Count Your Blessings!

Hey everyone!! The holidays are here and even though we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, Christmas music and decorations are filling the stores. This is my favorite time of year, commercialism and all, as I get a glimpse of the wonder of Christmas through preschool eyes. Like your family, mine has its own traditions, some rich with meaning, others with an unknown origin. One of my favorite things though is our MOPS Christmas brunch. This will be our next meeting, December 6. Bring one wrapped gift, between $5-$10 for a white elephant exchange. Also, we are asking everyone to bring a dish to share for a potluck brunch. We will have discussion groups and play games and just have a couple hours of relaxing amongst a season that is filled with wonderful chaos. I also love to hear the stories of the money you saved and the deals you got on black Friday shopping. If this will be your first meeting to attend, you will be in for a treat!
Next Thursday is Thanksgiving and I am so thankful for each of you and all you bring to our MOPS group. I am thankful for the opportunity to have moms like you to walk beside in our journey of mothering.
Blessings,
Kelly

Are you ready?

Are you ready?? I can't believe summer is gone and here we are entering our fall semester. The steering team has worked hard this summer preparing for this semester. We are excited about what God will do with our group this year. Lots of fun playdates are planned in addition to our MOPS meetings. Can't wait to see all of you there in the morning for a great day! 9:15!!

Convention Day 3

Hey guys! I'm sorry you have had to wait several days for this posting. Things were too crazy to post on Saturday evening and Sunday. I have worked all day so this is the first opportunity I am getting to show the remainder of our trip. I'm so excited about MOPS this year. Possibly more than I've ever been before. I just am praying that everyone will catch the vision and the passion that I have for MOPS and will adopt it as their own.

Saturday morning we were back in "general session" with worship with Travis Cottrell and hearing from Lauren Dungy. She is the wife of Indianapolis Colts headcoach Tony Dungy. She wasn't my favorite speaker this weekend, but I tried to get something out of it. She seemed very nervous in a crowd of 2700 women. A little intimidating for anyone I'm sure.

After that session we were dismissed for lunch and a little free time. We went and did some sightseeing in downtown Nashville and it was awesome. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and then walked into several shops on our way to the Ryman Auditorium. This is something I really wanted to do. The Ryman housed the Grand Ole Opry for many years until recently when the Gaylord Entertainment group built a new theater for the Grand Ole Opry in the late 90's. I really enjoyed the tour and the many pics we were able to take.



The CMT building is right across the street from the Ryman Auditorium





These were the clothes worn by Johnny Cash and June Carter when they performed at the Grand Ole Opry.





Here we are on the stage!



After some fun sightseeing it was time for our final general session where we were anxiously awaiting hearing from Marybeth Chapman (wife of Steven Curtis Chapman). If you don't know their heartbreaking story that has taken place over the last several years, you can read about it here.

Their story was both inspirational and heartbreaking. I enjoyed the banter they shared with one another and of course the concert Steven Curtis Chapman gave was great.  

After we cried, laughed, and worshipped, our time was coming to an end quickly. We were invited to drive 4.5 hours to our dear friend, LaDonne's house in Georgia. Because we lose an hour going from central time to Eastern, we didn't get to her house til nearly 2am. She was waiting up for us and opened her home with warmth and gave us an amazing breakfast the next morning. We were only there for a total of 12 hours, but being with my dear friend again re-energized me and made me sad to leave all the same. I got home around midnight last night and had to be at work this morning at 7:15. I'm beat!! Oh, and I almost forgot one thing. We may have left as 3, but came home with one extra passenger that is now a member of Mandi's family.



Mandi and her new 11 week old puppy, adequately named Georgia!



My Fantastic, Amazing, Kid-Free Weekend Part 1

How---deeee, as the famous Minnie Pearl would say. Home from Nashville and thought I'd share my thoughts with you on the Mops convention.

So you all know we started out driving to Nashville on Wednesday at about midnight. We were tired, but it was a great stress-free, traffic-free drive. We got to our hotel in Nashville in enough time to take a nap, freshen up, and get to the Gaylord (which was a little like being at Disney) for our first night of the convention. We gathered in the main ballroom (and what a production they put on! 3 still cameras, a boom camera, two huge projection screens, 10 mac computers in the back, it was HUGE!) and they started out by letting us know that we may not be perfect mothers, but we ARE the perfect mom for OUR children. God would not have designed us any other way. He specifically and purposefully gave us our children because he knew we would be the best caretakers possible. They also talked about fear and anxiety and how it can rob us of joy and peace. How you deal with conflict is determined by who is in control in your life. I am the world's worst at trying to rely on myself and not enough on God; this really hit home. They recommended we pay attention to the little miracles that God performs in our lives and focus on ALL of the good, no matter how small, and not so much on the bad. We all know horrible things happen, and during the time we are going through the trials it is hard for us to focus on the good, and hard for us to not be angry with God. Conflict is something that happens in all of our lives, but it is also what brings about change.

Next up was some singing by Sara Groves. I had never heard of her before Thursday, but let me tell you, I absolutely love her sound. She reminds me of Norah Jones. She writes her own songs and music, and most of her songs are based on her memories or her children. She had some great things to say, I mean, sing (teehee).

Then we heard an awesome sermon by Max Lucado, as Kelly stated earlier, was about guilt. He something that was very profound: We as mothers often experience guilt, whether its because we didn't do enough housework that day, or we didn't play with our kids enough, I could go on and on. But Max wanted to remind us that not all guilt is good. Not all guilt is the Holy Spirit telling us something. Guilt from God is to change us, guilt from Satan is meant to blame us.

So those were some things that stuck with me this weekend from Thursday. I'll pass on some more things later. Right now, I have to go put some laundry in and play with my kids and take out the new puppy, before I start feeling guilty!

Convention Day 2

Today was a great day of inspiration for me at the Creativity Directors Workshop. I got so many new and exciting ideas and I can't wait to pass them on to all of you. It was also so nice to sit and talk with the other directors and get to share with one another about what we love to do. I just loved those girls and appreciated them so much.
Mandisa was AWESOME as I expected her to be! Lisa Harper a fellow hometown girl, was a blessing but also hilarious. All in all it was a great day here at the convention, but I would have to say my favorite so far was Max Lucado's message last night. God used him in a mighty way and I just received so much from his message to us.
I'm pretty tired tonight and am missing my 3 favorite guys but I'm so thankful to be here and receive all the rich blessings that God has given to me. Goodnight, tomorrow awaits!

Recap Convention Day 2

Hey ya'll! Here we are at the end of day 2. What an amazing day we had today! We started the day with general session and got to worship with an amazing worship leader. His name is Travis Cottrell and he is truly anointed. You can order his CDs here.

We also heard from Lisa Harper today. She is a Sanfordite! She graduated Seminole High in 1981. Pretty cool, huh?



Let me also just say this, this Gaylord Hotel/Convention center is AMAZING! So many beautiful photo spots. There is an actual river (stream) with guided boat tours that go all throughout the hotel. Here are some of our photo opps:



All of these were taken inside. The Hotel is 52 acres big and all covered under a glass roof. After lunch we had breakout/workshop sessions that covered a variety of topics. Mandi and Lori will blog about those in a little while.

Tonight was our 2nd general session and a "fun Friday night." We were entertained by a comedian named John Branyan. He was funny and clean, what a great combination.

After John, Mandi's fave Mandisa came on the stage with a remix of "I've got a feeling" which was awesome. She put on a very high energy show and we were touched by her testimony. She has lost 120 lbs and said she is being set free from the bondage of overeating and trying to find comfort in food vs her Savior.

She was so sweet she even posed for a pic with us afterwards:

All in all, it was a great day. We are looking forward to tomorrow morning where we will worship with Travis again and hear from Tony and Lauren Dungy. Thanks for praying for us. We are excited for what God will do in our MOPS ministry. Stay tuned for more postings from Mandi and Lori. Love ya!

Convention Day 1

Greetings from Opryland!! We are having a great time here and He has already showed up this evening. Here is a recap of what has gone on thus far:


We started out driving at Midnight.....














And we drove all night! Some things can only be encountered in the south.

Such as:


A hair salon in a giant fireworks store!



Once we got to Nashville, about 11 hours later, we were greeted by this sign:

And boy were we tired! We took a little nap and then went to get registered for the conference and get acclimated to our itenerary. The Gaylord is huge and has so much to look at while you wait. Stores that are so cute with all sorts of country flair!

It was finally time for Storyboard to begin. Sarah Groves was the musical guest. She sounds a bit like Norah Jones to me and I enjoyed the acoustic style worship that she offered.

Kathi Lipp offered some teaching that was really relavent about not accepting someone else's style of mothering for your own. We were told that God has equipped us each in our own way and to try and hone in on what needs we have and that will then make us better mothers when our needs are taken care of.
After Kathi spoke, Max Lucado got up and preached an awesome message. Honestly, I could go home now and be satisfied. He spoke about the woman who was caught in adultery from John 8. He spoke on grace and living a guilt free life. Our accuser wants to constantly make us feel guilty for past and present sins and a myriad of guilt we just carry as mothers. He encouraged us to let it go and give it to the Father ultimately so we can really hear from Him this weekend.





After Max, Sarah came back and did a few numbers and then we were dismissed. We found our way back to our room and had a surprise waiting for us:

Our husbands had this sent to us~how sweet!

It was a great day. We are all exhausted and can't wait til tomorrow to hear first thing Lisa Harper and be led in worship by Travis Cottrell (one of my absolute faves).  See you tomorrow!

Convention

Nashville, here we come! We are headed to Tinsel Town for the MOPS convention this week. We (Me, Lori, and Mandi) are super excited for new ideas and inspiration to bring back to our group. Stay tuned for pics and further postings on all that we will see and do. If you want further info on what we have in store for us visit:  http://www.mops.org/page.php?pageid=560&srctype=menu&PHPSESSID=d50722a5bb170aef187cb4929e00d021

Registration Event!

Open registration for new and returning members is August 22 from 7-9 pm at the church. We are looking forward to a great year! Our first meeting will be September 13 at 9:15. Come and bring a friend!

New Blog!

Hi everyone! Welcome to the new MOPS blog! Hoping to utilize this to keep everyone informed of current and upcoming events and meetings! Stay tuned for future posts!!