MOPS OF GREENVILLE Stay in the Loop! Pz aera ae Peas eee ee New Year’s Resolutions Happy New Year! Do you make New Year's resolutions? If 0, I've got one to add to the list. As | fil out my new, crisp calendar, they lurk there in the back of my mind, as they always do at this time of year. | try to lock them up tight to keep them from surfacing, but they just keep popping up. Hard as | try, those stubborn New Year's Resolutions hang in the air around me like a stinky diaper. At first, when they started to appear, years ago, | vowed that my only New Year's resolution would be to have no resolutions! But it was only a matter of time before | cracked and started memorizing new phrases in Spanish and trying to make it through a whole day without voicing a single complaint. And quicker than it takes Wal-Mart to turn their shelves from Christmas to Valentine's Day, had a lengthy list of resolutions in front of me. ‘This year, I've decided to have only one resolution - to do the best | can, on both the little things and the big things. The day may come when I forget to learn the Spanish word for "time-out, now!" or | let one little complaint slip through my lips, but | know that it doesn’t mean | will have fled. God's grace is something | can incorporate into my resolutions, knowing that he will help me work towards them bie by bic. Jessica Potter, MOPS International Verse of the Month ‘The Lord has done great things for us and we are filed with joy!” Psalm 1 26:3 Stay in the Loop is a publication for MOPS of Greenville at Riverside Baptist Church in Greer, South CarolinaVOLUME II, ISSUE 4 Comfort Food January is all about winter and comfort food! Here are a few recipes perfect for a chilly day! PAGE 2 Deen's Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie ingredients 2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots 1/2 cup frozen green peas 1 (10 3/4-ounee) can eream of chicken soup © | cup chicken broth Salt and pepper, optional 112 cups insane biscuit mix T cup milk | stick meled buter « Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Ina greased 2-quart casserole, ayer the chicken, eggs, carrots, and peas. Mix the soup, chicken broth, and season with sale and pepper, if desired. Pour over the layers, Stir together the biscuit mix and milk, and pour this over the ‘casserole. Drizzle butter over the topping. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Around Town - ‘The weather ouside may be fright bu there are tons of hing odo to keep you feeling delightful! = Jan.8 The Snow Day Pretend Play @ Hughes Main Library 10:30 and 3:30 for ages 2-5, Jan. 13. Marshmellow Polar Bears @ Hughes Main Library 10:30-1 1:00 for ages 3-5 with a caregiver. Call 527-9248 to regis- =Jan. 19. George's Club @ The Pavilion 10:00 call 288-6470 for more info and fees = Jan. 28-31 Winter Wonderland @ The Children’s Museum of the Upstate Includes Indoor Ice Skating Rink, Carolina Ballet ‘Theatre Performances, Pajama Day with Hot Chocolate in the Cafe, Penguin Day and Workshops on the Science of Snow Call 233-7755 for more detals New Arrivals! Jennifer and Travis Pitman welcomed Payden Hope on December 26th. Happy Birthday, Payden! Ken and Kelly Woodard welcomed lain Woodard on December 23rd. Happy Birthday, lain!VOLUME II, ISSUE 4 PAGE 3 Syrup on the Watile # By Suzanne Lawson Mentor Mom Happy New Year! | pray that you had a blessed Christmas; | had a wonderful time with my family. Typically, the first pare of January is when retail stores take inventory. They evaluate what sold and what didn't, and they clearance out old stock to make way for the new and to streamline their merchandise mix. This is the time of year that | also like to “take inventory”. | first look back over the Christmas season. What worked and what didn't? Are there any activities | want to incorporate as new traditions? Any recipes I want to repeat next year? Any new shopping strategies? Did | take on too much and need to cut back? Next, | do a physical inven- | tory. | clean out my closets. Are there any clothes in my closet that haven't seen the light of day in years? A "style | have been holding on to, waiting for it co come back around? Shoes that look “really good” but hurt like § crazy when I wear them (can | have a witness?!)? | can have comfort and fashion at the same time (oh, how ! love Aerosoles). The old adage is that we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. I'd say that’s probably pretty accurate. Donate what you don't use anymore to charity. | employ this strategy with my kids. Each year £T save one outfit and some of their favorite toys. | have some things from when | was a child, and they are very special to me. If you can't seem to part with your favorite old clothes, keep one item for posterity and put the rest in a box in your basement or attic with the date you packed them up. If after a year you haven't gotten into ‘the box to wear anything, donate that box to charity. | also use this strategy with household items and trin- # kets. If ie doesn’t have some special meaning and is just collecting dust, | get rid of it. Cleaning out and eliminat- Fing clutter is actualy quite liberating. Now, I know it isn't an easy thing for clutterbugs and shopaholics. I've been there. | grew up in a home with a mom who loved to shop—when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!” But after | had moved to South Carolina and went back to Florida to see a friend who was dying of ¥ cancer (leaving behind a husband and 5 year old daughter at the time), | learned a very important life lesson-~ the ! {best things in life are not things. : | also take inventory of my health. I'm continuing to incorporate healthier eating choices. | also look at any gen- ‘eral health issues | need to address. I recently got my teeth cleaned. Greenville Tech dental clinic is wonderful; = ie takes some work to get in, but it’s worth it, a huge savings for those of us without dental insurance. Remem= ber, your permanent teeth don’t have backups. | also got my eyes checked last week, and I have a new prescrip: tion. Same thing—only get one set of eyes, so we need to take care of them, and | want to see things as clearly as possible. I'm continuing to exercise (Sabre 12’s anyone?), and I'm adding some different forms of exer- E cise. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; He's in me, and | was bought with a price. Hallelujah! EWell, there is one more area in which | take inventory, and saved the most important one for last. I's a new year, and a lot has been made of it being a new decade, There is alot of talk about new year’s resolutions. | ‘made one resolution this year, and | actually renew it every day. Ic isto live my life with purpose, and that pur- # pose is to glorify God. It seems so complicated, and yet so simple. In this crazy world we lve in, it’s easy to lose focus, to wonder “What's the point of ital” or if you can make a difference, You start looking around and ‘comparing (we women are good at comparing). But guess what? | have great news! There's only one you (thankfully so; my family says one of me in this world is enough), and no one can be you but you. You are fear- fully and wonderfully made, God loves you, and He has a plan for your life. He wants you to let Him help you live it, Who better to ask for help than your Creator?! So when the going gets tough, know that you don’t have ‘to handle it on your own. Remember who you are and Whose you are, and live each day to the glory of 'God. There is a lost world out there desperately searching for something this world cannot offer them. Let | them see Jesus in you. We all ned that kindof mirror. Blessings “* —Suzanne. Stay in the Loop