What an exciting kick-off morning! We had 58 moms in attendance as we began our new MOPS year and the energy in the room was amazing.

The meeting began with a delicious breakfast (a few ladies asked for the recipe for the mexican breakfast casserole—to view it, click here). Then came announcements & the introduction of the steering team. Next it was time to get creative as our moms made nametags to use for the year, complete with colored buttons to represent our little ones. Then it was on to a fun mixer activity that allowed each mom to connect one-on-one with 5 other moms in the group. Lastly, we ended with an inspirational mentor moment from Suzanne Cole on relationships, which is our MOPS theme for the year.

Our next meeting is Friday, October 16 and we will be welcoming speaker Amy Kuncaitis, author of “Joy In The Morning.” At this meeting our moms will also be given their table, or “discussion group” assignments. As a reminder, you will sit with your discussion group each meeting and they are designed to help you form relationships and enjoy conversation with a smaller pool of women. Your discussion group will have its own Discussion Group Leader (DGL). Your DGL mom will help facilitate the morning’s discussion and communicate news and information to the moms at your table.

Discussion group guidelines:
♥ Be AUTHENTIC – share your true feelings
♥ Be MUTUAL – encourage one another
♥ Be HONEST – speak the truth in love
♥ Be SYMPATHETIC – support one another
♥ Be COURTEOUS – respect our differences
♥ Be CONFIDENTIAL – no gossip

Beginning in November, each discussion group takes a turn providing breakfast and helping with clean up one meeting a year. In addition, the Steering Team has committee meetings once a month on a Friday morning here at church and we ask the discussion groups to take turns providing childcare for our children while we meet. Your DGL will have more information about this and the schedule, but what it’s important to understand is that MOPS is a group for women, by women and the success of our meetings depends upon everyone doing their part to help out.

Also, please mark your calendars for our first MOPS playdate of the year on Friday, October 23 at 10:00 a.m. at For the Kidz Gymnastics in Wyoming. This is a FREE, open gym event that you won’t want to miss!

A few more items to note:

• Please remember to label, label, label! All sippy cups, pacifiers, bottles, etc. should be labeled with your child’s name—preferably with a black sharpie marker, as sticker labels tend to fall off.

• Our meetings begin promptly at 9:30 a.m. and you may drop your children off in their classrooms beginning at 9:15 a.m. For a map that shows where you can park, click here.

• After our meeting starts, the doors to the church are locked at 9:45 a.m. because we have a preschool that operates on the church premises. If you ever arrive late & find the doors locked, there is a white call box next to the doors on the north side of the building and church staff can buzz you in.