Tea and Tears: A Meaningful Day of Fellowship and Testimony

I have to say, this might have been one of my favorite MOPS meetings. Not only because it was my first with my new baby, Ryan (had to give a shout out!), but because of the lovely time I had with all of you ladies. This was our tea time meeting and boy was it a fantastic time! The Mentor Moms and DGL's came together to provide the wonderful food, and it really didn't disappoint. There were yummy sandwiches to choose from, fruit salads and stunning desserts that melted in your mouth. Thank you so much to everyone who made this day possible. It was unforgettable!

We also had a real treat as a few of our own moms shared their stories with us. First, we heard from Lucia about keeping the faith in all phases of life. After a touching testimony about her life experiences, we heard from Krys and about how God worked in her life. Not only through her persistence, but through the pure, unfailing faith of her child. Debbie Daniels wrapped up the meeting with her story, and what a story it is! We are so blessed as a congregation, but also as women, to be able to hear from such strong ladies. Lucia, Krys and Debbie: What true women of God you are and thank you for allowing yourselves to be so vulnerable to our group. No doubt there were many women there who truly benefitted from hearing you all speak. What a wonderful way to minister!

Important Announcements!

MOPS International Leadership Summit 2010-"Passion: Simple Courage in the Everyday"

If any of you ladies are interested in being a part of the leadership team at MOPS, please let one of your DGL's know so they can fill out a referral form for you. This summit is not only a great way to network with other MOPS leaders, but you'll also receive training on being a better leader - in every day life and at MOPS as well.

Date: April 17, 2010

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Cost: $30 + $5 for lunch

RSVP by March 29 to your DGL, or Debbie Wong 626-358-9265

Location:

The Grove Community Church

19900 Grove Community Drive

Riverside, CA

www.mops.org/summit

Next MOPS Meeting - Jana Alayra http://www.janaalayra.com/

This is "Bring a Friend to MOPS" day on Friday, April 16, 2010! Childcare is free for MOPS moms; $5 per family for guests. To reserve childcare, please contact Debbie Hammock at 626-351-2475 by April 12. Please inform your DGL if you plan to bring a friend. Our children will enjoy a concert just for them! After the kids' show, moms will be treated to a presentation that is guaranteed to touch their hearts. This will be a great day as we enjoy breakfast, a concert, and the chance to make new friends!

For other activities coming up, please check the events section on the right of the blog. Now enjoy the photos from last week's meeting!

A lovely way to start the day!

One of the beautiful arrangements one of our mentor moms did for the tea.



Hey! I made one of the blogs! Here is Deanna introducing me, introducing Ryan:)

Little baby Ryan, lookin' so cute behind that mic:)

Look at that fantastic spread!

We had quite a turnout for the tea!

Look at those Spring colors!

I'm hungry...

After Krys and Lucia spoke their incredible testimonies, we heard a bit from Debbie Daniels...

We love you, Debbie:)

Here are the brave souls who gave their testimonies. Thank you Krys, Lucia and Debbie!

Operation Organization: Creating Time for the Important Things

Well, thanks to Lisa Hall, our MOPS group received a ton of great tips and tricks for keeping our homes (and our lives!) organized. The goal? Peace and joy at the end of the day. We first were instructed to decide what areas in our lives we'd like more time for, whether it be more time with our spouses, more time for ourselves, etc.. Then, Lisa went down the list of normal household duties and gave us many ideas for getting organized and getting our families involved, too. If you missed this meeting, or you'd like to see the powerpoint presentation that Lisa gave, please click here.

We also had a bit of time at the end of the talk for some 10 second tips from our MOPS. There were quite a few good ones, and one Mentor Mom even shared her recipe for cheap and easy to make laundry detergent to save some money! Click here for the handout.

Thanks to the steering team again for organizing a wonderful meeting, and to Lisa Hall for helping us maintain some level of sanity in our homes. This was such an informative meeting!

Important Information!

1) March 5 Meeting - This meeting we're having our Mentor Mom day and $1 sale! Please bring 1-5 gently used items that you are done with to MOPS. Bring things like women's clothing, children's clothing, blenders, bubble bath, baskets, or items you want to regift. We will sell those items to each other for $1. The proceeds benefit MOPS and your house is cleaner with the clutter gone! The items that don't sell will be donated to our Helping Hands ministry. Please participate in this fun shopping event. NOTE: We will not have a "Bless Me" table that day.

2) March 6 MOPS & POPS - Please RSVP to your DGL by Sunday, February 28th if you plan to attend. The event is free and includes dessert, door prizes, bingo and financial advice. Childcare can be arranged by calling Debbie Hammock at 626-351-2475 and paying $10 for 1 child, $20 for 2+ by Wednesday March 3rd. Please join us for our first ever MOPS & POPS night. You and your spouse will enjoy meeting new people and walking away with knowledge and possible prizes.

3) If you did not pick up a copy of our February Newsletter, please click the link under "MOPS Links" to view it.

Thanks, ladies and enjoy the photos from the meeting!

Which Love Language Do You Speak?

What a treat it was to be able to hear from Betty and Bob Nease last Friday. They spoke on a book written by Gary Chapman called "The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate." As the author explains: "People express and receive love in different ways. [Dr. Gary Chapman] identifies these as the five languages of love:

• Quality Time
• Words of Affirmation
• Gifts
• Acts of Service
• Physical Touch

If you express love in a way your spouse doesn't understand, he or she won't realize you've expressed your love at all. The problem is that you're speaking two different languages."

While watching and listening to Betty and Bob speak, it was very evident that they had learned to speak each other's love languages well. Having been married over 50 years, they've had a lot of practice! The love they have for each other spilled over into their words and we are so grateful to have heard their take on this fantastic book. Their final message to all of us? Don't give up! "Love is not a feeling to be felt, but an action to be learned." Words to live by, indeed.

If you're interested in buying a copy of this book, please visit http://www.christianbook.com/.

After this uplifting and encouraging presentation, we had a chance to speak with our tables about what we believe our own love language is. I think it was eye-opening to discuss each of our languages and how different most of us were from our spouses! It was clear that most of us had been trying to love our spouses using our own love language instead of theirs - a common problem in many relationships. Thanks, Betty and Bob for giving us a little insight into disovering our love languages.

We had a great time after our discussion making crafts prepared by Mary Baffes. Using cardstock and various other scrapbooking materials, we made little mini scrapbooks and Valentine's Day cards. What a great idea! Thanks, Mary:)

There are a lot of wonderful events coming up for our MOPS group this spring. Saleama put out a wonderful newsletter for February that has a lot of information, so if you did not pick one up last time, please pick one up at our next meeting on February 19th. Thanks, Saleama!

Important Announcements!

1) Please look to the right to see all of the events coming up. We have a lot of things going on that you won't want to miss!

2) We have a volunteer opportunity for MOPS and POPS night on March 6. We need four couples to meet and greet people as they come in that evening. It starts at 7:00pm and there is childcare as it is also the same night as Kid's Night Out. If you can volunteer, please contact Saleama at saleamam@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Enjoy some photos from our last MOPS meeting. Thanks to the steering team for making it such a great experience!

Here is Mary, wearing her beautiful Valentine's Day "apparel."

Food is the most important part of MOPS! Well, maybe a close second to our moms:)

The "Bless Me" table was full of good stuff to take home.

Time to chow down!

Rushing to get that salad done before the crowd descends...

Here is Jaimie, one of our DGL's, working on something VERY important.

Look at this mother/daughter duo. Priceless!

Krys, I just loved this flower in your hair:)

Full plates = happy faces.

Here is Debbie introducing our guest speakers, Betty and Bob Nease.

Here is Bob...and he's veering from the plan!

Here is the beautiful couple, Betty and Bob Nease.

It's craft time at MOPS!

We moms get serious at craft time...don't we?

"Our Plan B is God's Plan A"

Debbie Wong decided to go with the flow when our speaker, Joe Whitcomb, came down with the flu the night before our MOPS meeting last week. She knew that whatever God had planned for our group was going to be great, and it truly was! We started out with announcements, prayer, food and some chatting (as we women are wont to do!).

After a few minutes of visiting, we watched a video provided by MOPS International. The video dealt with the issues many of us face when other family members have different parenting styles than our own. It was a great way to learn and laugh a little about the situations that can arise in families when our methods of raising children don't mesh with others. We can learn a great deal about what we need to change with regard to our own parenting styles when we decide to have open minds; however, we can also be content with having differing beliefs about child rearing without causing familial controversy. I think the key word here is respect. We can respect others for their parenting styles in the same way we hope others to respect ours. Thanks, Debbie for showing such a wonderful video!

After the video, we played an ice-breaking game. It was a great way to chat and be silly with each other as the topic of the day was "in-laws." Many of us shared about uncomfortable situations we've had with our in-laws, although I did come across quite a few who had only great things to say! Thanks for participating, everyone!

Once the ice-breaker was over, we had ample time back at our tables to discuss the topic of in-laws a little more. I have to say, it was pretty nice to be able to hear from all the ladies at my table without much of a time restriction. I think God's "Plan A" was truly in effect as we all got a chance to learn so much more about each other last Friday.

I've posted some pictures from the morning below, so I hope you enjoy! Also, please be aware of a couple new announcements below. I hope you all have a wonderful week and we'll see you on Friday, February 5 for our Valentine's MOPS meeting!

Important Announcements!

1) MOPS Playdate - See column on the right for more details.

2) Haiti Crisis Care Kits - See column on the right for more details.

Jeremy Calva Knows Money

Although I wasn't in attendance last week at MOPS, I heard nothing but great things about the meeting at PazNaz. After opening in prayer, our very own Mentor Mom Rosie led the group in a devotional about "Grandma's Apron," a beautiful story about her apron's many uses. Thank you, Rosie!

After the devotional, each table worked together to make knot fleece blankets to donate to Compassionate Ministries at MOPS. I talked to many of our moms who were amazed at how easy it was! What a wonderful way to use our abilities and gifts to help others. Thank you for all your help putting those together, MOPS.

Following the break, our guest speaker Jeremy Calva spoke on the topic of Finance. This guy knows his stuff! He had so many questions after his talk - I think he had the attention of every mom in the room. After taking a look at his LinkedIn profile, I was able to read a little bit about his specialties. Are you ready?

"Contract negotiation, third party solution selection and integration, developing teams, revenue assurance, capital markets, specialized accounting implementation, motivating teams, and converting strategic thinking into executable plans."

Tired yet?

After reading through his past experience in the finance sector, and as the current Chief Financial Officer at PIR Capital LLP, I realized just how great an opportunity it was for our moms to be able to pick his brain. It is obvious that he sparked the interest of so many with his discussion. If you'd like to reach Mr. Calva, or you have any more questions, please email him at jcalvacpa@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Important Announcements!

Speaker Change - Our Jan 22 speaker, Lisa Hall had an unexpected conflict in schedule. She will now be speaking Feb 19. Joe Whitcomb will be speaking on Jan 22 on the issues of "Attachment."

Sticky Faith (For Parents of Teens) - Kara Powell from Fuller Youth Institute will be talking about how parents can help their teens instill lasting faith in God. This event is open to all parents of teens and youth workers at PazNaz. The cost is $5 to help cover overhead expenses. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 19th in the Youth Center Room 134 from 6:30-9:00pm. Please contact Keegan Lenker at klenker@paznaz.org if you have any questions. Thanks!