Organization

I hope you all liked our meeting on organization. I was sad to have missed it, but I did compile some links on organizing your home to share with you. There are SO many wonderful organizing ideas online! Here are a few of my favorites:



31 Days to an Organized Home at The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking: the author of this blog has a small, but beautiful (and organized!) home and five small children. Reading through her 31 Days rocked my world! Especially check out day one when she talks about why to have an organized house.






Conquering Paper Clutter : Lots of great ideas on how to minimize paper clutter in your house. She's very thorough in describing her methods, and takes into account just about every sort of paper.


Martha Stewart Organizing Tip of the Day: Of course Martha is going to have lots of good stuff about organization! You can subscribe to her tip of the day via email as well, if you like. On her website there is also a whole section on organizing including each room of the house as well as seasonal organization and organization checklists!



Lastly, pinterest.com is chock full of great ideas on organization and just about every thing else.

Follow up links

Hello everyone! Here are some links to things that have been discussed in the last couple meetings. First, here are some great ideas for making your own "budget friendly" cleaning products. I have tried some of these since the last meeting and I like them. (Especially the ones with lavender!)

Mini Manor Blog

Macheesmo

There are also some great tutorials on how to sew your own reusable Swiffer pads and dusters. I haven't done it, but I've "heard" they work better than the real thing.

Make your own Swiffer duster

Cloth Diaper Swiffer Pad (great idea!)

Swiffer Crochet Pattern




And here are a few links from today's meeting:

Very cool magnetic menu board

Pepperplate

Another cute menu board

Dinnertool







There are so many great ideas for meal planning out there that it's a little overwhelming! I recently discovered the recipe section on the Whole Foods website. There are a lot of healthy yet tasty recipes on there. So far all of the ones I have tried have been great.


And finally, here are some ideas for your Thanksgiving table. :)







:)

Megan

New MOPS year starting September 13th!

Well, it's that time of the year again! School is starting up and MOPS will be resuming meetings on the second Tuesday of September. Don't forget you can pre-register for MOPS by sending an email to jacksonvillemops@yahoo.com just letting us know you are coming and how many kids we can expect you to bring. We will have limited room this year so sign up soon!
We are excited about a new year with some great guest speakers and hope you join us!

Onslow Pregnancy Resource Center

Thank you to everyone for giving Shelia Judon a warm MOPS welcome today! Your questions were great and the picture frames look beautiful.

For those of you who weren't able to make it to today's meeting, Shelia is the executive director of the Onslow Pregnancy Resource Center, a pro-life Christian ministry that reaches out to girls and women in unplanned pregnancies. The center offers free services that include pregnancy tests, options counseling, abstinence education, material needs, and post-abortion counseling. It is a nonprofit organization that is funded by churches, businesses and individual donors. Although their mission is to prevent abortion, their first priority is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their clients.

Clients who come into the center meet with one-on-one with a trained counselor who shares information about fetal development and the abortion procedure. Many clients do not know that the baby's sex is determined from day one of conception and that the baby has a heartbeat on day 20. Counselors also explain the physical, emotional, and spiritual effects of abortion. They often will share these passages from Psalms:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

The counselors care for each client, and they pray they make a decision for life.

Onslow Pregnancy Resource Center is always seeking volunteers and prayer warriors, and also have several fundraising opportunities. For more information, call 910-938-7000, email at oprc4hope@yahoo.com or go to

www.oprcfriends.com

Let's Play!

Think for a moment about your favorite memories as a kid. Inevitably some of them involve play or a special activity with someone you love. I remember turning off all the lights in the living room and crawling around with my dad in anticipation of him grabbing my arm and saying "ah ha!" at which point I would scream and then laugh until my belly hurt. Or making a tent in my sisters room while they were away at college and when they came home we would all three sleep under it. Or looking in the mirror with my mom and laughing when she made faces. (She can do some pretty funny ones!) More important than the activity was the bonding time that was made doing these things.

This week at MOPS we are talking about playing with your kids and hope we can give you some new ideas on how to spend special time together.

What's your favorite way to play with your kids?

She's got personality...

Ever wondered why it doesn't bother your husband to leave his socks on the floor? Or why your sister is so bossy? Or how your four year old can carry on a conversation with a stranger like they are old friends...and you get nervous saying hi to your neighbors? All those things may have to do with their personalities and it's your personality that helps shape who you are as a mom. Join us tomorrow as we talk about this tricky, yet entertaining subject!

First MOPS Meeting!

Please join us for our first MOPS meeting, Tuesday Sept 14. Come drop your kids off at 9:45 then head to the MOPS room for coffee, food and an introduction to this years theme "Momology: The Art and Science of Mothering." We are looking forward to seeing you!