We really appreciate her traveling here to Wilmington to share with us all that she has learned. She also had brought lots of coupons for us to use and answered a lot of the moms questions. Thanks so much for your time Ms. Kim, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
"Each one should use whatever gifts he has received, to serve others faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

Ribbon Key Chains

This was a craft week - my favorite weeks are always craft weeks. I enjoy the speakers, but I love the crafts. We made adorable key chains with ribbons, buttons and other embellishments. How cute did they turn out? We each got to make two. One to keep and one to gift to someone else, but I suspect most moms will keep both.
"Each man's sacred gifts are his own..." Numbers 5:9

How Romantic

Our speaker for MOPS this week was Harbor's Associate Pastor Charlie and his adorable wife, Ms. Rita. They have been married for 60 years! Wow. They talked about good and bad times, raising 5 kids, retiring, and retiring again, (and again). Getting your relationship in order with Jesus and then your spouse. What great, funny advise they gave to us and faithful words of scripture to apply to our lives and relationships. They are truly an inspiration to many of our MOPS moms and we are hopefully better wives and mothers after hearing them speak. What true joy they get from one another and God. I hope we can all be as blessed.
Also there was a wonderful devotion from our mentor mom, Ms. Sue, about letting others see Christ in us and that God can provide all that we need.

"But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Shake it Baby, Shake it

Wow, what a fun meeting we had today. We had some discussion questions from our mops book, a devotion and prayer time and then our lively speaker. It was the owner and two of the lead instructors from Flow Fitness. They gave several demonstrations of different classes that they offer. All the moms participated (well, most), some did better than others. It was a great time of laughter, music and dancing. It just goes to show you, exercise can be fun.
"A sweet friendship refreshes the soul." Proverbs 27:9

Wedding at Harbor

This past weekend, MOPS, catered a wedding. The only food that we did not have to do was the cake. Debra B. was our go-to-girl as wedding food coordinator. She did a fabulous job. Thanks so much Debra. It was a lot of work, but turned out so beautiful. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves, the food was great, the bride was beautiful and the church was gorgeous too. Such a wonderful celebration of love.
"God has poured out his love into our hearts." Romans 5:5

Beaded Bookmarks and New Years Resolutions

What a fun, creative craft we made today at MOPS. Bookmarks made from (very) tiny beads strung on wire. We started with large to medium beads at the top of the bookmark filled the middle with small seed beads and finished the ends with more medium to large beads and a charm. How very cute they turned out. Also we played a fun game about finding out who did what for the holidays and made a few New Years Resolutions that we sealed in an envelope and not to be reopened until December '10. I will be interested to see how many will still be working on their goals and who will have already reached them by that time. We will see. Happy New Year MOPS Moms. I thank God for all of you and am praying that your New Year is blessed in every way.
"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11