3rd Annual Valley Walk for LIFE!

We have our first Mom's Day Out scheduled for this Saturday, October 25th! Come out and show your support at the 3rd Annual Walk for LIFE! All the proceeds will go towards helping the Crisis Pregnancy Center. The CPC offers free services and support to women who are faced with an unplanned pregnancy. Some of the services include ultrasounds, information about parenting, adoption resources, and spiritual guidance. We hope that all of the women who are faced with an unplanned pregnancy will choose LIFE for their unborn child. This is something that's near and dear to my heart since I will forever be grateful to my daughters' birth mom for choosing life for them. I cannot imagine what she was going through but having the courage to give birth to twins at such a young age is nothing short of a selfless act of love.

Please join us on Saturday morning for a brisk 2 mile walk around Southwest Community Church. Bring your family, your strollers, and of course, any pledges that you've collected. It's sure to be a fun morning of celebration, games, bounce houses, prizes, and food for everyone!

For those with pledges to donate, registration begins at 8:00 a.m.
If you just want to come out to show your support by walking with your fellow M2M'ers, the walk begins at 9:00 a.m. See you there!

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. ~Jeremiah 1:5

Blessings,
Catherine

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Mentor Mom Panel

Can you believe that we're already mid-way through this session?

We still have lots more to come so I hope that you are feeling encouraged, refreshed, and inspired in some way. I don't know about you but our mornings always seem to fly by way too fast- especially on a day like Mentor Mom Panel day. I'm so glad that the panel will be back next session for two weeks straight. I already have more questions! In fact, I better write them down before I forget.

The thing I love about our mentor moms is that they'd be the first to tell you that didn't do everything right and that they made mistakes. In other words, they are not sitting at our tables because they were perfect or raised perfect kids. In many ways, we are learning from their mistakes and gaining wisdom from the things they did right. The overwhelming theme that resonates with all of them is that motherhood/parenting requires a daily relationship with the Lord. We must learn to take everything to Him. The One who already knows our struggles, our problems, our strengths and our weaknesses. The One who gives us grace, tenderness, wisdom, energy, and the encouragement to carry on another day, for our children and for Him.

I hope that you heard at least one thing yesterday that you connected with. Here are 8 things that stood out for me...

1. Play with your kids more! I am that mom who does too much housekeeping and not enough playing with my girls. I often feel like I'm Martha in the bible and I so want to be her sister, Mary!

2. God delights in ME! He is not keeping score of all the times I screwed up as a mom.

3. We don't need to ask our kids permission. Therefore, when we tell them something, do not end the sentence with, "Okay?" When giving instruction or correction to our kids, our words should be a statement, not a question.

4. Get rid of the mom guilt that is permeating our society. As women, we often compare ourselves to other women and other moms. We are all uniquely and wonderfully made (and so are our kids)!

5. We cannot fix everything in our child's life. We need to accept that. As parents we have the responsibility to teach them how to process life's struggles, fears, disappointments, anger, sadness, etc. Teach them to pray to God about everything and encourage them to communicate with you always. The best way to do this would be by example! Let your kids see you pray out loud about all kinds of things.

6. Loving our husbands well, gives our children a sense of security.

7. A reward system using charts or special privileges can be a fun way to encourage your child's participation and promote taking initiative.

8. Keep your word!

"Pour out your hearts like water before the face of the LORD; lift up your hands toward him for the life of your children."

~Lamentations 2:19

So what about you? What was your main take-away from yesterday?

Blessings,

Catherine

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M2M Cookbook!

Get out those yummy recipes for the first ever Mom2Mom cookbook! The holidays are just around the corner and that usually means there's more family in town and more cooking to do. I know that I'm always looking for some new and tasty ideas so this will come at the perfect time! Please email your recipes to Shannon Webb at mailto:mcaliwebbrn@hotmail.com or simply bring your recipe to M2M on Wednesday. The deadline before we go to print is October 29th! Feel free to submit as many recipes as you'd like and any type of dish is welcome!

The cookbook will be available to purchase for a nominal fee under $5.

Taste and see that the LORD is good!
~Psalm 34:8

Blessings,
Catherine

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God's Faith & Grace

Written by Hailey White

We were blessed this week to have our very own Catherine Gough share her testimony with us. I don’t know about you but I was captivated the entire time. I found the Lord speaking directly to me about how truly amazing he is to bring two lives together to serve Him.

Wasn’t their love story wonderful? Catherine shared how she was looking for love in all the wrong places and it wasn’t until she ended an unhealthy relationship that the Lord used that wise decision to change the course of her life. She also shared how Lisa Beamer’s testimony in her book “Let’s Roll” gave her a desire for a purpose driven life, something she had always wanted. I was mesmerized listening to the perfect orchestration of their marriage and how the Lord used Catherine’s new found salvation a year into their marriage to ignite her husbands love for the Lord that he was once so passionate for. Isn’t God amazing?

The best part was that her story didn’t end there. She went on to share how the Lord closed her womb to open up her heart. She shared their path towards adoption and how faith untested is faith unchanged. With pictures of her adopted twin girls Faith and Grace on the overhead screen, I welled up inside, selfishly imagining that if they had never adopted those beautiful girls that I wouldn’t have had the chance to know them. I suppose that’s how the Lord feels about us, wanting us to know that He knows us, and wanting us to be adopted into His family.

“he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure, and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace...” Ephesians 1:5-7

Catherine closed by sharing her calling with us. To raise her children to Love the Lord, and to glorify God in all she does.

What about you? Share with us how Catherine’s story impacted your life?

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Detox

Once again, JJ Virgin was energetic, dynamic, and full of knowledge and information. If you felt like you should be changing your entire lifestyle today, I hope you weren't left feeling overwhelmed or discouraged. With so much information thrown at us in such a short period of time, I thought it was helpful to just focus on making one commitment for change. Maybe there are a couple of things that you will incorporate in your life going forward? Perhaps it's more fiber in your diet, eating less sugar, passing on the splenda, or trying to break a sweat everyday? Hopefully, this morning gave you the fuel to get enthusiastic about your health.
And let's face it, if you get healthy, inevitably, so will your family!

Of course, God wants us to take good care of our earthly bodies that He has given us. After all, it is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
As moms, I believe it's also important so that we can be an active participant and role model in the lives of our young children.

Much in the same way that JJ encouraged us to detoxify our bodies, God's word says that we need to remain pure and rid ourselves from everything that contaminates our bodies and souls. We live in such a toxic culture today don't we? Even as Christians, we are not safe from all the "junk" in this world.

Let's look at what God's word says...

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
~1 Corinthians 10:31

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
~2 Corinthians 7:1

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will.
~Romans 12:2

By the way, in keeping with my new commitment, I write this as I skip my caffeine free Diet-Coke for my tall glass of water. Oh, yum! :)

Have a great week, ladies!

Blessings,
Catherine

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Fireproof

We'd love to hear from anyone who saw the movie Fireproof this weekend. My husband and I went on Saturday night to a packed movie theatre. We had to sit in the 5th row! By the way, it was great to see some of you there! From what I understand, it was equally packed on Friday night. Fireproof is an inspiring movie starring Kirk Cameron (The Way of the Master). It's about a couple whose marriage is on the brink of divorce. Unlike other Hollywood movies, this one reminds us that love is not simply a feeling, it is a choice. God wants us to make that choice everyday, much in the same way that He chooses to love us. We came home and immediately got online to order our copy of the Love Dare book! As the book says, "Whether your marriage is hanging by a thread or healthy and strong, The Love Dare is a journey you need to take. It’s time to learn the keys to finding true intimacy and developing a dynamic marriage. Take the dare!" It has sold over 500,000 copies so far!

Please go and support this inspiring movie! And don't forget your Kleenex!

Blessings,
Catherine

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M2M Begins!

Kerri welcomes us.

The tables are full!

Our guest speaker, Kelly Asbell and her family (with Bridgette).

What an awesome morning we had! Could you feel the excitement and energy? OK, maybe it was just me. There are so many new faces at M2M! As you could tell, our morning registration table was a little taken aback by the wave of women that came this morning. The first day is always a little hectic but God is so good to provide. Speaking of provide... how about all those loving childcare volunteers? We couldn't even have this ministry without them. Thank you for watching our kids!

Our first guest speaker was Bridgette's friend, Kelly Asbell. She and her family are here visiting from Indiana. Boy, did she have a story to tell! I was touched by her testimony and judging from the sniffles that I heard around me, so were some of you. It reminded me of Ephesians 3:20. "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us."

That just reminds me that God has bigger plans for us than we can even dream up for ourselves! The key is learning to submit to His will and so often, it requires a surrendering of our own. Therein lies the journey. It's one that I have experienced first-hand and I can tell you that it leads to freedom, true joy, peace, and a down-pouring of blessing after blessing.

I love the fact that Kelly is consciously leaving a legacy of faith to her children. Whether we struggle with an illness like Cystic Fibrosis or not, let's face it, we all have an unknown and limited amount of time left on this earth. I cannot think of a better gift to leave our children than the gift of faith.

We hope that you enjoyed this first morning of M2M. It was a privilege to be with all of you today. You are in our prayers!

Blessings,

Catherine

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