Mom of the Month

Mom of the Month: OCTOBER

Melissa Basi

Who is in your family?

Pinder (husband), Me, Mia (10), Kiley (8.5), Jordan (23 months), Bex (12 weeks). We are a blended family, his (Mia), Mine (Kiley), Ours (Bex and Jordan).

What is your favorite childhood memory:
My favorite memories from childhood are from Christmas. This was always a very special time for me growing up with my family and my siblings.

If you had a free vacation anywhere, where would you go?
I would love to visit some place in Europe. I hope one day I can travel to many different countries.

What is your favorite "waste of time?"
I waste a lot of time on Facebook! I do a lot of online shopping too because I don't get out of the house a lot these days.

What bit of advice or encouragement can you share with other moms in our group?
Oh my goodness... I feel like I'm the one that needs advice and encouragement right now! Keep calm and carry on. If anyone needs help getting their baby to sleep through the night (8-12 hours) I'm your girl. I've been successful with all of my babies by 6 weeks and have helped my sister and many of my friends achieve this goal. It's my only claim to fame! lol!

It Works For Me... Michelle Manuel's table - September

"It Works For Me"

Teresa A. - Use a black sharpie to erase your grey hair

Andrea W. - Cookbook to make veggie purees to mix in with your meals so that your family members who don't like veggies will still be eating them without even knowing it! **I will see if I can get the titles of the books from her and update the blog with them later :) The books are Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld and The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine. Andrea also let me know that they are both available at the Stanislaus Co. Library.

Katie P. - Makes her own coffee creamer to cut down on cost. Mix together one can of sweetened condensed milk and one can full of your regular milk in a shaker, add 2 Tbsp. of flavoring of your choice (vanilla or almond suggested) mix together & keep in refrigerator.

Renee R. - To keep her 22 month old daughter busy in her crib after nap time, she sneaks books into her crib while she is sleeping so her daughter can play with them when she wakes up.

Michelle M. - Use shaving cream to keep your kids entertained. You can squirt some on the bathtub wall to keep them busy or even on toys outside and they can use to clean...makes them smell good too!

Courtney V. - To help kids stay on track and accomplish task of cleaning up toys, use a song they are familiar with and tell them their toys need to be picked up by the end of the song.

Laura B. - Buys frozen chicken at the grocery store, throws in crock-pot on low when she gets home and cooks for approximately 8 hours. Remove from crock-pot and shred, then put into 2 cup portions and store in freezer to have ready for meals during the week.

Cyndi D. - Re-use foaming hand soap dispenser and refill with approx 1" or 1 1/2" of dish soap and then gently fill with warm water and slowly mix together. Keeps cost down and easier for kids to wash their hands.

Lacee K. - Fool proof recipe to make Salmon that she found on Pinterest. Drizzle salmon filet with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put into a cold oven, then turn on the heat to 400 degrees. Twenty-five minutes later, the salmon is absolutely perfect. Tender, moist, flaky! A no-fail method.

There you go ladies! 

Life is Messy

Emotions were right at the surface yesterday morning as I walked  into the MOPS meeting. Chaos from that morning seemed to follow me in the door and as I said hello to friends I attempted to shake off my Tuesday morning blahs. 

I felt especially hormonal as I tried to keep from a complete emotional meltdown during the Beautiful Mess video that our table leaders so graciously put together.  

I'm the mom that walks into a room where my kids are playing and immediately comments on the mess they are making. Comment is a slight understatement. I get a little irrational about it. Do I see them having a good time? Using their imaginations? Getting along for once? Nope. I immediately see the damage. I see toys, clutter, and bedding -- in all the wrong order. I love order, and I hate disorder. Can you tell? 

Anyway, so the video is playing, and I get it. Somehow in the middle of seeing Amy Powell without her makeup, and a nice view of someone's incredibly messy living room, I got it. I saw it, I should say.

I saw beauty. 

It was real. That seemingly nonsensical "theme" for this year's MOPS was not the lie that this order-lover secretly deemed it. And I cried a little. I wanted to cry a lot but then I might have been labeled the "cryer" at my new table and I didn't need that reputation following me around all year...

And then, as if my mind had not been challenged enough, our speaker was introduced and began to say stuff that I'm sure was because she'd been talking to my husband.

(Right?? Did anyone else feel this way?)

She asked: "What is God teaching you about you, when you can't control everything you wish you could control?"

Well, let's see, Susan. God is teaching me that I lack quite a bit of patience, I have anger issues apparently, and I seem to need my life to look orderly, in order to feel that it is orderly. When in reality, it is very disorderly. 

And then that quiet voice spoke truth to me through Susan's words and my own mind's ramblings; God is there in the mess. He loves the disorder in my life, not because it's chaos, because He does not see it as such. He sees my kids playing, and enjoying the toys and home He's blessed them with, and He smiles.

The chaos that I so often see happening around me is, in fact, not chaos at all. But a beautiful orchestration of God's love for me. My children. My blessings. My joy.

And today I choose to take that truth, and hold it tight. This may have been a lesson that you all have learned a long time ago, but this mother of three is having an epiphany. My sense of control is an illusion. And the "control" and "order" that I so desperately want, is not at all what God has for me. Or what I should seek for myself.

He has something so much better. He has given me life. And life, my dear, is very messy. 

Welcome to our New Home!

This is a big year for MOPS @ Big Valley!  We are growing - more tables, more moms, more kids - all able to learn and grow, and be a part of this awesome MOPS community!  We will have inspiring & educational speakers, great topics to encourage and grow us -- and of course, lots of FUN!  

Your new leadership team has been at work already this summer - praying for you, getting prepared for a new year of MOPS.  If you click on the Leadership tab above, you can meet your new leaders!! 


When we start meeting on September 10th, we are moving into a new venue -- The Venue, actually!  This building is on the Tully side of the main church building, and is easy to find with "THE VENUE" on the outside.  Our little MOPPETS will still be in the main building, in their nursery and Ohana Island rooms.  We are excited to welcome you to our new home! 

There are still some fun summer playdates & a great girls night at the end of the month!  Come out and join the fun - and we will see you ALL on September 10th in The Venue! :)

Please let me know if you have any questions - I'm excited to meet you!!

~Heather Blass

A Beautiful Mess

Oh boy.   I had been pondering a way to introduce this years theme, and write a blog post for you all....and then tonight happened :)

My kitchen counters/workspace (for lack of an office) looked like this.....

I couldn't handle it anymore, so I started plucking away, washing dishes, organizing my clutter - really it could have taken me all day.  I realized time was getting away from me and dinner was coming, so I took out the pizza dough to rise, and pre-heat the oven.  Continuing to clean up my mess, Kaelyn, my three year old yells from the bathroom....uh oh.  The clogged toilet had been flushed some time ago and now there was water evvvveryyyywhere.  Fun.  The big girls hunted down towels for me (hard to find, cuz most are in the middle of being washed) and we managed to mop it up, mostly...until...

...I heard "Mom, Smoke!!!"  The oven was pre-heating and something apparently dropped on the bottom the last time I used it, so now our kitchen was not only filled with clutter, but smoke as well.  My kids are super freaked out by the smoke detector, so we worked quickly to avoid the crazy loud beeping.

*picture of oven, no smoke....note, oven also needs cleaning* :)

Towels left on the floor (they're actually stilllll on the floor), I went to work on the pizza, attempting to get dinner on the table before bedtime  (didn't succeed :) )  Rolling out the dough, as I have many times before, my end result looked like this....

Fabulous.  An odd, long pizza with a giant hole in the middle.  My patience was done.  Nothing was working.  I was exhausted, kids are starving....just too much for a tired mom to handle within a few moments after a long day.  I almost just took the kids to McDonald's, except we've already been there today.

So, I worked on the dough, trying to shape it into an edible pizza, trying to patch the hole.  Ehh, it would do.  

Then, I started to spread the sauce.  And what I saw, truly brought tears to my eyes.

A heart!!  Oh my!  ---Literally, a beautiful thing came from my mess of a pizza....and boy did I need to see something beautiful.  I was tired, kids fighting in the background, still towels to mop up in the bathroom and don't forget those counters, but the mess of a pizza turned into a heart!  Thank you Lord for giving me something beautiful amongst my crazy.  How could he turn something so frustrating into something so beautiful? 

(Actually, my pizza ended up looking like this since my oldest doesn't like cheese on it :) )

Still beautiful :)

Us moms, we are in the thick of it.  Laundry, diapers, potty training, bottles, post-baby bodies, dirty ovens, messy carpets, checkbooks that won't balance, responsibilities, duties.....it goes on and on....and it's all messy.  But you know what?  Out of the mess is something beautiful!  Motherhood really is beautiful - loving these children with a love we never knew we had.  Watching milestones come to pass.  When they finally sleep through the night, or say "thank you" without being prompted...or that first "I love you, mommy."  Ohhh be still my heart.  These things come out of our mess and they are beautiful.  And furthermore, life is hard - we have pasts, full of hills and valleys....and out of our bruises is God's redemption!!  I am forgiven even though I lose patience with my children, even though....lots of things!  I am loved, and forgiven for all of it.  

This year's theme verse is 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."

Amidst it all, God has planned GOOD things for me....and I am His masterpiece! - and you are too! :)  

This is going to be a truly amazing year at MOPS @ BVG .... I know this because you are all a part of it!  And great things are happening!  And with a theme like this, that we all can relate to, understand and get behind (we all have messes, yes? .... right?? :) ) I know we are sure to grow on a great journey together this year.  I look forward to growing as a woman and as a mother while in community with you.  

On your end-of-year evals from May, your #1 Need was "Community" -- I totally get it!  I am with you!  Mothering is SO much better when we are doing it with others -- with growing friendships and others who help us know we aren't alone.  SO many of you talked about loving MOPS because "I know I'm not alone."  We need to know that our feelings, and our kids' stories aren't wacky - that someone else understands.  I'm so glad you are finding that at MOPS, and I know we will find that again this next year too.  One of you asked "Who can come to MOPS?" and if they could invite anyone - YES!!!!  Absolutely!  MOPS is for EVERY mother of preschoolers, no matter her circumstance, life, beliefs - MOPS reaches every mom because we all need to know we aren't alone!  

We are so blessed to be able to open up registration again for this fall.  So, if you come across a mom at the park, or at Target, and you love MOPS - tell her about it!  We'd love to have her!  You can email mops@bvg.org to get registered. 

I hope my messy story brought you some relief, to know that you aren't the only one with a messy oven, an overflowing toilet, bickering children, and dinner that just didn't come out quite right.  We are in this together, mamas!  I love you all! :)

~Heather

End of Year MOPS Meeting

We had lots of fun at our meeting today, we plunged, we played, we laughed & we cried! We are sad to lose those of you who are moving on...we know that God has plans to use you in other ways, but we will miss you dearly. However, we also look forward to the new moms who will be joining us in the fall. We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you! (please check out our summer activities calendar and come join us for some fun!)

Two years ago my friend Dana Mensonides, who is in my small group, mentioned MOPS to me and told me that I should check into it. I really wasn't sure what to expect, but in every area this group has exceeded my expectations.

 I have to admit that at this point I felt like I was lost & lonely in a sea of people at Big Valley...I only knew a couple of moms at church and was having a hard time getting connected. You see, I grew up in a much smaller church and had attended that church my entire life & knew each person there by name (many of whom were related to me)...so it was quite the adjustment when my husband and I decided to call Big Valley Grace our home church. Also, the friends I had at my old church were in a different stage of life, so when we switched churches I didn't have any mom friends to connect with.

Dana's invitation couldn't have come at a better time! I am so grateful for everyone who is involved with the MOPS ministry and committed to providing a place for us moms to support each other and become a community. Those of you who have extended friendship to me, thank you so much! I have enjoyed getting to know many of you so far and look forward to the lasting friendships that MOPS creates.

I was definitely challenged this year when I was asked to be a part of the blog team. You see, I have no background in writing and honestly didn't feel like I had much to give. I have slowly grown to enjoy writing the recaps of our MOPS meetings as it is a way for me to take to heart some of the lessons and advice from our speakers this year.

I look forward to seeing you at some of the play dates this summer & also in the fall when we start our new MOPS year!

Cyndi

Mom of the Month!!

Dana Dabney



Kids

Jack-2years, Noah-5months

Most disliked chore on the household chore list?

I really, really dislike washing windows, so don't look outside when you're in my house.

Tell us about your first road trip in your first car.

Well, since my first car was a 1934 Chevy pickup I couldn't really go on any "road trips." Every ride was an adventure though, thats for sure! When I turned 16 my dad was fixing up the old truck and it was the only spare vehicle at the time, so my parents let me drive it. Nothing like going down the road seeing a 16 year old girl in an old man Hot Rod ;) The only problem was that my mom wouldn't let me drive in the rain because it didn't have windshield wipers.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Childbirth (no explanation needed).

Name 1 thing you miss about being a kid.

Growing up I lived in the country and I LOVED playing outside, I could be out there all day (everyday). My imagination would just run wild and I would have so much fun exploring without a care in the world. Sometimes when I look back, I really miss those days.

One piece of encouragement or advice to share with other moms.

My advice to moms is something that I have to remind myself of everyday. Be the same person at home as you are in public. In those moments when you've lost all of your patience and you know you're about ready to explode, try to calm yourself by thinking: "ok...what if other people could see me right now" (when in reality...your children ARE people and they are watching (and learning)). Scary, right? So, I always try to be the same person in the car on the WAY to church as the person who I am IN church (the key word is "try"). I don't always succeed, but that's my hearts desire.