EVENING Mom's Carelink

EVENING CARELINK MEETING:  10/9/12:  PERSONAL SAFETY

Just want to start this blog off with a shout out to Lisa F. for getting another great Evening Carelink meeting off to a great start. She opened with prayer and announcements. Jodie R. had their baby and a meal sign-up should be out soon.

The 2012-13 Mom's Carelink pictorial directory was handed out. Remember how many of you totally skipped out on your own personal photo shoot opportunity last month? Well, for the rest of us who ended up have our pictures taken “on location” that night, you can put a name with a face.

Pastor Brent was our honorary devotional speaker. His devotion focused on our deep love for our children and how God’s love for His children, us, goes beyond our own comprehension of love. Can you imagine? Pastor Brent took us through five things that he hopes our kids will remember forever. (Disclaimer: it's not magic and you may have your own list.)

1. Jesus loves me. Pastor anchored this with the bible verse in Zephaniah 3:17, which reads: "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
2. Love God, love others.
3. Life’s not fair, stop whining.
4. Don’t quit.
5. Tell people about Jesus.

Our October guest speaker …. hmmm…as you may recall was Officer Tim Reynolds He shared his police expertise and educated us on personal safety and keeping our kids safe. This night might have been more appropriately named “Scare-your-pants-off-night.” Several handouts were provided. (We have extra copies if you need them.) Here are a few of the personal safety tips that stood out to me.

Personal Safety:

• Always be aware of your surroundings – ATMS, walking to a car by yourself at night. Make sure you have your keys out and ready. Don’t stand by your car digging in your purse for your keys.
• Be Prepared.
• Get a smaller purse - large purses can appear to be big gold mines to a criminal.
• CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design – this means we should plan landscaping to have clear views of windows & walkways. As well as patronize business that put this concept into practice – i.e., good lighting (Q-Trip), Strip Malls with lots and lots of big and open windows. (ha ha)
• If you are walking or jogging, try to do so in numbers. If you are alone, be aware. Don’t put both earbuds in your ears. Keep one ear available to listen.
• Walk with purpose and assertiveness. Make sure someone knows where you are at all times.
• Fight, scream and yell.

Child Safety:

• Teach your children the basics – phone number, their name, mommy and daddy’s full name.
• Teach them that they are to check first before going anywhere.
• Teach them it is okay to tell someone “no.”
• Teach them they should always tell an adult they trust if someone tries to touch them or vice-versa.
• Teach your children the correct names for their body parts.
• Know your children’s friends and their parents.
• Practice safety with your children.
• The concept of Stranger Danger is being changed – Stranger is a very confusing term for our children to understand. They think strangers are people who are ugly or mean and this is not always the case. We should be teaching them that it is okay to tell a trusted adult when someone makes them feel sad, scared or confused.

Just a reminder: How can we expect our children to know what to do in case of a fire or tornado if we don’t practice this with them? Will they know how to get out of the house or where to go if there is a fire? Will they know to go to the basement if there is a tornado? Will they know not to move if they get lost? Will they know who they can go to if they need help? Will they know that they should stay away from someone in a car asking for help finding his lost puppy?

Linda's group (white) will be bringing snacks for our November 13th meeting.

UPCOMING DATES

October 23, 2012 –Women’s Ministries Fall Connection Event. At the FMBC Activity Center – 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
November 13, 2012 –Joan and Brent Wakrentin – 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Biblical Marriage
November 27, 2012 – “SOCIAL” – Coffee/Dessert at Mead’s Corner (Douglas and Emporia) – 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. – no childcare… mom’s night out.

Until we Blog Again – Your Evening Carelink Blogger (ECB) – Kendra R.






EVENING CARELINK KICKOFF MEETING 9/11/12
Evening Mom's Carelink kicked off this year with an amazing night on September 11, 2012. Some of you may be wondering, “What exactly did I miss?" or "What exactly did I miss even though I was there?” Well, I am please to be given this opportunity to fill you in.

Lisa F., the Evening Coordinator, began the evening with prayer and a devotional from Proverbs 31 Ministries. Luke 14:27“And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

When following is hard, what does this scripture mean to us? Maybe it means that each of us will have hard times in this life. However, we are still called to follow Christ's principles of loving God and our neighbors at all times - whatever that may mean and however hard that might be. Saying this seems so simple but putting it to practice, well that is more difficult. We all will fall short of God’s glory many times, but it is through His grace that we know we can continue to be strong in our greatest weakness.

We are so excited to have this opportunity to strengthen our relationship with other moms and to grow in our relationship with Christ through our time spent together each month.

After introducing the team and reviewing a packet of information each mom received, we played a get-to-know you game called Speed Friendship. Everyone was paired up with one other mom and for about two minutes each had to answer a few of these questions about themselves, then the partners switched.

(1) Name three things you are thankful for;
(2) what activity to do you enjoy doing with your family;
(3) if you could only have one thing for your birthday what would it be and why; and
(4) if you could only eat one food for a week what would it be?

We finished the evening with a not-so-great activity: PICTURES! Yep! That is right… you heard me (or should this say... "your read me right”). Someone forgot to tell me that we were going to have our pictures taken so I forgot to contact my personal stylist for the latest Vera Wang fashions to be brought in for my pictorial. And my hair was a disaster. I apologize ladies but you will have to bear my “not-so-glamorous pose.”

Other key points we touched on:

(1) Schedule for the Year was unveiled;
(2) Reminder to sign up for devotions from Proverbs 31 @ www.proverbs31.org;
(3) You can follow the Carelink blog by entering your email or logging on regularly at
http://momscarelink.firstmbchurch.com/
(4) Nursery Tips and Policies; and
(5) And the all important snack schedule! You know the saying, “May no mom go hungry or
without food!”…. or something like that.

FYI: Teal Group it is your turn to provide snacks on October 9, 2012.

IMPORTANT DATES COMING UP:

September 25, 2012 – Frozen Yogurt at CherryBerry– 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (Central/Maize). This is a social event– no child care available.

October 9, 2012 - Moms… you don’t want to miss this next meeting in October…. It is when Officer Timothy Reynolds will be coming to talk to our group about Personal Safety/Child Safety. 7:00 p.m. sharp we start.

Until we Blog Again – Your Evening Carelink Blogger (ECB) – Kendra R.

Cherry Berry - late April
A handful of women enjoyed a sweet treat the other night at Cherry Berry @ Maize & Central. If you haven't been there, they've got a great space to host a group. No cost, just call ahead and reserve the room. So, we had space to ourselves and plenty of frozen yogurt and toppings to go around!

This was our last social function for the Carelink year. We always had 4-6 ladies and often the same ones, which gave us some good time to get to know each other better. Seems we always had a few "mommy problems" to pose to one another and seek advice.

Something lifts our spirits and gives us a boost when we gather together as fellow Christian women for a little reprive every now and then. Hats off to Lisa for planning these casual talk times!



Evening Carelink - February 28, 2012 - "Mommy Guilt"
This month, Valentine’s Day was the second Tuesday, so our meeting was held on the fourth Tuesday, the 28^th. Hopefully, all our moms were able to spend some quality time with our loved ones. It had been six weeks since our last meeting, so it was good to see everyone again.

The meeting started with snacks and socializing, followed by prayer and a devotional. Lisa spoke on the Proverbs 31 Ministries devotion titled, “Seeing Beyond the Dent”. In all kinds of life circumstances, we should look for and encourage the good effort, not necessarily the outcome, especially when it may seem to fall short. This can be applied to our kids, co-workers, family and friends. First Thessalonians tells us to “encourage one another and build each other up”. We should strive to see the beauty in the effort instead of the problem.

Our guest speaker for the evening was Dee Green, a marriage and family counselor, who spoke to us about “mommy guilt”. We started by compiling a list of issues many of us may feel guilty about, such as missing out on our children’s milestones because we are away at work, feeling like we can’t accomplish all of our responsibilities, feeling guilty about not working or returning back to work and even working at home. We were given a self-assessment of our own guilt, based on how we ranked different statements. Dee discussed the difference between true guilt, that breaks established rules and is easily identifiable by others verses false guilt that is subjective and can be very consuming. Dee shared many statistics such as outcomes of children in daycare is equivalent to those with a stay at home parent. Many women have college educations and have the right to work without feeling guilty.

Dee offered a practical solution to break the habit of negative self-talk. Wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap yourself every time you catch yourself thinking degrading thoughts. Replace the negative with a positive statement and the habit should be broken in a few weeks.

Dee also offered several helpful tips for organizing family time and prioritizing. Family meal time is important and shouldn’t be overlooked. Parents should deliberately spend one-on-one time with each kid regularly. Not just being in close proximity, but face-to-face and intently listening. Ask questions. Have a chat over some popcorn (which apparently makes kids talk!). And don’t forget about your spouse. The national average quality time spent per day with a spouse is only 10 minutes! We ended our discussion with several questions from the moms. Hopefully we all heard some tips to apply to our families!

Our next meeting is in two weeks, the 13^th of March. Hope to see you all there! ~Lisa

Night Out at Bella Luna Cafe
We had a great time at Bella Luna on Tuesday night. I think conversation over good food with fun friends beats out a movie night every time! If you've never been there, give it a try. The food was excellent: hummus & pita, salads, chicken pizza, steak sandwich, tiramisu...just to name a few things we tried. Glad it wasn't TOO cold out, because we spent another hour outside the restaurant gabbing after they closed their doors. Thanks to Lisa for organizing this "girl-time"!  ~ Tiffany

Evening Carelink  - January 10, 2011 - Financial Peace
Our first meeting of the New Year was Tuesday the 10^th of January. We were happy to welcome back many faces who were plagued with the winter viruses last meeting. We touched on resolutions that many people make this time of year. Our evening devotion was all about putting into action today what we would usually put off until tomorrow. How fitting for motivating us in our newly defined goals!

Along those same lines, our featured speaker for the night was Tiffany Dick who shared with us financial budgeting. She used material from Dave Ramsey as a foundation. The first step to financial peace is establishing a budget. That means you have to first identify where all of your income goes each month. For those just starting off, this may need to be tracked a few months before sitting down (with your spouse) and determining what is a reasonable budget for you. We had several examples to ponder…with some astonishing recommended percentages in some categories! One of the main take home points is that our culture lives way beyond our means. We should be down-sizing our homes and cars, making responsible decisions and not maxing out our credit limits. We should consider living differently than those around us.
 

One of the most helpful tips was Dave Ramsey’s 7 baby steps for living in financial peace. The first is to establish an emergency fund, so you don’ have to diminish savings or go into debt for those unforeseen events like car repairs, hot water heater replacement, etc. The next step is to focus on paying off debt, starting with the lowest balance. That way success is easier to obtain and you would be more likely to continue the trend. Next is building savings, then investments, saving for college, paying off your home early and finally building wealth to give more.

 

Another thought provoking topic was realizing the responsibility we have to teach our kids about money. It could be done by giving an allowance, or by paying for chores. Each side has an interesting point and counter-point. We should be teaching by example, and making sure to include a 10% tithe.

 

Our small groups then met to discuss a few questions…and hopefully we will be able to put into practice some new principles to work towards financial peace and living frugally.

~ Lisa Frantz

Evening Carelink - November 8, 2010 - Women's Health

This evening Carelink meeting started off with a great social gathering over great food.  Thanks to Valerie’s group who all brought snacks to share! After the welcome prayer, Lisa shared announcements with the group.  The social event for this month is being changed.  Instead of a family activity in the church’s activity center (since there are so many of us with little ones that would probably be in bed) we are planning on a moms’ coffee outing at Panera Bread in New Market Square from 7-9 on November 22.  *Be sure to make note of this change to our schedule!* 

Next month’s meeting will focus on the Lady Bugg House, and we will hear from Jennie who is the house mom.  We will collect items for donation at the December 13^th meeting.  Wanted items include diapers in any size (especially 4s and 5s), cash donations, and recipe in a bag which would include non-perishable items and a favorite recipe. 

The devotion shared at the meeting was by P31 author Rachel Olsen titled “A Time to Pray”.  The lesson from this devo was that God doesn’t require or necessarily want a lengthy prayer time to have impact.  We are shown how to pray by the example of the Lord’s Prayer, which isn’t that long.  Some times extended time in prayer is needed, such as by Jesus’ example of praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, but many times our needs can be prayed in short prayers throughout the day.   So instead of promising someone you will pray for them, go ahead and do it in that moment and respond with “ I have prayed for you!”

The featured speaker for the night was Dr. Kim Kenas, born and raised in Wichita, and now practicing family medicine at  West Wichita Family Physicians for the last 7 years.  She shared with us topics on women’s health.  She gave us current recommendations for pap screening, mammogram screening, colonoscopy and blood testing.  The take home message was that we all need to be seeing our family doctor yearly for well checks.  She also presented adult immunization recommendations, more than just the flu shot, and information about each of those conditions.  We even touched on some topics for immunizations for our kids, as well as vitamin and floride supplements.  She ended her time with questions from the audience. 

We followed the speaker with small group time, which quickly brought our meeting to an end.  We look forward to gathering again next month!

NEW THIS YEAR: EVENING MOM'S CARELINK!!!!!
This ministry is an extension of Mom’s Carelink and is intended to expand availability to working moms, single moms, and moms with busy morning schedules. Our mission is to provide a place of friendship, encouragement, and spiritual growth. Plan to attend monthly meetings with potentially different speakers from the morning sessions, who will present on a variety of topics that pertain to mothers today.

Spend an evening each month sharing life and encouragement with other moms. Enjoy small group time, a relevant guest speaker and dessert at each meeting. Childcare is available for children ages birth through upper elementary.