Thankful

I have come away so encouraged from MOPS  lately.  I'm excited to see what God is doing, how he is growing me through new relationships and boundaries, and giving me the opportunity to serve is amazing!  

I am excited to announce that we have a guest blogger joining us soon from Albuquerque, NM who just happens to be my one and only sister, Rebekah.  God has put this Godly woman into my life as a sister, encourager, confidant and friend.  She has 3 children and a lot of wisdom to share and just happens to be on steering for her MOPS group.  I am going to be featuring an article written by her for some encouragement for you ladies!  More to come, please stay tuned!


That time of year is upon us--wait a second, didn't we JUST finish Halloween? It doesn't even seem like it's all about fall anymore, but all about Christmas already all around us. Pretty much every store I go into my 2 year old pulls on my sleeve while pointing his chubby finger and there is no quieting him as he yells in his high pitched voice "CHRISTMAS MOMMY!  LOOK!  CHRISTMAS!"  I am so excited this year to share the true story of Christmas with my son.  Also in a future post, I will be giving ideas for cute advent calendars.  I'm making mine this week and I'm so excited about it.  All of our MOPS kids are at a prime age for explaining why we celebrate. They soak things up like a sponge.  For now, lets focus on Thanksgiving!

I am so very very thankful to God for giving me the new relationships that I have made.  I have been stretched beyond what I thought I would be to relate to women who are not exactly in the same exact situations as me.  Stepping out into steering was intimidating at first, but very quickly, God has allowed me to pour into other's lives and I am thankful that He has done that!  I am thankful for a group of moms that understand and sympathize with me when I am having a rough day.  Where else can you go to be with a group of ladies for 2 hours and discuss why your clothes smell like mildew, why your house is a mess, how your week has been, how to potty train, and what are you cooking for dinner that night?  It's so encouraging and for THAT I am thankful.  What are you thankful for about mops?  

I have a GREAT example of how you can plunge into relationships this year!  My husband is deployed. We have been married almost 8 years and literally have spent 2 Thanksgivings together.  This year, one of my table members invited me and my son over to her house to spend the day with her for Thanksgiving. I just got such a warm feeling inside, it was great.  Christian love at it's finest. This is what mops is all about.  Just a challenge going out to you ladies to think about possibly opening your home to a lady that doesn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving.  You won't regret it, I promise!  

Relationships and Refreshing!

It's time for a blog post other than just recapping our meeting.  We ladies here on steering had 2 really great meetings this week and covered a LOT on how we can better serve all of you, how we can grow as Christians through our motherhood journeys, and talked about informational things as well. 

To get the info out of the way:

Later this week, I will be posting in the new events section about 2 opportunities we have:  BETH MORE and the MOM CONNECTION BOOK.  Please look for these later

*Allergy info!!!!-  So far this year, there has only been 1 mom come out to tell us that their child has an allergy.  PLEASE if there are more children, you need to let us know.  The confusion about the milk allergy from last week is being sorted out currently.  If your child has an allergy steering team members will be around with allergy stickers and they will will also be on the table in Kid's cove. These need to be ON your child.
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I personally am loving MOPS so far, and we've only met once as a group!  Even though we all chose numbers out of a box to pick our tables, let's not forget about the sovereignty of the Lord in how the tables are laid out.  I truly believe that He placed what table leaders He wanted to be at certain tables with certain ladies.  Let's remember that we are here to form new and lasting relationships. 

Ecclesiates 4:9-12 pretty much sums up MOPS this year:  

 Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor
¹⁰ If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
¹² Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

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