Guest Speaker- Dr. Ford

“Parenting, as you know, is not an easy battle. I’ll be the first one to admit. There are no such thing as perfect parents.” -Dr. Robert Ford

Today, we were blessed to have a local pediatrician come and speak at our meeting. I encourage you to go back and watch the live videos in our group if you missed this meeting! 🩺📝

Here is a quick bio of Dr. Ford:  

Dr. Robert Ford joined Primary Pediatrics in 2009 and serves as a primary care pediatrician in the Warner Robins office. Dr. Ford is originally from Leesburg, Georgia and graduated with high honors from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He later graduated from Mercer University School of Medicine. He’s married to Dr. Jessica Ford and they have three children, Katie, James, and John Arthur. They feel truly blessed to realize their dream of working as pediatricians in the same office. Being both parents and pediatricians, Robert and Jessie are learning daily how to be better parents and how to convey the importance of parenting with love and leadership to their patient’s families, as well. Dr. Ford recommends reading parenting books by Dr. James Dobson and Dr. John Rosemond. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends while duck, deer, and turkey hunting. Dr. Ford trained his chocolate lab Boone who is also a big part (90lbs!) of the family in both the home and the duck blind. The Ford family attends Ingleside Baptist Church and believe in Proverbs 22:6 which says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Everyone talked for a minute and helped with cleanup when the talk was over. 

Lastly a few announcements:

Here are the book recommendations from the meeting:

Our last Bible study before our summer break is next week. Childcare is provided. Come even if you haven’t read. Make sure to RSVP with Rosa or Amy by Sunday. 💕

We also have our monthly book club meeting tomorrow. If you are interested, reach out and we will get you connected to that Facebook group. Our next play date is Friday! We hope to see you there. 

Lastly, we hope you'll join us May 4th for even more fun and fellowship as your leadership team hosts our annual Mother’s Day Brunch. Feel free to invite a friend along, or come and make some new ones. 🤩

“Imperfect Friendships”

“Being perfect and being lovable are completely unconnected.” - Amanda Anderson

This meeting had a crazy start when leadership was notified upon arrival that a main water line was out and the church property had no water … which meant no bathrooms! 😳 Your Childcare leaders came up with some creative solutions and right before our meeting ended water was restored. Praise the Lord! 👏🏻 It was a true testimony to how special MOPS is because we had 30 women who gathered together even without water. Our time together is truly precious. 💕

We spent time having brunch before playing a super fun icebreaker game. There were lots of laughs.

Afterwards, we watched the “Imperfect Friendships” video. The video was of Amanda Anderson who asks: Are we stopping ourselves from having authentic relationships because we are searching for perfection? She wants you to consider what kind of friend you are and let others get close enough to be your friend.  She is the author of “All My Friends Have Issues: Building Remarkable Relationships with Imperfect People (Like Me?)”. 

In the video, she talks about how our version of “the perfect friend” isn’t too high of an expectation, but a flawed expectation. Are we expecting all our friends to be just like us? Or do they stretch us and help us grow as a mother? She reminds us that authentic, satisfying connection always brings risk. She wants us to remind ourselves that everyone has issues, including us. Don’t hide who you are. She also tells us to accept fluctuations in the friendship, being aware that cycles of closeness and distance are common and sometimes necessary in the early childhood years. Lastly, she tells us to avoid a common should/must for mothers. She tells us instead of seeking women who are like us, think more in terms of building friendships with women who have essential character qualities that make relationships thrive. Her two non-negotiable qualities friendship qualities are humility and encouraging. She tells us to look for these in potential friends and work on developing them in ourselves. In a world full of stress and danger, we can encourage each other with words of comfort and community. So, love each other deeply, issues and all, and be brave enough to let people get close enough to love the real you. 🥰 If you missed the video, it’s pinned in the featured posts in our private Facebook group. 

After, the video we had small group discussions where we talked about things like : 

• What are your friendship non-negotiables?
• What are your issues?
• Have you noticed fluctuations or cycles in your friendships?
• Who around you is encouraging to you?
• What kind of friend are you to others?
• How can you support your children in developing their own friendships?

Lastly a few announcements:

Here are the book recommendations from the meeting:

Bible study is next week. Childcare is provided. Come even if you haven’t read. 💕

We also have our monthly book club meeting coming up. If you are interested, reach out and we will get you connected to that Facebook group. 

Lastly, we hope you'll join us April 20th for even more fun and fellowship as we have a guest speaker coming: a local pediatrician. Feel free to invite a friend along, or come and make some new ones. 🤩

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” 

Ephesians 4:29

“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

1 Peter 4:8

We Love Our SPUDS!

We have learned a lot about ourselves this year, and one of those is that we LOVE potatoes and cheese!  Here is Christina Godwin with her Best Dish winner, Cheesy Hash brown Casserole.  YUM YUM give me some!

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

• 1-10.5 ounce can of cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 c chopped onion
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 c shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 pounds frozen shredded hash browns, thawed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix soup, onion, butter, salt & pepper.  

3. Add cheese and hash browns.

4. Pour into baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.

We Got Our Own "Betty Crocker" Folks! Another Recipe for You to Try!

Our own Katie Stewart is a connoisseur in the kitchen, winning yet another best dish this year!  We had to share this yummy dish, originally by The Pioneer Woman.  Try making Cinnamon Raisin Baked French Toast for your family this weekend. 

Cinnamon Raisin Baked French Bread

recipe taken from The Pioneer Woman

• 1-1/2 loaf Cinnamon Raisin Bread
• Butter, For Greasing
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• Topping
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
• 1/2 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Raisins
• Softened Butter, For Serving
• Warm Maple Syrup, For Serving

Baking Directions:

Unwrap the loaves of bread, then overlap the slices in rows in a well-buttered baking dish. 

Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon, then pour the mixture evenly over all the pieces of bread, soaking the bread as much as possible. 

To make the topping, combine the butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and cut it all together with a pastry cutter. Stir in the raisins.

Sprinkle the topping all over the casserole. Cover the pan with foil and refrigerate it for several hours or overnight. 

When you’re ready to bake the French toast, preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the French toast for 45 minutes to 1 hour for a softer texture, or longer for a firmer, crisper texture. Cover with foil for the first 30 minute of baking, then remove it for the remaining baking time.

Serve individual helpings with butter and warm syrup.

A Samaritan and A Selfie

Just for fun: Selfie Song (Feel free to play while scrolling.)

Man, did we have fun this meeting!  We got a little wild and crazy during our Selfie Scavenger Hunt!  I'll just leave these here...

  

 

     

After wards we talked about the "good Samaritan" story and what it means to be one today.  Inspired by his kindness we began our final service project of the year, Comfort Bags.  These bags will be given to parents when their child is admitted to the local children's hospital, Navicent Children's Hospital in Macon, GA.  Often times families go to the hospital for immediate care and do not expect to stay overnight.  We were told that although the hospital receives several donations for the children, the parents have no consistent donations given to them and we decided to change that!

The comfort bags will be filled with the basic necessities; toiletries, journal for notes about treatment, puzzle books, magazines, and other goodies.  All items were donated by our incredibly generous Moms!  Through this project we hope to provide the parents with a little bit of comfort in a very uncomfortable situation.  Warner Robins MOPS hopes to make this an ongoing service project to serve the parents and families in our community.

**If you or your business would like to make a donation to our cause please contact Warner Robins MOPS Coordinator, Amanda Storie at mountaineyes22@yahoo.com.

We would greatly appreciate your support!