Purpose Statement

MOPS Purpose Statement: MOPS International exists to encourage, equip and develop every mother of preschoolers to realize her potential as a woman, mother and leader in the name of Jesus Christ.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

May 23 - Unpacking Your Treasures



Guest Speaker: DVD presentation
Morning Tea Theme: High Tea/Old Time Favourites
Craft Activity: Photo Frame Decoration

CLAIMING MUM TIME AT MOPS
Today we introduced our new policy of CLAIMING MUM TIME AT MOPS xxx to be inserted xxxx

DVD: HOME TOUR - UNPACKING YOUR TREASURES
At MOPS today we also watched another of the Home Tours on the Dwelling DVD series. This home tour told the story of a woman who had to move out of her home into temporary accommodation and how she learnt from this experience what was really important to her. Her main points were that a lot of stuff is just that... STUFF (material things), and what made a home a home was family and routines. She stressed the importance of allowing the children to keep some personal items and special bedding and books etc and maintaining routines such as reading before bed etc to make sure children felt secure.


Our Morning Tea theme this week was a High Tea setting full of all sorts of delicious "Old Time Favourites" such as licorice all-sorts, passionfruit sponge, turkish delight. The main table and all the Group Tables were beautifully decorated in theme with lovely old china/crystal etc and "Grandmas Garden" flowers (roses and hydrangeas and camellias). Lovely!

TODAYS CRAFT:
Our craft activity today involved painting and embellishing photo frames.

PRESERVING FAMILY HISTORY
Here is the information from todays newsletter on Preserving Family History.

Preserving Your History
Perhaps you have read Tuesdays With Morrie – the 1997 book that details how the author (Mitch Albom) reconnects with his old college professor (Morrie Schwartz) towards the end of the professor’s life. The book chronicles the lessons Albom learns about life as he meets with Morrie every Tuesday until his death.
In a similar vein, I recently started the fascinating process of sitting down with my Gran to record some of her memories and stories and wisdom and I would like to share some of this process with you as we are focusing on this topic at MOPS today.
My Gran was born in 1924 so she is 84 years young. She has lived through good times and hard times. She has been a seamstress and a dancer and a single mother who had to work to support her family at a time when this was not socially acceptable. She has climbed Ayers Rock and travelled solo to Papua New Guinea. She is in great health still, loves gardening and stamp collecting among other things. She is a mother of two, grandmother of 6, great-grandmother of 5 (so far) and is about to become a great-great-grandmother later this year. She lives independently, in a house semi-attached to that of my parents here on the coast so I am extremely privileged to have her in my life and in the lives of my children.
I guess I have always been fascinated with her life - she would always tell us stories when we were little about her childhood and her adventures and this laid the foundations for a strong interest in history that led to studying Australian Social History, Psychology and Journalism at Uni.
When I became I Mum just over 3 years ago, I experienced a profound sense of connection with women generally and with women in my life and my past specifically. My interest in finding out more about Gran’s personal history was reinvigorated.
So what can I tell you about the process of how I went about it? Some years back I attended a one day workshop by David Murray from the Toowoomba Educational Centre held at the TAFE in Mountain Creek that looked at documenting local history etc and how to self-publish. Then the next step was convincing Gran that her stories were of importance and value. Initially, she was put off thinking that she had nothing to say and she was quite reticent thinking she would have to write stuff down by hand and so on. Although it wasn’t said in so many words I am sure my asking also made her very aware of her mortality and the sense of urgency to do this “before it’s too late”.
Many of her friends and relatives had already passed away and at her age there are not many representatives of the many branches of the family tree that remain.
Despite trying to tread carefully here, I found it really hard to get around this one as it is at the heart of it all. …there are only so many years remaining and this is part of the reason why I am so keen to do it now. I would live with a lot of regret if I left it too late.
But anyway, she thought about it and had a change of heart when her younger brother (in his 80’s) sent up a self-published “book” of his life so far and suggested she do the same. It also helped when I said that I planned to use photos and questions as prompts and she would just have to talk to me just as she always has, the only difference being the tape recorder amongst the shortbread biscuits. Just on that, I purchased a really small one with a strong microphone so it doesn’t get in the way and I find after a few minutes talking and half a cup of tea we have both forgotten that it is even there. The recorder has the added advantage of a USB cable allowing whatever is recorded to be uploaded and saved on the computer as a sound file. How good is that! There are endless versions out there from the old tape recorder, to mini tape recorders to the digital models. Just do some research and find what suits your needs and budget.
I have scanned the photos that we use as prompts and add them to the text file as I type it up from the recorded conversations.
I wrote out a loose list of areas to cover (Childhood, Family Life, School Years, How she met her husband, Becoming a mother, getting divorced, the War Years, places she has lived, her travels, favourite songs etc) and some specific questions to ask (see below for some places to get questions/prompts from) but we don’t adhere to that too tightly. We go where her thoughts and take us.
A point to consider when doing these interviews – while it is fascinating to listen and learn to all this history, please be mindful of stirring up painful memories. Be sensitive. I choose not to meet with her in the evenings and then leave her to toss and turn all night stewing over old hurts, I don’t push or pry too much if I sense she is uncomfortable, I am on the watch for her getting too tired even though I could always hear more. Finally, I always try and end on a positive note with a nice memory before wrapping up that session.
This is an ongoing labour of love, I am currently struggling with a title for the book and I am not sure when it will be finished but I am already thinking ahead to my next project – my Mum turns 60 next year so I am planning to so something similar and document those 60 years as a gift for her birthday.
I thank God for my family and my Gran’s long and full life and for the opportunity to delve into it. These stories and memories are far too precious to lose. I feel obligated to preserve them both to honour her and to bless my children and my children’s children with the gift of this connection with their past.
If you have been inspired and would like to document and preserve your personal history here are some other resources that you may find useful:
· Google memory prompts OR oral history OR family history
· 8 Ways to Preserve Your Families Memories www.caring.com/checklists/ways-to-preserve-family-memories
· Memory Prompts see www.scrapyourstories.com/passtheprompts.htm
· Book – Write Your Heart Out by Rebecca McClanahan
· Book – Mothballs in My Attic see www.mothballsinmyattic (fill in the blanks)
· Book – Telling Your Own Stories – Donald Davis
· Look for “fill in the blank” type books in all bookstores
· David Murray of Toowoomba Education Centre Commercial Printer’s presents free workshops on self-publishing for family/community history. More on the technical side of publishing things rather than how together/write it but still useful. Contact David on 0427 301 722 or see www.tec.qld.edu.au/
· Oral History Training Workshops (Brisbane) Contact Suzanne Mulligan on mulligan@gil.com.au or www.flexi.net.au/~mulligan/ or phone Suzanne on (07) 3376 1865
· Genealogy databases, resources and tuition – see your local council libraries
· Local writing course and groups. See local papers and noticeboards


ADDITION (Mon 27 July, 2009) I recently saw a brochure advertising some workshops (5 week course, 2 hours a week) on writing personal/social histories called  "My Story"  by Elizabeth (Libby) Urbahn (possibly related to Keith Urban hmmmm? as he did change his name apparently). Her contact details all from the brochure are Ph 5476 7138 or 0415 087 876 and email is libbyandpete@bigpond.com and website is www.elizabethurbahn.com. Starts MON AUG 3, 2009 from 10.30-12.30. Contact Libby for more information.







SCONE RECIPE
Basic Scones (16)
3 cups SR Flour
80 g butter (cubed)
1 cup milk
Plus ¼ cup of milk for tops of scones
Jam and whipped cream to serve
  • Preheat oven to 200 degrees
  • Lightly dust a baking tray with flour
  • Sift SR flour into a large bowl
  • Rub in butter with fingertips
  • Make a well in the centre
  • Add 1 cup milk
  • Mix with a flat bladed knife until forms a soft dough. Add more milk if need be
  • Knead GENTLY on a lightly floured surface
  • Pat dough into 2 cm thin round
  • Cut out 12 scones (use a cutter or a small glass)
  • Reshape remaining dough and continue to cut out scones (handle dough gently)
  • Pat tops of scone with milk so they brown up
  • Cook for 20-25 mins at 200 deg
  • Cool on a wire rack. Serve with thick whipped cream and jam
    Posted by Michele @ The Hills are Alive at 9:54 PM Labels: , , , , ,

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    Theme Scripture

    Psalm 139

    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, 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.

    Annual MOPS Participation Fee

    The annual MOPS Participation Fee of $10 assists MOPS Australia in covering the cost of training for Regional Coordinators to help other MOPS groups to develop around Australia. It also allows more MOPS group leaders around Australia to access regional training.

    This will go a long way to helping MOPS Australia bring MOPS to more Mums around Australia.

    When you register for MOPS each year, you will be handed an Annual Participation Fee form, and we ask that if you are able to pay this $10 participation fee, please do so before the end of April 2011.

    The payment options are...
    1. Direct Debit to MOPS Australia bank account
    2. Credit card
    3. Cheque payable to MOPS Australia
    4. Cash to MOPS@MBC front desk

    Thank you, from the MOPS@MBC team.

    How did MOPS begin?

    It was a Tuesday morning, at about 9.30. They each had faced spilled cereal, tangled hair, and a few had even been forced to change their outfits due to a last-minute baby throw-up on a shoulder or lap. They had driven, or pushed strollers, to the church and had dropped their little ones off in the creche. They had made it!

    And now they sat, knees almost touching, in the circle of children's chairs from the Sunday school room. Hands held hot cups of tea and biscuits in utter freedom because this treat did not have to be shared with a child's sticky fingers. Mouths moved in eager, uninterrupted conversation. Eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. Hearts stirred with understanding. Needs were met.

    That morning in 1973, was the first morning of MOPS, or Mothers of Preschoolers. Little was it known that from this small beginning in a church in Colorado, USA, the seeds of the MOPS concept and format had been planted. The needs of the women were met even then, through the opportunity for friendship, creative outlet and spiritual emphasis. MOPS International now charters approximately 2,500 MOPS groups in churches in the United States and 13 other countries throughout the world.

    How did MOPS begin in Australia?

    How did MOPS begin in Australia?

    Nineteen years later and thousands of kilometres away, the same mutual need for sharing was realised by a group of mums with children under school age in Melbourne. After reading about the MOPS concept in the US, leaders introduced the program to the Clayton Church of Christ Fellowship in early 1990 and MOPS was born in Australia. From this small beginning, the seeds for future growth were planted, resulting in the formation of an affiliated body to support the ever-increasing number of Australian groups and the mums they served.

    Since its formation in June 2000, MOPS Australia, Inc has grown rapidly and there are currently over 100 groups throughout Australia. In the last year alone, 35 new groups have commenced, with groups starting up regularly throughout different Christian denominations. Groups now meet in every state and territory in Australia, with an estimated ministry to approximately 2500 mums and 3000 children.

    How did MOPS begin at MBC?

    A Brief History of MOPS at MBC by Karen Askey-Doran (COordinator of MOPS til 2008 and currently Regional Coordinator).

    In 1999, the leader of MBC’s women’s ministry caught the vision of MOPS. At that time I was a new Mum with little inclination to help; I was interested but not convicted!

    Roughly a year later another meeting was held to generate interest. At this time I had another little baby girl, a 16-month-old toddler and, although I was unaware of it, Post Natal Depression. And once again people were interested but not compelled to lead.

    In 2005 Holly, caught the vision of MOPS and began to sow the seeds of interest throughout the young Mums in our church. Robyn Robertson came to our first meeting and inspired us into action…the seeds Holly planted took hold!

    People came slowly at first to fill the positions, it seemed there were a lot of blanks for a long time! Holly was going to be our Coordinator and when she filled out the charter she realised that a Mother of Preschoolers should really fill that role…. So she called me! Very graciously, Holly took a side step into a Mentoring role (very appropriate really).

    God was moving in our midst, we had been blessed with an inspired team of 15 Mops Leaders and 9 Moppets Leaders, each one having a testimony about how God had lead them to this ministry!

    I suspect that God has big plans for our group. I still feel very inadequate sometimes but I do trust God and I want to serve him and to reach out to Mums who are hurting, to support them. I want to encourage, you know, to build up… to make a difference in people’s lives, especially my children’s!

    I know I’m not alone… In Romans 8:28 it says “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” He planned for my girls, my twins, my battle with PND. He planned for MOPS - at this time - in our church! The door has literally been flung open!

    What happens at a MOPS meeting?

    When a mum enters a MOPS meeting, she is greeted by a friendly face and escorted to MOPPETS, where her children enjoy their special part of the MOPS program. In MOPPETS, children from infancy through to school age experience a caring environment while they learn, sing, play and make crafts.

    Once her children are settled, the MOPS mum joins a program tailor-made to meet her needs. She can grab something to eat and not have to share it! She can finish a sentence and not have to speak in words of two syllables!

    The program typically begins with a brief lesson taught by an older mum who's been through the challenging years of mothering and who can share from her experience and from the truths taught in the Bible. Then the women move into small discussion groups where there are no "wrong answers" and each mum is free to share her joys and struggles with other mums who truly understand her feelings. In these moments, long-lasting friendships are often made on the common ground of finally being understood.

    From here, the women participate in a craft or other creative activity. For mums who are often frustrated by the impossibility of completing anything in their unpredictable days, this activity is deeply satisfying. It provides a sense of accomplishment and growth for many mums.

    Because mums of preschoolers themselves lead MOPS, the program also offers women a chance to develop their leadership skills and other talents. It takes organisation, creativity, and management skills to run a MOPS program successfully.

    By the time they finish the MOPS meeting and pick up their children, the mums feel refreshed and better able to mother. MOPS helps them recognise that mums have needs too! And when they take the time to meet those needs, they find they are more effective in meeting the needs of their families.

    Meeting the needs of Mothers of Preschoolers

    The MOPS program is dedicated to meeting the needs of mothers of preschoolers. These needs have been identified by Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall in their book, What Every Mum Needs:


    The need for Identity: Sometimes I'm not sure who I am

    The need for Growth: Sometimes I long to develop who I am

    The need for Relationship: Sometimes I long to be understood

    The need for Help: Sometimes I need to share the load

    The need for Perspective: Sometimes I lose my focus

    The need for Hope: Sometimes I wonder if there's more to life


    Here's How Some Mums Describe MOPS

    "MOPS means that I am able to share the joys and frustrations and insecurities of being a mum. Our meetings provide the opportunity to hear someone else say, "I was up all night," or "They're driving me crazy!"

    MOPS mum, Perth

    "As a single mum, this is the first group I've felt accepted in for who I am."

    MOPS mum, Canberra

    'On my first day at MOPS, I knew my life had changed forever! The women made me feel so relaxed. I had a peace I hadn't felt for a long time. They were so caring, pleasant, helpful…the list goes on! I just want to say, "Thank you MOPS!" If it weren't for MOPS, I wouldn't be where I am today.'

    MOPS mum, Melbourne

    'When I first started MOPS, I was very, very lonely. MOPS gave me a chance to get out of the house which I was grateful for. The talks were very informative. I found out a lot through these talks. My problems seemed to become smaller. When I first started at MOPS, I thought I was a Christian. I wasn't. Through MOPS I can now say, 'I am a Christian.' MOPS to me is not only Mothers of Pre Schoolers, but My Own Private Salvation!'

    MOPS mum, Canberra