Meeting #3 - VULNERABILITY

We had our 3rd meeting on Thursday October 15 and the topic of the night was Vulnerability.  It was a great meeting, and wonderful to see many returning and new faces.

 

Our meeting started off with a wonderful spread of food brought by Savannah & Kristin -- thank you so much ladies!!  I have to admit that I look forward to MOPS nights, because I know I don't have to cook anything for dinner...anyone else feel that way??

After we ate, we did short introductions again, because there were several new people with us - yay!  We then moved into playing a quick and fun game that got everyone up and moving around.  We played Heads Up and the winners of the game got to enter their names in a second time for the 2 giveaways at the end of the meeting.

As I stated before, the meeting topic tonight was vulnerability and we watched a short video (after quite the issue with technology -- sorry, promise to do better next time!!).  The video was featured speaker Donald Miller, an author and also a blogger.  You can follow his blog - Storyline - here if you like following blogs.  Also, you can follow him on facebook as well.  I really enjoyed this video as the emphasis was on being real and not hiding your true self -- even if you become vulnerable, you will live a true life and not behind a façade.  As moms this can be so hard, because we feel the expectation to be able to do it all, and sometimes we think we can, but this is from the truth.  We have to become ok with not being able to do it all and ask for help when it is needed...and it is definitely needed from time to time! 

I really enjoyed the discussion we had after the meeting.  I can't tell you all how much it means to me to hear from you all and know that we are all going through many of the same things.  I didn't share this with you at the meeting, but I wanted to link it up here.  It's another great article on vulnerability and the power that opening up and being vulnerable can have on your life and on others.  I hope you read it and enjoy it as much as I did.

After our discussion, I gave away two books called Saving Day by Angelene Woodard.  I came to hear about her book through MOPS from another MOPS group that had her as a guest speaker.  She wrote the book for her own kids because she wanted to have a way to talk about salvation to her children and she was not finding the material that she felt she needed.  Anyway, I ordered a copy of her book for Carter and I ordered two more to give away to you ladies.  The lucky winners were Rebekah Thompson and Erin McCoy...hope you all enjoy!  I am working with Angelene to possibly travel to speak to our group.  She is hoping to come before Christmas, so please keep this possibility in your prayers.  Also, she has a great blog and posts once a week about some really thought provoking topics.  You can find her blog called Watering the Seeds here and you can follow her on facebook as well.

Sondra Ball -- explaining the art of wreath making

Finally, our meeting ended with one of our wonderful mentor moms  - Sondra Ball - talking about a project she is going to be working on with us during on November 19 meeting.  We are, with her expert assistance, going to be crafting our own Christmas wreath!  Yippee!  I have always wanted to do this, but it seemed overwhelming and I didn't know where to really start.  Lucky for us, Sondra is a former florist and she is great at putting beautiful pieces together and she is going to be assisting us! 


There were a few ladies who left early or were not with us that night, so I took some notes on some suggestions that Sondra gave in regards to the wreath making.  Here you go:

If you have the following items, please bring them to the November 19th meeting:

• Medium Gauge Floral Wire
• Wire Cutters or Needle Nose Pinchers
• Scissors
• Any items that might be used to decorate wreaths that you might not want any more.  We will setup a "shopping table" so that we can trade out items.  One MOPS trash is another MOPS treasure.  :)
• Glue Gun
• Extension Cord
• Gardening Gloves to protect your hands
• Your wreath you want to decorate

Sondra's first and main suggestion was to think about the style of wreath that you would like to create - glitzy, country, shabby chic, etc.  What fits your style and your home?  After that just pick up items (CHEAP or FREE) to decorate your wreath with, such as:

• Pine Cones (pick up the shiny ones)
• old ornaments
• berries
• Ribbon or Raffia
• Anything sentimental that you might want to put on the wreath
• greenery or garland
• twigs
• moss (reindeer moss -- you can pick this up outside)
• dried or silk flowers (like hydrangeas)

Examples of items that can be used to make and decorate your wreath

Sondra says to think outside of the box and to bring things that you might not necessarily think are pretty, but that could be broken down and used or revived.  Pick up items at the dollar store, or thrift store, or your own attic!

I want this project to be fun and easy for us, so don't let it stress you out!  This will be something neat that you can enjoy for years to come.

A unique wreath I saw at the Craft Fair at Georgia Mtn. Fairgounds

Meeting 2 - FAMILY

We recently had our 2nd meeting as  MOPS group and it was so fun!  In fact, it was so much fun that I forgot to take pictures to share with you!

We started off our meeting with snacks provided by Erin McCoy & Megan Swanson - thank you ladies!  And, we had childcare this time, thanks to Elisabeth Chastain and Becky Brown helping out with that.

We began our meeting time with a fun - get to know you - Mom Bingo game!  The winners got to add their names in the pot a second time for our first giveaway of the year - an embroidered sign from the Hallmark shop in Blairsville.  Congrats to Tami Cook for winning the giveaway!  :)

As we settled down we began to discuss Family after reading the corresponding section in our workbook.  One major takeaway for me from the discussion was the being a good mom and enjoying our individual passions can co-exist.  When we find a way to "flourish" as an individual, our kids will see that and be able to model our behavior. 

• Colossians 3:23-24
• 1 Corinthians 7:7
• 1Timothy 4:14

Some announcements to note:

• November 7 -- MOM's Night Out!  We will be having our first night out by doing an Arts Party with Ali Dee.  Veldia has graciously offered to allow us to come to her house, so if you have not already let me know that you want to go, please do so.  We have a max of 25 people, so please let me know asap.  The cost is $20 and the instructor provides all materials including the canvas, paints and brushes.  You can check her facebook page out for more info on her classes.
• November 23 -- Zaxby's Fundraiser Night  We will be hosting a fundraiser night at Zaxby's on Monday November 23.  Zaxby's will provide us with a portion of their total sales for the evening if we have a few volunteers who would be willing to come and help out.  Please encourage all your family, friends, and co-workers to come out and eat with us that night.  As a reminder, the money that we raise through fundraising will help us to buy craft supplies, offer member scholarships, and help out in the service projects that we will be working on this year!
• Christmas Wreath Craft -- Soundra Ball, one of our mentor moms, has offered to help us make our own Christmas wreaths.  This will be done at one of our upcoming meetings, so be on the lookout for anything that you might want to put in the wreath.  She advised you can take old decorations that you no longer use and break them down to add to the wreath, or be on the look out if you are in a thrift store. 
• T-Shirts  -- We are still working on these.  As soon as we get a design nailed down, I will share it with you! 
• Christmas Love -- We had talked about making a craft for each Christmas Love family, so if you have an idea of something that would be easy to make and we could make a lot of them quickly, let me know!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting - Thursday October 15 at 6:00 PM. The topic will be Vulnerability.  See you all soon! 

First Meeting Recap

Well, it is official...we have had our first meeting and it was awesome!!  I left with a full heart and feeling so excited about the coming year.  We had 17 people attend the first meeting, which was amazing...I was going to be happy if 3 or 4 people came, so it was way beyond my expectations!

Enjoying fellowship before the meeting!

We spent the first meeting introducing ourselves, sharing about our kids and our work and what we all wanted out of the MOPS group.  Here is a quick re-cap:

We had 14 MOPS moms at our meeting, 2 mentor moms, and 1 guest (my mom was there for moral support for the first meeting).  Our group is made up of several teachers, business women, and stay at home mommies...we have a great mix!

We enjoyed light finger foods provided by our leader and mentor moms. 

A nice little spread!

Here are some highlights from the meeting: 

Childcare

• This is still a work in progress.  We will continue to search for volunteers to help watch kids so moms can have a break and join our meetings.  Until we get things straightened out with this, we agreed that we can take turns assisting in watching the kids.  Also, we have had some ideas about responsible teenage volunteers as well...so I will be checking on that option as well.  

Fundraising

• I know most people are not so enthused by the idea of fundraising, but if we do a little fundraising this will assist in buying snacks, craft materials, service projects and even providing MOPS kit scholarships for moms if needed.   Some fundraising ideas we discussed are T-shirts with our information and Mabel's Labels.  These are awesome super sticky water proof, dishwasher proof labels that you can stick on pretty much anything.  The company has partnered with MOPS international this year as a fundraising option for groups, so I will check into that as well.  

Crafts

• Although I am about the least crafty person EVER it was the general consensus of the group that we do some craft projects throughout the year.  I will have to rely on other moms to help with this aspect, because I know how to do nothing crafty.  :)  But, it will be fun to learn!

Food

• As I said, the mentor moms and leader provided the finger foods for our first meeting, but we agreed to take turns for bringing some light snacks to each meeting.  Megan & Erin have the snacks for next meeting...I will be working on some sort of sign up sheet for us, so we can stay organized!

MOMS NIGHT OUT

• I am super excited about doing some Mom's Night out events throughout the year.  One of the first things we discussed is doing one of the paint parties.  Almost everyone said they wanted to participate, so I will work on setting up a date for that.  Stay Tuned...

Service Projects

• One of the best things that we can do as a group is give back to our community, so some ideas for service projects were discussed as well.  Christmas Love at Little Brasstown Baptist Church is coming up, so I am hopeful that we will be able to help out in this project as well as others in our community.  Let me know if there is something that you feel would be worthwhile.  

Fierce Flourishing Folders and materials

Ok, that was a TON of information and I'm sure I probably left something out.  And, I am sure ya'll are tired of hearing me say I'm SO EXCITED...but, I can't explain to you how I am feeling....It's truly amazing!  Blessings are overflowing!

A good time was had by all!!!  :)

Stay tuned for more information about the next meeting, scheduled for October 1.  I will send out paperless post e-mail invitations for that...please RSVP  to the invites because it will help me to prepare!

First Meeting Date & Registration

Good Evening Ladies!! 

Our group -- Murphy MOPS --  is now official!!  We have been registered on the MOPS website, so we can officially start getting moms registered!

First of all, our first meeting will be Thursday September 17, 2015 at 6:00 pm  at Little Brasstown Baptist Church in the new building.  If you are not familiar with Little Brasstown, let me know and I can send you directions.  I wanted to meet on the 3rd of September, but it is coming so soon, I thought this would give me more time to prepare. 

I have created a facebook page called Murphy Mops...if you haven't "liked" it yet, go ahead and do that, as it will be an easy way to communicate with the members. 

At this moment in time, we DO NOT have childcare available.  I am still working on that and if something changes I will let you know.  The first meeting should not last long...it will simply be a meet & greet and talk about what you ladies would like out of this group.  I will try to have some type of refreshment there. 

As for the schedule for the rest of the year -- plan on meeting on the 1st and the 3rd Thursday evening of each month, October-May, from 6-8 PM.  If something changes in the planned schedule, I will let you all know ahead of time. 

Lastly, now is the time that each mom who wants to join must register to receive their membership kits.  I will be sending out an e-mail to each of you who have confirmed your participation in the group.

If you do not receive the e-mail, then I have not received confirmation from you that you want to participate, so please let me know ASAP if you would like to participate.  The registration is super easy, I just registered myself this weekend and it takes about 5 minutes to input your address, birthday, etc. and payment method.  Once again, the cost is $24.95 for moms and $26.95 for mentor moms.  The confirmation e-mail states that it will take 4-6 weeks for the member kits to arrive in the mail, so I encourage each of you to do this soon.  Hopefully it won't take that long.

I will continue to prepare for this group and pray for blessings for each one of us. Please let me know if you know anyone trustworthy and reliable that might be willing to help with the childcare portion of MOPS.  I would love to have that available...as  I have said before, I don't want any mom who wants to attend to be unable to because she doesn't have a sitter.

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands.  Isaiah 55:12

Welcome to Murphy MOPS!!!

Welcome to Murphy MOPS!  I am so excited to be able to start this group and looking forward to a great year that I know is going to have an impact on myself and so many other women in our community. 

This all came about very quickly, after I felt led to create a group that is supportive to moms trying to navigate the challenges of raising young children.  I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and a 3 month old daughter, and I know that life can get tough.  Murphy MOPS is going to be a group to provide support through those tough times, and a place to escape for a couple of hours a couple of times a month and re-charge.  

I am so grateful to Little Brasstown Baptist Church for being so supportive and helping us to get this group going.  Their support and the interest from moms in our community is just affirmation that there is a need for this type of fellowship in our community.  

I am hoping to get the group kit soon and I plan on ordering the member kits this weekend.  So...if you are interested in joining us, and have not confirmed with me, please let me know ASAP.  Remember, that the member kits are $24.95 (not a bad price for the material we are going to get for the year!).  

Anyway, this is going to be an exciting year full of blessings and I can't wait to get started with our kickoff meeting soon!  Praise the Lord for allowing all of this to happen.  Please continue to be prayerful for our group!  

Lots of Love!

Julia