Raquel Robinson - Living a Balanced Life

Our speaker today, Raquel Robinson, is first a woman of God, wife and mother of three girls and one boy; originally from right here in NC. She is a certified personal trainer and fitness nutrition specialist. She was a volunteer and staff member of Crossroads Fellowship in Children’s Ministry for just under ten years and now worships and volunteers at Elevation Church. Her passion is for women of all ages to learn how they can have a more sustainable healthy lifestyle. Raquel is currently a fitness instructor with the City of Raleigh at the Abbots Creek Community Center. She also uses Facebook & Instagram to share nutrition, exercise and total body wellness tips on her page “Rock Life with Raquel”.

Raquel spoke to us about how to address the imbalances in our lives and she put the knowledge in our hands that should build a confidence to live a well balanced life. All too often an imbalanced life is caused by guilt, too many obligations, seeking praise, comparing ourselves to others, or pride. Pride can be self seeking, exhausting, and dangerous! To get your life back in balance try creating a weekly schedule to prioritize items that are important to you. Identify your priorities, set boundaries, and practice self discipline. She also shared a short home workout that can be done to get you focused. View her presentation slides here.

Announcements

Join us next week for our whole group playdate at Baileywick Park! Bring the kids in costumes and we will have a small Halloween activity for them to do.

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday our MOPS meetings have been moved to the 2nd and 3rd Tuesdays in the month of November.  There will NOT be a MOPS meeting on November 5th or 26th. We'll see you on the 12th and 19th!

Our next meeting on November 12th is our Toy Swap! Bring any toys you want to get rid of and shop to find some new treasures just in time for Christmas! Any remaining items will be donated to the Crossroads Missions Thrift store.

Butterbraids orders are due November 5th. Share your link with neighbors and friends so they can purchase these delicious pastries and give back to our group. Find your order link here.

All vendor spots have been filled for our holiday market on November 19th. Please pay for your table if you registered for on, or your spot will be given to the next person in line.

Feel free to invite friends to come with you to shop the market, but keep in mind that they will be unable to utilize childcare. We will not have a speaker that meeting and will instead have an extended time of fellowship and shopping!

Small groups have been assigned specific meetings to assist with childcare should we end up with a teacher shortage. Please be willing to serve when it is your assigned time, otherwise children will have to attend the MOPS meeting with their mothers. Each mom will only be called to serve once per MOPS year.

If the assigned moms are not in attendance at the meeting, their small group can cover for them and switch assignments.

Each small group rotates bringing brunch items throughout the year. Next week is Jen, Ayesha/Becky, and Nicole’s groups. Get more information and signup for items here

We hope you will join us for our next meeting on November 12th! Since we will be having our toy swap we won't have a speaker but will watch a short video from MOPS international and complete a fun craft to take home! You won't want to miss this extended time of relaxed fellowship with your small group!

Molly Stillman - Finding Jesus in the Storms

We had an encouraging, emotional meeting this week hearing from Molly Stillman on "Finding Jesus in the Storms." Molly shared her experience with pregnancy loss twice in the span of a few months. She learned that the old saying, "God won't give you more than you can handle" was a lie, but she learned that He won't give us more than HE can handle. She turned to God during these troubling times and found Joy that can only be found in him.

We encourage you to reach out to Molly on Instagram @stillbeingmolly and check out her blog at StillBeingMolly.com  Molly also recommended the book "What the Bible is All About" by Henrietta C. Mears for a good comprehensive study of the bible, and it can be found on Amazon.

Announcements

Today we announced our two upcoming fundraisers, Butterbraids and a Holiday Market!

As in years past, our group will be selling Butterbraids as a fundraiser. These delicious pastries can only be bought through fundraisers, so for some people they are a hot commodity they can only purchase limited times throughout the year.

This year we are setup for online ordering instead of the paper forms we have used previously. Each MOPS member should have gotten an email this morning from "My Fundraising place" with information about how to order online. Your link can be given to anyone who wishes to purchase Butterbraids, but you will be responsible for delivering the frozen pastry to them once they are delivered to Crossroads during our November 19th meeting. All orders must be placed by November 5th in order to be processed in time for our November 19th delivery.

If patrons would like to bypass the $.99 ordering fee they may make out a check to Crossroads Raleigh MOPS or give you cash, which you can then enter in the website for them to complete their order.

Please direct any fundraiser questions to crossroadsRaleighMOPS@gmail.com

On November 19th we will have a holiday market in the great room during our scheduled MOPS meeting. We will have a variety of non-profits with tables setup so you can support and learn about their ministries. Local Businesses are also able to sponsor a table for $20 and must donate an item to be used in a raffle. During the meeting, we will not have a speaker but will have time to browse the various vendors and purchase any goods.

If you are interested in sponsoring a table please email crossroadsRaleighMOPS@gmail.com

Anytime there is a fifth Tuesday of the month, we gather all the small groups together for one big playdate! This year we will meet at Baileywick Park on October 29th at 10am. Feel free to have the kids come in costume and bring any fall activities or snacks you want to share (optional)!

During our November 12th meeting we will have a Toy Swap right in time for you to find some good gift options for Christmas! Bring any toys you want to get rid of and place them in the great room. We will all shop from the toys that are brought and take home some new treasures! Any left over toys will be donated to the Crossroads Missions Thrift Store.

Please make sure your registration is up to date! If you have a child that may attend some MOPS meetings due to track out or other circumstances, they must be registered or they will not be able to enter a children's classroom. Email CrossroadsRaleighMOPS@gmail.com if you have a child you need to add to your registration.

Torri, Victoria, and Autumn/Sasha's groups are responsible for bringing brunch at our next meeting on October 22nd. Sign up here.

At our next MOPS meeting on October 22nd we will be hearing from Health and Wellness Coach Raquel Robinson.