Fall Events

Below are a few events, other than our normal MOPS meetings, that are coming up for our group in the near future:

~Tuesday, Oct 26th - Playdate at Allison's house 9:30-11:30AM.  Come enjoy fellowship and food with other moms while your kids play together!  215-412-2774.

~Friday, Oct 29th - Covenant's Harvest Festival 6-9PM.  FREE night of family activities including a pumpkin patch, hayrides, FREE dinner (hot dog, soft pretzel, drink, popcorn and dessert), petting zoo, movies and more!  Invite friends and neighbors and family friendly costumes are welcomed!

~Thursday, Nov 11th - Playdate at Allison's house 9:30-11:30AM. Come enjoy fellowship and food with other moms while your kids play together! 215-412-2774.

Hayrides!

The Moms Club of Harleysville invited our MOPS group to join them on 2 different hayrides this year - one at Freddy Hill Farms and one at Merrymead.  From what I heard, both groups of moms and kids had good weather and a great time - despite some minor challenges in the corn mazes!  Below are a few pictures from the Freddy Hill Hayride...



A Fresh Start!

Another MOPS year has begun!  Our first meeting was yesterday morning and we had a fantastic turnout with lots of new faces as well as many returning moms.  We are very excited to see what God has in store for our group this year and have lots of fun and exciting events, speakers, and activities planned for the year.  Here is a list of what we currently have coming up:

~Monday, Sept 20th 9:30 Car Seat Safety Talk : a licensed car seat inspector will be coming to Covenant to do a brief talk/video on car seat safety.  This will be followed by a car seat check on Oct 13th (see below).  We will be meeting in the room we had our MOPS meeting in and this is a free event, but you will have your kids with you so plan accordingly!

~Sept 20th - 25th - Clothing Exchange at Covenant : bring any clothing donations that you do not want back and feel free to take any clothing you could use!  You do not need to bring something to take something - all leftover items are donated to Goodwill so please don't be shy!  Use the back entrance around the church by the playground.  Hours are M-F 9-4 and Sat 9-12, as well as evening hours on T/R 6-8pm.  Invite friends!

~Tues, Sept 28th 9:30 - 11:30 - Playdate at Allison's house : Come for a morning of fellowship and refreshment with other MOPS moms while our kids play together!  If the weather is nice, plan to be outside and feel free to bring bikes for your children. 

~Oct 8th & 9th - Prayer Life Seminar at New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, PA : Paul Miller will be speaking about his book, "A Praying Life" and cost is $29.  See Adrienne for details.

~Wed, Oct 13th Car Seat Inspections 10:00 - 2:30 : the inspector that did our safety talk will be back to Covenant to check individual car seats.  Appointments are needed - please call Bob at 215-491-9260 to schedule your inspection.  Free event. 

~Fri, Oct 29th Harvest Fest 6-9pm : Join Covenant Church for our 1st annual FREE community event including hayrides, pumpkin painting, games and food!  Family-friendly costumes welcomed!

MOPS Summer Schedule 2010

(***All directions are from Covenant Church***)

Thursday, May 27 10AM Strawberry Picking at R&J Farm

~right onto 63, left onto 113, right onto Allentown Rd (by the Franconia Heritage), R&J will be about a mile down road on left. ~$2.89/lb and you can bring your own buckets if you want or they have some to use

~Raindate – Friday, May 28 at 10AM

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Park Playdates – All playdates are on Wednesday mornings from 9:30-11:30 and with each date there is someone that has been listed as a “house back-up” in case of bad weather (either rain or too hot!). I will email that morning if we will be heading to someone's house instead of the park!

~June 2 – Green Lane Park – turn left onto 63 to end, left onto 29, turn right onto Deep Creek Rd, make a right before the lake (across from ranger station) and head back to park area

       ~Bethany G – 610-754-0544

~June 16 – Fisher Park – turn right onto 63, right onto Bustard (at light after turnpike) and park will be on your right

      ~Julia S - 215-362-9495

~July 7 – Manderach Park – turn left onto 63, left at the light onto Shelly Rd. Go straight at the stop sign onto Schwenksville Rd. Follow it into Schwenksville and at the light make a left onto Rt 29S and a quick right onto Game Farm Rd. Follow Game Farm Rd all the way until it T's on Neiffer Rd. Go left onto Neiffer Rd. At the 1st light make a left onto Swamp Pike and less than a mile you will see Limerick Park on the left (Manderach Playground is toward the back of the park - look for the 2 story orange slides).

      ~Carrie R – 610-792-3673

~July 21 – Duck Pond & Fishing – left onto 63, right onto Maple (before Subway), left into parking lot. Bring fishing gear and bikes if you want.

    ~Diana M – 215-256-1266

~Aug 4 – Plains Mennonite Church – right onto 63, left onto Forty Foot Rd (after turnpike entrance), right on 63 (at Ralph's Corner), left onto Orvilla and then almost immediate left into church parking lot and park is on right

       ~Allison W – 215-412-2774

~Aug 18 – Upper Salford Park - left onto 63, left at first stoplight onto Shelley Rd, go through 1st stop sign, turn right into park (look for sign)

        ~Laura W – 610-287-2535

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~Sunday, July 25 5-7 PM Menlo Carousel & BYOD

~located at Menlo Park on the corner of 5th St & Park St in Perkasie – left onto 63 (1.8 miles), right onto Barndt Rd which becomes Ridge Rd (8.5 miles), right onto W Park at stop light (.7 miles and at the end of this road at the stop sign the park will be in front of you), make a right onto 5th Street and bear left toward Menlo Pool and turn left into parking lot, go to end of parking lot where the carousel is located

~$5/family for all the rides you want and feel free to bring dinner along as well!

~Rain or Shine (the carousel and picnic tables are enclosed)!

~Invite friends!

Communication Struggles & Bug Catchers!

This morning at MOPS, Emilie (one of our mentoring moms), gave an excellent talk about communication struggles and how differences in our personality types can really play an influential role in how we relate to one another.  Here some of the highlights from her talk based on the movie and book "Love Talk" by Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott:

~when we communicate with others, it is important to have an open posture that tells the other person you are listening to them and "in" the conversation

~free the environment from distractions such as computer, tv, phone calls, etc.

~people want to feel safe when they communicate and there are 4 main "safety zones" that we tend towards when we relate to someone:

              

 1.  Time - this category of people value time very highly, therefore effective and efficient conversation is best for them 

               2.  Approval - this type of person tends to be very social, outgoing and live life based on his/her feelings, loss of approval is devastating to him/her

               3.  Loyal - people in this group are challenged by change and therefore resist change as much as possible

               4.  High Quality -  this group of people is characterized by setting high standards, wanting things done the right way, being very orderly, steady and cautious decision makers

~it is important to recognize not only our own "safe" mode of communicating, but also the safety zone of the person we are talking to

~depending on which "safety zone" we fall into when we communicate effects how we give and receive communication and is most apparent when we solve problems, influence others, react to change and make decisions.

~we need to learn to think like the other person in their shoes, not us in their shoes because that is still us

~learning when to keep quiet is one of the most important areas of communication and is especially important when the other person isn't ready (i.e. husband just got home from work), you have already discussed the matter 100 times or if the other person isn't being rational

~stop the negative self-talk because that really affects the rest of our communication- we need to say no to those untrue and condemning thoughts! 

~male/female differences do matter - men tend to communicate to report something and women tend to communicate to build relationships

Thanks Emilie for a great talk! 

For further study on the topic of communication, Emilie also suggested reading books written by Deborah Tannen.

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After our Mentoring Mom Moment, we also made these cute bug catchers (or treasure keepers) for our kids! 

    

Relax & Rejuvenate!

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

Matthew 11:28

  It seems like everyone tends to think of New Year's Day as a time to start afresh, set new goals and rethink life in general to try to make it better than the previous year.  As moms, I think a lot of us tend to have this type of attitude every day (at least I know I do!)...."TODAY is the day I won't lose my patience so quickly; TODAY I'm going to get up, shower and do my devotions before my kids awake; TODAY is the day I will be a better mom!"...and on and on.  This definitely can be a good attitude to have, although it can also quickly lead down the vicious path of "I'm not good enough" accompanied by feelings of frustration, comparing yourself to others and overall discouragement.

That being said, January's theme for MOPS this year was "Relax and Rejuvenate" - the goal being to get moms to slow down and refuel physically, emotionally and spiritually as 2010 begins - something moms are rarely told and even more rarely do!  At the second meeting, Marg led us in a fantastic "Mentoring Moms Moment" specifically on this very topic and here are some of the main points from her talk:

~you don't have to be SuperMom - there are other people in your life (husband, grandparents, friends) who can help care for your children - let them!

~take care of yourself so you can take care of your children (like in an airplane when you need to put on your oxygen mask first to be able to put on your child's mask)

~start your day right - shower, exercise, eat well, pray

~read a good book or start a hobby that you can "get lost in" every once in awhile

~develop relationships with other moms (like at MOPS!) that are in a similar situation as yourself so you can empathize with each other

~learn to laugh through life and it will get you through many things

~stop trying to be perfect and don't feel guilty that you aren't

~take time to pray and rest with God - He is our great comforter and is with us in all things!

~remember that whatever you are going through - "this too shall pass"

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Here also are a few pictures from our relaxing January meetings where the bulk of our time as spent making smoothies, getting massages (from a professional woman in our church!), making bath salts and just spending lots of quality time catching up with each other!