Sept 27th Meeting

Today we were joined by Chef Jessica Bright who shared with us some yummy recipes and helpful cooking tips! She has more recipes in her archives. She also mentioned the Farmer's Market on Beaver Street as a great place to get produce. If you ask the vendors, you can find out if they're local or not. If you go with your MOPS group you can earn points for the Momology Challenge! We're looking forward to more great speakers this year!

Also, if you have any personal recipes that you'd like to share with the group, let Kathleen know and we'll add them to the blog. It would be wonderful to have some easy family recipes easily available!

Art: What Girls Need

It's been awhile, but here are more notes from the girlology/boyology workshop from convention.

What Girls Need:
  • Embrace the inner princes: dress up, feeling pretty, longing to be beautiful/irreplaceable. She looks to mom to see who she is. Princess play lets her experience & explore.
  • Help her discover her talents. Let her try things even if she'll fail. Lover her regardless of the performance. 
  • Avoid unfulfillable promises "You can do anything you want to do or be anyone you want to be!" Give sincere compliments
  • Encourage a relationship with dad. We look to our parents for identity. Who do men say we are? Who does God say we are? Encourage common activities. Prompt dad for words of affirmation. Pick out gifts for dad to give. Physical touch - story time in dad's lap. Point out her dad's service to her and the family.
  • Limit media use - unrealistic ads affect self-image
  • Remind her of who God says she is
I'll try to post the Art of Boys next week!

Light the Night

Our Light the Night team page is now up and running! You can search for Team Liam, or click here to go to the team page. Once at our team page, you can join our team to walk with us or make a donation to the team. Any walker that raises $100 will receive a t-shirt, a lighted balloon, and a wristband for food. Our team page also provides information on what the funds raised provides for the society and the families they support. We will be participating in the walk as a group the evening of Nov. 4th. Your family is welcome to walk with us and strollers are welcome as well. Last year we carpooled from St. Mark's down to The Landing to help with parking. The walk isn't difficult and is a great way to show our support to another MOPS member, Teri Gonzalez & her family. Their son, Liam was diagnosed with Leukemia in August 2009 and will continue with treatment through 2012. He is doing well in maintenance now and we are grateful for a way to show the Gonzalez family our support while raising funds for a society that provides for support for all families dealing with Leukemia & Lymphoma!

New MOPS Year!

The Steering team has been working hard all summer to plan a terrific year for us! This month we have an informational meeting and a meeting with Chef Jessica where we'll get to try some yummy healthy food. We'll also have an art playdate and a casual girls' night in with food & drink. We also have a fundraiser opportunity (bring any donations for Jump N Jax to the meeting on Monday!) And we'll start our new Momology Challenges this month. We look forward to seeing you all on Monday morning to start our new year! If you have any questions, please contact your group leader!

Extra Clothes

You'll be hearing from your group leaders soon but we needed to add one more thing! If your child is potty-trained or in the process of potty-training, please bring a ziploc bag with your child's name on it and a change of clothes in case of an accident to the first meeting. We have a bin we can keep the clothing in between meetings. Thanks!

Parenting on Purpose Conference

We wanted to pass along the information about this wonderful opportunity!

Parenting on Purpose Conference with Bob Barnes
Saturday, September 11th
9:00am - 2:00pm
Chets Creek Church (4420 Hodges Blvd.)
Ticket cost: $25 per person (includes breakfast and lunch)
Childcare available by reservation only
Sign up online at www.chetscreekchurch.com or call the church office at 223-5954

Much of life is about balance - finding a balance between work and play or maintaining a balanced budget.  In the Parenting on Purpose process, nothing is more important than the balance between relationship and discipline.  The right disciplinary program gives a child the ability to discipline himself eventually.  A right parent-child relationship gives a child the secure foundation to learn the motivation to say "no", and even learn to seek balance in his own life.  A positive relationship also makes a child feel secure even when he hears "no" from his parents.