Twelfth Meeting - April 20
"Chess: Being a Fearless Mom with Every Move"
Wish you could be more fearless in your parenting and trust God to get you through? We are blessed to have Kat Cannon share with us about how we can make this happen in our lives! Kat Cannon serves as the Women’s Ministry Director at First Evangelical Free Church (FEFC) in Austin, Texas. She came up through the ranks of small group leaders, administrators, and steering committee membership over the course of 10 years to be appointed as the Director in April of 2010. Her desire is to build relationships among women and with God - relationships that are REAL – transparent, authentic, and based on God’s truth. Eleventh Meeting - Mar. 23
Creative Activities Day!
Come for fun and surprises! We will spend the morning at different activity stations creating and participating in all sorts of fun, including Soup Jar gifts and Quiet Activities to do at home with the kids. 80's Skate Night
You are invited to an 80's Skate Night on March 27 (Tuesday) at Playland Skate Center at 7:30. The address is 8822 McCann Drive, Austin, TX 78757. Cost is $7.50, which includes quad skate rental, if you want inline or rollerblades, it is an extra $3. You are also welcome to bring your own skates.
Come dressed up '80s style! Either go all out and crimp you hair, wear neon colors, and leg warmers or just wear a few jelly bracelets and a scrunchy! ;)
Come dressed up '80s style! Either go all out and crimp you hair, wear neon colors, and leg warmers or just wear a few jelly bracelets and a scrunchy! ;)
Tenth Meeting - Mar.2
"Hide and Seek: Seeking God's Direction through Prayer"
We are excited to have Kathy Harrell sharing with us this week. Kathy has been married to her husband Rob, Senior Pastor of First Evangelical Free Church, for almost 30 years. Rob and Kathy have two grown children and an “answer-to-prayer son in law”. Their son, Stephen, lives internationally building US Embassies and daughter Kylie is completing law school in NYC where her husband Chris teaches first grade students in Brooklyn. Kathy will be talking to us about prayer: how it helps her in raising her children, how we can incorporate prayer into our daily lives, and how she and Rob set aside time to pray for their kids together.
Ninth Meeting - Feb. 10
"Chutes & Ladders: Marriage with Preschoolers"
Eighth Meeting - Jan 27
MOPS Micro Day!
Rachel Spies has had a passion for seeing God's generous justice extended to all His people for the better part of ten years. She founded and now leads the FEFC Orphan Care ministry, and is involved in planning many city-wide adoption and orphan care related events, including conferences and awareness days. She recently started a small paper and greeting card business, Maama Cards, that is committed to giving proceeds towards maternal health care in the majority world. She blogs at toactjustly.blogspot.com Rachel has been married to her husband, Jonathan for eight years, and they have three kids, Asher, Simon, and Adeline.
Seventh Meeting - Jan 13
Scrabble: Preparing your preschooler for Kindergarten
Sixth Meeting - Dec 9
Twister: Incorporating holiday traditions without losing your balance
We are excited to have Carla Thomure come speak to us on December 9th about building Christmas traditions. She has been a pastor's wife for 24 years serving alongside her husband Craig in ministry. Carla has a heart for women's ministry and working with young moms and supporting them as they grow in motherhood. She has been married for over 25 years, has 2 adult daughters, and two grandchildren. You won't want to miss hearing this sweet woman share with us at our last meeting of the semester!
Fifth Meeting - Nov 18
Battleship: Sibling Rivalry
We are so excited to be welcoming Tracy Steinle back as a speaker! Tracy and her husband Rich are the parents of three wonderful and crazy boys, Owen, Charlie, and Jackson. She will be sharing all about the world of siblings--the good, bad, and hilarious.All MOPS Event - Fall Party in the FEFC Courtyard
Nov. 11, 10am-noon
MOPS Hugs and MOPS Kisses will join together for a great fall party! Bring all the kids and enjoy getting to know everyone involved with MOPS at FEFC. Kids will have fun decorating pumpkins, playing games and especially getting to hold and pet the animals in our petting zoo!
Pack a picnic and stay and play till noon. No childcare will be provided this day. It's a "mommy and me" fall party!
$5/child (1yr and older), $10 max/family
Fourth Meeting - Nov 4
Jenga: Balancing expectations, losing comparisons and simplifying
Our speaker this week is Joanne Schierling, retired teacher, wife of a retired pastor, mother of four girls, grandma to seven grandchildren, and a returning MOPS speaker. Joanne will share with us this week how to manage expectations, let go of comparisons, and simplify. Anyone else think they could use a bit of that before the holidays kick off?
Third Meeting - Oct 21
Clue: Getting a clue about how to teach your kids about respect!
Our speaker this week is Kristy Dixon. She received her Bachelors degree in Education and Masters degree in Educational Psychology, both from Texas A&M University. She is an ACPI Certified Coach for Parents through the Academy of Coaching for Parents Institute, LLC. She lives in Carrollton, Texas with her wonderful husband and their daughter (born in October, 2006) and son (born in June, 2009). She was a teacher for 3 years in Lewisville ISD (1st grade for one year then 2nd grade for 2 years). After that, she became the part-time school counselor at the same elementary school she taught at in LISD. However, because her position went full time she chose to resign and be a stay-at-home mom. She is not ready to stop counseling and helping parents and children so being a parent coach is the next, natural progressive step in her life to help her hold onto something she loves outside of the home.
Second Meeting - September 23
Hungry, Hungry Hippos: Healthy Eating for Kids
Do you need healthy ideas for family dinners? Or yummy snack options for your kiddos?
Join us as Carolyn Su talks about good nutrition for Moms and kids!
Carolyn completed her studies in the Coordinated Program in Dietetics and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from the University of Texas at Austin. Shortly after, she received her federal and state certifications as a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. She has worked as a Clinical Dietitian, caring for patients in long-term rehab facilities, patients in acute-care and intensive-care units, and out-patients for bariatric surgery. She has also educated and counseled clients on general health and wellness. She enjoys an active lifestyle, and seeks to help my family and others take care of our health and bodies, as worship to the Lord.
First Meeting - September 9
This year's MOPS International Theme is MomSense: Bold * Loving * Sensible--equipping moms to embrace their mothering instincts and develop their own parenting style while navigating through the myriad of daily mom decisions.
Developing a mothering strategy is somewhat like playing a game — and this year’s theme is appropriately game related. Have fun being a mom! Playing games involves being bold and taking risks, loving those in the game with us and being sensible while figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
Just as in real-life, sometimes in games, unexpected, “chance” events occur, abruptly changing our paths. We must regroup and determine our next steps. Sometimes we follow the instructions of “experts.” Sometimes we follow the advice of trusted friends. Sometimes we decide our “house rules” work best for our family. Teaming together with other moms is a great strategy. Relying on a spouse or mentor can help us play more effectively. And, most of all, developing a strong God-Sense is essential for mothering.
SO... For our first meeting, we are embracing our new theme for the year and having a GAME DAY! Come ready to meet some new faces, get acquainted with your table members and have lots of fun playing some good old-fashioned board games. We can't wait to see you!
Developing a mothering strategy is somewhat like playing a game — and this year’s theme is appropriately game related. Have fun being a mom! Playing games involves being bold and taking risks, loving those in the game with us and being sensible while figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
Just as in real-life, sometimes in games, unexpected, “chance” events occur, abruptly changing our paths. We must regroup and determine our next steps. Sometimes we follow the instructions of “experts.” Sometimes we follow the advice of trusted friends. Sometimes we decide our “house rules” work best for our family. Teaming together with other moms is a great strategy. Relying on a spouse or mentor can help us play more effectively. And, most of all, developing a strong God-Sense is essential for mothering.
SO... For our first meeting, we are embracing our new theme for the year and having a GAME DAY! Come ready to meet some new faces, get acquainted with your table members and have lots of fun playing some good old-fashioned board games. We can't wait to see you!
