Princess of the Day!!!

We have spent the second have of this year crowning princesses at our bi-monthly M.O.M.S. group meetings. It has given God a chance to reach down through us and wrap His arms around a special member of our group and show her just how much she is loved. Each princess received a gift basket, flowers, tiara, princess bag and a dinner to take home to their family. Although we crowned 6 princesses this year, we truly wish we could have made every member of our moms' group a princess for the day. We love and cherish each and every mom that takes the time to come out and be fed, physically and spiritually, so that she may grow stronger and wiser in her role as being a mother...one of the most important jobs there is to do on this side of heaven!

We are truly God's beloved and precious daughters, adopted as His own, children of the King of the universe, and therefore of royal heritage-a princess in the purest sense of the word. The best thing about being a child of the Almighty is knowing our Father, the King of Kings, can and will supply all our needs. Our job is to know who we are and Whose we are. We must walk as if we are the princesses that we are. A true princess would not go without her needs, and even her desires, being known. She would go to her Daddy King and make her requests known to Him. "Be anxious for nothing, but through prayer and supplication, make your requests (needs) know to God" We need to grab hold of our royalty and go to our Daddy God in times of need. He has given us confidence to approach His holy throne. Don't hold back or stay away. Your Father is waiting to hear from His little princess!

Mathew West - The Motions

This song has spoken to many people since being released. As moms, it is too easy to get caught up in the routine of life. Mathew West's new song talks about fighting against the motions of everyday life and making every day count. It is possible with God's all consuming power inside of us. This should be our every day prayer. We are not guaranteed a single day on this earth. We need to make every day count. Don't just go through the motions, recommit everything to the Lord. May the lyrics below speak to your heart:

This might hurt, it's not safe

But I know that I've gotta make a change

I don't care if I break,

At least I'll be feeling something

'Cause just okay is not enough

Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?

"No regrets, not this time

I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind

Let Your love make me whole

I think I'm finally feeling something

'Cause just okay is not enough

Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?

"take me all the way (take me all the way)

take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)

take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)

take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)

take me all the way (I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go)

take me all the way (through the motions)

take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

A Night at the Painted Penguin

February

Mom's Night Out

About 20 moms took the opportunity to get out for the night and met at the Painted Penguin in the Fox Valley Mall. It was a cheep night out filled with lots of fun and fellowship. For a total of $6, each mom had the opportunity to paint a ceramic piece, enjoy unlimited pizza, salad and soda, and most importantly spend time fellowshipping together. It was great to see Nila and Sandy: two moms who used to attend the Thursday meetings but no longer come because of other commitments. Coffee at Caribou Coffee followed for those moms who could stay out a little later without turning into a pumpkin. A good time of sharing and caring was experienced by all who could attend.

As I listened to the mix of conversations going on in the room and viewed the different artistic abilities (my yellow smiley face compared to Stephanie's beautiful pink and purple detailed unicorn) I marveled at diversity of human beings God has created. Each one of us being special in our very own way. God has given us all talents and gifts to be used for His purpose. The bible tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made and that His works are wonderful (Psalms 139:14). It also tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. In His great plan for our life as a mom, He knew we were going to need help and I believe that is why He has given us His Spirit AND girlfriends. We are all blesssed to be moms and are trying to do the very best we can at raising the children God has entrusted to us. Although we love our job (most days), it can be difficult. Being able to draw support from other moms is vital to our survival. Some days we just need that reminder to "keep looking up" for our strength. Being a mom might be one of the toughest jobs out there, but there is no doubt about it, it is one of the most important and precious jobs to be done on this side of heaven.

A "SPECIAL" THANKS - GIVING BACK

GIVING BACK
Several weeks ago a request went out to the M.O.M.S. group, Calvary deaconesses, as well as friends and neighbors to help a young mom in need. This young mom was 8 months pregnant and sleeping on an air mattress and living in a home without furniture and household necessities.

Many of you came together to help her out and shared what you had. Romans 12:6-7 "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is ... contributing, to the needs of others, let him give generously."

THANK YOU ALL FOR "CARING ENOUGH TO SHARE". "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Hebrews 13:16

Below you will find a thank you note on behalf of this young mom and, her neighbor - Leslie!

HI ALL!!!!!
I want to take this time to thank all of you who helped out with my neighbor. I had so many of you come together and help her out!!! She was so blessed by all of you. She went from having an empty house to having a fully furnished house. Here is a list of some of the things that you all helped out with.....
Couches
chairs
end tables
coffee table
entertainment center
bedroom set
dining table
crib & mattress
dresser for baby
LOTS of clothes
dishes/glasses
pots & pans
knives and cooking utensils
towels
food
cleaning supplies
personal hygiene items
baby blankets
diapers/wipes
baby toys and LOTS of other baby items
sheets
blankets
picture frames and other decorative items

There really are so many things I can't believe how much all of you helped out. We had a mom who helped out tremendously by renting a Penske truck so we could actually get all of this stuff. My husband along with other couples helped to load the truck, and get it all of the big furniture to them in one day. Again thank you all so much. It was amazing to see all of God's people pulling together to help out a family in need. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! The only thing that they are still in need of is a queen mattress/box spring. If any of you know of one available please let me know. God bless, Leslie

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.