December 14, 2017

Hello, ladies! Please join us this Thursday December 14 at 9:30 am for our Christmas party. We will be doing a fun (and yummy) craft, followed by our ornament exchange. Bring a wrapped ornament (under $5) to participate. We look forward to seeing you there!

November 9, 2017

Good afternoon! Join us this Thursday, November 9th from 9:30-11:30 for our next MOPS meeting. This week, we will be filling boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Erin Presbyterian has been collecting donations and they will provide us with the donations to fill the boxes.

There may be some items they still need, and we will let you know what those items are when the church notifies us in case you were wanting to bring some donations.

We look forward to seeing you all this week for fellowship. Feel free to bring a snack or drinks to share. See you then!

October 26, 2017

Happy Fall, everyone! Please come join us this Thursday, October 26th from 9:30-11:30am at Erin Presbyterian Church for our next MOPS meeting. This week we will be doing a fun, festive food craft. Also, feel free to bring a drink or snack to share.  See you then!

October 12th

Join us this Thursday, October 12th at 1pm. We will be meeting at Deep Wells Farm in Lenoir City for our annual pumpkin patch visit. The cost is $11/person and kids 2 and under are free. They are cash only.

Let us know if you plan to attend so we can make sure we meet up with everyone who wants to go!

We look forward to seeing you there!

September 28, 2017

I hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Please come join us this Thursday, September 28 from 9:30-11:30 am for our next MOPS meeting. Also, please bring either cash or a check for your MOPS dues. Dues are either $35 (with childcare) or $30 (without childcare).

Can't wait to see you all Thursday!

Meeting Times

Good afternoon, ladies! A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by our open house today! It was wonderful to see everyone and get to know our newest members. This is going to be a great group and a great year!

Our first official meeting of the year will be on Thursday, September 14th from 9:30-11:30am at Erin Presbyterian. Come join us for a fun craft, snacks, coffee and conversation. Also, ask us about our private Facebook page. There, you can find more information about our group, meetings and playdates.

Member dues for MOPS are $30 (without childcare) and $35 (with childcare) per semester. If this is a financial hardship for you, please speak to us! There are other options, and we never want money to keep someone from joining our group.

The following is our list for meeting dates for the 2017-2018 year.

September 14
September 28
October 12 (since this is during fall break, we will do an all kids included outing)
October 26
November 9
December 14
January 11
January 25
February 8
February 22
March 8
March 22
April 12
April 26
May 10

As always, please send us a message if you have any questions. We can't wait to see you September 14th!

MOPS Open House

It is that time of year... Our older kids have headed off to school (yay!), routine has sweetly reentered our lives along with the alarm clock (how many times can you hit snooze and not be late getting the kids to school?), the cooler fall temperatures are coming (we hope!) and MOPS is about to start up again!

Please come join us for our MOPS open house on August 31 from 9:30 until 11 am. We welcome established members, new members and those who just want to see what MOPS is all about. We will have snacks and coffee while we chat and get to know each other. Feel free to stop by for a short time, or come and stay the whole time! We will not have childcare at our open house, but still bring your kids. They can play and make new friends too.

Our MOPS theme this year is "Free Indeed".  We will spend time talking about what it means to free ourselves as mothers from the things in life that hold us captive (worry, stress, habits, time) and focus on living the life we want to live and parenting the way God wants us to parent, free from societies' expectations. We will have a year of crafts, guest speakers, devotions and a lot of fun!

Also, mark your calendars! The first official MOPS meeting will take place September 14 from 9:30-11:30am.

If you have any questions, feel free to send us an email and we will be happy to answer.


We cannot wait to see you all there! Let's make this a great year at MOPS!


The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. -Luke 4:18-19

--MOPS Theme Bible Verse

MNO!

Join us on Wednesday, May 17 for a Moms' Night Out! We will meet at Makino Japanese Buffet (8217 Kingston Pike)  at 7:00 for dinner. Hope you can come!

End of Year Meeting

I can't believe we're concluding another year of MOPS! Please join us for our last meeting. We'll have food catered in from Panera, a fun craft, and time to hang out and share summer plans. (Play dates and mom's nights out, please!)

If you plan to attend, please check out the Panera menu at https://delivery.panerabread.com/#!/menu/category/ and contact Jodi B. with your order request. Her contact info will be on our Facebook page, found here.

I can't say it much better than Jodi B: "What I love most about our group is that we have such an amazing and diverse group of ladies, yet we are a small enough group that we all stick together and have each other's back. Being on the steering committee is so much fun and a great way to serve the group. If you haven't served before, this is a great way to jump into something new and fun." For those who plan to join next year, these open positions will need to be filled. Please prayerfully consider filling one:

Speakers - in charge of finding and scheduling speakers for meetings
Crafts - finding and coordinating craft supplies and teaching the group how to do the craft
Social Media - maintaining the Facebook page and blog
Childcare Coordinator - find childcare workers for meetings, set up curriculum if needed, set up crafts for kids, etc.

Hope to see you Thursday!

When: Thursday, May 11, 9:30 am
Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919

Kindergarten

This week, we are going to talk about kindergarten. Our guest speaker is a former kindergarten teacher. She retired recently, after many years of teaching in public schools. Whether you have a tiny little one and school is years away, or you're trying to decide if your five year old should start kindergarten next fall, there should be some good information shared.

When: Thursday, April 27, 9:30 am

Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919

I hope to see you all there! Please feel free to bring a snack to share. 

Real Estate

Katy, a real estate agent, will be speaking at our next meeting. If a move is in your future, this will be informative.

Katy writes, "Buying a home is the largest financial investment most families will make. Knowing how the buying and selling process works and understanding trends in the current real estate market helps families maximize their real estate investments. I am so excited to share this important information with our MOPS members at our next meeting on April 13! If anyone has questions about real estate, please send them to me at katymccall320@gmail.com in advance, and I will make sure I answer them in the presentation, as well. See you April 13th!"

As always, feel free to bring food to share!

When: Thursday, April 13, 9:30 am
Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919

Don't forget, our Easter Egg hunt is Friday, April 14 at 10 am. Bring a dozen filled eggs per child.

Easter Egg Hunt

Our annual Easter Egg Hunt is quickly approaching! Save the date!

Tough Topics with Kids

At MOPS this week, we are going to hear from Dr. Mona Hayes, the clinical director at the Child Advocacy Center in Lenoir City. Dr. Hayes provides therapy for children who have been in abusive and/or traumatic situations. She is going to share advice on having hard conversations and discussing tough topics with young children.

I hope to see you all there! Please feel free to bring a snack to share.

When: Thursday, March 23, 9:30 am
Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919

Show & Tell

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Unfortunately, the speaker scheduled for this Thursday had to cancel and we are instead going to have show and tell. That's right, just like in the days of elementary school! Please bring a personal item that is meaningful to you and come prepared to share it with the group. Looking forward to learning a bit more about everyone!

When: Thursday, March 9, 9:30 am
Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919
Feel free to bring food to share

Reminders
If you would like to donate new or gently used bras, please bring them to this week's meeting.

MOM'S NIGHT OUT is this Thursday night! We will meet at Meredith's house. Bring an appetizer or drink to share. Time and location info will be available at the meeting and on the Facebook page. Hope to see you there!

Donation Opportunity

A Knoxville resident is collecting new and gently used bras to donate to women in Africa who are victims of sex slavery. One of our MOPS members will be helping to collect the bras. If you would like to donate to this cause, please consider bringing your bras to the next MOPS meeting on March 9. They will be collecting bras until the end of March. For more detailed information, check out our Facebook page, KnoxMops at Erin Pres.

Upcoming meeting

I hope everyone is staying healthy and enjoying the warm weather. (Seriously, though, what happened to winter? I'm not ready for an extra early allergy season!)

This week, we'll meet for breakfast, coffee, and a craft. Feel free to bring food to share.

When: Thursday, February 23, 9:30 am
Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919

Looking ahead- our meeting on March 9 will feature a presentation on kindergarten readiness. We still have a tentative mom's night out scheduled for the same day. More details on both to come!

Looking forward to Thursday!

MOPS Cancelled- Play Date

Knox County Schools are closed tomorrow, February 9. Our regular MOPS meeting is therefore cancelled. However, we are going to open the church at 9:30 for a play date. So bring your kids, school age included, and come hang out. I hope everyone is staying healthy!

It's February!

I feel like the first month of the year flew by, and here we are in February already! We are going to have a very laid back meeting this week at MOPS. Let your kids run off some energy in childcare while you hang out, have some breakfast, and chat with mamas who get it. Bring some food to share if you wish. Hope to see you there!

When: Thursday, February 9, 9:30 am
Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919

Triple C

I was introduced to the term "Triple C" before Christmas by none other than our own MOPS craft coordinator. It stands for Coffee, Craft, and Chat, and that is what we will be doing this Thursday at our meeting. We can't wait to see you!

When: Thursday, January 26, 9:30 am
Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919

In other news, there is a tentative Mom's Night Out set for March 9 at 7:30. There will be more details as we get closer to that date!

Mom's Night OUT!

Great to see everyone today, but it is just never enough time to catch up.  Enter... Mom's Night Out! Line up those husbands, babysitters, and TV dinners....I mean, um... salads! Let's meet up for Mexican next Thursday night.

Who: YOU!!!
Where: Casa Don Gallo on Northshore, near Morrell
Casa Don Gallo
When: Thursday, January 19th. 7pm-ish
Why: Ummm.  Because we adore of kids, but MAMA NEEDS SOME ADULT TIME!

Hope to see you there!!!

Hello, new year

The holidays are over, we've taken (almost) all of the Christmas decorations down, it's a new year, and it finally snowed in Knoxville. School vacations are ending, so it's back to regularly scheduled programs, meaning MOPS!

This week, we have a speaker. Rebecca Huff, mother of six, runs the That Organic Mom website and blog. She will be sharing tips for healthy living from her experiences of raising children and managing a household.

When: Thursday, January 12, 9:30 am
Where: Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd. Knoxville 37919

Bring a breakfast snack to share if you want. Can't wait to see everyone!