Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This past Wednesday, the MOPS Moms met and had a themed celebration in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. We watched one of the MOPS curriculum videos and learned about the circles that influence our mothering.

Circle (noun): the people and networks who share in shaping your family environment


The acquaintances in our life include, but are not limited to, doctors, grocery clerk, pharmacist, neighbors, service providers, online forum members, and childcare providers at the gym. These people influence how we mother, and they help with the choices we must choose for our children and family, from what medicine to give our sick toddler to what groceries we put on the table.

We learned that it is very important to have friends in our middle circle, girlfriends we can call on when needed. They laugh with us, cry with us, and love us. Girlfriends help watch our children, clean your house when you are sick, and bring food when there is a sickness or surgery in the house. Girlfriends bless us and our families.
The most inner circle is our immediate family. This includes our children and husband (or parenting partner). Our husband (or parenting partner) helps with the day to day decisions that we make involving our children and their lives. They can help us spiritually as well, by praying for our children and modeling what a strong walk with the Lord looks like.

A circle that the MOPS curriculum forgot to add, but was brought to our attention by our Mentor Mom Leah, would be the core of our circles, our relationship with Jesus. Jesus is our best friend; He is always listening, always there. When we have a strong relationship with Jesus, our other relationships (circles) can be stronger than we ever imagined.

All of these relationships take time. We must invest in them. For some, we must force ourselves to step out of our comfort zone and take a risk on a friendship. For others, the task of making friends comes easy. Regardless of which group you are in, always remember that you must work on relationships, you must take the time and effort to make them work.

Our Momology book references 1 Corinthians 13, “This poetic description of love illustrates the actions and attitudes for not only a healthy marriage, but every relationship within our circle.”

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
~1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NIV)

I find it amazing that my devotional today from The Women of Faith Daily Devotional was on friendship (actually the whole month is!) but today’s was on building deep relationships with some friends. The reading was based on Proverbs 18:24 “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

“The kitchen of our souls is that place where we store the memories of life experiences that have shaped us into who we are.” ~ Carol Kaykendall, Kitchen Stories, MomSense, March/April 2011

Some verses for you to explore deeper:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Matthew 7:16
Psalm 68:6
Zecheriah 8:16
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Proverbs 17:7
Psalm 38:11 (NASB)
1 Samuel 20:42
Psalm 133:1 (NASB)
1 Corinthians 13:1
Colossians 3:14
Proverbs 17:7
Ecclesiastes 4:11
Proverbs 27:9
2 Timothy 2:19

Finances and Budgets

We had a wonderful meeting this past Wednesday.

Our Mentor Mom, Leah, shared with us the importance of Praying for our children. Some verses she shared are John 16:23-24, James 4:3, and 1 John 5:14-15. There are important aspects of prayer and our children.

One~ we are to pray with them. You can never start to early when including your children in your prayer time. Some simple ways to include them are meal times. Give thanks for the meal and all God has given you, and include 1-2 short empathy prayers. (Leah reminded us never to pray long enough that your food gets cold :)!) Another great time to include your children is at bedtime. this is where you can spend more time praying over the concerns of yourself and others. Pray about bad dreams, fears your children have, those that may be sick or struggling. Also spend time reading the Bible with your kids. A great Bible to look into is The Taylor Bible (it is no longer in print, but you can search for a used copy). It is written in a way children will understand.

Two~ we are to pray for our children. You can start this before you even conceive, or after you do. Pray for their future spouses, their lives, their health, their salvation. Pray out loud so your children hear you praying for them. Prayer can sometimes be our only defense as a parent. A very scary prayer that we sometimes need to use as a parent is "whatever it takes".

When praying for or with our children always remember to pray in God's will.

Leah gave us 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Children by Bob Hostetler and suggested that we put this somewhere we would see it daily and then speak out loud these prayers for our children.

Where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20)

We then had Julie Munyan from Eliot Baptist Church talk to us about budgeting and finances. Did you know that God talks about $ about 200 times in the Bible? Some verses that Julie shared with us were 1 Timothy 6:6-8, Mark 12:41-42, Proverbs 21:20, and Proverbs 22:7. We need to give with our whole hearts and do it willingly and happily. If we aren't giving this way, then we shouldn't give! We need to fully lean on God with our finances. Julie shared some wonderful tips about how to eliminate our debt and gave each of us a wonderful packet with a budget sheet, ideas on how to create a budget, and much more. If you missed our meeting let Jenny know and we can work on getting you a packet. A very good resource for finances is http://www.crown.org/ and http://www.daveramsey.com/eramsey.com/.

Our next meeting is March 16, 2010 at 9:30am. We are in desperate need of MOPPET workers. If you know someone who can volunteer every other Wednesday from 9:30- 11:45 or even once a month or as a substitute, please contact Becca Bannon or Carrie Terry. Without our MOPPET workers we are unable to have our MOPs meetings! Our workers are such a blessing to our MOPs Moms and we are so thankful for them!

Check out the MOPS website.

Pie Making

After over a month of bad weather and storms, we were finally able to meet once again! With the need to reconnect with one another, it was decided that instead of the regular structured meeting, the moms would make and bake pies! There was lots of peeling, slicing, kneeding, crimping and mixing going on with apple, cherry and chocolate pies being made. It was a great time to see one another and relax to the yummy smell of pies cooking in the oven!

This coming meeting, March 2 @ 9:30 am, we will have a guest speaker talking to us about budgeting and frugality. So please join us, and if you are able to bring a food dish to share or a snack for the Moppets!

Mom-processing (noun): decision making based on information from multiple sources

(Momology by Shelly Radic)

MOPS is Cancelled Today

Unfortunately, the ice means Dover schools are delayed 2 hours today, so we won't be meeting this morning. I will miss seeing everyone! Be careful on the ice if you have to go out, and we'll meet again on February 2.

Cozy Winter MOPS Meetings

It's wonderful to be able to encourage and hold each other up through difficult situations and seasons. Last week we had a smaller group than usual, but we enjoyed some great conversation. We missed those who were sick, and we hope everyone is feeling 100% next week! If you have been thinking of joining us, go ahead and brave the cold, get the kids out of the house, and come join us on January 19th!