May MOPS Meeting

Can you believe it's already over? This morning was our last meeting!!! It has been a WONDERFUL year!!

Instead of a guest speaker, today we had our Mentor Mom Panel! Each of our Mentor Mom's answered the questions submitted by our MOPS Moms and it was truly a blessing! There were some tough questions and our Mentor Moms gave great answers! I personally was so impressed by the genuine humility each of these ladies had in answering all the questions we had for them. They shared their favorite memories, their biggest regrets, and their best advice. It was awesome!! Thank you to our Mentor Moms for the time you have sacrificially given this year and the encouragement you have endlessly given! This morning was such a blessing!!

One great resource shared was the Wise Words for Moms pamphlet by Ginger Plowman. It's a great resource you can hang on your fridge for quick reference in training your children in God's truth. If you would like to get yourself one, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Words-Moms-Ginger-Hubbard/dp/0966378660

Our Creative Activity this morning was Mini-Clipboards. We made some for ourselves, as well as our MOPPETS Workers. We want to thank all of our awesome volunteers who served this year in the MOPPETS Program!! We can't thank you enough for loving on our kiddos while we have a time of relaxation and encouragement in our monthly meetings! We couldn't do it without you, so THANK YOU!!!

So that's a wrap! Another successful and blessed year of MOPS of Cape Bible Chapel!

If you haven't already done so, be sure to get registered for next year! The 2015-2016 MOPS Theme is "A Fierce Flourishing" and there will be more great speakers, crafts, and activities! Register today to reserve a spot for your child(ren) in the MOPPETS Program! Space is limited!!

Be praying for your new MOPS Steering Team as they begin to plan for the upcoming year!! Your new team is:

Coordinator: Adrienne Armstrong
Mentor Moms: Deb Davey
MOPPETS: Christine Umfleet
Finance: Renee Hitt
Discussion Group Leader: Charlene McWilliams
Creative Activities: Jessica Olson
Hospitality: Heather Busch & Laura Bess

Thank you to everyone who made this past year such a success!! We are looking forward to a great summer of planning and another wonderful MOPS year starting up in September!

April MOPS Meeting

Today's speaker topic was, "The Courage to Clean" and our very own MOPS Momma Lacy Sanford was our special speaker!! I think we were all inspired to tackle some jobs at home, but also very encouraged by her reminder to bravely be who God made us to be and to celebrate one another and what we're good at...and her best reminder: "Comparison is the thief of joy!" God has gifted Lacy with the ability to organize and clean, but she prefaced her talk with the reminder that everyone is gifted in different areas!

Lacy gave us lots of great tips and Scripture to motivate us and spur us on to purge and simplify our homes to ultimately make the task of cleaning less burdensome! She suggested first starting your day off with taking some time to read God's word and praying! Because after all, where does our help come from? Our help comes from the Lord (Psalm 121)!!

Lacy shared a great quote of William Morris', "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."  And the one that got me was, "Owning less is far more beneficial than organizing more." So true!! I think a lot of us struggle because our homes tend to be packed with just too much stuff! The less we have, the less we have to clean up!

I loved the thoughts Lacy shared on why donating items we don't need is much more beneficial than storing them up, "just in case" we might need them. She said ORGANIZING stuff DOES NOT:

• benefit anyone (if you donate it--someone else could be using it NOW!!)
• solve our debt problem (you aren't saving anything by storing that item that you'll forget you had tucked away to use later "just in case")
• turn back our desire for more
• force us to evaluate our lives

Face the task in front of you courageously. Find a cleaning routine that works FOR YOU! She shared this one as a sample from the Time Warp Wife:

So why do we want to take care of our home? Because it affects us emotionally! As Lacy mentioned, it isn't the actual process of cleaning she loves so much, but rather the peace of having a well kept space and how it makes her feel.

Another great verse she shared was, "She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." (Proverbs 31:27)

To face the task in front of us courageously, Lacy gave us great reminders to leave idleness behind, let go of holding on to too much stuff that may be cluttering our space, and to establish a routine that works for us to conquer the cleaning that we may so often dread.

Yes, it's true that there may be no press conference talking about all the home making tasks we have accomplished today, but no task is too menial when done for the Lord! "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23)!!!

To go along with today's topic, our Creative Activity was making home made cleaning supplies!

We had a fun morning! We will be ordering new t-shirts, so be sure to get your order in if you want one!

We hope you can make it to our MOPS Movie Night next Friday!

Have a blessed weekend!

March MOPS Meeting

Hey gals! Many of you braved the rain this morning and we're so glad you did! March is always our testimony month and this month we had Hannah Schultz share with us: "Being Brave in the Midst of Chaos and Confusion." I know everyone got something out of it, because who doesn't face chaos and confusion at some point in motherhood?

Hannah is wife to Jared, mom to Gabriel, and follower of Jesus Christ. She shared about how her relationship with Christ in the midst of chaos is the foundation and anchor to enduring even the most painful hardships in life.

Hannah outlined her talk with some commonly heard sayings, such as:
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
Marriages are made in heaven. 
It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.
The darkest hour is just before dawn.

We hear these phrases often and while some aspects may be true, we often come to learn that life is much more complicated than these sayings are able to illustrate. Through struggles with infertility, miscarriages, the premature birth of her son Jude and the loss of his precious life, and the patient endurance in the adoption process of their son, Gabriel, Hannah has not only come to know the Lord more intimately, but has been able to walk along side others to comfort them in their time of hardships and pain.

Here are a few encouraging verses Hannah shared with us this morning:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:8-11

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13

Beautiful verses to focus our hearts on in the midst of chaos and confusion!

Thank you, Lord, for yet another wonderful MOPS meeting! We'll see everyone again in April!

February MOPS Meeting

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so what better way to prepare than to hear about ways we can BOLDLY build our husbands up?! Peg Devault encouraged us this morning with her talk on "Husband Soup."

Peg shared her wisdom with us and gave us 6 ingredients we can use to strengthen our marriages and relationship with our husband:
1. Fear of God--Fear isn't a bad thing if we see it in the context of God's Word.
2. Prayer--Pray for your husband often, that God would fill him with Christ-exalting wisdom.
3. The Bible--Become a strong woman of the Word. (2 Timothy 2:15)
4. Trust and Respect--We should trust our husband and he should trust us. Show respect to your husband. He is the God-ordained head of you and your household.
5. Guarded Tongue--"She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness." (Proverbs 31:26)
6. Humor and Fun--There is always something to laugh about. Humor can often diffuse a difficult situation. God has a wonderful sense of humor and He delights to delight us!

We are so thankful Peg blessed us with words of encouragement and also challenged us in areas God may need to grow us in our role as wives.

Our Creative Activity was "Mini-Dry Erase Boards" we can each use to leave sweet love notes to our husbands on for Valentine's Day, right?! They all turned out cute and can be used for memory verses, menu lists, and more!

And as always, we gave out lots of prizes and give-a-aways! A couple gals won a date night basket! So fun!

We will see you all again at our March meeting!

And don't forget, if you are interested in attending Hearts at Home, the deadline to register is next week! http://capebiblechapel.org/#/events/hearts-at-home

January MOPS Meeting

The holidays are over and January can be a long and cold month, so it was a blessing to get out of the house and be reunited once again with all our MOPS Mommas!!

Candice Schroeder spoke to our group this month and what a blessing it was!

Candice, along with her husband Stephen, are in their final semester of the Bible-portion training with New Tribes Bible Institute. This training is preparing and equipping them for their upcoming goal to plant a church amongst an unreached people group. Not only is Candice bravely trusting God for her future on the tribal mission field, she shared about her experience giving birth to her two year old daughter, Eliana, which proved to also be an exercise of her trust in Him!

Exactly two years ago on January 9th, Candice gave birth to her precious daughter Eliana after a very hard 30 hours of labor. Candice faced the complication during delivery of her daughter being stuck in the birth canal and having to be forcefully pulled out. Upon arrival Eliana was not breathing and went 12 minutes without oxygen. After finally being resuscitated, she was quickly rushed off for medical treatment. The outcome did not look good for baby Eliana. The fact that she lived was a miracle, but her not having brain damage would also take a miracle. It was very, very unlikely. The weeks following were very rough. However, after an outpouring of prayers, medical tests showed that Eliana had NO BRAIN DAMAGE!! Truly another miracle! Eliana did experience a birth injury from the rough delivery known as Erb's Palsy. Put simply, this injury is a paralysis of the arm resulting from damaged nerves.


Candice's story of Eliana's birth, as well as managing their daughter's life with Erb's Palsy, led into the challenge she presented our MOPS group. How do we handle suffering and trials? When we experience feelings like worry, bitterness, or guilt--how do we approach those thoughts? Will we trust God? Or do we default into a different way of thinking?


Below I have included Candice's handout, which summarizes many different ways of thinking, as well as Scripture we can use to address various feelings we may experience as we face different trials and tribulations in life.

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Epistemologies (“uh-PIST-uh-mologies”) deal with the way we think and process information to determine what is “real” and what isn’t. Every epistemology isn’t necessarily “bad.” But our foundational, #1 epistemology needs to be the word of God, the Bible.

*If our epistemology contradicts God’s written word (the Bible), then we should always trust the Bible instead, because it is infallible, or totally trustworthy!

1. Biblical epistemology – “I know it is true because the Bible says so.”
2. Mysticism/Existentialism – “I know it is true because I experienced it.”
3. Empiricism – “I know it is true because one or more of my five senses have validated it: I saw it with my own eyes, I touched it, I smelled it, etc.”
4. Subjectivism – “I know it is true or okay because it feels good, or it makes me happy.”
5. Pragmaticism – “I know it is true or okay, because the end justifies the means,” or “whatever works.”
6. Agnosticism – “You can never know anything for sure.”
7. Rationalism – “I know it is true, because it conforms to the scientific method” or “to science.”
8. Post-Modernism – “Your beliefs can be true for you, and my beliefs can be true for me.” Creating reality/truth based on social context.

Verses from the Slideshow:
Guilt—Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Regret—Philippians 3:13, “…one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead…”

Bitterness—Hebrews 12:15, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled…”

Shame—Hebrews 4:16, “ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Overwhelmed—II Corinthians 12:9, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

Worried—Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Brokenhearted—Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Somehow, Not Good Enough—Ephesians 1:7, 10, 13, “…In Him.” Believers are in Christ Jesus!
-The information on epistemologies is being borrowed with permission from New Tribes Bible Institute. Class EV123, Evangelism in a Postmodern World.

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A big thank you to Candice for sharing her story, challenging us in our thinking, and encouraging us in our faith!!
Candice also had a give-a-way for one lucky mom and I think many of us were interested in it. If you were wanting to check out the book she gave out, it is "The Lamb" by John Cross.

Our Creative Activity this month was "Mini-Masterpieces" and who doesn't love grabbing a hot glue gun and letting their creative juices flow?! They all turned out so cute!

Another fun and successful meeting! It was a great way to kick off our 2015 MOPS year!!

And don't forget our MOPS Movie Night on Friday, February 6th at 6:30pm!! See you then!!