MOMS' Christmas Breakfast & King's Castle Outreach

Larger room... but we still seem to be filling it up! First MOMS' meeting in our new location, thanks to Pastor Chris we now have made Room 530 our new home for MOMS! We had a total of 40 moms, 31 kids and 9 childcare providers!! Awesome turn out ... thank you so much for all the awesome donations for King's Castle I am sure we surpassed our 200 gifts!

We will continue to take donations up to December 23. Calvary Senior High will host its Christmas event for the kids to pick up gifts for their moms on December 23 - remember to sign up to help we will send out an email detailing the schedule for that day.

Enjoy Christmas and remember share God's love with everyone you meet! Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God will come to know God because they know you!

best buds....


Praying for Stephanie and believing that God will perform a miracle!

MOMS' Night Out - Christmas Party

Once again we need to thank our hostess, Frannie, for such an awesome evening! She opened her home and was such a gracious hostess we didn't want to leave... 1:30 am seemed to come so quickly!

The food was plentiful and amazing! Thank you to all for the wonderful variety. Our ornament exchange was the highlight of the evening with many ornaments being coveted by all! The scripture hearts ended up being Frannie's after breaking the rules for the hostess! The photo of Frannie wearing the plastic bags may need some explain'n but it won't be done on this site you will have to ask her yourself or better yet talk to Karen!!

MOMS Christmas Celebration - Dec. 5

Frannie getting lights out for party...

Sneak peek at the decorations...

We are getting ready and planning for the big night.... to date we have over 20 attending!! We can't wait to get together with each of you and see who brings the biggest bling!! If you haven't RSVP'd please go to your evite and let us know asap! Hope to see you all there!!

CARSON PIRIE SCOTT FUNDRAISER

As mentioned in our last meeting we have our Carson Pirie Scott Fundraiser coming up on NOVEMBER 15th. Every dollar we raise from the sale of these coupon books goes directly to our MOMS' group!


OUR FUNDRAISING INCENTIVE IS LISTED BELOW:

First Prize: 50 coupon books =
1 FREE Hearts at Home Conference registration
(for info http://www.heartsathome.org/ ) March 13-14, 2009 at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois

Second prize: 30 coupon books =
1 quarter FREE registration for MOMS

Third Prize: 25 coupon books =
1 Gift Certificate from Family Christian Bookstore

Table Prize: Table with over 100 coupon books total =
Gift basket of goodies to share

Please have all coupons and money raised turned in at our next meeting on November 13!! If you require more coupon books, please let me know!

WE NEED HELP..... if you can help out with selling the coupons at Carson's on November 14 or November 15th, please let me know which time slot will work best for you.

November 14 (Friday)
12 - 2 pm
6pm - 8 pm

November 15 (Saturday)
9am - 10 am at upper outside door next to Men's Department

Thank you all so so much for your dedication & support
to the MOMS' Group - we could never do it without
each one of you! Heartfelt love & appreciation from
ALL YOUR MOMS' LEADERS!!

October 23 Meeting - Establishing Family Traditions

Special thanks to the Stockman's for presenting their Advent Calendar book and sharing their insights into Establishing Holiday Traditions.

We had another large turn out for this meeting together with several new moms! Taisha must have invited everyone she meet since last meeting - thanks Taisha!!

If you did not attend we have taped this meeting as well, just let us know and we will make the video available for viewing.


Presentations by Jack & Kathy Stockman

Jack and Kathy have enjoyed presenting workshops on the Celebration of Christmas and Family Traditions at churches, women’s groups, and conferences for many years. If you would like to inquire about scheduling them to do a Celebration of Christmas or Family Traditons presentation, please e-mail us at Stockmans@Celebrations-and-Traditions.com with your name, address, and/or phone number and they will call or send you a brochure and other information as requested.

The website is http://www.celebrationsandtraditions.com/

October 9th - Interaction Day (Taisha's Story)

TAISHA'S STORY!

This MOMS' meeting was a "God" event! Thank you Taisha for being obedient and sharing your life with each of the moms. Your story touched so many lives and we can see God's love working in and through you - keep pressing on!!

The meeting was taped, and for those of you who missed attending, you can contact one of the leaders if you are interested in viewing the video.

MOMS' Night Out at Pomegranate Cafe, Aurora

Special Thanks to Pomegranate Cafe in Aurora for making our night so memorable!! As you can see from the photos we had a wonderful time and the food was amazing! If you stop by let them know you heard about them from Calvary Church MOMS'!

We had several new moms join us for the first time - Maria & Clara!! It was an awesome evening and we ended up closing the place down around 10:00 pm. Some of the moms continued on at Ann's place until about 2 am - but some of us just needed our sleep!!! Thank you to everyone for making this such a success - can't wait until the next MOMS' Night Out!

MOMS' NIGHT OUT - OCTOBER 3

MOMS NIGHT OUT
Join us for an evening of fun, food & fellowship…

When: October 3, 2008 @ 7:00 pm

Where: Pomegranate Cafe, Aurora

Details: Appetizers & Dessert - including Chicken/Pork Kabobs, Tomato & Cheese Brochette, Nachos, Saganaki (flaming greek cheese) and mini pastires. All for only $5.00 per person!

A huge THANK YOU to The Pomegranate Cafe for providing this evening at a discounted rate!

MOMS' FIRST MEETING & 2008-2009 SCHEDULE

Welcome back MOMS!! It was great to see so many of you back at our first meeting of the year! We had a total of 33 moms and 28 children! We were excited to see so many new faces and we look forward to getting to know each of you better as the year progresses.

The schedule for the 2008-2009 year is listed below:

September - (Facilitator: Deirdre)
11 - Welcome - Back to School Organization with Speaker: Joy Myong
25 - Caring Enough to Share with Speaker: Rosie Williams

October - (Facilitator: Jill)
9 - Interaction Day - Sharing My Story: Taisha
23 - Establishing Traditions - Advent Calendar

November - (Facilitator: Karen)
13 - Power of Prayer with Speaker Marta Gemelli (Moms in Touch)

December - (Facilitator: Deirdre)
11 - Christmas Banquet and Outreach Project

January - (Facilitator: Karen)
8 - Interaction Day - TBA
22 - Creative Discipline with Speaker Karen Lee

February - (Facilitator: Deirdre)
12 - Hearts at Home with Speaker Jacinda Ross
26 - Interaction Day - TBA

March - (Facilitator: Joy)
12 - Finding Contentment and Balance with Speaker Joy Myong
26 - Interaction Day - TBA

April - (Facilitator: Karen)
9 - Fun Family Devotions with Speaker Karen Lee
23 - Interaction Day - TBA

May - (Facilitator: Deirdre)
14 - Meal Planning "What's for Dinner?"
28 - Celebration Banquet and Clothing Exchange

Please remember to sign up for an Interaction Day as well as a MOMS' Night Out! This is YOUR group and your input is greatly needed! Much love, prayers & blessings from The MOMS Leaders

PICNIC IN THE PARK

OUR PICNIC at Phillips Park was so much fun... the kids thoroughly enjoyed the playground and it was difficult to get them to leave. The Sunken Garden was so beautiful - it truly was a great day to connect and enjoy each other and the kids. Taisha's mom, sister and sister-in-law joined us - it was so nice to meet her family!! Thanks for sharing them. Also special thanks to Devin and Hannah for helping out with Benjamin -- since his mommy was at home sick! Benjamin loved the animals and tired both Hannah & Devin out from running after him!! Getting excited to start our 3rd Year of MOMS on September 11 - come join us!!!

2nd ANNUAL POOL PARTY

OUR 2ND ANNUAL POOL PARTY was a great success!! Thanks again to Joy for arranging the facility -- it was so amazing! The Clubhouse was complete with a kitchen, large lounge area with big screen tv and lots of comfy sofas, chairs and spacious eating area as well as a great outdoor patio!

As you can see from the photos everyone was having fun... we even had a few teens to help feed the kids!!! We had over 40 people in attendance -- it was such a great time and we are planning to do this every year so remember to mark your calendars in July for this event.

The kids did a great job decorating for the tropical theme ... there were great give-a-ways for the kids to take home! Joy and the boys did a great job grilling the burgers and we had lots of salads, chips, cookies, and ice cream to go around!

Thank you to all who contributed and a special thank you to the clean up crew that left the clubhouse looking better than we started - awesome job!! Should have gotten a picture of Joy H. vacuuming using one good arm!!! Thank you all for making it such a success!!!

MAY'S CELEBRATION BANQUET/CLOTHING EXCHANGE

This was our second year of MOMS and we ended our year once again with a Celebration Banquet and Clothing Exchange! Thank you to all those that supported MOMS throughout the year. We could not have done it without all the wonderful mentors and volunteers that shared their lives with each one of us.

Chef Luis from Food Services at Calvary Church prepared a wonderful buffet which consisted of Praline French Toast, Egg Casserole, Hashbrown Casserole, sausges, bacon, bagels, fruit, coffee & juice - it was awesome.

We took the opportunity to thank all of our mentors and leaders with gifts to show our gratitude for their servanthood. The childcare workers also had the opportunity to share the banquet as well with rounds of applause and gifts from the MOMS as a small token of our appreciation for all the love and care they have provided throughout the year.

We had tons of clothing for the exchange that ranged from infant to adult. It was so much fun to shop without having to take out your wallet! Thanks again to all those that made the year so successful especially our mentors, Diane M., Diane H., Rosie, Rebecca and Mary - you ladies are such a blessing!