Meeting Recap - May 10th, 2012

Our May 10th MOPS meeting was a fun time of fellowship, laughter, and learning with our fellow moms. But lets start out with some important announcements:

• Congrats to Beate T. and Corie S. on the births of their new babies!
• Thank you to all who helped make our MOPS Spa Day a huge success!
• We will be having gift bags for our wonderful Moppettes Workers at our May 24th meeting; feel free to bring a little something to put in your worker's bag to show your appreciation.
• Our May 24th meeting is our last meeting until the fall! Please be sure you have all forms and fees turned in for next year. If you find out that you will no longer need childcare for next year please let us know as soon as possible; we have a long waiting list of mommies who would like to join us!
• Our MOPS Bible Study will start on Tuesday, September 11th. We will be doing a Beth Moore video-guided study on the book of James. You don't need to attend MOPS to participate in this study, so invite your friends!
• If you would be willing to volunteer for childcare once a semester during a MOPS meeting please let Lauren B. know. By having volunteers we are hoping to allow more women to participate in MOPS.
• Vacation Bible School at First Baptist Church will be held the week of July 9th. Registration is available online. VBS is for children four and older, but if you are willing to volunteer your 3 and under child can participate!  Please consider volunteering as a way to thank First Baptist for all that they do for MOPS! Find the volunteer registration form here.
• MOPS mom Michele C. will be leading a summer Bible Study, "Loved By God" by Lizz Curtis Higgs, on Thursday evenings at 6:30pm beginning June 21st. The study will meet at First Baptist, room 209 and lasts six weeks. 
• We will be having "Bon Voyage" Party to bid farewell to several of our moms who will be moving soon.  It will probably be in early June one evening.  Details will be posted once things are finalized.
• Happy Birthday to our May birthday girls: Amber B., Karen L., Sarah M., Emily M., Jennifer S., Marianne T., and Wendi Z.!

Nicole J.

Our first speaker was our own Nicole J., who spoke about how the Lord has led and taught her about forgiveness and letting go of anger in her life. Thank you so much Nicole!

Next we heard from another MOPS mom, Jenn L., who represents Compassion International. Compassion is an organization that works through churches in developing countries to permanently release children from poverty. They do this through child sponsorship, mother and baby sponsorship, the Bite Back program to purchase life-saving mosquito nets, and the Water of Life Program, among others. Today Jenn spoke specifically about the Water of Life Program. The lack of clean drinking water is estimated to kill 4,500 children per day. Water of Life provides a lifetime of sanitary water for families by giving them a water filtration system. Each system costs only $55. Each mommy at MOPS donated a dollar and we were able to provide one system and have some funds towards another one!  Thanks so much to Jenn for providing us with this awesome ministry opportunity!  If you would like to learn more about Water of Life or to donate, talk to Jenn or click here.

Jenn demonstrating the Water of Life Filter System

Clean Water!

Next we had Kelly P., who gave away a door prize of her favorite things! Congrats to Michelle C., our winner!  Kelly then introduced our featured speaker, Ryan Cirone of ATA Leadership Martial Arts of Charlottesville. Ryan spoke to us about child safety, and some specific steps we can take to protect our children. He recommends that starting around age 2-3, you begin teaching your child their phone number, parent's proper names, and address.  You should also begin teaching them who is and is not a stranger, how to find a helpful adult if they are in trouble, and how to use the 911 emergency number.  ATA offers free child safety seminars each summer, in addition to martial arts lessons. For more information go to their website, www.ATALeadershipNow.com. Thanks to Ryan for the informative talk!

Ryan Cirone of ATA

Ryan and Kelly P.

Our next MOPS meeting on May 24th is our last one until September, so be sure to join us!