Thankful

We've been spending this week with my husband's family. It has been a tremendous week with them. LOTS of family time and our little girl making quality memories with her grandparents in Memphis, TN. It's been a lot of fun.

I'm sitting here just pondering the many things that I'm thankful for. The list is quite long, but just a few to share with y'all........the new silly faces that my little girl is making these days, exciting news that two friends are pregnant, my supportive and loving family, and most of all, the fact that God loved me enough to send His precious Son to die for me.

Reading "God Greatest Gift" (little book from craft time last meeting) to my sweet pea has really kept my perspective on what God did to save me. It's still quite astounding that He came to earth in the form of a baby.

I'm truly thankful.

November 18 Recap

We continued on our topic of Help, but with a little twist.  Help Yourself: Get Organized.

With the Holidays upon us, it's easy to feel overwhelmed with the added responsibilities (including, but not limited to): preparing for guests, really cleaning house, cooking large family meal(s), decorating for the holidays as well as shopping and wrapping gifts.

Our meeting started off with Mommy Olympics: Shopping and Wrapping Race.  With each table responsible for purchasing and wrapping 4 gifts, you girls were moving quickly through the room.  Although there was a tape malfunction, the Excited Explorers pulled off a "victory".  The truly positive thing from this event is that all toys will be donated to families that are needing some help with gifts.  The funny thing is that most of the gifts will be RE-wrapped...well, because the wrapping was done a little too much in hurry. :)

Craft time flew by really fast as hands were busy making a paper-bag-storybook of Jesus' Birth.  I know that all of you didn't finish during the 30 minutes, but with each of you having a set of the directions, I hope that you will complete it!  My little girl and I have read it before each nap time and bedtime.  She LOVES the pull out, so I encourage you to finish it ASAP!

Mary Reddit, bless her heart, is passionate about Cut the Clutter!  By identifying what "clutter type" you are, you are able to make changes to help yourself get organized.  And, by using the Q.U.I.C.K method, you can (hopefully) stay that way.  The point that Mary made that stood out the most to me was when she made reference to the fact that the clutter takes away our focus from the truly important things in life: building friendships, loving on our kids, caring for our family, creating a safe-cozy-haven of a home.  I couldn't agree more....when my home is a wreck, usually I'm stressed and unable to be lovable towards my family.  As piles of paperwork get higher, so does my blood pressure.  I also liked Mary's comment about involving the whole family by doing a relaxing activity together and then tacking an organization project together.  With our preschoolers, that might be a challenge, but even my little girl brightens up as I praise her for putting all of her toys in the toy chest!

You girls really cleared the room and headed to your discussion groups.  I sure hope that you enjoyed talking openly about your clutter personality and getting some ideas from one another.

We closed our meeting with announcements:

• Bring your piggy banks/spare change containers back to the meeting on December 2. (Remember, we are collecting the spare change for the local Teen MOPS Group's Christmas presents).
  
• NEXT MEETING: December 2 - MOPS at Real Life Special Christmas Brunch.  It's a special event that we are having catered and there is a $5 Mug with a Treat Exchange.  All details are in the E-vite.  Please respond with a "yes" or "no" to the E-vite.  If you have not received an E-vite, please email mopsatreallife (at) yahoo (dot) com, and you will be quickly added to the invite list. :)
  
• Operation Christmas Child deadline is November 23rd.  Bring your completed shoe box to the Information Station at Real Life.
  
• Don't forget to register for MOPS Int'l...if you haven't already. :)
  
• - Family Portrait Raffle will be drawn on January 20.  To enter to win a free family portrait shoot, you need to sign up and bring a dish to share at a MOPS meeting.
  

Have a great week, Ladies!

We 

Visit to the Nursing Home

Thank you to the 7 moms and 9 kids that came to the nursing home to love on the residents. The residents had a pretty busy morning between a local church sharing songs and a sermon and then our group keeping their eyes occupied while they looked at our kiddos. Several of them were able to communicate, so it was fun for them to talk with the moms as well as the kids. I talked with the Activities Director, and he was very appreciative of our willingness to come and bring our kids. I heard him ask several of the women, "How many [kids] did you have?", which spurred on more conversations. The Thanksgiving cards were very sweet for the kids to hand out. There were some shy little girls in our group, but they quickly found something in common with one resident. She had a swaddled baby doll in her lap. :) Too cute.

We have a couple more visits scheduled in the spring. One in February and another one in April. We'll bring cards again and maybe a flower for them...but no food or candy...hopefully our kids can make the visit extra sweet!

Artistic Expressions!?

Jennifer C. sent this over -

I thought I'd pass this website on to you. I was just told recently that she has great tips for getting stains out, cleaning, crayons on walls...I attached one paragraph below for your information. :) Check it out!

http://www.heloise.com/index.html

Crayon on Walls
If your artistic child has shown his talent on painted walls or wallpaper, here’s how to get it off: Dry cleaning solvent, available at drug or shoe stores. Pour a bit on a terry cloth towel to safely remove crayon from almost any (except antique wallpaper) surface.

$5 Admission to Cypress Gardens

FYI: Cypress Gardens is lowering their admission price to $5 on Sunday, November 9. The weather looks great! Have a blast!

November 4 Recap

The month of November is dedicated to exploring the topic of Help.

We started the meeting with a cute Mommy Mad Libs story and each of the tables had a laugh..or five. The we moved into our Creative Activity. I'm not going to down play what happened...we made 7 lasagnas, 7 broccoli/cheese casseroles, 7 creamy cornbreads, and 7 chocolate pies. We accomplished 7 complete meals in less than 30 minutes. It was so much fun! The meals were divided between Haley's House (a home for 1st time moms that need some support and encouragement), New Beginnings (a half-way house for men to get back on their feet), and one of our MOPS at Real Life moms that most recently had a baby. Thank you to all of the Steering Members that made this activity a success.

The MOPS video we watched seemed to touch a cord with each of the moms. Julie (on the video) was quite candid with her own struggle of when she needed help. Discussion groups were challenged to be honest and real, and take a little risk being vulnerable with one another. The group I attended shared "I am a mess of magnificent proportions when....". Each of us filled in the blank. It was kinda tough to admit (for myself and in front of others), but it was real...and true...and needed. Thank you, discussion group leaders, for facilitating some growth and depth for our MOPS at Real Life group.

The announcements from the meeting are as follows:
- Next meeting: Tuesday, November 18
- MOPS heads to Westminster Nursing Home on 11/11 at 11am. We'll be handing out Thanksgiving cards to 20 residents. Meet at the nursing home lobby at 11am to love on some of the residents.
- Real Life Kids (where our kids are cared for during the meetings) is collecting canned goods. Feel free to bring some to our next meeting.
- Operation Christmas Child deadline is November 24.
- MOPS Int'l Membership is $23.95. See Kelly for further details.
- Did you bring food to the meeting? We'll be doing a Family Portrait Raffle on December 2. One entry per mom, per meeting.