Baby News!!!!!!!!!!

image by: coconino.az.gov

Tracy Lawlor had Little Hal on the 19th at 12:39pm.
He weighed 8.15 and is 21.5 inches long.
Baby and MOM are doing great!!

Nicole Russell gave birth to Jordyn Celeste on Dec. 17th at 11:30 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long! Both are doing great!

What an awesome Christmas present!

Congrats from your family at
MOPS at Real Life!

Meeting Re-cap Dec. 15th-- Craft Day!

Crafts with Kids!!!!

I hope you were able to come out and make some fun christmas crafts with your kiddos! We had several different crafts for the kids and moms to make! We saw some pretty unique ones being born out of awesome imaginations too! BIG thanks to our Craft Ladies for putting this together! Thanks to our MOPPET workers that helped out too!
We also had a great selection of christmas cookies to eat and milk to drink! If you aren't in the Christmas spirit by now... well... I hope you are! :o)
Here are some pics from the event:

In closing:
One of our dear MOPPETS workers wanted us to share a special Christmas Blessing with you via a christmas card she gave us to share! In it is Luke 2:1-7
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register.

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

She writes to ALL MOPS MOMS:
"The Savior of the the world has come. Rejoice and be glad! Hope you have a blessed Christmas. Thank you for letting me watch your precious child. It has truly been my joy! Merry Christmas, In His Love, Vicki Rector and Family"

Thanks back to you Ms Vicki and ALL our MOPPET workers who are so dedicated and faithful to our children! Have a Merry Christmas!!!! We so appreciate and love you all!

Compassion for Christmas!

Hi Ladies! This is a guest post from Jeri Stone, a Mentor Mom for the FUMC MOPS group in the area. She's an ambassador for Compassion International and wanted to share some information with us about the Child Survival Program. MOPS International supports Compassion as well, and it is such a SOLID organization that feeds, clothes, schools, and shelters struggling children and shows them the love of Jesus in their everyday life. Compassion gives these children a true shot at not just living, but thriving in their surroundings. My husband and I have sponsored Kennedy Wafula for over 4 years...check out the links below!! ~ Amanda

MEANINGFUL FAMILY CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA

There's no greater gift than the life of a child! Yet too many children enter the world sickly and malnourished. Every year nearly 10 million children die from preventable causes before they reach their fifth birthday. Often they're not even given names, because they'll only live just a fraction of that time.

To combat this horrendous problem, Compassion International's Child Survival Program works with expectant mothers and their babies in the most impoverished areas of our globe. The program supports and feeds malnourished children, while training mothers to sustain the growth and development of their little ones.

It provides prenatal care and basic nutrition for the expectant mothers. Later it ensures health care for both mother and child : treatment of infections and diseases, and regular health check-ups. It also teaches moms by giving them infant survival training and stimulation techniques for mental, emotional and social development. Caregivers are given the opportunity to learn to read and write and develop a trade skill to help them provide for their families. All these benefits are delivered through a local church in a developing country, because it knows where the greatest needs in the community lie. In addition, the church wants to show these mothers and children that God loves them.

You can help too! You can help save these little ones for their desperate, heartbroken moms! What better "love gift " for Christ at this most holy season of His birth! If you'd like to make a special gift from your family this Christmas or New Year to Compassion's Child Survival Program please call Jeri Stone at 352-243-1479 or 616-437-5460 or head over to http://rescuebabiesnow.org/ for more information

Friday Fun!

Best Christmas decoration EVER!! or is it MY house?
Have a great weekend!!
See you Tues. for Crafts with Kids!!

Dec. 1st Meeting re-cap!!

CHRISTMAS BRUNCH!!

Today was our Christmas brunch!!
We started off with a cute little creative activity! We took ordinary business envelopes and made little gift bags out of them! We added some candy and VIOLA!!!!! Great little Christmas party favors!! We made little ones , but you can use any envelope for any variation! You can find some ideas and instructions here!!

After our creative activity, the steering team put on their "unique" version of a "live" nativity and serenaded us with "Away in the Manger" and "We wish you a merry Christmas!" From the child character blankets to the burger King crowns, they put on a fine show!! :o) For your viewing pleasure:
Our Ice Breaker game today was build a nativity picture from stickers! It was a race and each piece was in a different envelope! Congrats to the WOOD table for pulling out the victory!!

Today we had the privilege of welcoming our guest speaker, Jodi Vermass. She spoke powerful truth about "WHAT LIES MOMS BELIEVE" and then offered the truth that sets us free from those lies!

She outlines it below for us to come back to and reference when we feel we need some truth!

I have to be the perfect mother

2 Cor. 12:9-10 But he said to me, " My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. " Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

When things calm down, I will prioritize God
Psalm 37:3-6 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

God needs to fix my life
I Thess. 5:23-24 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
John 14:1-4 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
People are more important than God
Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I need a break from my life
Galations 6:7-8 Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life.
I Cor. 10:13 And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Great words!!!
We look forward to seeing you on Dec. 15th for our "Crafts with Kids" day! We will meet in the MPR room. Look for the EVITE in your inbox and RSVP so that our Craft ladies can have enough crafts for everyone !! (AND don't forget to bring some cookies to share!! :o)

We truly hope your holiday season is blessed beyond your wildest imagination!!
See you next meeting!

Baby News!!

LaShun Dosumu had her baby this past weekend!
Dashel Carter-Ayobami weighs 7lbs 9 oz and mom and baby are doing great!

Congrats from your family at

Thanksgiving thoughts !!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

As we meet with our families, eat our turkey, and enjoy our pumpkin pie this thanksgiving... lets focus on

What is abundantly flowing from your heart--  Along with some practical ways you can help your child show thankfulness!!

So often parents think their children are too young to understand what they are taught. If the most formidable years are the first few years of life, why do parents think this way? You are your child’s first and most-effective teacher in life. Play that to your advantage! If you want your children to be thankful outside of your home, you must teach them to be thankful within your four walls.

Here are just a few of the ways I try to teach my daughter, almost 3 ½, to be thankful:

1. We thank Jesus for the day.
It doesn’t have to be daily, but here are two examples of how to make this part of your normal conversation: When the temperature cools down I’ll tell her, “Cadence, the Lord blessed us with a beautiful day, didn’t he?” Or when rain comes after a much-needed dry spell I’ll say to her, “We need to thank Jesus for sending the rain – our plants sure needed it!”

2. We talk about how the Lord has blessed Daddy with a great job & one that allows me to stay at home with her.
I cannot stress enough the importance of teaching your children that your husband’s job is a blessing – not a curse, even if he works more than you’d like him to. Your children pick up so quickly on your attitude about your husband’s job, and they will follow your lead of being thankful for it or despising it. Remember, your view & attitude about your husband’s job is also teaching your child about how she should view her job (or her husband’s job) when she becomes an adult. It also teaches her about work ethic & responsibility. So stress the positive things about your husband’s job; after all, nowadays we should all be thankful if our husband does have a job, especially one that allows us to stay at home with our children.

3. Teach your child to say “Please” and “Thank you”, even if you have to solicit it.
Sure, it’s uncomfortable to take your child to Chick-fil-A and at the end of the meal ask, “Now what do you say to Mommy for taking you out to lunch?” But if you want your child to learn to say it at all, especially when you aren’t around, you have to start with expecting your child to say it to you. Trust me, your heart will completely melt when your child starts saying it to you without being prompted! And when you hear your child say it to someone else without being prompted, your heart will soar!

4. Send thank-you cards.
For the most part, people really do like being thanked for doing something nice for someone. Everyone enjoys a pat on the back and acknowledgment for their good deeds. This may seem like an old-school practice to you, but if you want your children to be thankful, it’s a must. Even a two-year-old can “sign” her name to a hand-written card that you write “from” her. When they’re young, write thank you notes from them, and do it in their presence. You have to tell your child what you’re doing in order for her to learn that “it’s just what we do”. Once your child does start writing, or becoming more interested in it, she will take much pride in signing her name to the card. You can ask her what she’d like to say and write it down. Or have her draw/write something & tell you what it says; then you write the “interpretation” under her art/words. Remember to write thank you cards yourself, as well!

5. “Practice what you preach.”
I don’t know how much I really believe that “actions speak louder than words”…when it comes to being thankful and teaching our children to be thankful, our actions and words are synonymous I think. When you live your life speaking and showing your thankfulness for what you have, what others do for you and how others treat you, and doing so in times of crisis or blessing, you are teaching those principles to your children. When you complain, aren’t quick to say thank you, and don’t acknowledge God or the giver for the things you have and are blessed with, then you are sending a very strong & negative message to your children. Remember that your children will say and do exactly what you say and do… so what exactly do you want that to sound & look like?

I close with two scriptures that come to my mind: (from the NIV version)
The Bible tells us in Luke 12:48, “…From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” This scripture reminds me that the Lord indeed blesses us, and if we are blessed with much, then more is expected from us. I think gratitude falls into that category. How can you ask God to continue to bless you when you don’t bless him and thank Him for what He’s already given you and done for you?


And Romans 13:7 (NIV) instructs us to “Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
I cannot think of any instruction more important to follow than that which comes from the scripture itself. If someone does something nice for you, is generous toward you, says a kind or thoughtful word, etc., then isn’t it appropriate to give him the honor (thankfulness, gratitude…) he is due? My response is most certainly “YES!”

I want to be a thankful person, and I want my children to be likewise for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45) … What is truly coming from your heart, and what would you like to come forth from your child’s heart?

We want to thank TRACY LAWLOR for sharing her thanksgiving thoughts with us!!   We wish you all a fabulous Thanksgiving!  We have a lot to be thankful for! Many Blessings,
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