Craft Request 12.21.10

Hi ladies!
Hope you're all enjoying these last few days before Christmas! There's so much to do, but it's so worthwhile to take the time out with our families and especially our kiddos to remember the real reason for our celebration. Hope you're able to do that in the next few days.

Our craft team has a request for you: we're working on our craft for the day we arrive back to M.O.M., January 11th. We need some thin cardboard pieces (at least the size of an 8x11' piece of paper) to complete our craft (2 pieces per person). Basically, cardboard shirt boxes are just about perfect - in size and weight - for us to do this. SO, as you're unwrapping gifts in the next few days, if you are able to, would you please hold on to those shirt boxes instead of tossing them? If you've got boxes, Brianne Haust will be collecting those in the next two weeks so that the craft team can have them prepped and ready for us on that day.

If you're able to collect some boxes, would you please either call (262.613.2239) or email (bredula82@gmail.com) Brianne and let her know? She will arrange to pick them up on an individual basis.
Thanks so much, everyone!

Have a very merry Christmas...because He came,
Amy Gruetzmacher & Brianne Haust
M.O.M. coordinators

Happy Birthday Jesus Party!

Reminder 11.23.10

Please remember that we'll be collecting clothing for the Waukesha County Foster Care Closet on Tuesday November 30th. Items that are especially needed are: Girls clothing size 2T and 4-6x, winter coats (all genders and sizes through adult), NEW underwear (all sizes, toddler through adult), gift cards in small amounts. All items will be brought to the waukesha county offices on Tuesday Nov. 30th.

Crafting Fun 11.10.10

For an ice breaker, Joy gave each group supplies to make a turkey, with the most creative one winning. The tail feather table won. Take a look at some pics!

Craft Day & Jesus' Birthday Party

Hi ladies ~

I hope you're looking forward to some fun and fellowship tomorrow as we look forward to a relaxing day of "getting our craft on". Come and enjoy making some useful crafts (great for gifts!) and get lots of tips for fun, cheap holiday crafts as well as hearing a devotional and spending some time getting to know other ladies in our group!

Also, just a reminder that if you are interested in attending our annual Birthday Party for Jesus with your 2.5 - 5 year old, Joy will be passing around a signup sheet for that activity at this week's meeting (we are capping the party at the first 24 kids that sign up and are paid for). Remember, this party is geared only towards kids ages 2.5 - 5 years old. We will provide FREE childcare for younger siblings so that you can just focus on helping your preschooler through the activities.

Here are some additional details:

Date: Tuesday, December 14th (we do NOT have MOM this week, as we are off for Christmas break for the last three weeks in December)
Time: 9:30-11:00 am
Cost: $5 per child (Joy will begin collecting this money this week. Your $5 is needed to reserve your child's spot.)

Also, we do still need 3 more volunteers to help out with craft and game stations that day. We are looking for moms that won't have kids celebrating there that day. If you have a child in this age group, we want you to really be able to just enjoy this time with your preschooler. SO, if your kids are in school, or even if you have ones that are too young to participate but you'd like to help out, we'd love to have you!

Questions? See myself or Joy Buntrock tomorrow and we'll be happy to answer them.
Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

Amy Gruetzmacher
amygruetz@hotmail.com
414.535.1401

Tealight Candle Holders Craft

Come next Tuesday for the opportunity to socialize with wonderful ladies from all tables, while getting your craft on! We will be experimenting with Mod Podge and tissue paper to make frosted tealight candle holders (see picture below). In addition, thrifty holiday decorating tips and pictures will be shared.

Meeting Announcements 11.2.10

*Joy Buntrock is coordinating volunteers for our Birthday Party for Jesus on Tuesday, December 7th from 9:30-11am. Please let her know how you can help (joybuntrock@hotmail.com)

*If you haven't already, please pay your November childcare fees to Jamie Poelzer.

*Our M.O.M. directory is looking fabulous, but is still in the works. If you haven't received a draft copy, please email Nellie Leis(nelliev2@yahoo.com)

*Service projects are coming!!!

Embroidered Bag Craft

Ladies, if you missed last week's M.O.M. craft day, you'll want to connect with our sweet Deanna Braman to get your supplies for your embroidered bag. Take a look at how cute they are:

Craft Meeting Day - October 12th

Hi ladies ~

Hope you had a great weekend! I just wanted to send out a note to remind you that tomorrow we will be having a craft meeting day. We will not be meeting in our groups, so when you arrive, grab your name tag and then find a spot to sit at ANY table. We hope that you'll still connect with members of your study group, and that this will also give you a chance to get to know other ladies throughout the larger group! We will have a format similar to that of our first meeting, including an icebreaker activity, a devotional, and then we will have the majority of our time to work on our craft and socialize. This week we'll be decorating bags that you'll be able to use throughout the year to hold your study materials, so we hope you can make it!

Also, we announced last week that our special speakers this month (October 26th) will be a 'man panel' ~ a group of men that will be coming in to answer questions you have on parenting or marriage -- from a man's perspective. We want to be sure that they discuss things that are important to you, so if you have questions that they can prepare to answer in advance, please email those to me or fill out the question forms that will be on the tables tomorrow. All questions need to be submitted by next Tuesday, October 19th.

I hope you all have a great time! Deanna is going to decorate a bag for me, as my 3 year old son fell and broke his elbow this weekend and is having surgery Wednesday (and needs to stay on bedrest until then). If you think of it, pray for him (and for me as I'm trying to keep my very active boy from being too adventurous with a cast on his arm!).

See you soon!
Amy Gruetzmacher

Moms Night Out Reminder

Hey Ladies,

I just wanted to send out a quick reminder that tomorrow night is our Mom's Night Out! Here are the details you need to know:

Thursday October 7th
Soup & Chili Potluck
7:00-9:30pm
Spring Creek Church Room 152/153

We have a very relaxed night planned for you all. Looking forward to getting to know other moms and play some fun games and of course enjoy the great food!

If you have not already signed up and are planning on coming, just let me know. Email or call me and I can let you know what you can bring!

It was brought to my attention that some people did not get the evite and that others were having problems with it. I am not a huge fan of Evite right now! If you were one of those who did not get it, I apologize. Hope you can still make it!

~Brianne Haust
262-613-2239

MNO Potluck This Thursday October 7th

Come join us for a night of great food, fun games, a time to get to know other moms and just a much needed break!

We will be doing a Soup & Chili Potluck! It's this coming Thursday at 7pm in room 152/153 at Spring Creek Church. Please bring either soup, chili or dessert AND your appetite!

As always INVITE A FRIEND!

Meeting Update 9.21.10

Hi Moms on a Mission ~

Hopefully everyone enjoyed today as much as I did!

For those of you who couldn't make it, I wanted to let you know of one major change that is going to be happening. We loved the idea of all of the WOW and MOM ladies meeting together for songs, announcements, and prayer in the west wing at the beginning of each week -- but after watching it happen last week, we've decided that it's just not practical at this point (although many of you got your 1/4 mile walk in last week going from one end of the building to another...) SO, if you need to drop kiddos off, plan to do that between 9 and 9:15, and then we'll all just meet right in Room 152/153 (the brightly painted room we met in last week) starting at 9:15. Wanda will make sure we're up to date with any announcements or other things we need to know and we just think it will be a better use of our time while we're there on Tuesday mornings.

If you have any questions, please let me know, you can contact me via phone
(414.535.1401) or email (amygruetz@hotmail.com).

See you then!
Amy Gruetzmacher

OUR FIRST MEETING - Tuesday, September, 14th!!!

Dear moms,

Labor Day has come and gone, and we're at T minus 6 days until our very first Moms On a Mission meeting – ever! Our steering team met last Thursday for final preparations as we head into our kickoff ~ and ladies, I am excited for you to experience all that they have planned! These creative ladies are working really hard to make this year's M.O.M. program the very best it can be!

This Thursday, September 9th, from 6:30-8:00 pm , we will be sharing our program as a part of our Fall Women's Ministries Kickoff in the café area. If you are interested in joining M.O.M. but want to find out more information, this event is for you! It's free, Pastor Dan is leading worship for us, and it's a great opportunity to come find out about what women's classes are planned for this year! Also, if you'd like to find out our M.O.M. schedule for the year and other great stuff we've got planned, check out our group's blog at http://springcreekmoms.blogspot.com/

Okay, down to the nitty gritty:
Our first meeting of this year will be next Tuesday, September 14th from 9:15-11:15am.
As we approach next week's kickoff, there are a few things we want you to know in advance.

1. PRE -REGISTRATION: This year, you can pre-register yourself and your kiddos online. To save yourself time and energy on the first day, please take the time to go to the church website's women's ministries page and fill out this form online. It can be found here http://springcreekonline.com/site/cpage.asp?sec_id=3486&cpage_id=14767 Everyone who has pre-registered by Monday, September 13th will already have your kids entered in the system (for printing name tags) and will have all the info we need from you all taken care of. You aren't able to pay online, but at least the majority of the paperwork can be done in advance...and you don't even have to bring it with you!!

2. DAY ONE : Speaking of that first week, it's likely going to be a little...ahem...busy that first day as we sort through who goes where and all of that good stuff. Our childcare workers will be here early (and we've got 18 of them ready to help on that day!!) so if you've got kids to check in please plan to arrive in the childcare wing (where we met last year, in front of the nurseries) NO LATER than 9am so you can take care of that and then have some time to relax before our meeting starts! We will be starting out at the opposite end of the building (Room 20 – West wing) and then move back to our 'normal' room (152/153) at about 9:30 each week. So if you have kiddos to check in, you'll likely want to park at the childcare end of the building, because that's where you'll start and end up each week.

3. COSTS: As we stated in earlier emails, the cost for the M.O.M. program this year will be $50 for the year (30 weeks). This price includes your bible study manual as well as the other crafts that we will be doing throughout the year. You may pay this registration fee either on Thursday the 9th or our first meeting day, Tuesday, September 14th. Please make checks payable to Spring Creek Church. As of our last email, childcare costs (for those of us who still have kids under age 5 at home) had not yet been determined. We were hoping to staff our childcare rooms with volunteers but unfortunately did not receive the response we were hoping for. So, we were able to hire a great paid staff who will be there every week to watch our kids. We will have the option to pay weekly or monthly, but this means that we had to raise our childcare rates. So, for the upcoming year, the costs for childcare for all Tuesday classes will be as follows: $5 per week for your 1st child, $10 for 2 or more children. Having said that, I know that this is a dramatic increase in what our MOPS moms were used to paying in previous years (mostly because we are now meeting weekly instead of monthly, but still...). Please understand that we ABSOLUTELY do not want anyone to be unable to participate in M.O.M. because of the cost. If these prices would make attending our group too difficult for you financially, please know that scholarships are available. You may contact Wanda Leffel directly for further scholarship information at wleffel@springcreekonline.com or 262.695.2211. We would much rather you ask for help, tell Wanda what you are able to pay and let the church fund the rest - than not be able to come at all or have to choose a week or two per month to attend simply because of childcare costs. We'll work something out. Come.

I don't know about you ladies, but my heart just longs for the fellowship that we'll be continuing together in less than a week. This summer, so much has changed for me personally, and for my family...well, I can't wait to see you all and share with you how God is working! I really hope to see each of you there on the 14th! Come and check out our new program – I really think you'll love it!!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, let us know and we'll do our best to answer them! Can't wait to see you soon!!!

Amy Gruetzmacher & Brianne Haust, Coordinators
amygruetz@hotmail.com bredalu82@gmail.com

M.O.M. This Fall

Hello moms!

I cannot believe how fast this summer is going by, but at the same time I am so ready to be done with this heat! What I wouldn't give for a wonderful 65 degree fall day right now! :)

I hope you all received a letter in the mail a few weeks ago, if you did not, check out the blog post "M.O.M. Introduction Letter". We are busy planning the kickoff of our new M.O.M. program and hope that you will be able to join us in September, only 4 weeks away! As we are prepping things for September, we are trying to get an idea for how many moms to plan for. I was hoping that you could help me out. If you are planning on joining us this year, could you please shoot me an email and let me know? I am not looking for a set-in-stone commitment, but just trying to get an idea of how many of our once a month MOPS moms will be joining us for the weekly M.O.M group. On the same note, if you know that you will not be joining us, if you could let me know that as well, that would be great.

Thank you so much for your help and I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for our group!

Sincerely,

Brianne Haust

M.O.M. Introduction Letter

Dear Moms,
We hope this letter finds you well, enjoying this crazy Wisconsin summer weather! At our last MOPS meeting in May, we announced that there were some changes in store for the fall. It has been a busy couple of months for the leadership team as we continue to seek out God’s will for our ministry to moms at Spring Creek Church.

We are excited to announce to you that this fall we are launching our new program called M.O.M. which stands for Moms On a Mission. Our mission is to be the best moms, wives and women we can be! The focus of this new program is to develop friendships and mentoring relationships between moms of all ages and stages of parenting.

Our new format has a strong emphasis on small group time which we think will allow more opportunities to build significant relationships with other moms. The feedback that we received from many of you indicated that this is something you have been longing for! As moms of young children, sometimes it is hard for us to see beyond our current stage. However, our goal is that by opening our group to mothers of all ages of children, these more experienced moms will come alongside us to encourage and help us along the way. We also think that increasing our meeting frequency from monthly to weekly will give us more consistency and allow us to form deeper
relationships within our groups.

The plan for this year is for our group to meet weekly on Tuesday mornings from September through May (with a few weeks off for holidays, etc.). As you can see on the schedule on our new blog (http://springcreekmoms.blogspot.com), we will have three basic types of meetings throughout the year: Bible study, special speaker and crafts.

Our Bible study this year is called Heart Talk on What Really Matters. This study is 12 sessions that we will spread throughout the year and covers topics that affect our lives as women, wives and mothers. Through small group interaction led by mentor moms, growth will occur not only in our parenting skills but also in our wholeness as women – intellectually, relationally, and spiritually. In addition to the bible study weeks, there will be weeks when we have a special speaker to come share with us, very similar to those we had for MOPS. We are still going to include craft weeks throughout the year which will give us a chance to make a fun craft and also a more relaxed time to socialize.

Because M.O.M. is now going to be a year-long class offered under the women's ministries of our church (W.O.W.- Women Of the Word), there will be a $50 yearly registration fee and no weekly (or monthly) meeting fees. This $50 includes the Bible study materials for each person, all crafts, as well as the WOW registration fee. For moms with preschool aged kids (newborns through age 5) childcare will be provided, at an additional cost. Wanda Leffel (SCC's Women's Ministry Director) is still working on final numbers and we will get that information to you as it
becomes available to us.

Whether you've been involved with MOPS before or if this is your first time as a part of our mom's ministry, we hope that you will consider joining us as we embark on this new adventure! We hope that our M.O.M. program will help you to embrace who God designed you to be – as a woman, a wife, a mom or simply the child of a God who loves us unconditionally.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to talk with you!

Sincerely,
Amy Gruetzmacher
amygruetz@hotmail.com
414-535-1401

Brianne Haust
bredalu82@gmail.com
262-613-2239

SCC M.O.M. Coordinators

Playdates this week

Okay ladies ~

Well it's official, I'm losing my mind. (remember that quip about being too hot to think??) Or at least, I didn't read the events calendar closely enough. Somehow I thought we were supposed to be at Foxbrook on Friday but it was really supposed to be Frame Park in Waukesha.

SO...we can still join up with the Change Pointe ladies on Wednesday if you're interested in swimming, as well as head to Frame Park on Friday morning if that works better for you. The M.O.M. Frame Park playdate will be 10am-noon this Friday at 1240 Frame Park Dr., Waukesha. It looks to be a really nice day! I will plan to be at Frame Park on Friday.

So sorry about the confusion!
Hope the rest of your week is less eventful...

Amy Gruetz.
414.791.3512

Playdates this week

Okay ladies ~

Well it's official, I'm losing my mind. (remember that quip about being too hot to think??) Or at least, I didn't read the events calendar closely enough. Somehow I thought we were supposed to be at Foxbrook on Friday but it was really supposed to be Frame Park in Waukesha.

SO...we can still join up with the Change Pointe ladies on Wednesday if you're interested in swimming, as well as head to Frame Park on Friday morning if that works better for you. The M.O.M. Frame Park playdate will be 10am-noon this Friday at 1240 Frame Park Dr., Waukesha. It looks to be a really nice day! I will plan to be at Frame Park on Friday.

So sorry about the confusion!
Hope the rest of your week is less eventful...

Amy Gruetz.
414.791.3512

Playdate CHANGE for Tomorrow

Hi ladies!

Well the weather is just not cooperating for us (boo!) because tomorrow it is supposed to be thunderstormy and rainy, so we're just going to avoid dealing with it altogether instead of having to cancel another playdate at the last minute.

So here's the new and improved plan:

We are going to move our playdate tomorrow to The Big Backyard in New Berlin from 10-noon. (They do open at 9am, so if you'd like to show up earlier that's okay too.) The address is: 2857 S. 160th Street, New Berlin. 262-797-9117 Their website is: http://www.thebigbackyardwi.com/ Feel free to check it out, especially if you've never been there before. It's a really fun place, especially for those of us with pretty active kiddos... Oh, and I'll have my cell phone with me too if you need to get ahold of me in the morning - 414.791.3512.

We get a group rate which is $5/child (for kids over 1), kids under 1 and moms are free! You just need to tell them that you're with the Spring Creek MOM's group at the front desk when you're signing in to get the reduced rate.

The special this month is that when visiting, you'll also receive a $2 off coupon to use before September 30th.

Also ~ it may be sandals weather, but don't forget to bring SOCKS for both yourself and your kiddos! Otherwise, you'll have to buy some there.

And - on another note - hopefully you all have received or will be receiving a letter from us with details regarding next year's M.O.M. program, we hope you're as excited as we are about what God has in store for us all in the year ahead!

Hope to see you tomorrow!!
Amy

Summer Swim Playdate

Hey Moms,

Just a reminder that this Thursday July 15th at 10am we have a playdate scheduled at Rainbow Park in West Allis. The park is located at 700 S. 119th Street. Its best and easiest to get there off Greenfield Ave.

There is a wading pool there so bring swim stuff for the kids if you would like. Also this is a sand park so be prepared for that and maybe bring some sand toys for your kids to play with. :) Come hang out as long as your would like! We are planning on bringing a picnic lunch.

As of right now they are calling for rain Thursday morning. I am working on a plan if that happens but won't make the call till Thursday morning.

Please let me know if you are planning on joining us!

Hope to see you Thursday! :)

~Brianne Haust
262-613-2239"

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