Rootstown MOPS

Well, ladies, I can't provide much of a recap for this meeting because... well... I wasn't there!  I had a sick preschooler that morning :-( so I had to miss.  I did, though, want to give you the link to this month's newsletter, so that you can be up on the latest happenings with our group!

If you missed the meeting but woud like to check out October's newsletter, just click here.

I'm sorry for taking a week to post the recap, but here I am!  Thanks to all of you who made it to last Sunday's meeting.  It was wonderful to have Elaine come and talk to us about organization.  And let me tell you, she is the one to learn from!  WOW, it sounds like she has a clean house!  :-)  So let's go over some of her tips...

• Start your day the night before.  Make a list of what needs to be done the next day, set your clothes out before you go to bed, etc.  (Elaine even says that if she's having company for dinner, she'll set the table the night before!)  This helps you to avoid stress in the morning, and it also allows you to see any problems ahead of time, like a button missing from your shirt!
• Use a timer.  Commit to working on a project (cleaning out a closet, folding laundry, etc) for 20 minutes, then set the timer.  You can use this as a challenge to yourself, to see how much you can get done before the timer goes off--it's a great motivator!
• Create a file box.  Elaine uses a file box with tabs for tasks that she does daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annually, and annually.  You can then use those files to create your daily to-do lists.  By keeping up on these files, your house won't get away from you--you can just maintain!  (Wouldn't that be GREAT????  I would LOVE to get to that point!)  Here are a few examples of the tasks in each section:
• Daily: Dishes, make bed, devotions
• Weekly: Vacuum, change sheets, clean bathrooms, take out trash
• Yearly: Change smoke detector batteries
• Use the 3-bag system.  Get out three BLACK trash bags (so that your husband, kids, and even YOU can't see through them) and mark one "Throw Away", one "Give Away", and one "Put Away".  Set a timer for 20 mintues and try to fill them up!
• Use the one-for-one system.  If something new comes into the house, something else needs to go out!
• "If we were going to move, would I want to move THAT?"  Elaine said that they recently thought they might be moving to California, and she really purged a lot of stuff that she didn't want to have to move cross-country.  This is not a bad way for us to think in general.  What would you be willing to pack, move, and unpack?  If it doesn't "make the cut", is it worth keeping?

Elaine also gave us some good ideas for cookbooks and household tip books:

• What do I do Now that Mom is Gone?  Written for college kids, this book has hints on everything from first aid to stain removal--anything you might want to call your mom to find out how to do!  :-)
• 365 Days of Meals  Every meal includes a main dish, side, and dessert
• Gooseberry Patch books.  A new Gooseberry Patch book comes out a couple of times per year, and Elaine swears by them!  :-)

Before leaving, Elaine also shared with us one of her favorite recipes.  They sound DELICIOUS, and I can't wait to make them!  Here's the recipe:

Buckeye Brownies

1 brownie mix (9x13 size)

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup + 6 tablespoons butter, softened

8 oz jar of creamy peanut butter

6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Make brownie mix according to package directions.  Let it cool.

2.  Mix powdered sugar and 1/2 cup of butter.  Spread over brownies.  Chill 1 hour.

3.  Melt chocolate chips and 6 tablespoons of butter.  Spread over brownies.

4.  ENJOY!  :-)

So there's the meeting in a nutshell!  Do you have any great organization tips, easy recipes, etc?  Please share them here!  Leave a comment!  :-)

Also, a few announcements:

• Craft-Mania 2 is on Saturday, May 2!  Please let me know if you are coming and if you have sold any tickets.  Also, we are looking for volunteers to provide some food.  Please check your e-mail for more info on this.
• Our final morning meeting is Tuesday, May 5.  This will be our brunch, and will include our kids and the childcare workers.  Please bring a dish to share.
• Our Moms' Night Out will be on Friday, May 15 at 7:00 PM.  Join us at Acapulco for a fun night out!
• Please, please, PLEASE fill out the online Evaluation Form.  Even if you only made it to one or two meetings all year, we really appreciate your feedback and input.  We would especially love to hear any suggestions you have for future meeting topics!  :-)

Tonight we had a panel of "Mentor Moms" come to address our group.  Three moms from varying stages of life and motherhood answered our questions and encouraged us as moms and women.  It was great!  I will admit that I was so into listening that I forgot to take notes at first...!  So the first two questions (and answers), I am going just from memory.  For the rest I am working off my notes.

The Panel:

Barb Miley - Barb has three daughters, all grown (One of them is Heidi! ), and three grandkids.

Tammy Spangler - Tammy has two children, a 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.

LeAnna Burdett - LeAnna's sons are 11 and almost 6.

The Questions & Some Highlights:

What advice do you have for moms with a new baby?

** Remember how fast these times are going to go.  Don't wish them away.  Enjoy them!

** Ask for help.

** Take time for yourself.

(And remember that helping each other is part of why MOPS is here!  Whether you have a new baby or a 3-year-old or anything else, we are here for you!  Call one of us and we would be happy to come hold your baby or watch your kid(s) or even just give you someone to talk to!)

What can we do to encourage our children's relationships with Christ?

** Make Christ a part of everyday life.  Let your children see you pray when you are frustrated, when you need help, etc.  Let them see you reading your Bible, being involved, making Christ a priority to you.

** Continuity.  Regular church attendance, regular prayer times, rules that are consistent with the Bible, things like that will develop habits and provide your children with consistency.

** Bring Christ into everyday situations. 

What can we do to develop our relationships with Christ?

** Take time for yourself, even if it's just a few minutes in the car by yourself.  Be creative!

** Accept the season that you're in.  Don't demand perfection!

** Serve where you can and remember that your children are your priority right now.

** Find friends who are encouragers!  :-)

What can we do to develop our marriage relationships?

** A lot of communication!

** Find time to spend together, even if it's just at home after the kids are in bed.

** Remember that your spouse was with you before the kids came and your spouse will be with you after the kids leave!  This relationship is a priority!

** In parenting (and so many other things!) lead from your strengths, and let your husband lead from his strengths.  You may find that he deals with different stages of life or types of situations than you do... so let him!

** Be a team.  Be consistent, and be supportive of each other to your children.

** Hold back criticism, especially on parenting.  Let him do things differently than you do.  Your children will survive! 

** Watch what you say about your spouse to your friends and parents.  You will get over your disagreements and frustrations, but they may not.  If you need to vent, vent to God. 

** Watch what you say to your children about your husband, too.  Remember that you are shaping their perception.

Also as we talked about marriage, the topic came up of teaching our children about marriage.  Here is what was shared on this:

** Remember that you are modeling love and marriage to your children.  They will learn what a husband is supposed to be like from watching their dad and what a wife is supposed to be like by watching you.

** Pray for your children's future spouses--and their families.

What can we do to develop our friendships?

** Mold friendships into your life.  Recognize that you are not going to have the uninterrupted time you had before kids!  Schedule play dates, have quick naptime talks, etc.

** Prioritize!  Remember that your children are your number one priority.

** Remember, again, that your friendships will look different now than they used to--and different than they will in a few years, when the kids are older.  Be patient. 

Again, those are just some of the highlights.  It was a great evening, and we appreciate all of the moms who came to experience it.  This is definitely something that we'll do again in the future!

And before you go, a few quick announcements:

• The Spaghetti Dinner will be held on Friday, February 20.  We will also have a craft & bake sale at the same time.  If you or someone you know is willing to donate some crafts or baked goods, please contact Julie Milhoff.
• We are planning a Valentine's Party for Thursday, February 12 at 9:30 AM.  Stay tuned for more details.
• Our next Moms' Night Out is scheduled for Friday, February 27.  We will be cooking dinner together--and for those who were there last year, you know how much fun this was!  The venue is TBA.  More details are coming!

Meeting:

Well, as those of you who came on Sunday already know, we didn't really have a meeting topic or discussion at this meeting.  We spent our time enjoying each other's company while doing the great craft that Jenna brought for us to do!  It was a fun evening or just getting to know each other and making beautiful ornaments.  :-)

Still, I wanted to share some thoughts with you all on starting traditions.  Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1.  Be Inclusive.  Make sure that the tradition fits the needs and personalities of everyone in your family.  If you have one quiet daughter and three rambunctious boys, a family tea party or trip to the Nutcracker ballet may not be as well-received as a family game of flag football.  You and your daughter can always be the cheerleaders or the official post-game-hot-chocolate-makers if you don't want to play!  (And believe me... I am not making any assumptions about daughters being quiet--I'm just giving an example!)

2. Be Flexible.  Not all attempts at starting a tradition are roaring successes.  It's imporant to be willing to laugh and let it go.  Also keep in mind that sometimes great traditions can come out of the biggest failures.  When I was small, my family always kept baby Jesus out of the Nativity scene until Christmas Eve night.  Well, one year my mom put him away so that my older brothers wouldn't play GI Joe with him in the meantime :-)... and then forgot where she put him!  It may have been one stressful Christmas Eve, but it turned into years of a great tradition: hiding baby Jesus on Christmas Eve and letting us find him and put him in the manger, where he belongs.

3. Let it Be.  Did you know that some traditions aren't even planned????  Yes, it's true--sometimes great traditions just happen.  Instead of stressing yourself out trying to come up with an idea that will last for generations to come, just relax and have fun with your family.  If a certain activity or event is a really big hit, plan to do it again next year.

4. Write it Down.  If you do try something that you want to do next year, jot it down in a journal that you keep somewhere special, like with your Christmas decorations.  Include the steps you needed to take to prepare, and even the highlights of that first time you tried it.  This may also be a good place to write down the things that you do NOT want to do again--they'll be great stories next year, and you may be able to laugh at them then if you can't now.  :-)  And you know what?  Your Christmas tradition journal may become a tradition in itself!

5. Keep it Simple.  Traditions are meant to enhance our holidays--this time of year is hectic enough without trying to force an elaborate, stressful plan on ourselves or our loved ones.  Try to keep new traditions simple: drinking hot chocolate before bed on Christmas Eve, making snow angels after the first big snow, taking cookies or homemade bread to a family in need.  Focus your efforts on doing something important, like spending a little extra time with your family, helping your community, or reminding others (and yourself) of the true reason for Christmas--the birth of Jesus Christ.

Announcements:

• Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes - Hopefully you have already had a chance to turn these in.  If not, you can call Heidi today (Thursday) and get your box(es) to her--she will be droppin them off tomorrow.  You can also take them directly to Logo's Bookstore in Kent, which is our drop-off location.
• Steering Team Changes - Yes, we have some more changes going on!  Candi Howes has asked to be relieved of the Finance position.  We are sorry to see her go, but very happy that she is still going to be part of our MOPS group.  We are also excited to announce that Julie Millhoff will be taking over as our Finance Team Leader; and Cathy Wilhelm is now our Hospitality Team Leader!
• Volunteering - We would love to have more moms involved in the daily operations of our group.  If you are interested in being part of a team--doing anything from helping to check kids into the nursery from time-to-time to helping plan our outings to putting posters up in banks, libraries, etc, or anything else--we would be happy to find a good fit for you!  Please contact Katy for a Leadership Questionnaire--it sounds scary, but it's really just a few questions that will help us to get to know you better and find the best fit for you.  (More information can be found at the Service Opportunities page.)
• Antiquities - A few questions have come up, and I want to make sure everyone is on the same page...
  --The incentive sheet can be a little confusing.  For each level, you get ALL of the sheets listed, but you are choosing from the number of poses listed next to that level.  (I'm not sure that helped to explain it.  Call Katy if you have a question about this...)
  --Your incentives are based off of the number of coupons that you sell, regardless of whether or not they come for their sitting.  So if you know someone who can't come for the photos, but still wants to make a $10 donation to our group, SELL THEM A TICKET!  You get the credit, MOPS gets $10, and they get the good feeling that comes with helping out a great organization.  ;-)
  --Make sure that you keep the bottom portion of the coupons that you sell, and that you get the customer's name and phone number.  We will be calling everyone on Dec. 1 & 2 to schedule appointments.
  --Please make sure that you let me know how many tickets you have sold by November 30.  Yes, we have a meeting on December 2, and you can bring them with you then; but I need our final count by the 30th so that I can call Antiquities and schedule our photographer.  Keep in mind that we need a minimum of 60 tickets sold, or we may have to reschedule the fundraiser.
  --For more information, check out the Fundraisers page.

That is everything that we covered on Sunday.  A few additional things have come up since then.  Please check the Home Page for more details.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcome to our blog!  This will be a space for us to recap the meetings for those who weren't able to attend.  Obviously today was not our first meeting, but I'm going to start here anyway.  :-)  In each blog entry I will give a recap of our lesson/discussion, and at the end I will list any announcements that were made and link to the details.

Meeting:

This morning we talked about Growth, the next chapter in our curriculum book, The Mommy Diaries: Finding Yourself in the Daily Adventure.  Growth is a logical follow-up to last month's topic of Identity, because if we ignore who we are, we cannot grow!

God has made motherhood a part of our identity, not to replace our identity.  He did not create us with big plans, only to have to scrap them when we became mothers.  He created us to be exactly who we are, and being moms is one part of that.  It is important that we continue to grow during motherhood, both in our mothering and in other areas of our lives.

Sometimes we grow through our successes--like when we stretch ourselves to do something new (with or without our children), even if it's outside of our comfort zone.  Sometimes we grow through our mistakes--like yelling a little too hard or too long at your child, and realizing that a new method of managing anger may be in order.  But when it comes to growth, the only failures happen when we refuse to learn from our experiences.

How do we grow?  I think that the number one foundation of growth is recognizing that we are not in control!  When we let go of the perception of a perfect mom, when we relax and try something new even if we feel silly, when we take a step of faith and leave it in God's Hands, it is so freeing!  And the growth in tremendous.  :-)

Here are some of the questions we discussed this morning:

1.    Share something about mothering you?ve changed your mind about since becoming a mom. What caused this change?

2.    Where have you experienced the most growth since becoming a mom?

3.    When was the last time you tried something new?

4.    ?I?m so not in control.? How does knowing this cause growth in your life?

Announcements:

We had a lot to cover this morning!  Here are the announcements...

• Steering Team Changes - We are under construction!  We are sad to say that Susan Forsyth and Bekah Billock have resigned their positions from our Steering Team.  Susan will be continuing with our MOPS group; Bekah has taken a long-term substitute teaching position and will no longer be able to be part of our group.  We are sorry to see them step down and thank them for their service to our organization.  We are also happy to announce that Candice Howes will be taking on the position of Finance Team Leader!
• Operation Christmas Child - Shoeboxes are due by our next meeting, Sunday, November 16.  Boxes may be delivered early to the church office.  Please visit our Service Opportunities page for more information.
• Antiquities - This morning we announced our fall fundraiser: Antiquities!  This is a really neat organization and a great fundraiser for our group!  For more details, please see the Fundraisers page.
• Pump It Up play date - Our next get-together will be on Monday, November 17.  We are meeting at Pump It Up, then going to Pizza Hut for lunch.  See the Calendar page for more information.
• Craft - Jenna will be doing a fall craft at our next meeting, and we may need you to bring in something from home... Stay tuned for more details!