Linda's talk today got me to thinking about the friends I have had over the course of the years.
When I was young my friends were mainly comprised of my classmates and my cousins. I have since lost touch with many of those friends, including some of my cousins. Different paths caused that.
After college, I found most of my friends were people that I worked with. We had lots in common and enjoyed each other tremendously. But then, one by one, we started families and hung out less and less.
Now that I am a mommy, I realize that most of my friends are mommies also. We are going through the same season in our lives and that creates a natural bond between us.
As we go through different seasons of our lives we are always surrounded by friends. The friends often change, but the importance of those friendships doesn't. Enjoy the friendships you have now, invest deeply in them and enjoy them. Don't despair over friendships that are no longer, instead cherish the memories and be grateful that you had them.
It is true...that a rare one or two friendships will withstand the test of time and carry over from season to season. Treasure those friendships for they are priceless.
I am glad that I am your friend in this season of our lives...and I hope to carry our friendship on as we continue to move towards the next season. But if our friendship ends with this season I can honestly say, that I will always cherish it.
Michelle
P.S. Dana...I love you girl!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
WOW!!!
I returned from MOPS Convention yesterday a tired,yet inspired mother. There is so much that I want to share with all of you from the Convention. The love and support that is felt at a gathering of over 4,000 moms is something impossible to truly describe. All I can say is WOW!!!
My plan is to share information from the Convention on the blog, newsletter and FaceBook. I look forward to seeing all of you at the meeting in the morning. Thank you all for being such a supportive group of moms!
Love,
Jerri Lyn
My plan is to share information from the Convention on the blog, newsletter and FaceBook. I look forward to seeing all of you at the meeting in the morning. Thank you all for being such a supportive group of moms!
Love,
Jerri Lyn
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Can I Ask You A Few Questions?
This month we will start a new blog feature. We will spotlight a member who has been around a while. This cooresponds with our spotlight section in the MOPS Messenger that introduces one of our new members. So here is installment one!
JENNIE SIBLEY........CAN I ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS????
Jennie Sibley has been a member of MOPS of Simpsonville since it began! She is the mother of four and in fact her youngest is one of our newest MOPPETS. Jennie is on the Hospitality Team this year with Brandy and the gang. She is a lovely person and great to talk with. She let me bend her ear for these questions this morning.
Favorite color? Pink
Easiest meal to put on the table in a hurry? Chicken casserole. I can share it with you.
Childhood ambition? To be a nurse.
Your hardest adjustment as a mom? Trying to balance my time between four children!
Pet peeve? Riding along and seeing children in other cars who are not in carseats.
Quality you are most known for? My loyalty.
Your greatest extravagance? Shopping without my children!
TV show you have to watch? American Idol.
Are you a night or a morning person? Morning.
Tell a MOPS memory? I love watching the eating contests we have during the annual Christmas brunch!
JENNIE SIBLEY........CAN I ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS????
Jennie Sibley has been a member of MOPS of Simpsonville since it began! She is the mother of four and in fact her youngest is one of our newest MOPPETS. Jennie is on the Hospitality Team this year with Brandy and the gang. She is a lovely person and great to talk with. She let me bend her ear for these questions this morning.
Favorite color? Pink
Easiest meal to put on the table in a hurry? Chicken casserole. I can share it with you.
Childhood ambition? To be a nurse.
Your hardest adjustment as a mom? Trying to balance my time between four children!
Pet peeve? Riding along and seeing children in other cars who are not in carseats.
Quality you are most known for? My loyalty.
Your greatest extravagance? Shopping without my children!
TV show you have to watch? American Idol.
Are you a night or a morning person? Morning.
Tell a MOPS memory? I love watching the eating contests we have during the annual Christmas brunch!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Great Start !!!
What a great first meeting!
I hope everyone enjoyed renewing old friendships, starting new ones and getting a much needed breath of fresh air. It was great seeing so many new faces...13 new moms. It was great to see Joy Anderson, Kristy Barton, Carolina Evans, Yvette Grace, Jennifer Hall, Laura Huskins, Jennifer Jarvis, Stacey Jones, Sheri Owens, Lori Patterson, Cindy Smith, and Amy Thornton at MOPS for the first time. Brooke Krulic...we missed seeing you, but are looking forward to your getting off bed rest and joining us!
I would like to thank Brandy and her Hopitality team for the great gifts and prizes and yummy breakfast. Also, thanks to Kristen for a wonderful craft. Additionally, thanks goes to Judy and the MOPPET workers for watching our children for us. But most importantly, thanks to all of you for being there, it just wouldn't have been as much fun without YOU!
So, Welcome! Can't wait to see you all again in 2 weeks!
Michelle
I hope everyone enjoyed renewing old friendships, starting new ones and getting a much needed breath of fresh air. It was great seeing so many new faces...13 new moms. It was great to see Joy Anderson, Kristy Barton, Carolina Evans, Yvette Grace, Jennifer Hall, Laura Huskins, Jennifer Jarvis, Stacey Jones, Sheri Owens, Lori Patterson, Cindy Smith, and Amy Thornton at MOPS for the first time. Brooke Krulic...we missed seeing you, but are looking forward to your getting off bed rest and joining us!
I would like to thank Brandy and her Hopitality team for the great gifts and prizes and yummy breakfast. Also, thanks to Kristen for a wonderful craft. Additionally, thanks goes to Judy and the MOPPET workers for watching our children for us. But most importantly, thanks to all of you for being there, it just wouldn't have been as much fun without YOU!
So, Welcome! Can't wait to see you all again in 2 weeks!
Michelle
Friday, September 4, 2009
September Teaser
Quick! What do the following things have in common? Besides being flowers!!!
Daisies
Roses
Hydrangeas
Peonies
Irises
Lilies
Find out at the first MOPS meeting on September 15th!!!!!!
Daisies
Roses
Hydrangeas
Peonies
Irises
Lilies
Find out at the first MOPS meeting on September 15th!!!!!!
The Next Big Blockbuster
I don't know Brooke Eaton very well. We have never been in the same MOPS discussion group. Our children are different ages. We both seem to be relatively quiet people. I tell you this because even though I don't know Brooke very well I can tell you that she has touched my life. She sent me a beautiful note when my Grandmother died two years ago. She has a beautiful voice that has touched many in numerous solos. She also wrote the following piece for the MOPS Messenger newsletter in September 2008. This piece is wonderful and captures the essence of the "big picture" that often gets lost in the daily chaos of motherhood. I hope you will enjoy it again. I hope that this year I will get to know Brooke a little better.
The Next Big Blockbuster
by Brooke Eaton
Every great action and adventure movie has an equally great musical score. Just imagine Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Superman and James Bond without any music. Sometimes grand and majestic with a broad, sweeping melody, other times frantic and edgy keeping you biting your not-so-perfectly-manicured nails (who has the time?), the soundtrack is what takes the adventure from humdrum to breathtaking, from I'll-wait-for-it-on-video to gotta-see-it-on-th-big-screen. The amazing thing about the soundtrack of a movie is that like all of the other songs you've ever heard it is made up of the same twelve notes. If you listened to any one section or one instrument's part, it might sound monotonous or even downright annoying (like one more, "Why Mommy?")
"But," you might say "what does this have to do with me...mhy life is no action and adventure epic. I'm just a mom, changing the 47th stinky diaper of the day, cleaning up the dishes again, answering the telephone, paying the bills, driving the carpool, and on and on..."
Well, like the soundtrack of that great movie, listening to only a second of music, it might not sound like much, but listen to all of it in its complete glory and you have another story entirely. Believe it ot not, your life is an adventure....filled with danger, mystery, maybe a little bit of romance,chills, thrills, joy, sorrow, laughter and tears. No one else's adventure looks exactly like yours. We are all on a journey for a faraway land, and if we will accept Him, there is a prince waiting for us in a more amazing "happily ever after" than the greatest screenwriter has ever dreamed.
Having preschoolers is a part of what brings the movie of your life its humor, its passion, its tears and some of its most precious joys. So today, as your toilet overflows because your preschooler decided to do an experiment to see how much paper it would hold, as your supper burns and you have to call out for pizza, as you pick up the same toys again after the kids are finally in bed, remember not to judge the whole movie by the scene you were in today. Enjoy instead the theme to Chariots of Fire (remember that one?) as you read these words.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith(They are in the theater watching you life's epic), let us strip off every weight that slows us down(No, I don't mean the three diaper bags), especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus.(The Perfect Prince who loves us so much He was willing to die for us. Talk about romantic!), on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward(You, beloved!). Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven. Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him(You think you've had a bad day!) so that you won't become weary and give up.(Hebrews 12:1-3,NLT, additional notes mine)
Today, I'm going to try playing my favorites on iTunes and remember that this movie is a work in progress. At the end of this life, I'm going to watch it on the big screen with my popcorn (with extra butter-it won't matter then!), Junior Mints and the biggest Coke heaven has, laughing, crying, and clapping at the end , at the Master Filmaker's brilliant design! Maybe after I've watched mine, I'll come to your mansion and watch your's too, since time won't be an issue.
And now, enjoy the show!
The Next Big Blockbuster
by Brooke Eaton
Every great action and adventure movie has an equally great musical score. Just imagine Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Superman and James Bond without any music. Sometimes grand and majestic with a broad, sweeping melody, other times frantic and edgy keeping you biting your not-so-perfectly-manicured nails (who has the time?), the soundtrack is what takes the adventure from humdrum to breathtaking, from I'll-wait-for-it-on-video to gotta-see-it-on-th-big-screen. The amazing thing about the soundtrack of a movie is that like all of the other songs you've ever heard it is made up of the same twelve notes. If you listened to any one section or one instrument's part, it might sound monotonous or even downright annoying (like one more, "Why Mommy?")
"But," you might say "what does this have to do with me...mhy life is no action and adventure epic. I'm just a mom, changing the 47th stinky diaper of the day, cleaning up the dishes again, answering the telephone, paying the bills, driving the carpool, and on and on..."
Well, like the soundtrack of that great movie, listening to only a second of music, it might not sound like much, but listen to all of it in its complete glory and you have another story entirely. Believe it ot not, your life is an adventure....filled with danger, mystery, maybe a little bit of romance,chills, thrills, joy, sorrow, laughter and tears. No one else's adventure looks exactly like yours. We are all on a journey for a faraway land, and if we will accept Him, there is a prince waiting for us in a more amazing "happily ever after" than the greatest screenwriter has ever dreamed.
Having preschoolers is a part of what brings the movie of your life its humor, its passion, its tears and some of its most precious joys. So today, as your toilet overflows because your preschooler decided to do an experiment to see how much paper it would hold, as your supper burns and you have to call out for pizza, as you pick up the same toys again after the kids are finally in bed, remember not to judge the whole movie by the scene you were in today. Enjoy instead the theme to Chariots of Fire (remember that one?) as you read these words.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith(They are in the theater watching you life's epic), let us strip off every weight that slows us down(No, I don't mean the three diaper bags), especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus.(The Perfect Prince who loves us so much He was willing to die for us. Talk about romantic!), on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward(You, beloved!). Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven. Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him(You think you've had a bad day!) so that you won't become weary and give up.(Hebrews 12:1-3,NLT, additional notes mine)
Today, I'm going to try playing my favorites on iTunes and remember that this movie is a work in progress. At the end of this life, I'm going to watch it on the big screen with my popcorn (with extra butter-it won't matter then!), Junior Mints and the biggest Coke heaven has, laughing, crying, and clapping at the end , at the Master Filmaker's brilliant design! Maybe after I've watched mine, I'll come to your mansion and watch your's too, since time won't be an issue.
And now, enjoy the show!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
That September Feelin'
The countdown is on!!! Two weeks from today MOPS will meet for the start of a new year and I am so excited. The Steering Committee spent a great two hours together last night to finalize plans for our year. I am blessed to be working with such a great group of dedicated women who support each other and understand what a tremendous job it is to be a mother.
Have you noticed the change in the air? I love September! Even though it still looks and feels like Summer, I always feel a little different once that calendar page is flipped to September. There is just that unexplainable feeling that something has changed. Even though Fall has not officially arrived there is a crisp feeling to everything. Even going to my beloved pool feels different!
So in the spirit of change, let's look forward to a great first month of MOPS. Start thinking about what changes you want to make in your life. Think about the precious relationships you have with others, with yourself and most importantly with God. We will focus on these relationships this year and I know it will be a blessing to you. God has great plans in store for you!
Until next time,
Jerri Lyn
Have you noticed the change in the air? I love September! Even though it still looks and feels like Summer, I always feel a little different once that calendar page is flipped to September. There is just that unexplainable feeling that something has changed. Even though Fall has not officially arrived there is a crisp feeling to everything. Even going to my beloved pool feels different!
So in the spirit of change, let's look forward to a great first month of MOPS. Start thinking about what changes you want to make in your life. Think about the precious relationships you have with others, with yourself and most importantly with God. We will focus on these relationships this year and I know it will be a blessing to you. God has great plans in store for you!
Until next time,
Jerri Lyn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
