Catching up and what's coming up..

Hellllooooowwww! :D

We have been a busy group of gals, haven't we? There's much to tell and much to share so let's not waste another minute, shall we? You know these questions are rhetorical, right?

So, first off, how is everyone? Yes, yes... I know, rhetorical again, but you can leave a comment and let us know! :) Seems like there's been many out due to having sick kiddos or being themselves sick. Hang in there ladies and just think, there's only 115 days and 5 hours til spring. :) If you need a countdown ticker to keep you hopping then grab one here. I'm thankful we had Dr. Flynn come pay us a visit before germ season started. We've got some smart planners, don't we? She shared some very helpful information about flu season, keeping germs at bay (wash, wash, need I say WASH your hands all the live long day?!) as well as tips on fevers and when it's a good time to head to the doctor's office. What a great resource and such a nice lady too, wouldn't you agree? If you have any questions about what Dr. Flynn spoke about, please let me know (Tiffany Boren) and I can get you a fresh copy of her handout with all the details of her talk listed therein. Remember, she's Melissa out of the office but Dr. Flynn when you're visiting her office.

Another topic to speak about is our Annual MOPS Bunco Fundraiser! Can I get a Woot-Woot!? It was a GINORMOUS success thanks to Cameron Davis and the crew that helped out as well as to all our moms who hit the pavement bringing in great door prizes and silent auction items from area businesses. We had a fun group of ladies come out for the 4th annual event and all seemed to have a fantastic time chatting it up and winning some great prizes. All in all we surpassed our goal from last year, so that's a huge blessing! Thanks goes to all of you that also helped bring food and drinks, set up and clean up. It takes a village people. .... am I the only one chuckling at that last sentence? LOL! Ah.... okay, moving right along.

Our next meeting is this Thursday, December 1st. Same time, same place. But, here are a couple things you'll want to know. Jessica Yates' DH (dear husband) is graciously coming by to teach us some self defense moves. He is more than qualified, having 18 years experience in martial arts and holding several achievements within that arena as well as owner and instructor at Yates Martial Arts here in Elizabethtown. Sensei Austin is delighted to come show us how to defend ourselves against crazed holiday shoppers......too bad we didn't have these moves for Black Friday! Looking forward to it, Sensei!

Another note would be to dress your MOPPETS in Christmas attire as Santa will be perched by the Big Christmas tree in the main church building foyer waiting anxiously to greet your little ones as they emerge from their rooms. Be sure to tuck your camera into your diaper bags so you can capture this fun time for your kiddos. Those of you who have preschoolers over in the other building are welcome to gather them up and truck back over to see Santa. He and his helper will be there from 11:15-12:30 for greetings and photo ops so take advantage of this FREE experience.

Welp, I think that's all the rattling I can handle for one post. Hope to see everyone HEALTHY (Please, we love you dearly, but DO NOT come if you are germie or feeling germie, or otherwise not up to snuff) this Thursday! Have a great week!

Tiff

An apple a day...

Hi ladies! Giving you a heads up that you don't want to miss our next meeting tomorrow, Thursday September 15th. Same time and place. We'll be having a speaker, Dr. Melissa Flynn of Pediatric Associates of Elizabethtown will be schooling us on all we need to know to keep our Preschoolers healthy. We'll also have an opportunity for Q&A with her afterwards.

If you did not receive the email with all the fun reminders regarding MOPPETS check in here are a few tips to help make the morning more efficient:

1. LABEL, LABEL, LABEL! Especially if you are bringing in an infant. This means, label their cups/bottles, car seats (carriers), pacifiers, diaper bags etc BEFORE you get to MOPS.
2. Drop off is NO EARLIER than 9:15. This is a big one. Our workers have to be in the rooms and ready to receive your kiddos so please do not show up earlier than the workers and hang out in the nursery rooms. We love our workers and want to be sure to take extra special care of them as their presence allows us to have MOPS!

Super excited to see you all in the morning!

Here we go again!

Well hello! We're are officially off to a great MOPS year having our first meeting under our belt and with new leadership to boot! It's going to be a fun year with interesting speakers and some great interactive meetings as well.

Our first meeting was all about "bid-nezz". We went over the handbook, rules and procedures, a synopsis of our agenda this year and talked about some key points in our schedule. One of which will be our Annual Bunco Fundraiser! Mark your calenders ladies and spread the word! This year's Bunco Fundraiser will be Friday, November 18th in the Grace Heartland Core of the FLC building.

If you've attended our annual fundraiser before you can relate to our excitement. If you're a newbie and haven't had the pleasure of partaking in this event before then you MUST keep that night devoted to it so you can see what all the buzz is aboot! We'll be getting more information with each MOPS meeting so keep tuned in. Cameron Davis is our amazing Events Coordinator this year and will surely be giving us loads of details soon. Can hardly wait!! Can you tell I'm looking forward to it? :)

We'll be deleting the old GHC MOPS facebook page and starting a new one under the new format. For some reason the old one is not easily found and so to keep it simple we're going to start it back up again. Hopefully I can get it slapped here to our blog so it's easy for you to pop back and forth to stay in the loop. Knowledge is power, people! :)

You should be able to see a "Follow by Email" area on the side bar column of this blog where you can sign up to get an email with new posts automatically once they are published here. We're busy moms so one less step we have to take to get info is a welcome advantage! If you're down with that, go ahead and enter your email to skip having to come to blog directly on a regular basis. If you haven't become a "Follower" then do this as well. It will enable you to see recent posts in your dashboard if you are a blogger as well and it's so fun to see who all belongs to this group in a quick glance. :)

Thanks to our new Coordinators Jessica Basham and Maegan Bennett for all their hard work and for the effort and time our entire Steering Team puts towards each meeting. This ministry would not be available if it weren't for everyone playing a key part and helping out.

Next meeting will be Thursday, September 15th and if you were seated at the "M" table with Table Ldr Krista Voight then you'll be bringing food. Be sure to get with Krista (270-737-1298 or kristavoight@gmail.com) about what yummy item you plan to share.

We LURVE to hear your comments and encouragement so feel free to leave a note for us. I do ask if you have a concern or issue that you email our leaders directly so that our public forums maintain a positive and supportive vibe at all times. You can contact Jessica via email at inloveinky@yahoo.com and Maegan via email at maegan03@hotmail.com. Thanks for understanding and for abiding.

Until the 15th!

Tif

MOPS 2011-2012

Attention ladies! Our new year of MOPS kicks off tomorrow at 9:30 at Grace Heartland Church. No changes have been made on our meeting place so we hope to see you at the Heartland Room in the FLC after you drop off your little ones to the MOPPET area at the main church building.

This year's theme is MOMSENSE, making sense of your mothering. This will encompass so many aspects about us as women, who we are and the way we mother. We're each unique individuals and have so much to offer to each other as we trek through this stage of our lives with young children. Be sure to tune in for updates here on our blog and recaps about each meeting so you don't miss a thing.

Looking forward to being in MOPS with you again this year. Think of inviting any friends who you think may enjoy a network of moms to support her through this stage as well. We're always open to new members.

See you soon!

Tif

Bunco Fundraiser FUN!

Can I get a "whoot, whoot!" What a fantastic night of great fun, tons of wonderful prizes and so many ladies coming out to support our amazing MOPS group!

Thanks to Maegan and the fundraising efforts of all our moms who participated in acquiring donations, assembling silent auction baskets, running around town doing everything and anything to make last night a total success! It paid off in a major way.

We received countless compliments on how well organized the event was, how much fun the ladies had and the quality of prizes presented. Way to go GHC MOPS! We have a "rough" number from our Finance Coordinator Mandi K. of just a smidgen more than $1400! WOW!

Can I get another "whoot, whoot!"

Steering members, we have a great discussion on the horizon concerning how these funds will bless our group and each mom in it. So bring your thoughts, suggestions and ideas to our next meeting. What a great blessing to be in this situation ladies. We are incredibly fortunate that we have the love and support of so many people in our community. Just a side note to that last statement, we think we have additional MOPPET workers too from ladies who attended the fundraiser and want to give to our group in that capacity. See what I mean! God just keeps blessing. Jenny and I are truthfully so humbled by the grace and abundance of which our Father pours out his love for our moms. Tearfully, I am so thankful!

If you were unable to attend our fundraiser, we so missed you and you so missed a great time! However, it took every mom on deck to prepare for the success we experienced so please don't feel that your part was not needed or appreciated. As we mentioned at our very first meeting this year, every mom in this group counts!

Our next meeting will be a great time to reflect on our fundraiser as well as kick back together and let other people worry about the food! YAY for caterers! Remember your shoe box (or something similar to) for toting home your crafts from our amazing Creative Arts gals. Really great stuff, ladies. I can hardly wait!

Oh, dear! One last doosie to share with you. Those of you who attended probably couldn't deny the fact that I was a tad excited for winning the Hour With Santa auction. I called and set up a time for him to come to our home (he totally even sounds like Santa on the phone!) and he offered to do a free appearance for our MOPS group so we can get pics with Santa and our kiddos. Isn't that the sweetest?! Unfortunately he will be out of town for our next meeting (Dec. 7th) but we thought since the chance of people leaving really early for the holidays was fairly low we would try to set a time the next Tuesday (Dec. 14th).

We will set Santa up in the foyer of the main church building (not the FLC where we have our meetings) and guide everyone through one set of doors, pic with Santa and grab some cookies before exiting the other set of doors. This is a heads up, ladies! We are thinking 11:30-12:30 to accommodate those of you who will be picking up kiddos from the preschool so you can get your little ones and then come over for a pic and cookie. Keep checking your emails and here for details to come as we solidify plans with the church and Santa. Might be a good idear to have your child's letter ready to give to Santa as well!

All for now. This tired mammasita is hitting the hay!

Yup...it's been a while

Hey gals!
So, this here blog has been a wee neglected lately with all the hubbub of the fast approaching holidays in addition to the usually crazy day to day stuff. We've enjoyed a couple MOPS meetings since our last post so let's get you up to date, shall we?

The couponing meeting was AWESOME! Thanks Katrina for your time, experience, knowledge and willingness to share it all with us. Am I the only one whose head was spinning afterwards?? If you missed the meeting, be sure to ask for a copy of the handout with listed resources for ways to coupon and save money. I know Katrina has been flooded with phone calls, texts and questions since that meeting so we are considering doing a follow up to couponing in the spring.

Our lone October meeting was NUTTY, in a nutshell! Seriously! We had a fantastic speaker come to us to share her expertise on self image. If you would like more information we have extra handouts and Rhonda's business cards for you or feel free to link up here and contact her with your questions. It was so much more than ROYGBIVing your closet and using the color of your wrist veins to determine whether or not your a cool or warm. Those were interesting and prodded me to inspect my clothes hangars and forearm more closely, but it was much more than that. She spoke about where our image derives. Our focus and how the condition of our hearts will lead the way we see ourselves and ultimately one another. It reminded me of this scripture, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", Matthew 6:21. It all starts there ladies.

MOPPETS experienced a few bumps that meeting, hence the "NUTTY" comment in the above paragraph. We thank you so very much for all the grace you extended and for those of you who volunteered for part of the meeting. It is what it is that sometimes things happen out of our control and you rose to the occasion in true mommy grit style. We hope the gift cards helped to further clarify our appreciation. Thankfully we have a wonderful God who has blessed us with additional resources in the MOPPETS worker department! We prayed and He delivered! YAY!

This most recent meeting had me thinking, "It's aboot time!" I thoroughly LURVED hanging out, sampling (and then gobbling) all the delicious foods you brought to our 2nd Annual MOPS Cook Off! YUM! A few changes to the way we voted and set up seemed to pay off as everyone mingled and really enjoyed getting to have free time to chat. This is exactly what we wanted more of this year and with the speakers at the beginning of the year needing to be booked on those particular days we were overjoyed at the opportunity to "break bread" (thank you Dawn-Marie!) with one another this week. Let's have some mow of that y'all!

Our next meeting will be our Christmas party on Tuesday, December 7th. We have a few fun things planned for you but rest assured we will be focusing on getting to socialize and better acquainted with each other. What a treat to have this meeting catered so no one is asked to bring food! YAY! We will be doing two really nice crafts. One of which you'll need to bring a shoe box or other lidded box/container comparable to shoe box size.

Another big plus here is that we are not doing a gift or ornament exchange at all. That probably sounds funny to some of you but we really have been hit hard this semester with the fundraiser being right here around the holidays as well as just the regular dues and childcare fees at the beginning. We NEVER want MOPS to be a financial burden on any mom or be a reason why someone cannot come. If you or another mom you know fits into that category PLEASE contact us (Tiffany & Jenny) so we can assign a scholarship. We want this to be a nurturing and supportive environment for equipping us moms with the resources (friends, information, a safe place to come and be YOU!) necessary to be a good mom. Remember, we don't know about a need or concern unless it is brought to us!

It's an absolute pleasure to be part of this MOPS group where we are growing and learning about this wild ride called MOTHERHOOD together.

Welcome to our newest moms, Christine G., Catie T., Dana J., Candi E., and my Wal*Mart friend Colleen H.! Y'all totally thought I was fibbing about talking to strangers at Wal*Mart about our awesome MOPS group, didn't you?

Until the next post, have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving holiday with your loved ones. Please say a prayer for those who are without this time of year be it homes, food or loved ones. We have so very much to be thankful for!

Feel free to email me for any reason tiffboren@yahoo.com or Jenny at bryancarliebowman@yahoo.com We're here for y'all!

September 21st - Couponing 101

Ladies, you are in for a real treat! One of our very own moms, Katrina Greene, will be sharing her knowledge about how to save a bum-load of dollahs on your weekly grocery bills. Saving money is something we all like to do. How else do you think we're able to drive those swagger wagons in posh style? Or at least afford all the upholstery cleaning foam cans to make nice of those nasty "snacks" that somehow find their way smooshed into teensie tiny pieces. I digress...

So don't be left with your wallet hangin'! Come to our next meeting, with pen and paper handy so you can learn to stretch every cent. You'll be jaw dropping amazed at what you learn..trust me!