Welcome from Tanya!

Welcome to the 2011-2012 year of MOPS at First Baptist Church – Amarillo.  I’m Tanya Alloway, MOPS coordinator and I am ready for our year to begin.  Our steering team is so excited to get this year started; we can’t wait to get back so we can meet new moms and reconnect with returning moms.

This year’s theme from MOPS International is MOMSENSE: BOLD-LOVING-SENSIBLE.  The spiritual foundation of the theme is from 2 Timothy 1:7.  As you read the whole chapter, you see that Timothy had a strong mother and grandmother who nurtured his faith. Paul exhorts Timothy to use the gifts God has given him in a bold, loving and sensible way. We have chosen to use The Message paraphrase to use words that are accessible to moms who may not be familiar with the Bible, but we encourage leaders to study the passage in their preferred translation as well. 

In my opinion, The Message is not a bible, but a reading bible.  It is merely one man’s commentary of the bible.  So, please take a moment to read in your preferred translation 2 Timothy 1:7 and supporting verses.

As we follow the MomSense book this year, we hope you begin or adjust and fine-tune those mothering strategies.  We will follow the book through the year.  So if you already have a book please start reading as we will dive right in to the first “MomSense” – Sense of Patience from Chapter 4.

If you are a mom who already has older children (like me), this book isn’t a waste!  I have read it cover to cover and many pages have underlined sentences with info that needs to be digested.  Here is a couple:

•  pg 30 “Part of growing up is getting to know ourselves, learning about our gifts and our weaknesses, and understanding who we are and how we become that person.  This, for most women, brings us back to our own mothers.” (Huh…does it really all come back to our mothers?!?
  
• pg 117 “Growing a sense of humor is just the beginning of creating something vital in our homes – an atmosphere of joy.  Atmosphere is defined as “the dominant mood or emotional tone.”  What is the dominant mood or emotional tone of your home?” (I know as the summer is winding down, sometimes the atmosphere at our house isn’t the most pleasant!  How can I as a parent improve our atmosphere?)
  
• pg 177 “Living beyond your MomSense is partly about recognizing that you are important and part of something bigger, and growing in your sense of God.  You have not been created to live alone.  You have been created for relationship.”
  
  (I am so thankful to have my relationship with God – my Rock!)

I hope you will enjoy reading this year’s book – it is full of wisdom!  I thank God for each of you moms in being BOLD (maybe the first time at MOPS), LOVING (bringing a friend), or SENSIBLE (knowing you need mom-friend relationships)!  See you September 7th!