Newsletter 8: Feburary 22, 2011

2010-2011  Issue 8
by Teri VanLieshout
vanlieshout@att.net

February 22, 2011

Upcoming Dates:
We have some fun things coming up. Please put these dates on your calendar:

·         Friday Feb 25 Mom's Night Out –Game Night at Jillian Feit’s home

·         March 12^th 10am Brunch & Purse Party. Call Pam Schulz for more details

·         March 18^th, 19^th & 20^th Scrapbook Weekend, Fundraiser for MOPS. At Jaycee Hall Call Kristen Cain or Mary Arnold for more details.

·         March 23^rd Mom’s Night Out, Open Mic at Glas, Call Wendy Kraemer for more details.

Upcoming Meetings:

·         March 8 ** SB schools release at 11. Our meeting will run from 9-10:30.  DVD & Necklaces

·         March 22 * Pastor’s panel—pastors from several churches will talk about what they have going on in their congregations & answer any questions we might have.

In the Community:

United Way Endowment Event
& Original Art Auction
*Feburary 25^th, 5-7pm
Door County Maritime Museum

Dave Pagel Memorial
Ice Fishing Derby*Saturday, Feb 26^th
4pm-6pm.  Wave Point Marina & Resort.  Call 621-4739 for more info--I’m telling my husband so he can take the kids ;-) 

3^rd Annual Habitat for Humanity Women Build Training
*Feb 26^th & March 12^th
8am-2pm, at the Women’s Employment Project Office, Cherry Point Mall $10/person Call Katy to register: 920-743-2869

10^th Annual Business Planning Course*8 week session starts Monday, Feburary 28^th
NWTC, call 743-3113

YMCA Camp Registration*Monday, Feb 21^st YMCA Members register, Feb 23^rd non members.

YMCA Strong Kids Family Luau  *Friday, March 4^th
6pm-8pm.  Fun for the whole family. $10/family. Program benefits the Strong Kids Campaign..

***Special thanks to Mann Communications, LLC for sharing community events via their Facebook page. That’s how I stay in the know & share here!

MOPS Wish List:
If you are able , the following things are needed. Your donations are always appreciated:

·          Large plastic tote (need 2) for MOPPETTES toys

·          A gently used toddler toy

·          $20 (amount paid 1 moppet worker one wk)

·          1 pack of printer/copy paper

·          I’ll help set up and tear down things for the MOPPETTS at regular meetings

·          I’ll help clean up after meetings

·          I’ll help set up before meetings

·          I'll help at the Randy Peterson Concert Fundraiser April 16^th

·          I'll help at the MOPS rummage sale Fundraiser on May 21st

·         I’d be interested in serving on the Steering Team in the future

Info to share?

If you have something you’d like to include in a newsletter or know of an event in the community that you would like to share with other moms, please let me know. I will pass on such info:  Email Teri at vanlieshout@att.net or call 920-746-0047

Newsletter 7: Feburary 8, 2011

2010-2011  Issue 7
by Teri VanLieshout
vanlieshout@att.net

February 8, 2011

Upcoming Dates:
We have some fun things coming up. Please put these dates on your calendar:

·       (updated 2/11/10) Mom's Night Out: Feb. 25th, 7pm:  We are going to have a Game Night at Jillian Feit's house on Friday Feb 25th probably 7pm.  We are thinking pictionary, taboo, that type of thing. Call Wendy K. for more info.

Upcoming Meetings:

·         February 22^nd – Gary Grahl will talk about eating disorders

MOPS Wish List:
If you are able, the following things are needed. Your donations are always appreciated:

·          Large plastic tote (need 2) for MOPPETTES toys

·          A gently used toddler toy

·          $20 (amount paid 1 moppet worker one wk)

·          1 pack of printer/copy paper

·          I’ll help set up and tear down things for the MOPPETTS at regular meetings

·          I’ll help clean up after meetings

·          I’ll help set up before meetings

·          I'll help at the Randy Peterson Concert Fundraiser April 16^th

·          I'll help at the MOPS rummage sale Fundraiser on May 21st

·          I’d be interested in serving on the Steering Team in the future

In the Community:

Valentine’s Dinner & Dance
*Friday, Feburary 11, 6pm
Prince of Peace Church, Oasis
Tenderloin Dinner & Dance to follow. $15 per person. Call 743-7750 for more info.

***Special thanks to Mann Communications, LLC for sharing community events via their Facebook page. That’s how I stay in the know & share here!

Master Gardeners Continuing Education: Ponds and Catching Rain
*Wednesday, Feburary 9
7pm, Crossroads at Big Creek
Free. Call 746-5895 for more info.

Nutrition and Cooking Class*Thursday, Feburary 10, 10am, Prince of Peace Church, Oasis
Focus on Legumes; Guest Speaker Barbie Stauber from UW Extension. Free.

Jan Brett Family Literacy Night*Friday, Feburary 17, 6pm-7:30pm; Sawyer Elementary
4k-5^th grade focus, bring the whole family, sip hot chocolate, listen to stories, participate in activities related to the stories. Free. Fun for the whole family.

Fire and Ice Festival*February 18-20^th 
Ice carving throughout Sturgeon Bay during the weekend. Dinner and Ball, Feburary 19^th at Stone Harbor Resort. Call 743-6246 for more info.

Info to share?

If you have something you’d like to include in a newsletter or know of an event in the community that you would like to share with other moms, please let me know. I will pass on such info:  Email Teri at vanlieshout@att.net or call 920-746-0047

Sometimes God hits me over the head with a brick... Lessons from a MOPS meeting.

Sometimes God likes to hit me over the head with a brick. And today is one of those days.

As we sat around our discussion table at MOPS, it became so clear to me how universal our struggles are. Like many, I have experienced depression in my life. And that feeling can leave one with the sense of being alone in the world, the only one going through X, Y, or Z.  We all shared at our table today, and shared some of our hearts. It was a table of nodding heads. What one felt, another had felt, too. No one was alone. What one had gone through, so had another. And so it went, all around the table. Isn’t that what MOPS is all about?? No mom alone, right? Yet in the middle of the ocean sometimes we can struggle to find the water.  It is in those sacred spaces where we as women can share truthfully and lean on each other that we see we’re not alone, that we find company on the journey, that we see our stories aren’t so unique.  It was one of those sacred spaces today at MOPS.

And what I learned most was two important lessons:

First, we are never truly alone.  Of course, God is with us. That’s the ‘right’ answer, right?? But we don’t always have a tactile sense of that. And so God gives us community.  There is ALWAYS someone nearby who has been there or is there yet even at the same time we are, if we could just scratch beneath the surface to see.  I truly think God aches for us to find each other, if we would just take that first step. He gave us legs, but we need to walk. It’s like that.

The second important lesson I learned in this discussion is the importance of reaching out.  And it’s sooooo easier said than done. We all acknowledged how scary it can feel. But it’s such a necessary lesson to hear. Again, it’s God hitting me over the head with a brick today.  One of the ladies in our group said a wise thing… she would pray that the phone would just ring when she so needed it to, but then she realized that no one would know she was in that place if she kept silent, if she didn’t reach out and share. So, she took that brave first step of making a phone call. And then another. And in time, she found that support network she so desperately needed. And life got better, little by little.  Anther mom shared her mantra, “Put on your Nikes and ‘Just do it!’” referring to her needing to be intentional about bringing people into her life. It was as simple as inviting some people over. But that first step made all the difference.  It’s a lesson I needed to hear today, and I’ll bet a few others did too.

I share this with you so you can get that same message. You’re not alone. Reach out. It’s ok. When that little voice goes off inside your head saying, “Oh, just be quiet. I don’t want to be a burden, anyway. It’s really nothing. Oh, I’ll be fine on my own.” Tell that little voice to step off and SHUT UP! You should speak up, you won’t be a burden. Reach out. Someone out there is going through the exact same thing or has gone through something similar and is just waiting to be a helping hand.  Take that first step. It may feel scary. But you’ll be OK and better off for sharing. Tell SOMEONE, today!! And, if the first person you call or talk to isn’t ‘it’, don’t worry, the next one will be. Try another. God puts us in communities to help and to be helped by each other. No doubt you are just around the corner from someone who will totally get it.

We all just want to know that today’s struggle won’t last forever. That there will be a way out. We will eventually be OK and that we’re not alone.  God hit me over the head with a brick today, reminding me of just that. Please take this message to heart and pass it on. No mom, no woman, no human being should feel alone. There is community out there just waiting for YOU!