Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Happy Holidays

On behalf of MOPS at First Christian Church, we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope that you all have a blessed time with family and friends and pray that everyone will stay safe throughout the holiday season. We look forward to seeing you all again at our next meeting on January 11, 2010. Until then, Happy Holidays!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Christmas Party

The holiday season is upon us. So come join us for a Potluck Breakfast at our next MOPS meeting as we celebrate Christmas. We will eat, read some Christmas stories, eat, share some Christmas traditions, eat, listen to some Christmas music, and eat some more. With everyone sharing a dish with the group, there will be more yummy food than you can possibly eat.

And remember, this will be our last meeting for collecting items for our bundles for Clarity - Solutions For Women. For this meeting, we will be bringing individually wrapped candies. (This will be a good way to get rid of any leftover candy you may have from Halloween.) We will be taking all of the supplies that we have collected thus far and will be assembling them into bundles during the meeting.

So come join in the festivities on Monday, December 14th from 9:00am - 11:00am as we wrap up our first semester of MOPS and celebrate our families, the friends that we have made through MOPS, and most importantly, the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
Don't miss it!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Growing With Extended Family

Do you ever feel like your "family tree is suddenly a forest"? Has having children changed your relationship with your family of origin or with your in-laws? With the holiday season quickly approaching, do you ever find it hard to balance creating your own family traditions with your children and maintaining those that you have carried down with you from your own parents or from those of your in-laws?

With parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, and relationships through blended families, our relationships with extended family can sometimes seem challenging, but with a little work, they can often times be very rewarding. At our next meeting, we will watch an informative video about growing with extended family. We will learn how our own childhood experiences with family often shape us, both positively and negatively, and how we carry those experiences into our relationships with our own immediate family. We will also learn how we can handle any differences of opinions that we may have with our extended families. For further thought, you can read Chapter 3 of the Life on Planet Mom book.

And with the holidays quickly approaching, we will be making one or more of three fabulous gift ideas that you can give to someone in your extended family or keep for yourself. Please remember to bring your frozen juice lids with you to our next meeting for one of these projects.

In addition, for those of you looking for some fun events coming up in our community, check out the following links. http://ehcheritagecouncil.org/upcomingevents.asp.htm and http://thepac.net/

And remember, we are still collecting items for our bundles for Clarity - Solutions For Women. For this meeting, we will be bringing baby bottles. They can be either new or used. We will be assembling the bundles at our Christmas Party on December 14th. We will be assembling the bundles at our Christmas Party on December 14th.

So come join us on Monday, November 23rd from 9:00am - 11:00am in the Family Life Center of First Christian Church for some food, fun, and fellowship as we continue our quest to discover ourselves on Planet Mom. Breakfast is being provided to us by the Water care group. Hope to see you there!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Houston, We Have A Problem

As a federal requirement, all schools must have mandatory, scheduled fire drills on a regular basis to prepare the children for an emergency. But what about you? Do you have an emergency plan for your own home? Have you thought about how you would ensure that everyone gets out of your home safely in the event of a fire? Do you have a designated place to go in the event of a tornado or earthquake? Sadly, most of us do not think these things through very thoroughly until it's too late.

At our next meeting, Firefighter Luke Graham will come to share with us some important tips about fire safety, creating a fire plan for your homes, and how to educate your children about what to do in the event of a fire. He will also come in full uniform and meet with our children to familiarize them with what a firefighter would look like in a real fire situation. With young children, seeing someone dressed up in a mask and fire suit might scare them terribly and cause them to run away from the firefighter in an emergency situation instead of going with them to safety. So, by familiarizing the children with what the uniform looks like in a non-threatening, non-emergency situation, if they ever are faced with a real fire situation, they will know what to expect and will be prepared.

Also, we have many service projects available for this next meeting for any who want to participate in them.

  1. Goodies for our firefighters - If you would like to make some sort of treat to send back to our firefighters, please feel free to do so and bring them to our meeting on Monday. We will be dividing them up to send back with Firefighter Luke Graham of the Fort Knox Fire Department and with Firefighter Marco Scarborough of the E-Town Fire Department.
  2. Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes - For those of you wanting to participate in filling shoe boxes for children less fortunate, these boxes are due at our meeting this Monday. Dollar Tree carries a lot of the stuff that you would want to fill them with (including the clear plastic shoe boxes themselves), so you can put them together fairly inexpensively. To print out your labels for your boxes or to find out more information about what to fill them with, go to http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Pack_A_Shoe_Box/
  3. Stuffed animals for Clarity...Solutions For Women - For those of you competing in our contest to collect items for the bundles that we are making for Clarity...Solutions For Women (formerly the Heartland Crisis Pregnancy Center), this meeting we are bringing new or gently used small stuffed animals. Remember, the care group who brings the most stuff for the bundles will receive a $5 gift card for each member of your group to Pestos Restaurant in Cool Springs.

Also, please remember to be saving your frozen juice lids to bring to our November 23rd meeting for a craft project that we will be doing.

In addition, for those of you looking for some fun events coming up in our community, check out the following links. http://ehcheritagecouncil.org/upcomingevents.asp.htm and http://thepac.net/


So come join us on November 9th from 9:00am - 11:00am in the Family Life Center of First Christian Church for food, fun, and fellowship as we prepare our homes to be emergency ready. Breakfast is being provided to us by the Fire care group. Hope to see you then!

Monday, September 28, 2009

UFOs - Unidentified Financial Obstructions

We've all been there... wondering how we are going to pay our next bill, stressing over debt we can't seem to get out of, or facing financial challenges due to unforseen emergencies like a loss of a job, medical expenses due to an illness or injury, unexpected vehicle repairs or home repairs, etc. The list seems to be never-ending. But there are some things that we can learn that will help us with our money woes.

At our next meeting, we will be hearing from Nicole Pavlica, who will share with us some key financial tools such as creating a budget, tackling debt, planning for the future, etc. Nicole has a Finance degree from the University of South Florida and has worked as a Junior Treasury Analyst, a Fixed Assets Analyst and an Accounts Receivable Specialist. She has graduated from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University twice, once as a single college student and a second time along with her husband. In June of 2009, she attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Counselor's Training, which is a 5 day, intensive program in which she was trained by Dave's team to counsel people on their budgets, getting out of debt and making the best decisions about investing and insurance. She is currently working as the Family Readiness Support Assistant for the 16th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Knox and is in the 10th week of teaching her first Financial Peace University to the Families of the Regiment. She and her husband are also debt free, so I know that we will be able to learn lots of valuable lessons from her.

We will also hear of what Financial Peace University is all about and learn of some websites available containing valuable financial tools as well as hearing about some highly recommended books that will point you in the right direction to being debt-free and financially secure.

With a topic like this one, you won't want to miss it! And as an added bonus, we have some fabulous door prizes to give away that were donated to us by renowned financial expert, Dave Ramsey, including some autographed copies of his book. So come join us for some Finance 101 on Monday, October 26th from 9:00am - 11:00am in the Family Life Center of First Christian Church. Breakfast is being provided to us by the Wind care group. Hope to see you there!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Building A Community of Friends

We had a fabulous first meeting. For those of you that attended, thank you for helping us to have a great kick-off! We hope that you all are as excited about this year as we are.

As a mom, do you ever feel like you are stranded on an island of chaos all by yourself? If so, you are certainly not alone (even though it may feel that way sometimes). Community is a vital part of our well-being, and friendships are the steam that keeps us chugging. But sometimes, the very thing that we need the most is often the thing that suffers the most when we become mothers, due to fatigue, lack of time, added responsibilities, and stress.

At our next meeting, we will learn how motherhood changes friendships and how we can build a community of friends with other mothers to help us, support us, encourage us, and celebrate with us. And for more insight into this exciting topic, you can read chapter 4 of the Life on Planet Mom book.

Also, as a group-wide service project, we will be collecting supplies for Clarity... Solutions for Women (formerly known as Heartland Crisis Pregnancy Center). The goal is to collect certain things at each meeting, which we will be assembling together closer to Christmas to create "bundles" for the new moms that come through the center. For this meeting, we are asking everyone who can to please bring one or more new or gently used receiving blankets. As an added incentive, for the care group that collects the most items towards our service project, we will be awarding each member with a $5 gift card to one of the new local coffee shops here in town.

So come join us, on Monday, September 28th from 9:00am - 11:00am in the Family Life Center of First Christian Church as we explore more of what Life on Planet Mom is all about. Breakfast is being provided by the Earth care group. You won't want to miss it! See you then!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Kick-off Meeting - Bridging Planet Me and Planet Mom

We hope that everyone has had an exciting summer and is ready to get back into the swing of things. We are so excited about this upcoming MOPS year as we take a journey through Life On Planet Mom!


We have 38 moms and 45 children signed-up to attend this year which is fantastic! If you haven't signed-up yet, but were planning to attend the first meeting, please contact Nora Gocking (nbgocking@yahoo.com). We currently have a waiting list for new moms as we only have so many spots in our MOPPETS program (the child-care program for our children while we attend MOPS). We will make every effort to get you into MOPS as soon as possible! If you are not sure if you are signed-up or not, please contact Nora and she'll be glad to help you.


Please make every effort to be at the church and signing your children in by 8:50 am. We have a lot to get through at our first meeting and the only way we can get through it is if we start on-time. Thank you for your understanding.


Our first meeting, on September 14th will be our kick-off meeting where we will find out what Planet Mom is all about. We will be watching a short video to introduce the topic called Bridging Planet Me and Planet Mom. For more inspiration, for those of you who have already pre-registered, you can read chapter 1 of the Life on Planet Mom book that was sent to you. For those who have not yet registered, you can register at the first meeting and will get your own copy of the book in the mail soon thereafter.

This will be an exciting meeting as we will meet other moms, enjoy a yummy breakfast, meet your mentor mom and the members of your care group, and make a fabulous nametag that will represent you and your care group to be worn to every meeting.

With a fun craft, delicious breakfast, an inspirational and informative video, two hours free of your children, and adult fellowship with other moms, what more could you ask for?

So come join us on Monday, September 14th from 9:00am - 11:00am in the Family Life Center of First Christian Church. Breakfast is being provided by our Mentor Moms.

Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Welcome!

We are playing with a new format for the First Christian Church's MOPS website. Please be patient as we try to get set up here. In the meantime, we hope you are excited to join us this year!!!

Our first meeting will be on Monday, September 14th from 9:00 to 11:00 am in the Fellowship Hall of the church. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to email one of us for more information. We can't wait to see some familiar faces and hopefully some new ones too!

Our theme for this year will be “Life on Planet Mom”. If you haven’t already done so, please make sure to send in your MOPS registration so that you will receive your very own copy of the Life on Planet Mom - a down-to-earth guide to your changing relationships book that coincides with this year’s curriculum. To find out how to do so, please contact Nora Gocking or Kim Medley.

We hope you are having a great summer!!!

Contents

CONTENTS

2008-2009 Theme
Meeting Dates
MOPS Steering Team
MOPS Mentor Moms
Attendance Policy
Meeting Cancellation Policy
Guest / Visitor Policy
FCC MOPPETS and Nursery
General Policies
Sick Policy
Childcare Security System
Finance
Care Groups
Mentor Mom
Hospitality
Creative Activities
Communication
Newsletter
Photo Directory
Website
Business Board

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Welcome!

We are playing with a new format for the First Christian Church's MOPS website. Please be patient as we try to get set up here.

In the meantime, we hope you are excited to join us this year!!! Our first meeting will be on Monday, September 14th from 9:00 to 11:00 am in the Fellowship Hall of the church. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to email one of us for more information. We can't wait to see some familiar faces and hopefully some new ones too!

We hope you are having a great summer!!!

~Nora

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Calendar of Events

Here's our 2009-2010 Meeting Schedule
We meet the 2nd and 4th Mondays of every month from September to May (with a couple of exceptions this year--see calendar) and we meet from 9:00 am to 11:00 am in the Fellowship Hall of First Christian Church.
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Check back as we will be updating this as we have more information for each meeting!
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September 14th
  • Topic: Bridging Planet Me and Planet Mom (chapter 1 of Life on Planet Mom)
  • Activity/Speaker: Craft - Creating nametags; Video
  • Breakfast Provided By: Mentor Moms

September 28th

  • Topic: Building a Community of Friends (chapter 4 of Life on Planet Mom)
  • Activity/Speaker: Ice Breakers; Video
  • Breakfast Provided By: Earth care group

October 12***NO MEETING - HARDIN COUNTY SCHOOLS NOT IN SESSION

October 26th

  • Topic: UFO's - Unidentified Financial Obstructions
  • Activity/Speaker: TBA
  • Breakfast Provided By: Wind care group



November 9th

  • Topic: Houston, We Have a Problem! - Emergency Preparedness & Fire Safety
  • Activity/Speaker: Firefighter Luke Graham
  • Breakfast Provided By: Fire care group


November 23rd

  • Topic: Growing With Extended Family (chapter 3 of Life on Planet Mom)
  • Activity/Speaker: Video; Craft - 3 ideas for gifts
  • Breakfast Provided By: Water care group


December 14th (Christmas Party)

  • Topic: Christmas Party
  • Speaker/Activity: TBA
  • Breakfast Provided By: Potluck


January 11th

  • Topic: 4,3,2,1 Blast Off! - Anger Management for Moms & Emotional Expression For Kids
  • Speaker/Activity: TBA
  • Breakfast Provided By: Earth care group


January 25th

  • Topic: Loving and Giving In Service (chapter 5 of Life on Planet Mom)
  • Activity/Speaker: Video; Creating Scrapbooks for Clarity
  • Breakfast Provided by: Wind care group


February 8th

  • Topic: Fire and Ice - Marriage Tips
  • Activity/Speaker: TBA
  • Breakfast Provided By: Fire care group


February 22nd

  • Topic: Popcorn Questions
  • Speaker/Activity: TBA
  • Breakfast Provided By: Water care group


March 8th

  • Topic: Living Together With God
  • Activity/Speaker: Craft - Bible Verse plaque; Video
  • Breakfast Provided By: Mentor Moms


March 22nd***NO MEETING--HARDIN COUNTY SCHOOLS NOT IN SESSION


April 12th

  • Topic: Beam Me Up! - Escaping the Daily Routine With a Spa Day
  • Activity/Speaker: Craft - Necklace; Spa Centers (massage chair, foot spa, etc.)
  • Breakfast Provided By: Earth care group


April 26th

  • Topic: Navigating Unsafe Relationships
  • Activity/Speaker: Ice Breakers; Video
  • Breakfast Provided By: Wind care group


May 10th

  • Topic: Launch Pad - Preparing your child for school
  • Activity/Speaker: Former Kindergarten teacher Kelsey Graham
  • Breakfast Provided By: Fire and Water care groups


May 24th

  • Topic: Wrap-up Party
  • Activity/Speaker: TBA
  • Breakfast Provided By: TBA

About Us


We are a fairly new chapter of Mother’s of Preschoolers (MOPS) started at First Christian Church in Elizabethtown, KY, during the summer of 2006. Our chapter is one of nearly 4,000 around the US and 29 countries around the world. Our mission is to connect with all mothers of children ages birth through kindergarten and support each other through these formative years in our children’s lives.

While some of our curriculum is based on Christian principles, MOPS is not a Bible study and you do not have to attend a church or be a Christian to attend. We welcome all mothers of preschoolers, regardless of age, race, or socio-economic background. Being a mom to little ones connects us together!

During our meetings, we eat our own food without cutting it into little pieces, have “adult” conversation, listen to speakers and share ideas, and do crafts that don’t involve crayons, play-doh or cleaning fingerpaints off walls!

If you’d like to join us, please contact a steering team member and check out our calendar to see our listing of meetings.


We provide childcare too!

Contact Us

If you would like more information on our group, please contact any steering team member. We’d love for you to visit our group and learn more about MOPS!

MOPS ~ First Christian Church
634 N. Mulberry St., Elizabethtown, KY 42701
(270) 765-4994
http://www.firstchristianonline.com/
www.facebook.com/fccmops
www.facebook.com/fccetown

Stacia Jones
Co-Coordinator

stacia@etownmops.com

Kim Medley
Co-Coordinator
(270) 360-8702
kbmedley@yahoo.com

Dorothy Platt
Publicity
dee_squared2004@yahoo.com

Heidi Durbin
Financial Coordinator

(270) 360-1022
hdurbin@comcast.net

Leigh Anne Schory
Hospitality

(270) 317-4477
laschory@yahoo.com

Annette Hicks
Hospitality

jarb042@aim.com

Sarah Christensen
Creative Activities

carldsarahj@windstream.net

Holly Gross
Creative Activities

hdgross33@hotmail.com

Janice Tarter
Mentor Mom Coordinator/Care Group Team Leader

tarterdj1@comcast.net