Meeting Recap - September 13th, 2012

Welcome back to MOPS ladies!  For our first meeting of the 2012-2013 season we caught up with old friends, as well as welcomed many new moms to our group.  There were some exciting changes to our meetings, but we still had our usual delicious breakfast.  First things first though, lets start with a few announcements:

• We first heard from Nancy Ryalls, the Director of Children's Ministries at First Baptist Church. She welcomed us and our children to First Baptist. Thanks to Nancy, Cynthia Pistulka, and many workers and volunteers from FBC, we are able to attend MOPS meetings while our children are well taken care of.  Many thanks to them!  Also, don't forget, if your child(ren) will not be attending Moppettes, please let your table leader or Cynthia know.
• Next, we learned about something new to MOPS.  Next to the podium at each meeting, there will be three baby bottles; one pink, one blue, and one green.  When a mommy feels comfortable announcing a new pregnancy, she can go up front, grab the appropriate bottle, and either shake it or quietly take it back to her seat and wait to see who notices first!  The bottles can also be used to reveal the gender of your baby once you find out. 
• Speaking of new little ones, we had several moms blessed with new babies over the summer!  Congratulations to Mere C. on the birth of Clay, to Amber Y. on the birth of Savannah, to Megan S. on the birth of Elliott, and to Sara D. on the birth of Emery!  Be sure to check your email for messages regarding "meal trains" for these and other families with new babies.
• Happy Birthday to our moms born in September! Colleen A., Cari B., Michelle C., Sara D., Amy P., and Felicia W.
• If you are interested in joining the MOPS Bible Study, its not too late!  We meet on Tuesday mornings from 9:20 - 11:30. Childcare is provided. This fall we are following the Beth Moore study of James entitled "Mercy Triumphs". Click here to register for childcare and the study.
• On Friday, October 5th we will be having a Bunco Night!  Join us at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall (same room we have Mops in) from 7-9 pm for a fun evening of games and girl talk!  Please rsvp to Rachel Gerber no later than Sept. 27th.
• MOPS will be taking a "field trip" to Greenfield Farm in late October.  Look for more details to come.

Next we heard from our MOPS Coordinator, Lauren Byrne.  Lauren revealed our theme for this year, "Branch Out".  She explained that branching out entails two things: to branch out we must get out of our comfort zone, and reach out and try new things. Secondly, to branch out, you need to be connected to the vine in order to bear fruit.  This is further explained in the words of Jesus in John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."  Hopefully this will be a year of fruitful branching out in many ways for us moms!

Next Lauren introduced our Mentoring Moms for this year: Ruth Wagner, Lee Sadler, Nancy Ryalls, and Gayle Trevillian. These wise women will be spending a few meetings at each table. Thanks so much for giving us the benefit of your experience and wisdom over the next several months.

We then met our Table Leaders. Leading the Pink Flamingos we have Cara Bennet, with the Green Parakeets, Kathy Fox, at the Yellow Canary table, Karen Lemcke, with the Purple Martins, Felicia Wilson, at the Bluebird table, Rachel Gerber, and at the Orange Orioles, Jenn Coon.

And finally we met this year's Steering Committee. Our Coordinator is Lauren Byrne. Mere Curs will be handling prayer and care. Laurie Burke is our Creative Activities leader. Amanda Nelson will coordinate with our Table Leaders. Kelly Pedone and Allison Bird will take care of Publicity. Jenn Coons coordinates the Moms Next group. Elizabeth Killian is in charge of registration and finance. Melissa Ragland is in charge of our hospitality needs. And Marianne Tolley heads up our service and ministry opportunities. 

As part of our introductions our steering members were asked to tell us the best and hardest parts of motherhood, as well as an interesting fact about themselves. Did you know Melissa's grandfather is the oldest living NBA player, and played on the first team formed in the league?  And one of our steering members played on a national champion softball team...it's Kelly Pedone!  In future meetings we will be learning some interesting "factoids" about our other moms!  Stay tuned to see if they can get any crazier than last year's mom who once saw a former president in his underwear...

Finally we ended our first meeting with an adorable craft.  To go along with our theme of branching out, we made necklaces with nest-shaped pendants. In each nest our moms placed pearls to represent their children.  They turned out beautifully!  Many thanks to the moms who coordinated this craft!

Our next meeting will be Thursday, September 27th.  We look forward to more fun and fellowship!