09 MommyDiaries  booklet – with discussion questions

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Chuck D. Pierce – From Loss to Prophetic Fulfillment – Why did their twins die?

Two quotes:

Even when you don’t understand what has happened in your life, in the midst of your loss and resulting grief, you need to learn to submit quickly to God’s greater plan for your life.

The concept of submitting is the act of allowing the wing of His goodness and grace to spread over us and shelter us from the accusatory thoughts of the enemy, the fray of the world and the condemnation of our own mistakes.      [my bold]

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– some creative activities done at Central MOPS in Hamilton

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http://mopscrafts.wordpress.com/  – new*

http://utownmops.wordpress.com/category/creative-activities/

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http://www.skiptomylou.org/category/handmade-gifts/

http://www.skiptomylou.org/

http://www.skiptomylou.org/free-downloads/

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Shrink Plastic Ring – tutorial with photos

Ring size conversion

another photo of shrinky rings + comment

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• Bold undertaking in which hazards are to encountered
• A remarkable occurrence in one’s personal history
• A stirring experience 

Advent: arrival, coming into being, new stuff

Adventure: exciting experiences and enterprises

Advent Adventure

Caterpillar skit – change

Make the most of your holidays
> holy days

• How much (time, imagination, energy, money) do you invest in planning and preparing for your holy days?
• In what sort of environment do you relax?
• If you could have changed one thing about your holy days what would it have been?
• To what extent did you get the right balance of company and privacy on your holiday?
• What helped you restore a healthy perspective on yourself and the world?
• What are the top 5 factors that make a holiday / period of holidays good for you?
• What sorts of things make you grin like an idiot?
• Whose company do you find relaxing / refreshing?
• Over the past 2 years what days of fun still stand out?

… more …

Something for the Weekend

– thinking, questions (like the one about can my children tell the difference between me and the couch), planning.

More questions:

Do you treat your weekends as priceless opportunities and plan them in advance or do you stumble into them, bimble through them and climb out of them on Monday mornings?  Is an unplanned weekend of chilling really what you need? Will this refresh you, inspire you and recreate your mind? Are you actually tired or are you suffering from depressed energy levels due to frustration, tunnel vision, disappointment or boredom?

Choose your adventures. Grow through them. Know freedom.

With Your Children at Christmastime

December

5. Put up your Christmas tree – get everyone around to decorate it.

6. Teach the children about St. Nicklaus (Nicholas), the generous 4^th century Turkish bishop.

7. Set up the Nativity scene – remember Baby Jesus isn’t there yet, nor the Kings.

8. Christmas is a season – not just one day.

9. Simplify. Alter traditions to suit YOU and YOUR family. Simplify.

10. Put aside (hide) or make biscuits and other treats to put in the freezer now.

11. Invite your neighbours over for a barbecue – be as lights in the world.

12. Have a gift card making session with your children, maybe invite some friends over.

13. Wrap the presents and place in a ‘safe’ place.

14. Make an Advent chain with 10 loops of paper and countdown – take off one each night and read the Bible verses or love notes (from God) you’ve written inside.

15. Together recall the enjoyable memories of Christmas past.

16. Sing carols or put on a music tape to play through the day.

17. Sit outside in the countryside on a fine dark night silently. Think of the shepherds, angels, Mary waiting.

18. Have a family only (half-) day to sit and be and do. Relax – in the park, on the beach.

19. Have an Advent candle lighting ceremony.

20. Go on a pyjama ride with the littlies to see the Christmas lights.

21. Oohh! The anticipation – Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Light, is coming.

22. Visit or volunteer at an old folks’ home, women’s refuge, Night shelter.

23. Watch a Christmas video or DVD with your children, telling the story of Jesus’ birth.

24. O Holy Night, … the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

25. Happy Birthday, Jesus – Emmanuel, God born as man. Who is coming to your party?

Shalom, God is with us!

© 2004, by Johanna Whittaker for MOPS (NZ) Inc.

Newsletter Templates

2.

Download MOPS invitations

3.

Send a MUM-e-invite

• Put 75612 into the ID box provided and press [next].
• 75612 is a number I randomly chose that belongs to a real MOPS group!
• This comes up with a page with TO:, FROM:, and comments boxes.
• Complete with your information in the top two boxes.
• In the third text box, correct program to programme, then put in own details in middle paragraph.

• Send press [Send MOM-e-invite].
• They’re sent – maybe practice on yourself or close friend first?
• An email will arrive in the selected emailbox with the subject line: Join me at my MOPS group.

Check out MOPS Group at CafeMom

MOPS @ CafeMom

Fear is not overcome by dealing with the fear; it is overcome by DOING the fearful thing. You overcome fear by facing the tiger with your fear and discovering that you can walk away alive. In time you laugh at the tiger, for it was only paper. But if your child flees from the tiger, and you call it fear and then offer sympathy or protection, you legitimise the child’s fear and the paper tiger gets bigger and more threatening every day. If you treat the paper tiger with indifference, the child will feel the same. Wild animals learn what to be afraid of and what to tolerate by watching their parents. What do you want, a pitiful, weak child, cowering for comfort, or a tiger tamer? You will make the child into the image of your own responses.

Breaking the Bondage of Shyness and Fear by M.Pearl, January February 2001
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“Some degree of fear is natural in parents. We love our kids so much that the thought of anything bad happening to them sends us into a panic. Yet, if we’re not careful, this caution can become oppressive. When we let fear dominate our parenting, we can actually shield our kids from the very things they need to be dealing with.”

• Surrender Your Children to God
• Live with Hope
• Foster Responsibility
• Pray, Pray, Pray

Sheila Wray Gregoire is a freelance writer in Belleville, Ontario.
Christian Parenting Today, July/August 2000, Vol. 12, No. 6, Page 51
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Teaching point one: We don’t parent alone.

We commit our children to our heavenly Father, who always watches us. God is always available. Create extended families to provide more of a sense of community. Pray in local ‘grandparents’ or ‘aunties’ to care for your children. Scripture tells us he longs to hear from us. Read James 1:5. All we have to do when we are unsure about a decision is to call on the Father. He will readily disperse the wisdom we so desperately need. It’s there for the asking.

Teaching point two: God enables us to do what he requires.

At some points in our lives we can feel overwhelmed, like there is no way out and we are going under. Read 1 Samuel 17:37. When David was about to fight Goliath, he remembered how God had given him the strength he needed before, and trusted him in his current time of need.  All of us face our own Goliaths; they just look different.The most frightening things can happen to our children; no matter what we do to protect them, it is sometimes not enough. Only God is the ultimate protector. Read Isaiah 41:10.

Teaching point three: Pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray continually.” We pray without ceasing to the God who never ceases to hear us.

* Read 1 Peter 5:7. God cares about what we care about: these children he has entrusted to us. Listening to our every call, God grants us wisdom to be the responsible parents he made us to be, and he tells us to call on him anytime we need him. Lovingly he meets our needs. Read Matthew 7:11. God is waiting to give to us and to bless us.

* Read Proverbs 22:6. God instructs us to train our children. He assures us that if we do, that training will somehow stay with our children. What a comfort it is to know that if we obey God, even if our children stray from the right path we have shown them, they can come back to it. We see this illustrated with the prodigal son. What a perfect picture of how God is with us. Even when we blow it, we are welcomed back into his arms. How wonderful that God our Father can show us how to parent. Even the things that were never modeled for us, God can teach us.

Anne Peterson, a regular contributor to Christian Bible Studies. www.ChristianBibleStudies.com
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When we face the fears of the unknown, we turn to what we know. To what is true. Because that Truth sets us free from the burdens of fear.

Here is truth:
God knows everything.
He is still in control.
He is good.
He is all powerful.
He has a plan for our lives – to give us a future and a hope.
He loves us.
He will never leave us.

And this truth sets us free from our fears, no matter what circumstances we face. This truth not only comforts us; when we pass this truth on, it comforts others.

Carol Kuykendal – MOMSense Radio, March 2004. www.mops.org