Christmas Party Fun

We had a great time at the Christmas Party for MOPS, hosted by Jenn Duke. Thanks Jenn for opening your home to all of us. Congrats to Tanya for winning the door prize from Bliss & Co, of a mani, pedi, shampoo and blow dry. Thanks to Bliss & Co for their generous donation. See you in the new year!

Christmas Party: UPDATED

MONDAY NIGHT (21ST)
6.30PM
JENN's HOME
BRING GOODIES TO SHARE AND 5 LITTLE GIFTS (IF YOU ARE PLAYING WHITE ELEPHANT)

MOMS Supporting MOMS: Alnesha Wilson with Discovery Toys

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12-15 Meeting Wrap-Up

What an fun and exciting meeting we had. Cindy spoke on "The Love that is Out of this World". She took us thru several verses in the bible that showed us how God sees us. It is amazing that His Word says that He adores us. And in Titus that mankind was a gift from God to Jesus before it was even created. So we were created as Jesus gift and yet He died for us and in turn gave us an incredible gift of live in Heaven. How amazing.

Cindy in her creative nature even created a song for MOPS using the 12 days of Christmas Theme. Here it is:
On the first day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
a break from the daily insanity
On the second day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
2 friendly greeters
On the 3rd day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
3 on time door prizes
On the 4th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
4 Christy Crafts
On the 5th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
5 quick, cheap and delicious recipes
On the 6th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
Wise mentor Moms
On the 7th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
7 pesky pages
On the 8th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
8 inspiring speakers (especially the last one)
On the 9th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
9 embarrassing ice breakers
On the 10th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
10 breakfast casseroles
On the 11th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
11 BOGO coupons
On the 12th day of Christmas my MOPS group gave to me:
12+ life long friends.

I hope to see everyone at the Moms Night out at Jenn's house Friday.

December 15th Meeting

Please join us for our last meeting of 2009. We will be having our Christmas Celebration. Everyone is bringing food, so it will indeed be a celebration. Mentor Mom, Cindy will be speaking for a short time on "Love that is Out of this World". See you Tuesday!

Tickle Our Taste Buds Winner-12/1

Congrats to Hana Lynch for winner the "Tickle Our Taste Buds" at our Dec 1st meeting. Her winning dish was a delicious cake. It was so light and airy. And the taste was to die for. Below is the recipe so we can make it for our families. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Apple Sauce Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups oatmeal (uncooked)
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking powder
¾ cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup apple sauce
¾ cup milk
1 ½ cup raisins (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting
½ cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

In a bowl, mix together flour, oatmeal, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and baking powder.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar. Add eggs, apple sauce, and milk; beat until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in raisins (if desired). Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit for 5 min, then remove from the pans and cool on wire racks.

To prepare the frosting, place butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth. Add vanilla and blend well.

Frost the cake when it is completely cool. Store in the refrigerator. Makes 8-10 servings.

MOPS Service Project for Christmas

Last Night 8 of us MOPS Ladies delivered our Christmas gifts to the 5 mothers at The Room at the Inn of The Triad. "This is a unique, comprehensive program helping homeless, single, pregnant women, not only during their pregnancies but also after the birth of their babies. By providing shelter, food, clothing, case management, in-house daycare, transportation, life skills education, and counseling in a structured environment. They help these families have new lives of healthy, hope-filled self sufficiency."
This was MOPS, 3rd consecutive year being involved with this shelter at Christmas time.

It was just wonderful to sit and talk to these soon to be moms and share stories and of course the hope of Christ. The Room at the Inn of The Triad is a christian based organization. They have 2 devotionals every day, where they can either share from the bible or talk about goals. They do not force the love of Christ on anyone, but it is felt all around. We got to share our faith with them and have a sweet time of prayer with 4 of them. We pray that our gifts will help show how much we do love them, not because anything they did or anything we did, but because Christ first loved us, we love them. A big thanks to Rikki, Michela, Joanna, Flemania, Anne, Leslie, and Anna for joining me in representing our MOPS groups during this service project. I pray that it was a blessing to each of you.

12-1 Meeting Wrap Up

Wow what an incredible meeting. Sr. Pastor Jake Thornhill, Jr., honored our MOPS group again, by speaking to our ladies. His topic: A Mother is the Heart of the Home just as Christ is the Center of the Universe. Is was an exciting and emotional meeting. There is no doubt that his words reached our ladies. We were also honored to have one of our "Wiser Women" attend the meeting Brenda Lancaster, mother-in-law to last year coordinator, Leigh Lancaster. After Pastor Jake spoke, she felt called to speak from her heart and her words were exactly what we needed and a great follow-up to Pastor Jake. I had prayed about this meeting since Sept and boy was I amazed at the outcome. We also had an awesome craft, which was an outreach project for The Room at the Inn of the Triad. We will be delivering the baby blankets on Thursday 12/10. We hope you will be able to make the next meeting on Dec 15th. See you there.