UNIT MEETING ON ZOOM

Celeste opened the zoom meeting with the UMW purpose and the prayer caeandar reading. She recognized these outgoing leaders: Cathy D'heron from mission selection committee chair, Diane 

Wells from SMR committee chair, Margie Olson from SMR committee, Lorna Broersma from committee of nominations, Jan Shultz and Jean Gibson from lunch bunch chairs, Barb Reed and Karma Boyd from Circle of Grace chairs, Pam Anders from Morning Joy chair and Janet Blume from Daughter of Lydia Co-chair.  New leaders were then recognized: Betty Johnson as Mission Selection committee chair and chair for Lunch Bunch, Karen Beagle and Linda Moles to co-chair Lunch Bunch, Debbie Smith joined mission selection committee, Carolyn Blankenship  SMR committee chair, Judy Stambaugh and Sharene Diehl are SMR committee member, Linda Welander will chair Daughter of Lydia and Noelene McCall and Dottie Mathias will co-chair Circle of Grace. 

 19 people were on the meeting. 

Linda  announced we are a Mission Today Unit, even though we didn't do a Mission study those who helped with the District ones counted for us this year.

Pat announce all the people who have read UMW books, most of those receiving recognition have read two books in each of the five categories.  Pam Anders and Barb Reed are level III readers and Sue Fink is a level IV. She encourages all to read the books, look at Response magazine and join the District book club.

Ann's financial report told how generous we are both globally and locally. Local donations were over $16,000 and  pledges totaled $6844. Our unit has given over $25,810.84 in all the different ways our circles and unit contribute financially. We are a 5 star unit and had 7 people be Rainbow Givers. 

Diane showed the  beautiful SMR pin with a ruby in it to be presented to Sharon Kowalski. We missed Sharon not joining us today.

For some Christmas fun each shared a special ornament or decoration that means something special to them. Carolyn has glass birds she was given when they she was married.

Celeste had pictures of her precious granddaughter.

Andrea has started collecting shell ornaments for her beach house tree.

Pam  had a tree topper angel made by a woman from UMW on Merritt Island years ago. Amazing that Jan also has the same angel she made 50 years ago.

Jan shared an ornament that she made for her mom in 2005.

Karen  showed a  beautiful ball that Jan had made her last year.

Sue has a lovely statue of Mary and Joseph that they received when working in Ocala.

Betty has homemade ornaments she did on 1971 when married.

Pat has a little olive wood nativity she purchased in Saudi Arabia. Christmas is hidden in the shops there but this was out on display.

Sandi has a lovely dove with the message Peace on Earth.

Evelyn and Linda (sorry missed your picture) shared pictures they had made at the workshops at the Florida Women's Retreat. 

Ann's ornament may need to be censored since she is a nude little angel. It was given to her by her grandmother and has always hung on her tree.  Her children put it right in the front.

Cathy shared pictures given to her each year by the neighbor children she loves.

Diane's has a bear from her mother's collection.

Barb's daughter made this angel when she was in 2nd grade, 50 years ago,

Noelene didn't have sound on her computer but used her phone to talk, so her phone showed up when she shared. She has a collection of Disney ornaments to give to her grandchildren,

Sharing memories of these ornaments helps to remember lovely Christmases and people who are so special to us. It was a nice way to celebrate. Merry Christmas.

VIRTUAL FLORIDA WOMEN'S RETREAT

Sunday afternoon the Florida United Methodist Women had a Women's Retreat on Zoom.

Pastor Monique McBride, of Christ Church was the presenter.

 There were 48 women in attendance. Four were from our unit.

The first workshop was about the liturgical seasons.  We thought of all the ways we mark time, what a gift time is, how we spend our time and the importance of a Sabbath. The liturgical seasons follow the life of Christ. We looked at each season: when it is occurs, what is means, colors used during it and an idea of how to celebrate it.

After a 15 minute break we had the next workshop about Advent Prayer Bullet Journaling. 

You could make a calendar,

or a drawing and in each block write what you were praying about. It helps you to keep focus and a good way to look back over prayers through the year.

We then made an advent prayer wreath. Listing things that bring you hope, peace, joy, and love.

The next workshop was baking chocolate chip cookies. It pretty much followed all chocolate chip cookies recipes, except used more sugar and lots of chips. You melted the butter, added sugar and eggs. Mixed the dry ingredients, added them to the butter mixture and then stirred in the chips. Baked at 350 for about 13 minutes. 

We used a spring scoop to put them on the cookie sheet. All I had was an ice cream scoop so they were pretty big. I made about 3 dozen.

Wish I could give you one, but I will share with my neighbors. They are very rich.

We closed with a beautiful worship service.

The true meaning of Christmas and what Christ offers us.

Monique loves books and shared many good ones for each workshop. She read us this one.

This event was a very informative and an enjoyable way to spend the second Sunday of Advent.  I hope sharing this with you will  encourage you to join other UMW zoom events in the future.

 May this Advent season bring blessing and comfort to you. Merry Christmas.

PRESENTATION OF CHECKS FROM FUNDS RAISED AT BAZAAR

 Evelyn and Diane delivered the check from our unit to Denise at Forward Path,  along with a few personal donations of cash from other members. Items that had been collected from members were also delivered. Several blankets, pillows and towels were donated and given. They were especially needed with the drop in temperatures to providing shelter for homeless youth on cold nights

Denise is very appreciative of all our help. She has asked for our prayers as she has a big meeting this Friday at 1:00 pm regarding the building of the Tiny Homes. 

Barbara  presented Nancy a check for $500 for LovExtension on Wednesday. Dec 2. This was made possible due to hard work our members pit in at the bazaar in November. The new LovExtension quarters are much larger with lots of extra space for them to function in. 

STOCKING DELIVERY

 Christmas stockings and hats were delivered to South Lake Women's Hospital on Monday by Diane and Judy. The woman holding the stocking is expecting her baby on Christmas. 

47th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The 47 annual conference was held using Zoom on Saturday, November 14.  Nine women from our unit joined the meeting. There were 185 attendees from all around Florida.

Dr. Judith Pierre Okerson. conference President called the meeting to order right at 10 o'clock. 

Bishop William Carter gave the invocation. He reported that 4 of the 8 superintendents in Florida are women.

Donna Spear, conference treasurer gave Mission Giving recognitions. There were 88 Five Star Unit, proudly we are one of therm. And 140 Rainbow Givers with seven of our unit members on the list. 

A nice memorial Service was conducted.

Anne Winn gave the number of members who have passed away from each district. ECD had 12. Atlantic Central had 79 and Gulf Central had 61, they are large numbers.  I wonder if many lost their lives in storms? 

Ressie Mae Bass gave a nice tribute to Ann Hunter, former Conference President who passed away this year.

Edith Bricker spoke about Social Action for  Climate Justice.

She gave us training on using our phones for the letter writing campaign to Chevon to cut methane emission. 

It is very easy, here is what you need to do. Go to unitedmethodistwomen.org

 At the bottom of the web site click on advocacy. Scroll down to Climate Justice and click on it. Scroll to Sign the letter to Chevron and click on it. Fill in the form with your information and click on the space for the draft letter to appear, and then hit submit. 

Harriet Jane Olson was the guest speaker

 She gave a great motivational and informational speech on how UMW is moving forward. She reminded us to breath and see how we are all in it together, both locally and globally. She reminded us to recognize success we have had during the pandemic, both personally and as units. She reviewed projects that UMW have been doing especially in social action. She highlighted three projects in Africa that are helping women there to become leaders and given livelihood training. The Faith Talks that occur twice a month and podcast. How we all have grown in use of technology. This has encouraged younger women to become more involved and seeing UMW as more relevant. 

The business meeting was opened. Four new officers were voted on and installed.

 Mission U will be held in mid July at Southern Florida College and also virtual with School to Prison Pipeline being the topic studies.

 There is a  virtual women's retreat to be held on Dec. 6 from 1:30 to 6:00.  The cost is $10 and you register at www.flconfumw.org. It sounds like a nice event. 

The meeting ended exactly at noon.