REMIND, RESTORE, REFRESH

The FL Conference United Women in Faith was held at Lakeland United Methodist Church on Saturday, November  9th. 
 

Message and invocation was given by Rev. Dr. Simon Osunlana, S.E. District Superintendent. The scripture that had been read was Matthew5:13 about being salt. He shared how salt is used to preserves and prevents decay.  United Women in Faith has that mission today.  

Bishop Tom Berlin was the speaker. He talked more about salt and that we are the salt people need in this world.  We need to invite women in to fight off the problem of  loneliness. Our mission is powerful. People need us to show goodness, love and kindness. United Women in Faith in Jesus Christ.  Women don't join if all we do is gossip, complain and argue about how to spend a few dollars. We need to show wisdom, love and caring. We need to be grounded in scripture, prayer and service. 

We had a nice lunch and on display were 260 dolls of all races that units had bought and dressed to be given to daycares. 

Linda Parrish the conference president and Donna Spears, the conference treasurer holding one of the dolls.

 So many cute dolls and outfits. Much love shown. 

NEW WINDOWS

 The beginning of September we ordered new windows for the bedrooms and kitchen - doubled paned, and stronger for hurricanes. We have had two hurricanes since, one with very strong winds and we had no damage. October 29th  the new windows were installed. He did a nice job. The windows open easily, have screens, and will keep  more heat and sound out. May we never have to have them tested with a stronger hurricane. 

The kitchen window. The window dividers are between the panes of glass, so it will be easier to clean.

The bedroom window.  Next to put up the blinds, which a cleaned, and hang the freshly washed curtains. 

FOOD DROP

Friday morning, October 25th, Well of Hope Food Bank had a food drop. Second Harvest brings a truck full of food. Tents are set up, tables brought out and cars line up.

Pallets of food are unloaded -meats, vegetables, can goods and then divided and bagged.

 70 volunteers from many different organizations and businesses come to help.  I work at the food banks usually on Monday mornings. I try to help at the food drops, but it is a lot harder work.

Potatoes and onions. Bags and bags. This is where I help. First we put 15 potatoes and 3 head of broccoli in a bag. In another bag we put 15 onions and 8 ear of corn. When we ran out of broccoli and corn we bagged potatoes with onions, eventually we were just down to bags of onions. 

I think about 300 families received food. 

ANASTASIA STATE PARK

We were suppose to Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine from Sunday October 20 to Wednesday the 23rd. Larry had an eye doctor appointment at Lake Nona VA Monday morning, so we didn't get to leave till noon on Monday.  Larry did drive across Wellness Way and onto the 429. He pulled over and I drove the rest of the way on 429 and onto 4. Right before getting onto 95 there was an object across the lane I was traveling in. I couldn't safely swerve to the other lane. I tried to go over it, which I did but it was a piece of metal that was curved up on the end, I think a bumper. It got caught underneath and I dragged it for a bit. I pulled off and Larry looked underneath. Some fluid was leaking- brake, transmission, jack?? Larry drove onto 95 in pouring rain and we saw Buc-ees at Daytona was at the next exit. We pulled in, called Coach net and waited for the tow truck. The Ford dealership they located to service our RV was 85 miles south in Melbourne. We drove the car to the dealership setting there before they closed and made arrangements for staying in the lot over night in the RV.

The RV arrived about 8:30.  The next day when the looked at it they found the fluid tank for the jacks had been punctured. We loaded up the car with our food, clothes and Patty and drove 80 miles west back to Clermont. Hopefully they will have it repaired in the next week or so.
 

SENSORY HALLOWEEN

Community of  Faith had a special Halloween for children who are sensitive to loud noises and other stimulus. Families were welcomed as they arrived and explained where to go and what to do.

Balloons on a stick were a big hit.

Homemade cookies with ingredients listed.

A popular event was having a balloon creation made.

A friendly skeleton was created.

Tactile pools of fun. 

Looking for buried treasure.

Coloring and the markers only work on the paper.

In the hallway there were eight places to stop and get a treat.  Jane came in costume.

Besides candy there was bubbles, glow sticks, and other little toys.

Kathy is the children ministry leader and wanted all children to experience the fun of Halloween. 

EAT TO THE BEAT

It was a nice day so we went into Disney.  Every time we go in Larry has to go through security for his glass case sets off the alarm. We parked at Hollywood Studios and walked around there for a while and enjoyed the sing along at Frozen. 

We rode the Skyliner over to Epcot.

We arrived in time for the Eat to the Beat Show.

We didn't know who he was but he had a following and were singing along with his songs.

He was a very good entertainer and we enjoyed the show. 

 

HURRICANE MILTON

It was a little scary with all the warning about the strong winds and rain for days before the hurricane arrived. We made a safe room in the inside closet in case of a tornado. It started raining in the afternoon and the wind got stronger and stronger through out the night.  I stayed up to midnight then went to bed. Larry cam to bed about 4 when he said the eye of the storm was passed. I could hear clanging and our motion light kept coming on. Thought the lanai may be falling apart.  In the morning the ponds were full.

The lanai and all of our house was fine.  We never even loss power. The banging we  had heard was the roof trim from our neighbor's house. 
 

I went to the store the next day and the Dollar Tree was all boarded up. I think they did that before the storm to protect the windows. 

Clermont had a lot of flooding and damage.  This big tree came down at the church. They were without power for  days, as much of Clermont was, Saturday evening power was restored and they were able to have church service.   A mobile home park on 50 in Clermont was flooded and people had to be evacuate. 

GROWING THE SISTERHOOD

October 5th we had the East Central District annual meeting at Mount Dora UMC.  We had a speaker from Residing Hope ( formally called the Methodist Children's Home) share all the ways they help children today. 

Trumpet Sound is the newspaper the district puts out, so we did a skit called Trumpet Sound Live.  Diane introduced Janet as the host.
 

We had commercials. Gillian shared about being a match maker by joining the Committee on Nominations.

Mary Ann talked about being a Rainbow Giver. 

Linda is a woman who knows about the United Women in Faith website and the Mighty Network and shared all about it. 

 After the skit we had the business meeting.  Janet is the President, Linda is Secretary and Alma was parliamentarian.

We had a nice lunch of salad and sandwiches.

We remembered members who have passed away since our last annual meeting.

Paula read the names of  the members who have died from each of the units

I shared about the reading program. I took books from Lake County library for people to sign out, read and return to their local library. I also took personal books from the past reading list and let people take them to read, share with other and someday return to me. 

COMMUNITY CHANGING

    There has been a lot of building going on along 27. In front of the Publix at the end of our street there will be three new buildings.  It had been an field since we moved here. The first store to open this month is McDonald's. Mavis Tire will be opening soon and not sure what the other building will be.  

On Tuesday  equipment was brought in and trees were being ripped out from across the pond from our backyard.

 We have been told they are making two retention pons and a townhouse will be added to Sanctuary Ridge. To hear the trees breaking makes me so sad. 

GO BE DO

Sunday was GO BE DO. There was only one service at 10 o'clock and then we did some kind of  activity to reach out to the community. I went with the group to thank the firemen and ER workers. First we wrote a thank you for there service in the community. Jerry writing a thank you card. 

It was nice that families participated in the activities. Julia is 13, she sings with the praise band. She has a nice voice.

Trish and Doug helped to organize this activity. Besides a note of thanks we took cookies.

Jude, Susan and I delivered the cookies to Lake County Fire Company. It is the fire house close by our house. Besides reaching out to the community we also got to fellowship with one another.