Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

from the Indian Creek MOPS Steering Team

See you at our next meeting Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Indian Creek MOPS Steering Team would like to wish you a very

We hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends

as well as time to reflect on all the blessings in your life!

I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.  Psalm 69:30

See you at our next meeting December 4th!

Meeting Tuesday!

MOPS Meeting Tuesday November 20th!

This is going to be a really fun meeting!

Holiday Mart

Come shop early for the Holidays at our Holiday Mart.  There will be many businesses including jewelry, skin care, photography, and more!

Brunch provided by:  All Group!  Everyone will bring 2 items Tuesday.

Bring a friend day!  Bring your friends to come socialize and shop!  The table with the most friends wins a prize!  (Friends do not have to qualify to come to MOPS this time, all ages/stages in life are welcome!)

Craft:  Birds Nest Necklaces

Hope to see you all there!

Book Review: Living in the Pink

Living in the Pink by Sharon Tubbs

Living in the the Pink by Sharon Tubbs is a series of short stories that give insight into things that go on in women’s lives that they would prefer to hide or disguise.  The book addresses addiction, infidelity, jealousy, wayward children, divorce, and many other difficult topics in a unique way.  Each story is told from an honest point of view that comes off very genuine and believable.  It was very easy to relate to these stories in a personal way.  Any reader would find themselves in at least one of the stories in this book.

This is not a typical book of short stories because each story is woven together by common characters yet a different perspective and circumstance.   This gives the reader a chance to feel connected to the book as they follow different characters whose lives are intertwined in a close knit church community.

I thought the underlying message of the book came through very well.  Living in the Pink is similar to living halfway for God and halfway for yourself.  It challenges readers to look at themselves and examine what their true intentions are and shines light on the fact that we all have areas to work on.  Tubbs also gives thought provoking questions at the end of each chapter that would be great for a small group or book club.

You can find Living in the Pink in the MOPS Library at the next meeting.

I received a copy of this book from Lift Every Voice Books in exchange for my honest review.

Sarah L.

Featured Article: You Are Your Brothers (& Sisters) Keeper

Featured Article: You are your Brothers (and Sisters) Keeper by Jenni B.

We’ve all heard the question, “Am I my brother's keeper?”  A saying from the book of Genesis (chapter 4) of Cain and Abel.  After Cain had murdered his brother Abel, God asked him where his brother was.  Cain replied, “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?”  God’s response?  Why yes, yes you are.

Pastor Gary Kendall spoke about this story in church one Sunday.  There were several “AH-HA” moments for me, but the one thing that stood out was the statement, “Even if you were the only person on earth, God would have still sent His Son to die for YOU.”  On the way home (by myself for that evening service) I thought about that.  God sent His Son Jesus to DIE for us.  Jesus came to earth, knowing He would be mocked, spat on, teased, called names, punished and ultimately die just for YOU.  He didn’t complain, He didn’t say I’m giving up, all He knew was YOU were worth everything He faced.

It made me question whether or not I would put myself in a situation where I knew I would be teased, spit on, and ridiculed, knowing that I was doing so to benefit a stranger whom I have not met.  It’s easy to say I would do that for a loved one or friend, but to be that selfless for a stranger, is something I can only strive to do.  Pastor Gary spoke that it’s up to us to look beyond ourselves and focus on the needs of others so that God can use us more for His needs.  

Reflect on the verse for this month of love found in Matthew 22:39 (The Message) to “...Love others as well as yourself”…  Pray that God would open your heart to love those that need loving and to open your arms to hold those whom need comfort. 

Do you have the courage to sacrifice yourself for a stranger?                                        

Fall Service Project

This Fall our group collected new books to donate to kids at Children's Mercy Hospital.

Thanks to all the MOPS who donated!  We collected 71 books!

Thank you T.L., the Service Project Coordinator, for organizing!

Book Review: You Can't Make Me

For Those Who Have A "Strong Willed Child"

You Can't Make Me (But I Can Be Persuaded)

You Can't Make Me (But I Can Be Persuaded) Book Review

Do you have a strong willed child?  I know we have at least one in our house. A few years ago when I was the mother of one compliant and obedient child I heard people talking about how their children were "Strong Willed" and I thought that this was possibly some kind of excuse parents use to justify their children's behavior.  Boy, was I wrong!

Now I am a mother of three wonderfully different children and I know from experience that there is most definitely such a thing as a Strong Willed Child! While this admission explains some behavior it does not in fact give anyone an excuse to diminish it.  It can, however, make raising theses children more challenging.

You Can't Make Me by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias not only gives many suggestions and guidelines on how to deal with a Strong Willed Child, the author gives practical tools on how to raise them to be great adults who use their strong will to get ahead in life.

Tobias points out that having a strong will is not a negative character trait.  Many successful adults are strong willed.  They have to be to change the world, introduce innovative ideas, and lead others.  A Strong Willed Child is not a burden but a gift entrusted to you as a parent.  With the right tools you can use the child's strong will in a positive rather than a negative way.

I recommend this book to any who are dealing with a child that is a little (or a lot) more difficult to deal with at times.  Tobias' book gives helpful strategies to make the relationship between parent and Strong Willed Child healthier while helping them work as a team to reach the goals that the child and parent set together.

I would recommend this book for parents of kids of any age.  You can read an expert from the book here.

You can also check this book out from our very own MOPS Library at the next meeting!

I received a free copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.  I am not under obligation to give a positive review.

Sarah L. 

Bunco!!

We recently had a BUNCO fundrasier / Mom Night Out! 

There are always plenty of laughs and cheers when our group gets together to play.

What's BUNCO without snack food?? :)

A HUGE congrat's to our 3 beautiful winners! 

Keep your eye open for our next BUNCO night.  It's so much fun!

September Craft

In September our group painted wooden picture frames for our craft.  The frames were purchased from Michaels craft store for only $1 each!  They turned out great! 

Take a look at a few:

MOPS ladies are very creative! :)

And we sure did have fun making them!

We are looking forward to two crafts in November!!

Review: Dodge City Distillery

The coordinators have decided to start a new blog series.  We will be reviewing
products, restaurants, books, movies, or anything else that strikes our fancy.


This time we will be reviewing the restaurant The Dodge City Distillery.  They have one location in Olathe.

Jenni's Humble Opinion:

Dodge City Distillery has been in town probably for at least 6 months and we have not tried it yet. Maybe part of me was in denial as the restaurant took the place of a favorite Mexican restaurant.

Service: Let me just begin by saying as soon as we stepped into the building we were not sure whether we were supposed to seat ourselves or wait to be seated. There was no sign and no one around. We waited for a few minutes then were greeted by a younger man in which I assumed was the manager. We were seated and the waiter approached us quickly. We ordered our beers (which should be noted that later on the waiter rushed over and asked if we wanted another beer before the $1 bottle special was over...he never mentioned this to us when we sat down we just happened to order bottled beer.) I don't know if it was the waiter's first night, but he was really quiet; it was hard to hear him. Several times 'S' and I would just look at each other hoping the other understood what he was saying. He was attentive though and did take great care of us.

Atmosphere: The building is really cool. It has comfortable, high back booths that create an intimate atmosphere. Or, if you are 'S' and me a place in which we can talk and not worry about people around us hearing. lol Our conversations can get scary sometimes, and our giggles can get out of control...

Cleanliness: Really clean. I did not visit the ladies room so I cannot comment on that. But the restaurant was clean; nothing on the floor, dirty dishes disappeared quickly...


Food: The food was tasty. I had the Whiskey Burger and fries. Let me say the hamburger was HUGE. After cutting it in half, and trying to 'squoosh' it down it still was way too big! I debated on eating it with a fork and knife, but decided I didn't want to embarrass my friend. ha. Fries were very good. I ended up taking half the meal home to hubby and when I asked him what he thought of it he replied, 'It was good'. There is your in depth review.
 

Drink: I had bottled beer and it came to the table extremely cold. Yum.

Price: I would say everything on the menu was reasonably priced. I haven't seen any coupons from this restaurant, but with the prices you wouldn't need them.

Overall: The Dodge City Distillery is a nice place for date night, girls night out, or family dinner. From where we were sitting we could see a private room in the back near the kitchen. I would eat here again, but probably not so much as to ever order take out.

Sarah’s humble opinion:

Even though this restaurant is literally within walking distance of my house I have never tried it.  Luckily, my fellow coordinator is always up for trying something new.

Service: My first impression of the restaurant wasn’t great because we walked in and there was no one at the host station.  I think the host called in sick because what seemed to be the manager rushed over to seat us as soon as he noticed us.  He was not very personable.  Our waiter was polite and checked on us in a timely manner but was a bit quiet.  The food was brought out quickly after we ordered and he checked on us several times to make sure we did not need drink refills.  My only complaint is that the waiter did not tell us about their daily drink specials before we ordered.

Atmosphere:  The restaurant was decorated with brick and barrels in a distillery theme.  There was a strange layout to the restaurant but overall it made for a more private and intimate feeling as we were in a booth and were not seated next to any other patrons.

Cleanliness:  The tables and floor were all clean. I visited the bathroom and it seemed like it had been recently cleaned.  The waiter made sure to pick up our dirty dishes in a prompt manner.  Overall the cleanliness of the restaurant met my standards.

Food:  I ordered a French Dip Sandwich with a side of mashed potatoes.  My food was tasty and I enjoyed it.  I didn’t think it was the best I have ever had but I liked that the sandwich came with horseradish and they even asked if I would prefer it on the side.  There were several choices for sides, giving patrons a choice outside of the typical fries.  The menu is rather small but has the basic bar food as well as steaks and ribs.  

Drink:  They had a large selection of beer on tap and in bottles.  Luckily for us it was “dollar hollar” night so we got bottles of beer for only $1 a piece.  We did not find this out, however, until after we had ordered our drinks.

Price:  While the drinks were a great deal, my sandwich was $12.00 which is not outrageous but also not cheap either.  The sandwiches were priced between $9-12, ribs were $17 and a prime rib dinner was $24.  They do have daily specials and finding out what they are and taking advantage of them would probably be the most affordable option.

Overall:  The food was good and the service was decent.  I am not sure I am going to be “craving” this place any time soon but it was not a bad place to go.  I think if you were able to take advantage of the appetizer and drink specials it would be a fun place to go and hang out with a group of friends without spending too much money. They seem to have some great weeknight deals so you may want to check the website or ask the waiter before you order. I will most likely visit this restaurant again.

If you have an idea for a review please email us at indiancreekmops@gmail.com.
We would love your input!

Music With Mar Play Date

For the October play date we had a special treat!

A Music With Mar class hosted by Mrs. B. one of our former MOPS moms.

This is a fun class that is geared towards preschool children and includes singing, dancing, sign language, instruments, and more.

This is always a very popular play date for our group.

We so appreciate Mrs. B. offering this class for our group.

If you are interested in attending her class on a regular basis you can contact her at BethW@musicwithmar.com

Class times are:

Wednesdays 9:30 & 10:30 a.m.

Thursdays 9:30 & 10:30 a.m.

Indian Creek Community Church

$7 per family or 5 classes for $30

Please join us for our next play date

Friday, November 9th

9 a.m. to Noon

Debbie Howard's Gym

Open Gym for ages 1-6

$5 per child (cash or check only)

Featured Article: Love Others, Love Yourself

Featured Article: Love Others, Love Yourself by Jenni B.

“...Use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?  My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness.”  Galatians 5:13-18 (The Message)

How many times in your life have you heard the phrase, “love one another as you love yourself”? Have you ever really thought about what that means? 

God wants us to be at peace with each other and to help when someone needs help.  To not think our ideas / actions / material things are better than our neighbors.   God didn’t design us to compete with one another but to work in harmony, encouraging and supporting one another towards the ultimate goal which is to live eternally in Heaven. 

Ever receive a compliment from someone unexpectedly? Perhaps from a friend, your husband or even a complete stranger.  Do you remember how that made you feel?  It probably changed your whole outlook for the day, possibly your whole week!  Do you consider giving a compliment a form of loving someone as yourself?  I don’t know about you, but if I gave myself a compliment, it wouldn’t have the same effect as if I received one from someone else.  (Plus, my kids would think I’m going crazy talking to myself!)  In my opinion, giving a sincere compliment is a true form of loving others as we wouldn’t sit around talking ourselves up!   

Another way we can love someone is to open our ears and listen intently without passing judgment. Do you think as God listens to your prayers He’s thinking that if you would have listened to Him in the first place you wouldn’t have been in this predicament?  Of course not, and we shouldn’t either.  Possibly another form is valuing our neighbor’s children.  God thinks so highly of our kids, all kids, and we  should strive to do the same regardless of the child’s behavior.  

You can begin today focusing on raising others up.  To love them as you love yourself. Sometimes all it takes is a simple smile or a pat on the back.  Maybe even a simple compliment.  Other times it takes much more time and attention.  But always in the end, if our hearts are in it for the right reason, we are the one’s who will feel the most loved. 

Frontier Park Play Date

In September we met at a local park for a play date.  It was a nice cool day and because of the rain the evening before, we had the place almost to ourselves.

The kids had fun drying off the playground equipment and then playing together for a few hours.

Don't miss our next play date

Friday, November 9th, 2012

9 am-noon

Debbie Howard's Gym

Open Gym for ages 1-6

$5 per child (cash or check only)

Hope you can join us!

MOPS Baby Gender Predictor

When a MOPS mom announces she is expecting we have a very scientific way to predict the sex of the baby.

Just reach right in and....

See what color you get!

I told you it was scientific!

The Fourth Fisherman Book Review

The Fourth Fisherman

The Fourth Fisherman is an enjoyable read with two stories intertwined.  I found myself getting involved in one of the stories and after turning the page to read on, I found the next exciting update on the other story, making it quite a page turner.

The first story is about the author, Joe Kissack, who has a successful career as a Hollywood executive.  This success brings all the things money can buy, a mansion, sports cars, and expensive clothes.  For Kissack, this success does not come without a cost.  He finds himself in a cycle of depression, alcoholism and stress, while his relationship with his wife and daughters suffer.

The second story follows a group of Mexican fishermen as they get lost at sea for months.  Their story of survival as they find themselves 5,500 miles from home in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is truly amazing.  They are forced to battle hunger, extreme heat, loss, and severe storms as their situation continues to look hopeless.  The only thing keeping them going is their blind faith.

I really enjoyed how the two stories took turns in The Fourth Fisherman and I felt myself turning the pages to find out what would happen next.  Throughout the book I wondered how the author would tie the two extremely different stories together but he pulled it off well.  I did find myself wanting more of a “happy ending” but as this is a true story it was real and believable.  

Joe Kissack manages to inspire readers by the faith of the fishermen and the lessons he learned about how to be a good father, husband, and a better man.  Most of all, both stories inspire readers to follow God on nothing but faith.

To find out more about The Fourth Fisherman and Joe Kissack please visit www.thefourthfisherman.com or click here to read the first chapter of the book.

I was provided with a free copy of The Fourth Fisherman by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review of this book.

This book will now be available to check out from the the Indian Creek MOPS library. Check out the October newsletter for details.

Sarah

MOPS New Baby Gift

We welcomed quite a few new baby's to our group this fall.

We came up with this cute candy filled bottle for the moms with new additions to their families.

The bottle reads:

At the first sign of anger eat a RED one.

Eat a BLUE one to minimize depression.

To relieve stress eat a GREEN one.

If you feel a headache coming on eat an ORANGE one.

Eat a YELLOW one to cheer you up.

You can eat the BROWN ones at any time.

If all symptoms occur at the same time

EAT THE WHOLE BOTTLE!

Congrats on your new baby!

Indian Creek MOPS

MOPS Plunge Theme Centerpieces

The 2012-13 MOPS theme is Plunge! 

After getting lots of fun ideas from the MOPS Convention in Dallas this year our creative Hospitality Coordinator N.F.came up with these pretty yet simple centerpieces.

Our tables have beach destination themed names like "Cayman Cuties", "Bahama Mamas", and "Bermuda Babes".  She also chose soothing colors to create a fun and relaxing environment for the moms.

Great job N.F.!

Featured Article: Band-aids

Fetured Article:  Band-aids by Sara L.

My daughter is always hurting herself and asking for Band-aids.  Even a tiny scrape, mosquito bite, or bruise need a Band-aid.  She wears them for about an hour then rips them off.  It is not another hour before she is asking for another one.

I started to get annoyed with the process and limited them. I told her “You can only have one if you are really bleeding.” or “You only get one and if you take it off you aren’t getting another one.”  I also tried getting the plain, non-character Band-aids thinking that Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, and Disney Princesses were her motivation, but nothing deterred her.

I was about to give in to the waste when I happened to be reading the book One Tough Mother by Julie Barnhill.  This is a very good book and Julie Barnhill is hilarious!  I even got to meet her at the MOPS convention in 2010.  Of all the great advice in her book I have always remembered her take on Band-aids.

She tells the reader to go purchase the biggest box of all-purpose Band-aids you can possibly buy.  Julie says, “It’s very important the box reads “all-purpose,” for I want you to buy those Band-aids and then go home, get out a stout Sharpie marker, put a big X through the word all and write in its place the word no as in “NO-purpse Band-aids.”

One thing I love about Julie Barnhill is that she helps to embrace and accept the day to day frustrations we have as moms.  Instead of worrying about the waste of Band-aids why not use it as a tool to show your kids how much you love them.  Julie suggests any time a child whines and asks for a Band-aid no matter how ridiculous to “Stop and think of your home as a haven for healing to all those who enter its doors or cross its yard.  Think of creating a haven of security and rest and instead of belittling a little one’s grandiose concept of pain reach instead for the box of “no-purpose” Band-aids and then gently and lovingly place each one near the wound site.”  Maybe my daughter just needs me to stop and acknowledge that she hurt herself and she needs some attention.  Julie also says “no wound in the family is so small as to be overlooked.”  I love this. It takes so little effort to set aside the thought of waste, stop what you are doing at that moment, and put on a Band-aid to show you care.  My hope is that in the future when my kids have outgrown the thought that a bandage can fix all of their hurts and they have real, big hurts whether physical or emotional they will still come to me with them.  This is worth all the Band-aids I can afford.