September 22nd Meeting - The Journey of Motherhood

We had a great second meeting of the fall semester! We enjoyed getting to know our small group members better by learning about what they did before they had kids, what their favorite secret snack is, and what super power they would love to have!

We listened to our mentor mom Karen Cole talk to us about "The Journey" of motherhood, from baby to high school years. Karen has 3 grown kids herself so she had a lot of great advice to share with us and introduced some great discussion topics!

• Have you noticed you tend to parent the way you were parented? 
• Are there any moments of your child's life where you missed out because of something else you needed to do?
  *Remember: You can "embrace the dust" as an art medium in your home in order to take time out to play with your kids! 

Our leadership team entertained us with a dancing flash mob to remind us to celebrate all the time! We hope everyone had fun, either laughing at the dancers or dancing a bit yourself!

Sarah Burton gave us a great explanation of how to get the most out of your small group! Small groups are the heart of our MOPS group and can be such a great support system! From hand me down clothes, to rides to the airport, to a last minute babysitter; We hope you have a wonderful small group experience this year!

Jamie Branham, our finance representative, gave us a great explanation of everything our dues cover!

• $24.95 - MOPS international fee (you will great a welcome gift of goodies in the mail plus a quarterly magazine subscription to MOPS magazine for the year! It's like an early Christmas!)
• $50 - Crossroads Fall semester fee
• $50 - Crossroads Spring semester fee

***Crossroads fees cover childcare, craft supplies, speaker gifts, table decorations, birthday/baby celebration gifts, and brunch items like coffee, plates, napkins, and silverware.

Remember, you can pay your dues by exact cash at our next meeting or by credit card online! If you are having trouble with this financial obligation please don't let it hold you back from something amazing! We have MOPS scholarships available for moms who may need the assistance!

We still have MOPS T-shirts and GoPlaySave Coupon books available for purchase! Our MOPS group gets $10 from each book sold so if you sell a couple to your friends and family you can let them know they are helping out our great group of moms! You can also buy the books online HERE

Our kids also learned a lot at MOPS this week! You can use the information below from our MOPPETS coordinator Brittani to remind your child of what they learned and ask questions!

Big Idea: With God I can!
Key Verse: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength"  - Philippians 4:13
Story: This month we learned all about Joseph in the bible. His brothers were not nice to him and sold him into slavery, but God was with Joseph! Joseph became a foreign prince and was reunited with his brothers. He chose to forgive them and help them. We read from the Jesus Storybook Bible, but you can find this story in any bible beginning in Genesis chapter 37.



We had a great sponsor this meeting, Alina Huskey, from The Fashion Studio! She gets stylish womens apparel, children's clothing, shoes and accessories at wholesale so everyone can benefit from the affordable price! She handed out amazing goodie bags at the meeting and raffled off a couple gift bags as well! It was so generous of her so be sure to check out her website at http://thefashionstudioclub.com/. 

Don't forget: Next Tuesday is our first Group-wide play date! Join us at Annie Wilkinson Nature Preserve at 10am and feel free to RSVP at our facebook event HERE

Bethany's group is responsible for brunch at the next meeting on October 13th so please signup with what you will be bringing HERE

Wendy Schulz is our speaker next week and she will be sharing with us the topic of "Raising Faith in Little Hearts." Trader Joe's is also raffling off a goodie bag! You won't want to miss out!

2015 Kickoff Meeting - A Fierce Flourishing!

A huge thank you to everyone who came out for our first meeting of the year! We had a great turnout of around 70 moms and had lots of new faces joining us this year! We love that you spent your Tuesday morning with us and hope you will continue to come for the rest of our fun filled year!

We kicked off our meeting by watching a fun video clip about the stay at home mom in her natural habitat, enjoyed a yummy brunch from Chick-fil-a on Forum Dr, and played an icebreaker game that showed us that we all have more in common than we thought! We also learned about this year's theme "A Fierce Flourishing" and made a cute flower name tag to use for the year!

This week's sponsor was Lacinda Melanson from Thirty One gifts. You can check out her page and shop HERE 

We hope everyone filled out a registration card and plans on joining us for the rest of the year! Those that registered will be assigned a small group leader who will be in contact with you this week about the first small group play date scheduled for next Tuesday, September 15th! Let us know here or on Facebook if you do not hear from your group leader by Monday!

Want to represent your favorite mom's group?! We are selling Crossroads MOPS t-shirts! Last year's shirt design is $5 but we also have a new design for this year that is $10. If interested you can bring check or cash to our next meeting!

Our group is participating in a fundraiser by selling the Raleigh Go Play Save coupon books! Books are $30 a piece and have tons of coupons to use around the area. You will get your money back just by using a few coupons! There is also an online version and Durham/Chapel Hill area books for sale. If you are interested, books will be available for purchase at the next meeting or you can buy online HERE

We hope you will join us at our next meeting on September 22nd! Feel free to bring a friend (or two!) and come prepared to eat a LOT and listen to our mentor mom Karen speak about mommy-hood! RSVP at our facebook event HERE. See you there!

We are growing.. MOMSnext!

We are officially launching a blend of MOPS and MOMSnext at Crossroads. 

 MOMSnext is a new extension of MOPS for all mothers of school-age kids.

This small group could also be for a mom who still has a preschooler but also has school-age children and just would better identify with other moms of school-age kids in your current season of life.

This MOMSnext small group will be like any other MOPS small group; the only thing that's different is the ages of the children!