First Moms (formally Skiatook Mops) has a NEW BLOG!!!

Hi everyone!!!

Skiatook Mops has morphed into First Moms!!!

We are very excited about this upcoming year.

To help streamline things,

we have a new blog for First Moms

http://firstmomsofskiatook.blogspot.com/

 

So pop on over there to see all the

latest news and updates with

First Moms!

 

First Moms first meeting is

Thursday September 4

8:45am-11am

in the gym area of

First Baptist Church

Skiatook

 

We hope you can join us!!!

 

 

A Thank You From Our Mops Leader

Firstly I want to say what an honor it has been being the leader of MOPS this past year.  When I took this on last May I was absolutely terrified. I had no idea how this was going to go, I had big changes that I wanted to make and didn’t know how it would be received by our past members as well as our new ones. I was in constant prayer throughout this whole year and God has shown favor on this group, He has blessed us tremendously and I give all the credit and glory to Him and also the amazing leader’s team we had this year. I have never looked back nor have any regrets about taking this on, God called me to this and I feel privileged that I am a part of this wonderful group for moms. Mops for me as always been my outlet,  my comfort,  my joy,  my encouragement,  and my peace. When I needed something, advise, a friend to talk too, a much needed break, or just the feeling of being around woman who understood exactly what I was going through, I knew I always had my Mops group to turn too. It has been an unfailing wave of love and support and I will always be grateful for that. Reaching woman is my passion; I want to reach those moms sitting at home feeling like giving up because they feel so utterly alone. I want them to know that they are not in this mom thing alone, we all go through struggles and times of feeling like a failure but we all agree that we would never trade our jobs as moms for anything. I want to encourage moms to get out there, to know that there are other moms who want to know them, who want to fellowship with them, love and support them.

Now with this group changing to “First Moms” my mission is no different. I ask that you join me in this new venture, to reach even more moms of the community and be an encouragement to them as well as to you. Coming to a First Moms meeting you will feel recharged, encouraged, supported, learn helpful tools to walk in your journey of motherhood, relax by making fun crafts and most importantly leave feeling loved. Loved by fellow mothers and also by our amazing God who has given us the best gift anyone can ever ask for, He gave us the gift of motherhood. Our job at First Moms is to help you be the best mom you can be for you children and your family. I am so looking forward to next year, and can’t wait to see all of the familiar faces as well as new ones.

Thank you so much for supporting me as your Mops leader and also as I take on “First Moms”, looking forward to another amazing year!

Heidi Gerard
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10 NIV)

Introducing : First Moms!

We had a great meeting yesterday to close out the 2013/2014 season of Mops. We missed all those who weren’t able to attend and hope that you will keep up with our activities we have planned throughout the summer! We wanted to let you all know about the changes that will be taking place within our group.

FBC Skiatook has decided to take on the moms group as a ministry and outreach for the community. What that means for us is that FBC will take on all of the fees for each mom, so our membership throughout the year will now be offered for FREE to everyone who wants to attend our group! Also, we are opening it up to moms with older kids. This will be a group for moms with children from pregnancy all the way through middle school aged children. We want to reach as many moms as possible, going through every stage of motherhood with them!

We will strive to have everything we have had at the meetings this past year, speakers, amazing crafts, discussion and most importantly fellowship with other moms.  The most important change will be the name. We will now be known as “FIRST MOMS OF SKIATOOK”. That name will be changed on our Facebook page as well as our blog to reflect the new change starting tomorrow, May 8^th.

So mark your calendars and tell all your friends about this amazing group for moms, we would love to see you at the start of our new year coming in August. You will not want to miss out on the chance to be a part of this group, it’s going to be a fantastic year!

Summer at Skiatook MOPs!

Here's a quick run-down of our summer events!

June 10th - Movies and Chick fil A

June 18th - Drillers baseball

June 28th - Family Night at Kiddie Park

July 3rd - Family Night at Fantasy in the Sky

July 16th - Bowling and Splash Pad

July 29th - Frontier Pool

August 16th - End of Summer pool party at SFR

August 21st - First Moms Open House

August 25th - Incredible Pizza

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 4th - First Moms begins!

 

 

May Events

Here are your upcoming events for the month of May at Skiatook MOPs.

May 5th - Last meeting of the school year!  Luncheon after the meeting catered by Memory Lane Tea Room in Owasso.

May 17th - Market on Main Street in Skiatook

May 19th - Last gym play date

May 19th - Mom's Night Out at Utica Square

May 27th - Oxley Nature Center and Picnic at Mohawk Park

Check our facebook page for more details!

March Events

March 3 - Monthly Meeting : Devotion by Heidi, BUNCO!, Homemade Seasonings craft

March 9 - Watoto Children's Choir @ FBC West Rogers Campus  More info here.

 

March 14 - MNO : Bowling in Owasso

 

March 14 - March 23 - Spring Break

 

March 25 - Leader's Meeting

 

March 28 - Field Trip to the Fire Station in Owasso

 

March 29 - MOM Prom hosted by Assistance in Healthcare.  Details and Registration here.

February Meeting : A Beautiful Messy Marriage

We had another great meeting this month!  We invited Scott and Carol to come speak to us about marriage.  They have led countless counseling sessions and taught classes about marriage and parenting at FBC.  They had lots of great advice for us!  Here are a few highlights!

Scott talked about the need for "Non-negotiables" in your marriage.  These are things that are unique to you and your spouse but here are a few examples: faithfulness to each other, opinion on divorce, finances, children.  Build your marriage on these things instead of what is temporary like where you will live, whether you exercise together, etc.

Always strive to make your partner better.  You can do this by learning their Love Language and Spiritual Gifts and understanding and nurturing those.

Love Language Profile

Spiritual Gifts Test

 

 

Our craft this month was Cupcake Decorating! We had so much fun learning different decorating techniques. Each mom got to take a 6 pack of yummy cupcakes home to their families.

Here are the buttercream recipes for those of you that asked!

Rebecca's Frosting:

1/2 C butter, softened           
1/2 t clear butter flavoring
1/2 C crisco                          
1 1/2 t clear vanilla extract
1/4 C milk                            
2 lbs powdered sugar

Cream butter, crisco, and flavorings together. Add powdered sugar and milk slowly until desired consistency is reached.


Heidi's Frosting:

2 sticks butter, softened    
2 C crisco
pinch of salt                      
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter flavoring        
2 lbs powdered sugar

Cream butter, crisco, and salt on low for 5 min. Add flavoring and mix again. Add half of the sugar and mix well. Add the remaining sugar and mix well.


Kim's Frosting:

1 stick butter, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softenend
1 tsp clear vanilla extract    
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 C water                         
1 lb powdered sugar 
1/4 tsp meringue powder (optional)

Cream butter and flavorings together. Add sugar and water a little at a time until desired consistency is reached.  Add meringue powder if desired.

 

 

We gave away several door prizes this month! Congrats to those of you that won and a big thanks to those of you that donated the prizes. A special thanks to Los Cabos and Logan's Steakhouse in Owasso for their donations of gift cards!

We also collected several boxes of PopTarts for our local backpack program.  Don't forget next month we're collecting Little Debbies!

 

 

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

 

“…complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

Phillipians 2:2

 

Why Worry?

Easier said then done right? I can’t count how many times a day I say the words “ Lord please just help me get through this day, this hour, sometimes even the next 5 minutes”  I was reading Psalms 139 this week and I just got this overwhelming sense of belonging and comfort.  Things that I worry about on a daily basis seem to have not as much meaning as they seemed to at the time.  Verse 5 says “You hem me in-behind and before; You have laid your hand upon me”. How much more secure can we get then that!

 I worry about the kids, finances, the stresses of my husband, and things with our moms group, church obligations and the vast amount of other things that weigh on my mind when I lay my head down at night. I’m sure at least half the women reading this can relate in some way. As mothers we think it is in job description to have the answers to the universe and if we don’t we will find them or die trying. We literally hold the weight of the world on our shoulders and never give it a second thought, except for the few times we have breakdowns hiding in the closet scarfing down a bag of chocolate because we just can’t take any more.  Then we go to bed and wake up, just to do it all over again. But have we ever asked ourselves why we do this, why we worry about everything that comes into contact with us? 

When you really sit down and quiet yourself before the Lord, all the worry just seems so pointless. When you read a chapter like 139 you go with confidence knowing that God has your back without a doubt, he is ready to catch you before you even realize you’re going to fall. “Oh Lord You have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar” To me that is the most amazing love, to know that no matter how caught up we get with the everyday, that God is still there. He knows us, that is so comforting to me to know that the almighty God knows me.

So I just wanted to encourage you when you have those moments of feeling overwhelmed and out of touch. Quiet yourself before the Lord, listen to him and he will fill you with the most overwhelming sense of peace and love.  All the days ordained for me were written in His book before I even came to be (verse 16). God formed us and he loves us, what more do we need to go through this life with confidence in knowing that through Him, we can do ANYTHING.  Even more, that God is right beside us, cheering us on, always wanting the best for us.

I have decided to start every morning with this chapter; I know that my days will go so much better when I start them with the love and encouragement of Christ. I hope and pray that in some way this has been an encouragement to you, the Spirit led me to put these thoughts down and I obeyed.

¹ You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God! How vast is the sum of them!¹⁸ Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand when I awake, I am still with you.¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?²² I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.²³ Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalms 139:1-24

Written by Heidi Gerard-Mops Coordinator

January Events

Here are your Skiatook MOPS events for the month of January.

Jan 10 - Movies and Chick Fil A 10:00 am
Jan 13 - MOPS meeting 9:00 am
Jan 20 - Gym Play Date 9:30 am
Jan 23 - Mom's Night Out 6:30 pm

In an effort to protect the privacy of our moms, we limit the details of our events here.  For more information please use the contact form to the right, contact your table leader, or see the event page on facebook.

MOPS January Activity Calendar

January Meeting Preview

Our January meeting theme is "Your Vision for Your Family".  We'll be discussing our goals for our family for the year and beyond, our family's identity, and what our family vision is.  Our craft this month will be a Chalk Board Organizer with magnets to help get you organized in the new year!

Your table leader will be contacting you if it's your turn to bring food.

We're collecting Fruit Cups for the backpack program this month.

See you there!