How to Make Sense of Suffering

In light of the recent news regarding local girl Jessica Ridgeway's disappearance and death, our community is hurting. As moms of young children, I know we all feel this grief keenly.

As stated by David Platt, "Suffering is a sobering reality in a fallen world. Followers of Christ are not immune to adversity and affliction."

How can we make sense of suffering?

A Holy Experience has recently posted a video on this very subject (embedded below).

Here are a couple more resources that may be helpful as we process our grief and also teach and reassure our children.

• How to Help Children Cope with Trauma
• Helping Children Regain Their Emotional Safety After a Tragedy (This entire website is a huge resource for teaching kids safety without making them feel scared.)

Family Goal Setting Resources

Simple Mom Network:  www.simplemom.net
- click on downloads tab (all downloads are FREE):
- Goal Setting Questions for 2011
- Daily Docket
- Master Weekly Checklist
- 20 Questions for a New Years Eve Reflection
- Master Grocery List
- explore other simple 'mom' partners: simple bits (dinner/meal planning), simple homeschool, simple kids and simple organic (on right-hand column).

Book: Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider (editor of the Simple Mom Network).

A Holy Experience: www.aholyexperience.com (spiritual living - thankfulness)

I recommend subscribing via e-mail to these two blogs...it gets delivered right to your inbox, usually a little something every day or every other day.  It's easier than going to the bog and getting sucked in blog time-warp that leads you to another blog and another, etc...These are two of my VERY favorite.  Enjoy!

preschoolers-chore-chart

Christian Literature for Kids & An Online Storytime

I have been meaning to post these two links for a while now. I hope that you find them useful.

Christian literature for Kids ages 0-8 Here you can find some suggestions for good christian children's books.

Barnes & Noble Online Storytime A new book is read aloud online each month. This month's book is the Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. Read by the author. It does help to have a good internet connection.

Crockpot Stuffing Recipe

Take a little bit of the work and shave some time off of all of the hard work and love that goes into making Thanksgiving dinner.

Crockpot Stuffing Recipe

Source: Taste of Home

Thank you Megan K.

Good Article...

I thought this article on being a young mother was interesting. Brings things back into perspective...

Birthday Calendar pdf's

Ladies,

Here are the pdf's of the calendar pages for today's clipboard craft. If you would like other ideas for your clipboard below are also some links.

Calendar Pages:

January/February

March/April

May/June

July/August

September/October

November/December

Links:

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2010/08/travel-clipboard-chalkboard-tutorial.html

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/altered_clipboard/

http://scrappinbeckyb.blogspot.com/2010/10/altered-clipboard-message-center.html

http://www.thehybridchick.com/2009/07/its-school-time-altered-clipboards/

http://simplifychristmas.blogspot.com/2008/07/altered-clipboards.html

Please let us know how you use your clipboard or if you have a link to share.

Love Actually

When was the last time that you wrote your husband a love note or hid one for him to find?

Do you struggle to come up with creative yet inexpensive date night ideas? Or maybe you can't remember the last time you went on a date with your husband for whatever reason.



Love Actually to the rescue! I browsed through this blog and found that it has some great ideas. Simple, inexpensive, and fun! Ideas for date night at home and ways to add a little something back into your marriage.

Picture Fun!

Yesterday at MOPS, I told you about a site that I use to edit my pictures called Picnik. Below is an example of a picture that I have edited to put on MaKenna's blog. On this picture I edited the exposure, the temperature, and applied the orton-ish effect along with some text.

Picnik is a free photo editing site. You can purchase additional editing features and creative elements for a small yearly fee. To try picnik you do not need a username and password but if you do choose to register, picnik will keep a few of your most recent edited pictures for you to access at a later time. I heard about picnik from reading i am momma hear me roar and homemade by jill. Both of these blogs have wonderful videos and tutorials on how to use picnik not only for your pictures but also for gifts and craft ideas. I have provided some links below to get you started just like I did.

http://iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com/2010/06/photography-tips-part-1.html

http://iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com/2010/06/photography-tips-part-2.html

http://iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com/2010/06/photography-tips-part-3.html

http://iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com/2010/07/photography-tips-part-4.html

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2010/06/bridal-shower-gift.html

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-make-printables-without-photos.html

50% off Anderson Farms Fall Festival 2010

I was looking at http://www.milehighonthecheap.com/ and saw an abstract of http://www.savvysource.com/psn/web/localSavings/index/cityId/61849. Here you can purchase a Family 4-Pack to Anderson Farms for $24. To learn more about Anderson Farms Fall Festival click on the link http://www.andersonfarms.com/FallFestival/index.php

Passionate Homemaking

Do you struggle with meal planning and multiple trips to the grocery store? I would love to say that I have this role of wife/mom mastered but unfortunately that is not the case. Rarely do I just make one large shopping trip or plan a weeks worth of meals much less a months. Megan Kreitzberg just shared this link with me today, and just a glance will have you inspired to simplify your grocery shopping and start meal planning.

Mom-ology: The Art and Science of Mothering

Mom-ology: The Art and Science of Mothering is this years MOPS theme. It will cover four essential elements of being a mom: core, finesse, circle, and grandscape. Below is a picture of the mom-ology.org website provided for each MOPS International mom. MOPS International has provided community forums, blogs, articles, and other information relevant to being a mom. When you register with MOPS International they will send you a login and password. Check it out!

Organizing and Providing Meals

Do you ever organize meals for a friend who just had a baby or a family in need? Maybe you have been asked to provide a meal for a mom at your table. Leah Casagranda shared a website with me that I think will be helpful to all of us who said "yes" to the previous questions.

Food Tidings

Unfortunately, I didn't hear about this site until after I had sent out an email to a list of women organizing meals for one of my friends who will be having a baby very soon. I can't wait until next time I am in charge of organizing meals for someone in need so that I can use Food Tidings. Leah says "it is very easy to track, plug in the dates, etc. and everyone is easily on the same page."

Don Mosley's Talk from 4-13-10

In addition to the information our speaker provided, Ralston House has many helpful resources and links on their website.  One of their listed links, Stop It Now!, includes some great and reassuring articles.  If you feel a little overwhelmed or discouraged thinking about your child's safety but need more information, I'd encourage you to check out their articles.  The site has specifics for preventing child sexual abuse in your church, including addressing safety with members who are known to have sexually abused children in the past.  Guidelines for choosing a school or other program for your kids, age appropriate and concerning behaviors, and handling having a sex offender in your neighborhood are among the multiple other topics you can find there.

We want to make sure you have as many questions about the subject of protecting your child answered as possible and are hopeful that thought and discussion will continue.  There are several links above to further your information, but if you have other questions about protecting your children, please Email Laressa McCormac and she will work on getting answers and posting an anonymous Q&A.  The sources of questions will not be shared with anyone else in the group.

Listen to Don Mosley's (Ralston House) talk here.

Comedy Night with Ken Davis

The Hope House of Colorado supports teen moms in the Denver area. The Hope House is having a comedy night on March 25 at the Soiled Dove Underground. For more information or to donate to the Hope house, click the following link: Hope House of Colorado :: Hope House News.

At your local library...

at least if you have a Jeffco library account. Did you know that you can visit some of Denver's museums for free? It is called a culture pass. The Jefferson County Public Library has a select number of passes available each day for its patrons to use. To see your choices of museums click here. It will also tell you how many passes are available and the days they are available. I have taken advantage of The Wildlife Experience and the Butterfly Pavilion and I was able to invite up to three friends to accompany me for free.

Magazine Fundraiser

Magazines orders/renewals can also be purchased online in addition to the brochure/order form that was passed out at the previous meeting. The website and our online code is provided below.  Email Brittany if you have any questions.

The website is  http://store.gafundraising.com

NO WWW !!!

Our online store ID is 869537

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Lately, I've heard a lot of moms talking about homemade laundry detergent. I know that I have also been interested in how to make it so I thought I would find some recipes online that might be helpful.

The Simple Dollar gives a detailed tutorial with pictures including the itemized cost of ingredients for liquid detergent.

The Duggar Family has a recipe for both liquid and powder detergent plus a few tips and a fabric softener recipe.

If you make your own laundry detergent, please share your experiences and recipe with the rest of us.

Congratulations!

We would like to congratulate Cara and George Jakab. You may remember that Cara Jakab spoke at one of our previous MOPS meetings this year. Cara and her husband had been trying to adopt two children from Haiti. Along with the many other families that have received their adopted children as a result of the earthquake, the Jakab's are now parents to a young boy and girl. You can read more about the Jakab's journey here.

Christmas Website

I stumbled upon Merry-Christmas.com today and thought that the rest of you might find it useful.

Have you run out of gift tags? Print your own.

Are you looking for Christmas tradition ideas? There are 31 to read about.

Do you want to listen to Christmas music or read the lyrics? Listen to mp3's.

Are the kids getting bored and need something to do? They can email Santa or print a coloring page.

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, take a look at Merry-Christmas.com.

Thank You

In case you are looking for a way to say "Thank you" to our troops this Veteran's Day or anytime, here are a couple of links.

www.anysoldier.com

We have "What to Send", "How to Send" and "FAQ" pages to help you properly send letters and packages, please read these. Be sure to also read our "New & Stuff" and "Success Stories" pages. This effort is 110% voluntary. You send your support, and maybe some stuff, directly to whatever unit or units you want.

www.amillionthanks.com

A Million Thanks is a year-round campaign to show our appreciation to our U.S. Military Men and Women, past and present for their sacrifices, dedication, and service to our country through our letters, emails, cards, and prayers.

A special thanks to Erin Wernlein for providing us with these helpful sites.