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Showing posts from 2012

December 11th Newsletter

This Week's Guest Speaker Kathy White "Mary & Me:  Ordinary Moms" Kathy White is a regular part of our MOPS Steering Team.  Her passion and talent has helped to make our program what it is.  Kathy is married to Tim and has two grown children and three grandchildren.  She is employed by Stonecroft Ministries, an organization that equips women to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  With extensive teaching experience, including women's retreats and other special events, Kathy has been dubbed a MOPS fan favorite.  Kathy finds much joy in seeing women learn, and she loves helping equip them for service and ministry wherever they are. This Week's Reminders Brunch is provided by Sassy Sailors .  Please be sure to email your recipes to maplegrovemops@gmail.com to be included on our blog ! This week is our Christmas Celebration!  Don't forget to come as early as 9:15 to decorate your table!  Brunch will begin at 9:40a.m. this week. Re: Think Christma

November 27th Newsletter

This Week's Guest Speaker Kristen Taraszewski "Balancing Your Role as Wife and Mom" Kristen started her career in 1989 as a flight control engineer at NASA working for the Space Shuttle Program.  She met her husband at work and after dating for many years, they married and had their first child (of three) one year later.  She believed in her calling to put her career temporarily aside and stay home with her children but was unprepared for the challenges that decision would bring.  While searching for a new purpose and identity, she felt God's hand leading her to start a ministry for women trying to find balance between work and parenting.  She founded a ministry called Right At Home , which has grown into a national organization leading women to the peace of Christ as they work through the joys and challenges of motherhood.  Kristen hopes to teach and model balance in health and faith to lead women to connect with God's ever-present peace and love and to bec

November 13th Newsletter

This Week's Guest Speaker Patti Brown "Love and Respect" A note from Patti: "I love marriage and I love being married (well, usually).  Twenty-four years ago, I never thought I would have said that.  In fact, walking down the aisle twenty-three years ago, I wouldn't have thought I would say that.  What I've found over those 23 years is that marriage does change you and changes your spouse, and that change can be exciting or challenging, sometimes all within the course of the same day.  For the past 20 years, I've been the mom to two kids-an almost 20 year old girl and a newly 18 year old boy.  And I love being a mom, something else that I wasn't too sure about liking 23 years ago.  I'm a counselor in a private practice in Elk River, seeing mostly couples but some kids and adolescents as well.  Before that, I was a nurse in the Air Force and in civilian life.  My husband and I have taught marriage preparation at New Hope Church for 10 years

Upcoming MOPS Bake Sale!

It's finally here...the time of year when we get to forget about everything else and focus on delectable goodies in the name of tradition and cheer!  Maple Grove MOPS is here to help give a jump start to all your holiday baking! How, you say? Our 1st Annual Bake Sale Fundraiser, of course! When :  Saturday, November 10th, 9:00a.m.-3:00p.m. AND Sunday between worship services Where :  Maple Grove Evangelical Free Church lobby (8585 Rice Lake Road, Maple Grove, MN 55369) Spread the word, and come check out our selection of baked goods, jams, candies, homemade noodles, and great gift-worthy items.  There is something for everyone! **Please remember that all items are homemade and have not been inspected by the state. **Proceeds will be used to grow our MOPS ministry at MGEFC and to help cover the cost of childcare for the program. **Acceptable payment methods include cash, personal checks (up to $30), VISA, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.  Please note that

October 23rd Newsletter

This Week's Guest Speaker Dienna Goscha "Getting to a Child's Heart: Connecting Spiritually with Your Child" Do you find it hard to make sense out of how to teach your child about spiritual concepts?  Deuteronomy carries the secret to getting to the heart of a child.  Learn practical and creative ways to impress spiritual truth on your child's heart.  Discover how to put into practice Deuteronomy 6:1-9 in your own home with your child. Dienna is the author and founder of River's Edge Curriculum and shares many of her ideas on her blog .  She has many years of experience in leading and designing curriculum for children, as well as Bible studies for women and other family resources.  She speaks nationally at children's ministry events and women's events.  She is currently the Pastor of Innovations at Prairie Oak Community Church in Andover, MN.   Dienna has a passion to creatively connect children with Jesus. This Weeks' Reminders Brunch

October 9th Newsletter

This Week's Guest Speaker Dawn Bauer "Meal Planning" Before helping others organize their homes and their lives, Dawn earned a Masters Degree from St. Cloud State and worked for over 20 years in the corporate world.  As a wife of 15 years and a mother of two children, Dawn brings an array of experiences and understanding of learning styles to her approach to organizing. This Week's Reminders If you have not already emailed your "go-to" recipes to maplegrovemops@gmail.com , please do so by 3:00p.m. on Monday, October 8th. An On-Time door prize will be drawn at our meeting promptly at 9:30a.m. Brunch is provided by the Barnacle Babes .  Please email your recipe for the dish you are bringing to maplegrovemops@gmail.com to be included on the blog for voting. MOPS Get Cooking Each week, we are asking those who provide food for brunch to email us your recipes for whatever you contribute.  We are compiling these recipes into an online co

September 25th Newsletter

This Week's Guest Speaker Becky Peterson "PLUNGE" Love As If Your Life Depended On It Becky is the Director of Care Ministries at Maple Grove Evangelical Free Church.  She is also on staff at Robbinsdale Women's Center.  Becky has a B.A. in Psychology / Christian Counseling from Northwestern College.  Becky and her family have been attending MGEFC for 27 years.  She and her husband Roger have 3 children who are all married, as well as 4 precious grandchildren.  Her greatest desire is to come alongside those who are hurting in order to point them to the only One who can bring hope and healing--the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is also her desire to help others grow deeper in their love for the Lord and to watch as that love overflows onto others.  This week, she will be focusing on our MOPS 2012-2013 theme, "Plunge...Love as if your life depended on it." This Week's Reminders A door prize will be given promptly at 9:30a.m...please be on time to ma

Culver's Fundraiser

Next time you're on the floor under your kitchen table, wiping up a jar of scorned baby food and thinking, "If only I were getting paid for this!"...think about volunteering for our next MOPS fundraiser! On Sunday, we had the opportunity to work a couple of short shifts at Culver's in Plymouth.  In return, they donated 10% of their sales during that time to our MOPS program!  Cleaning up spills was never so much fun! Thank you to everyone who worked a shift, handed out flyers, or bought lunch at Culver's to support us! For those of you who couldn't make it, you missed out on a chance to wipe tables... ...wear super-duper classy paper hats... ...and stand deliciously close to juicy Butter Burgers and creamy dishes of frozen custard! Stay tuned for more fun (d)raisers throughout the year.  And, THANKS AGAIN to everyone who helped out!

MOPS Take on the Heat

Thanks to everyone who came to our play date at Elm Creek Park!  Talk about an awesome park, right? So here's the thing.  We moms are full of good ideas and energy and enthusiasm at all times (right?  RIGHT??).  But sometimes we run out of ideas.  Or things don't go quite as planned.  For example, next time I take my kids to a gigantic playground, I am putting in an order for a nice cloud cover to keep us all cool and I'm dressing the kids in bright orange t-shirts so they can get in on a free Summer Camp lunch with the rest of the munchkins swarming the park. In the meantime, I need a plan for the rest of the summer.  You too?  Good.  Here are some ideas I found and links to where I found them. Tips for a Hot Playground: *Bring along a spray bottle to spray the slides when they get hot!  Of course this will leave the kiddos with wet shorts, but if yours are like mine, they won't even bat an eye about it and the sun will dry them out before you have to

MOPS Take On The Zoo!

TOP 5 REASONS MOPS SUMMER PLAY DATES ROCK : Reason #5:  You and your kids get out of the house to enjoy the sun, spend time together, and discover new activities you might not have been motivated to try otherwise...   Reason # 4-1/2:  Other moms are often willing to hold your kids for you while you do super important things...like take pictures... Reason #4:  You can be silly and wave for a picture, and no one around you will think you're crazy... See?  Sparky does it too! Reason #3:  From pushing around double-wide strollers to wiping peanut butter out of your kids' eyebrows, you know you're not alone...  Reason #2:  Whether you've been part of MOPS since the invention of the Swiffer or you're joining us for the very first time, there's no better way to build lasting friendships... Reason #1:  It's so refreshing to let someone else jump through the hoops for once... If you missed out on our play date
We had our last meeting of the semester this past Tuesday.  This year has been such a wonderful time!  So many wonderful woman to support, encourage, and grow together in motherhood.   I have enjoyed our mornings of brunch, fellowship, listening and learning from our speakers, and getting my creative juices flowing with our crafts.   Wonderful friendships have been made. Thank you ladies for a GREAT year at Maple Grove MOPS.   We are looking forward to another fantastic year next year when we begin our meetings again in September.   Don't forget to join us at our summer playdates.  Even if you aren't registered for our MOPS group yet, you can come along and meet some new moms.  More information about our playdates are in the post below. If you haven't yet registered for our MOPS 2012-13 year, click on: MOPS Registration Form *If you send in your registration form by May 31st, you will receive our "Early Bird" rate of $21.95 for you
Maple Grove MOPS Summer Play Dates June 12th - Melanie Haddon’s Home June 26th - Como Zoo July 10th - Elm Creek Park July 24th - Camelot Park August 14th - Elm Creek Swimming Pond August 28th - Michelle Carlson’s Home *play dates are weather permitting Don't forget to follow us on facebook  for updates before each playdate. (including play date details and locations/directions).  Updates will also be given here, on our blog, as well.   Can't wait for some fun summer play dates together!
Hi ladies!  This is a short little article we wanted to share with you.  It's a nice addition to go with the wise words we heard from our speaker, Becky, last week on marriage.    A Letter to my Children About Marriage  

MOPS Garage Sale Fundraiser

We're having a garage sale fundraiser to support our MOPS group. The sale will include many items such as household, clothing (men, women, and children), toys, and much more!! Sale Dates and Times: Wednesday, May 23rd 4pm-8pm Thursday, May 24th 8am-4pm Location: 4800 Pineview Ln Plymouth, MN 55442 Please, be sure to pass the sale info onto any friends you think may be interested.  This is a great opportunity to not only support a wonderful organization but also an opportunity to find wonderful, affordable items from other moms!   Sounds like a deal to me!!

Day Of Pampering

We had a special day for our moms on February 28th called our "Day of Pampering".  The day really lived up to the name as it was a very relaxing morning spent hanging out with wonderful women, enjoying delicious  food, and....getting pampered! A BIG thank you to all of the above businesses!   We had amazing  businesses donate their time and talents to help make this day so incredibly special for all of us. In addition to the businesses listed above, we also had Willow Salon , HealthSource Chiropractic , Etica Salon , and   Lovelo Beauty donate their time and talents in pampering us (let me tell you, it was heaven! ).  We also had 3 Squares Restauran t and Cafe Donuts donate some delicious treats to add to our brunch spread. Each of our mom's were able to leave our Day of Pampering with a special gift bag thanks to our wonderful donations.  There were some exciting goodies in those bags!  Leave a comment telling us what your favorite gift was! Making homemade sugar

Welcome!

We are very excited for our new blog as it's another way that we can stay connected as a group of moms.  It truly is our passion that each of our moms in our Maple Grove MOPS group feels like they are connected to others and is provided with opportunities to meet new friends and foster relationships with each other. If you know of other moms in our community or have friends that you think might be interested in joining our MOPS group, please send them the link to our blog so they can get a little peek into our group! You'll notice a link on the right of this page directing your to our Facebook group page.  Be sure to "like" us on there if you haven't already! Check back very soon for some pictures of our special Day of Pampering we had this past February!