- Don't forget to turn in your registration forms for next year. You can download the forms here. Please be sure to bring them to the next meeting. Registration fees are due no later than our last meeting in May. If you need assistance with fees we have scholarships available; please see Elizabeth K.
- We will be having a MOPS Easter Egg Hunt at 10am on Friday, April 6th at Emily B.'s house in Keswick. Please bring 10 filled plastic eggs per child, a basket for egg-gathering, and a picnic lunch (if you wish to stay for lunch). Please see our MOPS Facebook page for more details. This event will be cancelled if it rains.
- If you are interested in having a MOPS yard sale please contact Kelly P. We also have a poll set up on our Facebook page to try an gauge interest for this event. If held, the yard sale would be in early May.
- Congrats to Ivonne L. on the birth of Samuel!
- Please pray for Michelle C.; her father passed away unexpectedly. Please sign up to provide meals for the family if you are able. (A sign up was sent via email.)
- Our door prize for this meeting was a bag full of Anna P.'s "favorites" - congrats to our winner Karen L.!
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| Janet Mancini |
It is not uncommon for women to look at something positive
in our lives and turn it into a negative.
A dream family vacation turns into a chore trying to get everyone
packed. A husband who wants to take you
out for date night turns into a stressful event trying to secure a babysitter,
not to mention something that looks halfway decent to wear.
The act of turning blessings into burdens is what long-time
MOPS speaker Janet Mancini told members to examine in their lives.
“As God for perspective,” says Janet, a wife and mother of
three. “And whenever you feel burdened by something, turn it into a praise.”
Janet has been a favorite MOPS speaker for six years. She has a way of taking everyday life
situations involving marriage and raising children and finding the humor in it
while offering deep insight into creating a peaceful and loving home life. Though she is beyond the preschool years –
she has one child who just graduated college, one still in college and yet another
waiting for acceptance letters – she says she sees herself as one of us, just a
few feet in front.
“When taking long hikes, Boy Scouts are told to keep their
eyes down and follow the feet in front of them,” she says. “I come to you in that vein. I’m just a little ahead of the road.”
As women we have a way to look at problems from every angle,
Janet explained. She recalled a time when she was trying to decide whether or
not to keep her son in the private Christian school he was attending or move
him to another one that was closer to their home. She explained how she fretted over the
decision – which was better for her then-third grader. It kept her up at night and caused friction
in her daily life. Suddenly, she said,
she heard God put things into perspective.
“Janet, you are trying to decide between two Christian
schools,” she says. “Pick one and be happy!” She finally saw the blessing in
her choices.
As a former nurse married to a physician, Janet remembers
being jealous that her husband “got” to go to work each day while she was
“stuck” at home raising three young children.
She was angry that everyone else’s husband appeared to come home at a
normal hour while her husband was on call often and had odd hours. It caused friction in her marriage and she
finally saw the blessing.
“Here was a man who went to work every day so that I could
be with my kids – something I always wanted,” she says. “He was a blessing to me.”
It’s just as important for wives to bless their husbands as
it is to recognize the blessing they are to us.
Men need to feel admired and respected.
Make sure that you give them reassurance, Janet says.
Janet ended her talk referring to Philippeans 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in
every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God.
“Don’t ask ‘why me?’ Instead, say, ‘help me.’” Janet
says. What right do we have to ask why
when things go wrong but we accept things that go well.
“Try to make life an adventure instead of being burdened or
frustrated by it.”
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