Grace Church MOPS of Overland Park

Coordinator: Sarah W

Sarah serves as Co-Coordinator for Grace MOPS.  MOPS was introduced to her two years ago by her neighbor, Allison. Sarah says, "I am forever grateful, because I have loved the support from other moms in MOPS.  Getting wisdom and advice from other moms has made a huge impact on me." Sarah is married to Brett, and they have two children (Caleb-2, Chloe-almost 1).  They moved to Overland Park in 2005 from Tallahassee, Florida, where she graduated from Florida State.  Sarah loves to laugh with her husband and play with her children.  Some of her hobbies include recreational photography, organizing and cleaning, being outside, and swimming.  Her favorite thing to do is relax with her family at home, but she also enjoys hanging out with her girlfriends.    

Co-Coordinator: Lizz W

Lizz joined Grace MOPS in Fall 2007.  This year she is excited to be serving as the Co-Coordinator this year.  Lizz has been married to Tony, her college sweetheart, for eight years.  After a few years of marriage, their family quickly expanded from two to five.   Their three children are Katherine, 4 1/2, Graham, 3, and Evelyn, 1.    Lizz enjoys her family and is learning to love the fact that there is never a dull moment.  She also enjoys all things involving coffee, chocolate, and books.  A current obsession is writing on her blog.  Although not yet obsessed with it, she is trying to get back into running.  She was once a marathon runner, but now she'd be happy to run a 5K.

Publicity: Kristina L

Kristina started serving as Publicity Coordinator for Grace MOPS in the summer of 2008.  She publishes the newsletter and serves as webmaster for Grace MOPS. MOPS was introduced to her last year by her friend, Keelie. Kristina works for Kansas City Parent Magazine and Kansas City Baby Magazine as a writer and webmaster of www.kcparent.com. She and her husband, Ron (married 5 years) have two beautiful girls, Emily (3)  and Kayla (1). She relishes her fun time with them. Some of her hobbies include trying new things, herb gardening, cooking, reading, museums, historical re-enacting, and soap and candle making. Kristina LOVES going places in Kansas City, whether a local museum or garden, a new restaurant or park... she enjoys being a tourist in her own town.

TLC: Joanne H.

This is Joanne’s second year in MOPS and her first year serving as TLC Coordinator.  She remembers well how frazzled she felt during the MOPS kickoff meeting last year.  With 3-month old daughter in tow, she asked most of the MOPS Coordinators and Mentor Moms how they had handled having more than one child, let alone one!  It was so encouraging for her to hear “Frazzled is normal” and “It gets easier!!!”  And they were right!  She has been married to her best friend Peter for over three years and has a now 1.1-year old daughter Reagan.  Her favorite activities include reading, playing ‘Settlers of Catan,’ satellite-spotting at night with her hubby, and devising schemes to stay one step ahead of her little trailblazer.  She is excited to be serving as TLC Coordinator and is really looking forward the first MOPS meeting!

MOPPETS: Hilary M.

Hilary is serving as MOPPETS Coordinator for the first time this year. Hilary and her husband, Greg, celebrated their 10 year anniversary this year.  They have been blessed with their 5 year old son, Drake and their 2 year old, Cami.  Before moving to the Olathe area four years ago, Greg and Hilary lived in a suburb of Chicago for 7 years.  Although, they miss Chicago Pizza they are loving their life in Kansas.  They love their church family they have become a part of at Grace Church and loving teaching the kindergarten class together each Sunday morning.  Hilary is a part time 5^th grade teacher.  She loves being able to take Drake to school with her each day and see him in the hallway.  However, she truly enjoys her MOPS Mondays when she can spend time with other moms comparing stories.  “MOPS has stirred a passion inside of me that has made me want to serve other moms as well as be a better mom myself.”   Hilary enjoys reading a good book, doing boot camp four days a week, and loves spending time out in the sun.  However, her favorite thing to do is to spend time with her family doing fun things around the area.

Mentor Moms: Barb K

Barb is serving Mentor Mom Coordinator for the first time this year. Barb was a mentor mom last year which was her first introduction to MOPS. "It proved to be a real blessing in many ways. My husband, Phil and I moved to the K.C. area just one year ago after living in Wichita for 40 years. It was a great way to get acquainted with Christian women and to learn many things along the way. Both of our daughters-in-law are or have been involved in Grace's MOPS group so I was honored when invited to be a mentor mom," Barb says. Barb is a former elementary teacher, but then chose to stay home to raise her two sons, Trent and Tucker. She would have loved to have had the opportunity to be involved with MOPS when the boys were preschoolers. Phil and Barb just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. They both graduated from Sterling College in Sterling, KS. then lived in Tacoma, WA and Anchorage, AK before settling back in KS to be nearer to family which was very important to them. They are now enjoying our new adventure--- living in Kansas City and where they are blessed to be close to their children and five wonderful grandchildren. They know that this is where they are supposed to be. Barb most enjoys decorating, sewing and crafting with good friends.

Speaker Coordinator: Jennifer C

Jennifer is serving as Speaker Coordinator for the first time. Jennifer Cook joined Grace MOPS in January 2009 after reading about it in Kansas City Parent Magazine. It is truly a small world because Sarah W. returned her phone call when she inquired at Grace about MOPS, and they were all ready facebook friends in our KC and Florida State connections. Both spouses also attended FSU. Jennifer and Daniel have been married for 6 years and have two boys. Addison is 3 years old and Bryan was born June 2009. Jennifer says, "We are excited to participate in another year of MOPS with our new found friends!" Jennifer and her family moved to the KC area in August 2008, and recently bought a house in Olathe, KS. She enjoys the trails and trees of Johnson County to walk and run on both alone and with the boys. Art, reading, and exploring new places in this city also interest her.

Hospitality: Melissa L

Melissa is excited to be serving as Hospitality Coordinator for Grace MOPS. She joined the group 3 years ago after moving from Oregon to Kansas City. She was in desperate need of friends and knew MOPS would be a great way to meet new people. Quite to her surprise, she was asked to be the Creative Activities coordinator her first year at MOPS and from that grew a passion she can't let go. Melissa says, "Not a day goes by I don't think about how to make Grace MOPS even better!" She loves the fun of getting to be part of the steering team, but her favorite part of MOPS is the friendships she finds in this fabulous group of women. Melissa has been married to her college love, Gary for 9 years and they have two SUPER cute girls...Camryn (5) and Elise (3).