October - Raising Compassionate Kids

Raising Compassionate Kids

What is compassion?  Have you ever asked yourself that question?  Have you ever asked your kids what THEY think compassion is?  Here is what the dictionary says: Com.pas.sion (n) - Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.  Our speaker, today, shared her son's definition of compassion:  "Compassion is feeling sorry for someone and wanting to help them." 

 Compassion is written about LOTS in the bible: 

 Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you."

1 Peter 3:8-9 "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.  Do not repay eveil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."

Philippians 2:1-5 "Do nothing our of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Many more passages call for us to be compassionate to others.  

Why teach compassion to our children?  We are called to do so.  

Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

The second greatest commandment is to love others.  As moms, it is up to us to teach our children. 

 "God's character is embodied in the definition of compassion.  As our Creator, He desires us to be as compassionate as Him and show human kindness to others.  To be compassionate, we must have love in us that compels us to do good deeds.  if we do good deeds for someone, but we do not have love for that person, we are not compassionate."  (see 1 Corinthians 13:3) Access-Jesus.com

There is a huge need for compassion in our world, today.  Our children will be the ones to carry on in the name of Jesus after us and take care for those who are less fortunate.

How do we teach compassion when we don't feel very compassionate?  Demonstrate compassionate responses - towards your children and towards others.  Lead by example.  Show them what it means to have compassion for others and how to act on that compassion.  Pray for God to fill you with His Spirit of love and care for others around you.  

We heard from Laura Helwig, child advocate for Compassion International.  She shared these thoughts with us.  She also shared the need to sponsor children through Compassion International.  North Shore MOPS red table has stepped up and followed God's leading to sponsor a child.  They will be doing this together as a group each month!  We are very excited to hear about their child and how they are doing this together as a team.  

In closing her talk about raising compassionate children, Laura shared what her daughter (8) said compassion meant to her: "Compassion is loving others like Jesus loves you."  May we raise our children to know what it is to have Jesus love them and also to love others that same way!

North Shore MOPS Begins!

Delivery

by Alexandra Kuykendall

     "The hospital is where the constancy of motherhood begins: there is no difference between night and day.  The baby needs to be fed every two hours.  The nurses flick on the lights in the middle of the night, making their nurse announcements about needing to check a vital sign or, worse, my stitches.

     That first night the nurses took Gabi to the nursery. "You sleep now, while you can, and let her be with us for a few hours.  We'll bring her in when she's hungry," they promised.  The idea that Mom needs to take care of herself to take care of the baby had started during pregnancy.  Eat the right things.  Don't eat the forbiddens.  Get sleep.  Avoid stress.  Drink water.  Continue to exercise.  Take care of yourself so you can take care of the baby.  Now the baby was out, no longer part of my body, and the nurse was telling me the same thing.  Take care of yourself so you can take care of the baby.

     And so I slept.  After what seemed like only five minutes, the light came on.  Really? It can't be time.  But I heard the cry.  The newborn cry that sounded so frantic, so awful to my ears, and made me sit straight up.  I now knew she was my baby.  My eyes started to tear, and I wanted to protect her, to stop that awful, painful scream.  There was relief in my response too.  I felt like the mom.  That bond must have been in there somewhere, because I couldn't wait to hold her.  I thanked God that something in my heart had clicked, had been opened, to know I'd been created for this.

     I looked over at Derek, who was still adjusting to the blinding light in the room.  Didn't he hear his baby's cry?  How scared she sounded?  He didn't seem to get it.  he wasn't jolted up like I was.

     "She's hungry," the nurse announced, and we started the new foreign process of trying to nurse.  This thing that was supposed to be so natural but in reality was so awkward.  By that point I'd lost all sense of modesty.  The gown came off, the pillows were arranged, and I tried to get that sweet but squawking baby to latch on.  I was sweating, I needed her to stop crying.  I wanted to do this right.  I wanted to give her what she needed.

     I'd uncovered a new kind of love.  A love that surpassed anything I'd ever felt before.  It consumed me from my bed head to my delivery-pedicured toes.  I was the mom.  I didn't come to that realization in the way I'd expected, but the result was the same: a mother was born."

All of the women who attend MOPS & MomsNext have at least one thing in common:  we are all moms.  We need to take care of ourselves so that we can take care of the children entrusted to us.  This is where MOPS & MomsNext comes in - we are here to take care of moms.  We give mom a chance to take a break, catch her breath, and have other moms to talk to.  As moms, we all need this!  Our MOPS year has begun.  Our first meeting was held on 9/10 and we had a great time.  We played a get-to-know-one-another game of "Have You Ever?" which turned out to be quite humorous and fun.  

The theme for this years MOPS year is "A Beautiful Mess: Embrace Your Story".  Being a mom is messy, yet, there is beauty in that call to be a mom.  We chose our table centerpieces for the year to be messy, yet, beautiful, just like mothering.

Part of the theme is "Embracing Your Story" so we are going to have journals throughout the year & will be using them at each meeting.  But, you can't just have boring old journals lying around, so we decorated ours!

As we begin the MOPS & MomsNext year, we reflect on the theme verse for the year: Ephesians 2:10

"For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."  

God created each of us to be mom to our child.  May we see that His work is good.  May we see that we are masterpieces, even though it is messy.

Summer is Over - Almost Time for MOPS to Begin!

We enjoyed our final play group of the summer, this week!  It is hard to believe that another MOPS / MomsNext year is about to begin.  We have had a busy summer getting the word about MOPS out there in the community.  We had a diaper changing station and information booth at Harmony by the Bay in June.  It was fun talking to all the moms and seeing some new faces.  I am not sure how many diapers were changed, but a number of moms heard about North Shore MOPS!  

We walked in the Waterfront Kids Parade which kicks off the Waterfront festivities in Menominee.  We handed out freeze pops and candy, as well as, cards sharing our information.  

Throughout the summer, we had weekly play groups at local parks.  It was a fun way to keep in touch with the moms during the summer.  

We had a steering team planning retreat early in June and decided what topics and speakers would be covered and then we met once per month to iron out details for our upcoming MOPS year.  

The theme is perfect for moms:
"A Beautiful Mess: Embrace Your Story" which is what we all live in as moms!  We are creating, growing, nurturing life in our children and that is almost always messy.  It may be messy but what a beautiful mess it is!  A Beautiful Mess reminds moms that beauty can come out of their difficult spots.  The grime of raising children brings the beauty of motherhood.  The bruises of life can bring God's redemption.  Embrace Your Story reminds moms that our past, present and future can be used for good.  God knows where each of us has been, where we are today and he has set in motion where we are headed.  

The theme verse is Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) "For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

Join us or let a mom know about how to join us!  September 10, 8:45 AM - 11:00 AM at North Shore Church.  

3-12 Meeting a Success!

Our MOPS/MomsNext meeting of March 12 went great!  We had 22 moms and 20 MOPPETS.  There were 2 brand new to MOPS moms, today, which we LOVE to have new moms!

The moms made Jesus Bracelets today.  Here is the significance of each bead:
One night, a bright STAR
led THREE wise men to
the BIRTH of baby Jesus.
He was more than a  CARPENTER,
He was a FISHER of men.
He had TWELVE disciples,
He spoke the WORD of God,
HEALED the sick, and
performed many MIRACLES.
One DARK day, He was CRUCIFIED.
He shed His BLOOD so we could be made CLEAN.
Now He is in HEAVEN with His father,
preparing a place for His people.
He left us His HOLY SPIRIT.
Jesus did this because of His
immense LOVE for us.

Here are the verses that go along with the bracelet:
Matthew 2:7,9-11
Matthew 13:55
Matthew 4:19
Matthew 10:1-4
Luke 4:1-14
Mark 1:29-34
Mark 4:35-41
Matthew 27:45
Mark 15:23-25
Romans 3:25-26
John 14:1-3
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
John 3:16-17

Each mom left with a bracelet and the scripture to back it up.