Operation Christmas Child

Don't forget that we will be collecting your boxes for Operation Christmas Child on Tues Nov 17Th.

What is Operation Christmas Child?
Fill a shoe box or small plastic container with gifts for a BOY or GIRL. These boxes will be given to needy children in 3rd world countries who would otherwise have no Christmas.

You can check out www.samaritanspurse.org/occ for more information

Lets try to do MOPS proud and bring in a TON of boxes. A great way to teach our children about giving to others.

Play Date

When: Tuesday Nov 10th

Where: Northshore Gymnastics
19460 144th AVE NE
Woodinville, WA 98072
425-402-6602

Time: 9:30 - 11am

Bring: A snack for your child - we will have a snack time

**Don't miss this fun time of play & fellowship, plus it's FREE!!!!!*** See you there.

Tuesday November 3rd

Tuesday at MOPS we had so much fun! It was just a very, very fun day. Great conversations, fun craft & the food this day was exceptionally good. Great job ladies!! Here is a quick picture of our craft.....just perfect for Fall decorating & Thanksgiving. A "Thanks" banner to hang in your home.

Raguel Shaw gave a devotional about cleaning out your thought closet & the harm that our thoughts cause without us even paying attention.

We all know that our words carry a ton of weight and can hurt someone we love. But have you ever thought about your thoughts and what those can do to you? They can disable your self-esteem in an instant or worse effect your children or husband. We all know what these thoughts are:

You're not a good mother/wife
Your children are not respectful
I am not a good house cleaner
Why doesn't my husband help me more?
If he loved me more he'd pick up his socks/underwear.

These thoughts creep upon us while we are cleaning, folding the laundry, doing dishes and if we do not take them captive they can quickly lead to anger, resentment and bitterness. Which in turn then will hurt your relationship with that person or cripple you as a wife/mother.

What do you say over yourself or think in your mind? Just as we speak blessing, wisdom, truth, direction and instruction over our children & spouse we should be doing to our self.

What do we do when these thoughts come?

Take captive those thoughts as soon as they come!

Pray - pray out loud and name the thoughts out loud that are plaguing you

Worship - the Lord delights in our worship

Re sight Scripture -

Confide - these thoughts to your spouse or good friend. Have them begin to pray for you

Remind yourself daily that God treasures you. He created you in his image and He loves you.

Introducing Chores to your children 10-20-09

This past Tuesday we had the pleasure of hearing Erica Graff speak on assigning chores to our children. Erica is a mother of 4 children from the ages of 12-5. She firmly believes that chores should be part of a childs up-bringing and she came to tell us why. Erica was so funny & gave us tons and tons of information.

I am going to list out her main points of chore training. She gave us some great handouts as well on age appropriate chores.

A. These floors need a sweep - The "whys'" of chores

1. Chore training is good for a mom:

• You need help

• It's good to know we have taught our child a skill for the future

2. Children who do regular chores are natural helpers and will pitch in anywhere to help

3. Prepares our children for the workforce and how to be good employee's

4. Helps them be better mates, especially boys

5. Chores allow children to feel valued & accepted within the family unit

6. Teaches our children that any contribution made within the home is just as important as

outside the home contributions.

7. They learn self esteem based on real accomplishments

8. You wont panic when someone stops by unexpectedly because you have routine chores

9. Your child/ren will be less self-centered

10. You will feel more appreciated in your home

B. Wielding the Broom - the "how's" of chores"

1. Do not set your child/ren up to fail.

Example: "Go clean your room" What does that mean to a child? Especially one that hasn't learned what you mean by that statement.

2. Make chores age appropriate

• assign chores all the way down to the youngest child. They all need to learn

• observe what each child can do & assign wisely

3. Routine is important! Kids find comfort in routine

• children need routine in doing their chores, it will become "normal", part of what you do

• children see sporadic chore cleaning as an interruption to their day and aren't as willing to help out.

4. Show your child/ren Step by Step how to do the chore

• work with them as they are learning how to do chore
  
• then observe them doing the chore by themselves
  
• check up on their progress regularly

5. Make rooms in your home child/ren friendly

• especially true of rooms they are responsible for cleaning.
  
• baskets/bins with labels
  
• shelves

6. Give praise freely and deliberately for jobs well done.

7. Have an ending point to when chores will be done by or when they must be done.

8. Make the consequences known for not completing a chore

9. Make the reward or motivation known - if your child needs this

C. Into the dustpan -

1. Chore charts work well with younger children

• they can see what is expected - as they are more visual
  
• makes chores more concrete to understand

2. Older kids like check off lists

3. Make it fun! Have a family chore day with an ice cream sundae night as the reward

4. Provide the cleaning tools for each chore

• little kids love props, let them start by playing with items used to clean IE... broom
  
  

D. Don't sweep the dirt under the carpet -

1. Boys by nature are harder to train, but do not give up. Their spouse will thank you later

2. Temptation to stop chores during difficult/busy times should not be an option. Back to routine.

3. In the beginning the training is hard & there is more work but it does pay off

4. Don't drop chore training if you meet resistance

a. find that child's motivation and work with it

5. Do NOT re-do the chore your child just completed!!! If your child sees you re-doing the chore they just did it will take away their motivation to complete it in the future & it could hurt their self-esteem leaving them thinking "I never do it right"

Leadership Retreat - 2nd Post

So the last "Team Bonding" exercises we did was the high swing. There were a few very nervous ones who kept trying to convince the rest of the group that the rain was a sign that God did not want us to complete this task. But wouldn't you know it the Lord has a sense of humor and the rain stopped just when we got to the swing area!!

Needless to say everyone (besides myself & Kim who still has a broken thumb) completed the task and dare I say had a GREAT time. Just check out the pictures & the video's.

Getting all strapped in & ready

Ready to swing!

Pulling Jessica up in the air

And here she is just about to swing

Videos of Deanna, Sabrina & LeAnne swinging -watch all three!!

Leadership Retreat - 1st post

Yesterday, 8 of our MOPS leadership team headed out to Cedar Springs Camp for our much awaited leadership retreat. A time of bonding, fun, laughs, planning for the year, & just getting to know each other better. We were missing quite a few due to illness and family things but those that did make it had a BLAST!







Let me tell you this group were a fearless and fun bunch of ladies. I was very impressed with each of the ladies! Getting to know them better was so much fun. Oh, and the planning/business part of the retreat was fun too. ;O)

Craft time. We made some cool plates. (nothing more on this project for now)

Business time - assembling cards & signing them




Hike time, Yes we went for a hike in the rain!!

Our trail got to muddy and our fearless leader Deanna is somewhere in the background checking to see if we could continue any further and we couldn't.

LeAnne's boots, she was the only one who brought boots. Good thinking!


Our fearless leader with what's left of our map....not much.

Heather hiked with her coffee...now that is commitment

Along the way we did some team building exercises on the obstacle course. This one was a balancing task.


Trace our littlest hiker, he was worn out




Stay tuned for more pics of our last "bonding" experience & video. You wont want to miss that post!

Moms Night Out

Moms night out is just around the corner. Mark your calendars for it.

When: Friday Oct 23rd

Time: 7pm till 10ish

Where: At the church in the Friendship room

Bring: Your favorite board or card game & a snack to share

Let's get together and play some games, laugh, eat & get to know one another better. It will be loads of fun!

Just beware I know we have some competitive Mom's in our group ;0)