Jenna Potts of The Morning Thing talked with Catherine Woods, President of (RUC) Relationships Under Construction. Catherine shared the passion, mission and goals of this ministry. She also talked about their upcoming fundraising banquet.
Click HERE to hear their conversation.
Click HERE to find out more about RUC or to register to attend their fundraising banquet on 4/6/17.
(from www.daysoftheyear.com)
Single Parents’ Day celebrates those brave people that do it on their own, and in many cases without a safety net.
Most single parents didn’t intend to be single parents when they started. Single parenthood usually comes about due to unfortunate and stressful events. Raising children even with two parents can be hard work, so take a moment to applaud those people who, usually through no fault of their own, are having to fly solo.
Today, The Morning Thing shared encouragement for both single Dads and Moms.
Here are 5 Encouragements for Single Dads from www.allprodad.com
For a single dad, time is at a very high premium. Work eats up most of it, so task overload can easily swallow what remains. Mouths to feed, dishes to clean, clothes to wash, and all the chores and charms of home that need your attention. As a generalization, try not to feel guilty if you leave the dishes in the sink overnight. Place the emphasis and importance on being with your children to play, read, or just simply talk.
A great many single parents find themselves in financial distress. Keep in mind that the thing your kids need most from you is your love and attention. After that, separate the true needs from the pile and place top priority on them—things such as food, shelter, and clothing. Children don’t always understand why they can’t have everything they desire, but one day they will.
It is difficult and challenging being the only adult in the room long term. Loneliness, stress, and depression are common for single parents. Know that you are not alone. There are 1.7 million others in your same boat who are experiencing the same things. Be sure to take time for yourself to recharge and strengthen your mind.
With divorce, the ex-spouse is still a very big part of family life and always will be. How that relationship is handled and functions is extremely important, not only to the children but also to your overall mental state. In dating and new relationships, extreme care must be taken when introducing new people into the life of the family. Resentment or early attachments are just two of the standard pitfalls. Keep the hope of love in your heart always, but be mindful of far-reaching, unintended consequences.
Family, friends, babysitters, teachers, mentors, and all sorts of people take a role in your family life. However, divorce can take a big toll on family support; judgment and bitter feelings can split friends. Try to display humility and understanding towards those in your life. In most cases, they won’t understand the entire picture and will see only what they want to see. Only time and a new stable reality will change those perceptions. Be patient.
Hey Single Moms, we have encouragement for you too from www.imom.com
Here are ideas from author, Lisa Appelo
Your single mom friend needs someone she can trust. She may need to talk about a hard day, wrestle through an issue or talk about how she’s feeling. Be a safe friend who your single mom friend can confide in. Listening well is a huge gift you can give her.
One of the hardest things about single parenting is the sheer number of decisions that have to be made alone. The single mom makes hundreds of decisions by herself every day. I cannot begin to describe how helpful it is to have a friend I trust for advice. As a friend, you can ask questions to help the single mom work through a big decision or bring an objective perspective to her decision-making.
Going from married to single meant that my workload doubled. Between work, house, yard, finances and parenting, most single moms have way too much to do. Be understanding if your single mom friend can no longer do the things you used to together. If she can’t get out for coffee, bring it over to her house one night after the kids are in bed. Instead of the annual birthday shopping trip, offer to take her kids shopping for her birthday presents.
This is a place where you can be a huge help. While my husband and I used to divide and conquer the parent meetings, practices, and lessons, nowadays I often have to be two places at once. You can always set up carpooling ahead of time but look for a spontaneous need as well. If you see her child at practice, text her and offer to drive her child home.
Married parents can lean on each other when making decisions or encourage on the hard days, but single parents are going it alone. This is where a good atta-girl goes a long way. Be specific. A good report on character shown by one of her kids or affirmation of how your friend handled something will give her a huge boost to dig down and keep parenting well.
When my husband died and I was suddenly single, I worried my friendships would change. Most single moms have already gone through a painful loss and the last thing they need with all the change and upheaval is to lose a good friend. It might look different, but find a way to include your single mom friend and make sure she knows that her singleness doesn’t affect your friendship.
The MVNU Women’s Auxiliary Conference is this weekend, March 17-18. Babbie Mason is the featured speaker. The event will take place in the MVNU Chapel Auditorium. Go to www.mvnu.edu/womensaux for details on tickets.
Friday’s session starts at 7pm. Saturday’s session starts at 9am.
Jenna Potts of The Morning Thing had a chance to chat with Babbie about her passion and theme for this weekend’s conference. Click HERE to hear their conversation.
Schedule:
Cost: $40 for both days or $20 for one.
Speaker: Babbie Mason
Babbie Mason is an award-winning singer, songwriter, teacher and TV talk show host. Her ministry and career have blessed countless thousands for almost three decades, taking her across the globe where she has encouraged the hearts of young and old alike in churches, conferences and corporate conventions. She teaches women that they matter to God and that they can overcome any obstacle they may face. Women all over America and abroad have encountered Jesus in an atmosphere of acceptance, forgiveness and love.
Babbie Mason’s heart-felt lyrics and singable melodies have been translated in over twenty languages. She is the recipient of two Dove Awards, and many other award nominations. In 2010 Babbie was recognized for her contributions in Gospel music by being inducted into The Christian Music Hall of Fame. Although Babbie Mason is known all over the world for her contributions of encouraging words and beautiful music, she remains humble, recognizing her blessings come from above. When you meet her, you’ll meet a friend with a love for God and people.
Music: John Stone
John Stone is a seasoned worship leader that believes worship is a lifestyle. John’s mission and purpose can be summed up in this short statement: “delighting God should be our number one priority in all of life. When hearts are right in living out our faith, the manifest presence of God seems to always show up. God delights in the praises of His people!”
He serves full-time as Executive Pastor while still providing weekly worship experiences at Countryside Church of the Nazarene in Lebanon, Ohio. Conferences and various events have become a regular thing for him through the years and he has just released a new recording of original songs that he has been presenting throughout 2015, titled “Everything.”
Do you ever feel like you are in a dinner rut? Making the same 3-4 recipes each week? Do you need some new ideas? Great!
The Morning Thing shared the idea of a meal planning schedule from http://allyscooking.com/.
Click HERE for Ally’s recipes for each day of this 2 week meal plan.
We also shared some sneaky cooking swaps that will make your meals even healthier!
Are you brave enough to try these food swaps?
Black beans for Flour?
Avocado for Butter?
Rolled Oats for Bread Crumbs?
Greek Yogurt for Mayonnaise?
Pumpkin for Oil?
or Applesauce for Oil?
Click HERE to read more about these sneaky and interesting Food Swaps.
Let us know if you have any food swaps. Email wnzr@mvnu.edu
March is Caffeine Awareness Month.
(From www.daysoftheyear.com) Caffeine Awareness Month is a great time to get the low down on exactly how much caffeine you are consuming in a day and if that is having any harmful effects on your body. Some uses of caffeine are as an additive to medicine or food so you may not even realize that you are consuming it.
History of Caffeine Awareness Month
In 2003, the Caffeine Awareness Alliance was formed to advocate for a caffeine-free industry. Their goal is to provide information and resources for everyone in the industry from executives, retailers, and media. It is this organization that has sponsored the creation of Caffeine Awareness Month. The stated goal for the month is to be a health awareness campaign that can help people to make informed decisions about the consumption of caffeinated products.
There are some facts about caffeine that may come as a surprise to you. There are about 60 different plants that have caffeine in them including cocoa, coffee beans, tea leaves, and kola. This means that you may not always know if there is caffeine in a product because, in the United States, the Federal Food and Drug Administration does not require companies to list the amount of caffeine in the nutritional information.
The commonly held safe amount of caffeine consumed in a day is 400mg. That is equal to about 10 cans of soda, 5 cups of coffee or 2 energy drinks.
Click HERE to see a chart of products that contain caffeine and the estimated amounts. Use Caffeine Awareness Month to learn all you can about this stimulant and how it is working in your life.
www.caffeineinformer.com put together a list of the top benefits of caffeine. Click HERE for the full list.
The top 10 include:
www.caffeineinformer.com also put together a list of the harmful effects of caffeine. Click HERE for the full list.
The top 10 include:
Most of us want to be more likeable. If we are honest, many of us believe that likeable characteristics come at birth. Some people are just the lucky few—the good looking, the fiercely social, and the incredibly talented.
Dr. Travis Bradberry says that this is a misconception. He shares 11 habits of ridiculously likeable people. He says that we all have an EQ – Emotional Intelligence. Ninety percent of top performers have high EQs, people with high EQs make $29,000 more annually than people with low EQs, and a single-point increase in your EQ adds $1,300 to your salary.
To help you improve your EQ, Dr. Bradberry did some digging to uncover the key behaviors that emotionally intelligent people engage in that make them so likeable.
Click HERE for the entire article from www.linkedin.com
They are genuine.
They ask thoughtful questions.
They don’t pass judgment.
They don’t seek attention.
They are consistent.
They use positive body language.
They leave a strong first impression.
They greet people by name.
They smile.
They know who to touch (and they touch them).
They balance passion and fun.
Likeable people are invaluable and unique. They network with ease, promote harmony in the workplace, bring out the best in everyone around them, and generally seem to have the most fun. Add these skills to your repertoire and watch your likeability soar!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world’s leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, TIME, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.
On Christa and Cameron’s last day on the Morning Thing before Marcy and Crew return, they heard from Dr. Spaulding about the March MVNU update. To hear the whole interview, click HERE.
They also heard from the co-hosts about their favorite things to do on Spring Break for the Morning Thing Fave Five. To hear from everyone, click HERE!
Congrats to our Birthday and Anniversary winners: John Singrey whose birthday was February 28th and Ryan and Laura Wood whose anniversary was March 1st!
Today on the Morning Thing, Christa and Cameron talked about 5 Ways to be a Better Listener:
They also talked about 5 ways to Pray Intentionally for Your Spouse:
It’s International Compliment Day and on the Morning Thing and Cameron and Christa spent the morning complimenting each other and talking about the best compliments that you can give or receive.
They also shared some unique and creative compliment ideas and, since this holiday is international, after all, they talked about some compliments in other languages that might not translate so well.
The Impossible Trivia Question was about the lesser known monotreme (mammals that lay eggs) the echidna or spiny anteater. Congrats to Cameron from Utica for getting this one right!
This morning Cameron and Christa talked about ways to grow in your faith, starting with the fruits of the spirit. You can learn more about the fruits of the spirit from this link.
The Impossible Trivia question was linked to yesterday’s Afternoon Drive where they talked about the origin of the word “clue” (it means “a ball of yarn” and was used to navigate a famous labyrinth in Ancient Greece).
They also talked about Abraham and his faithfulness through all of his trials.
You can hear more encouraging ways to strengthen your walk with Christ every day on the Morning Thing, 6-9am!
Rise and Shine 