Autumn Luminarias

At our last MOPS meeting we made these autumn luminaries. Shelly always finds the greatest crafts for us! She found this idea on Martha Stewart's website.

Here are my luminaries, all lit up!

Did you take pictures of your luminaries? Send them to Christa at nwcmops@gmail.com, and I'll post them on our blog!

Moppets

Did you realize that our childcare programs is called "Moppets"? I finally realized this after a few month of attending MOPS!

Our Moppets Coordinator, Judy, is amazing! Not only does she coordinate all our volunteers for our much needed childcare, but she also makes sure each room has snacks and a cute craft! Judy does double-duty. She also serves as our Mentor Mom Coordinator.

After seeing her big sister bring home lots of art activities from preschool, my little one was thrilled to bring home HER own craft from Moppets!  Thank you, Judy, for all your hard work!

Judy is always looking for more craft ideas for little ones. If you have any ideas, please email her at henning97(at)gmail.com.

Write It Down! with Tracey Bianchi

On Wednesday, October 6, we welcomed Tracey Bianchi as our speaker. Tracey is the author of the book Green Mama: The Guilt-Free Guide to Helping You and Your Kids Save the Planet. She speaks at various churches, MOPS groups and conferences about a variety of topics. Not only is she a public speaker, but she also writes for MOPS International, Christianity Today’s Gifted for Leadership Blog, FullFill Magazine, and other organizations. Read more about Tracey at www.traceybianchi.com. We are thrilled that Tracey could join us!

Tracey spoke to us about storytelling and keeping a journal. When we tell our stories, we are telling the stories of where our children come from; who we are as moms; and we record and capture the essence of our families.

One way to journal is to write down the "quote of the day" before you go to bed. Write down just one thing one of your kids said to you. In the future, these quotes will lead to stories you will tell to your children.

Writing is for:

1. Ourselves, as we process our own life;
2. Our kids, for themselves and their siblings, to connect their past to their present to their future;
3. God, as we connect ourselves to the story of God through our own stories.

Some ways to make writing easier in our busy lives:

• Keep your calendar from year to year, and write small things on the calendar, such as "first tooth" or "first soccer game."
• Write one-liners at the end of every day. At the end of the year, you will have 365 lines.
• Creative journaling; keep coasters from a special restaurant, ticket stubs, etc. Write the date and significance right on the souvenir.
• At dinnertime, share the best part of the day and the worst part of the day. One of these retellings may end up as your one-liner for the day.

Some ideas of what to write:

1. Follow the church calendar: what happened during Advent, Christmas, and Easter?
2. Write about the item of the week; a leaf, a teddy bear, a gift.
3. Journal about what happened at the dinner table.
4. Write about the emotion of the week: first day of school, birthdays, etc.
5. Write down your reaction to world events.

During our meeting, Tracey had us write down one quote from one of our kids. I had to sit there and think for a while. But then I remembered this: We drive past a big cemetery quite often. Just the other day, my five year old, Lydia, was staring out the car window at all the gravestones. She said, "All those people are pretend, right?" As my husband and I tried to tell her that no, real people are buried in the cemetery, she insisted that no, they were just pretend. When I finally asked her why, she said, "Because the real people are in heaven!"

Thanks, Tracey, for having me write that down!

Welcome to a New Year of MOPS!

This year, MOPS International has chosen MOMOLOGY: The Art and Science of Mothering as our theme. Throughout the year, we will have speakers to help you with the science of mothering, and crafts to bring out your creativity (even if you think you are the most uncreative person on the planet!)

It was a joy to see so many familiar faces at our first MOPS meeting, and fun to see some new faces as well! If you missed our first meeting, I hope you are able to come on Wednesday, October 6, at 9:30 a.m. Tracey Bianchi will present "Write it Down! - The Spiritual Art of Memory Making During Motherhood."

Special thanks to Shelly, our Creative Activity Leader, who put together an incredible scrapbooking welcome gift! Shelly has enough for everyone, so if you missed our first meeting, be sure to get one at our next meeting. We hope to see you there!

How Does Your Garden Grow? (And Other Mops Updates!)

On April 7, we planted kitchen herb gardens, with the hope of our plants growing big and healthy enough to eventually transplant outside. My little herb garden is progressing very well!

On Tuesday, March 23, a group of Mops moms and kids met at Party Time Palace for Spring Break fun! Lunch was at McDonald's; they had a blast!

On Wednesday, March 3rd, creativity flowed freely! Here are just a couple of the library bags we made for our kids. Aren't they the cutest library bags EVER?

We hope to see you at our closing Mops meeting on Wednesday, May 19!

Cooking with Chef Tim Edstrom

Chef Tim Edstrom paid a visit to MOPS last Wednesday, and while he cooked a delicious risotto for us, he also shared some cooking tips.

Tim is using a food mill to grind up butternut squash that has already been cooked. Tip: For the best mashed potatoes, bake Yukon Gold potatoes in their jackets, then put them in a food mill and add a little milk and butter.

Tim slices raw butternut squash. Next to the silver bowl, there is a plate of diced apples. Tim prefers Granny Smith apples for cooking because of their flavor, and they also don't brown as quickly as other varieties after they are cut. Tip: Make sure the food you are slicing always has a flat surface. Use a very sharp knife. If you cut yourself with a sharp knife, it will heal faster than a cut from a dull knife.

Use real wine as opposed to "cooking" wine. If you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it! Tim uses a wooden spoon since that's how he was taught to cook.

See those beautifully cooked apples in the foreground!
Tim cooked them as a garnish with butter and brown sugar.

Tim is browning the butternut squash for the risotto.
Tip: Do not add salt as you brown something. Salt will pull the moisture out of your food and it won't brown as well. Add the salt later.

Unfortunately, I had to go pick up my daughter from preschool before the risotto was finished, and I didn't get to taste a sample. I was very disappointed!

Many, many thanks to Tim for sharing his talent with us!

Fortune Cookie Valentines

Look at what my daughters will be getting under the Valentine Tree!



Um, okay, we really don't have a Valentine's Tree. But I did make these cute Valentine's Day fortune cookies at our last MOPS meeting!

If you were unable to attend, you can read the instructions here. We used hot glue from a glue gun instead of craft glue, and we also substituted a pipe cleaner for the floral wire.

If you would like to watch Martha Stewart make these fortune cookies, you can find the video by clicking here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Karyn Humphries: Don't Push My Buttons!

At our meeting on Wednesday, January 20th, we were delighted to welcome Karyn Humphries as our speaker. Karyn is a certified trainer, speaker, writer and coach. She is a MOPS Council Coordinator and a former MOPS Mentor. She serves her church and community as a creative arts leader, spiritual gifts coach, and a Good $ense Budget Counselor. She is the mother of two boys and has been married for 25 years. Read more about Karyn on her website: www.karynhumphries.com

How often does someone push your buttons? Who pushes your buttons? I know my five-year-old seems to know EXACTLY which buttons will make me angry!

Karyn talked about the buttons which make us react the way we do. We have three emotional needs: self-worth, the need to experience love, and the need to stay safe. We also have physical needs: Food, Water, and Shelter. Our spiritual needs are Harmony, Access to God, and Peace (Forgiveness). When we perceive a threat to any of these "buttons," we react--and sometimes our reaction is not pleasant!

Karyn telling a story.

Instead of reacting when our buttons are pushed, we can try to respond. There is about a 20 second difference between reacting and responding when our buttons are pushed. This is why counting to 10 is so effective in getting us to respond calmly when someone pushes our buttons!

Karyn helped us understand those pesky buttons!

What can also help us when we become frustrated with life? Our spiritual buttons! They transform the self so that our emotional buttons become activated less. In Christ, we find our WORTHiness. In Christ, we experience unconditional LOVE. When Christ is in control, we feel most secure and SAFE.

What did you enjoy about Karyn's talk? Did you learn something new?

If you have any questions for Karyn, feel free to email her at karyn@karynhumphries.com.