Those who braved the cold to come out and meet the new Dean were treated to a wonderful talk on preparing for Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday.  She spoke on repentance and themes from her book which was bought by many, called Get Over Yourself, God's Here.  Dean Kate said that as a priest she encountered many people who in confessions and conversations seemed to have
difficulty speaking of their sin.  People come to her who don't know what sin is.  She finds that people find it easier to talk about their "issues" or personality "gaps."  To begin Lent and to recognize our issues, we have to get to know ourselves and our issues or gaps.  The best way to do this is to center in prayer or in quiet time and listen to what we hear us saying about ourselves.  This is how we can identify our own issues. We know we live in a broken world; we only need look around us. When bad things happen, we tend to ask
Why?  We do that because we are not meant for tragedy; we were meant for Eden.  We lament, "My life should not be like this or; God, why is this happening to me?" We were meant to live in harmony with God but our world is "bent," as C. S. Lewis describes it. Even with our best intentions, we cannot live a perfect life. Ever since the notion of original sin, it has been impossible not to sin.  So, to prepare for Lent, we should do as Jesus did in the Gospel of Luke and go into the desert and listen to our temptations. The temptations Jesus faced were a lot more
clear cut than our more murky ones. However, to be more "Christlike" during Lent, we need to listen to our own temptations, issues or gaps. Where is your own sin? and Who are you? are questions she asked of us.  We had some quiet time to listen to those voices within and then shared in small groups some exercises
helping us to see ourselves and each other. She went on to talk about the parable of the wheat and the weeds.  We have to cultivate the wheat but we cannot pull up the weeds. Repent comes from the Greek word Meta noia (out of one's self to God).  Para noia is (turning into one's self in fear and anxiety.)  "Get Over Yourself, God's here! " It's not about you. God loves you and it is done! The demon comes to us in our distractions pulling us away from God in very subtle ways.  Our busyness and self importance get in our way as much as the lies he tells us that we are not good enough and other such negatives he wants us to believe! These strategies cause us not to think about God and we can battle them with our "go to" prayer whenever such thoughts cause us to turn away from God.  She closed with challenging us with:  So, what
are you  going to do about busyness this Lent and how are you going to prepare? She ended with a circle prayer where we all shared a prayer about what we needed
from our Lord to have a more intentional Lent.  I came away with some great plans for a more Holy Lent and with God's help, we all may have a more intentional and Holy Lent. Thanks to Dean Kate for her very well presented,  inspiring and timely words about Lent.
     Prior to Dean Kate's talk, our own Sue Carmichael began our day with beautiful singing and guitar accompaniment from our own ECW songbook.
      President Linda Baker opened the meeting and thanked Sue for leading us in worship.
     Devotional Chair, Jeanette Brode, shared a poem with us giving us much to think about and Joe Chamberlain welcomed all of us to Camp Weed. There were actually three women from St. Alban's who were there for the first  time.  Joe shared with us about the water reclamation project and our need to raise $300,000 for the info-structure necessary to receive over $700,000 worth of water free over the next four years and to prepare for beyond those four years as well.  He also talked about an Open House Day for Camp Weed to be held on May 1st.  This will be a barbecue cook off contest and lunch will be provided to all. All the various ministries in the Diocese will be represented and he hopes we will all come and bring friend and those who have never had a chance to come to Camp Weed.
    Linda asked all the Board Members to introduce themselves and announced the two new Board Members for the Santa Fe Region: Dot Hill and Mena Tull. Mena was ill  and unable to attend and Dot had a prior engagement when appointed.  Sharon Richards resigned her position as CPC Representative and Santa Fe Regional Representative and there was already one Santa Fe position vacant.  Linda reminded us that she is still looking for two Regional Representatives for the Apalachee Region and one for First Coast West. Linda asked anyone interested in those or serving as CPC (Church Periodical Club) should see her before leaving. 
      Minutes of the Annual Meeting were handed out and a motion was made to approve them with one correction.  The motion was seconded and passed.       
      Linda asked our retiring Treasurer, Lori Harley, to update us on finances.  Lori indicated that our pledges had been coming in but that we still needed to ask our churches who were not to pledge.  She stated that our fundraiser selling ECW bags had netted over $1000.00 for our college liaison scholarships and that she had recently written a check to Camp Weed for over $900 toward our Capital Campaign Mile of Quarters pledge and passed the Quarters jar around once more. New Treasurer, Jackie Jones concurred she only wanted to hear "soft" money hit the jar.  We continue to sell ECW Tee Shirts to fund our camp scholarships but have only a little over $200 profit so far. She encouraged us to order our shirts now to receive by Spring Retreat.
    Roni Kelly, Retreat Coordinator indicated there were about 100 registered for Spring Retreat. Rev. Kurt Dunkle will be our keynote speaker and the theme of the weekend will be, "Soul Banquets, Holy Food for Holy People.” Please download the flier and registration form for the Spring Retreat and post them in your church parish halls and on your
bulletin boards.  Space is still available in the motel and in the Ravines and there is some space still in the cabins.  St. George has over 24 women registered so you will have to work hard to beat that and earn recognition for the church with the most in attendance.
      President Linda Baker  pointed us to the Display tables for more information about ECW and UTO and Kanuga.  She said that registration forms for Spring
Retreat and Kanuga are on the Display Tables in the back.  More information about the Province IV Women’s Conference at Kanuga can be found at their wehsite:

     Altar Guild Chair, Janet Robinson also spoke about the Province IV Altar Guild Meeting which begins right before our Province IV Women’s meeting.  She passed out some Province IV newsletters in which was announced that their keynote speaker would be our own Sue Carmichael and hoped we might share some worship together.  She spoke briefly about the Liturgical Arts Week at Kanuga later in the summer and she also announced the annual diocesan Altar Guild Meeting to be held at camp April 10^th.          
     President Linda Baker announced again the opportunity to be in the ECW play, "Yet we Persist," to be performed at our late summer meeting.  The play will take the place of a speaker.  She stated that those at Triennial had seen the play and were sure that they good do an equally good job, if not better, in putting on this performance.  She would like to have representatives from all the regions in the play.
         All those present enjoyed the meeting, the great lunch afterwards and the chance to meet the Dean, hear her excellent talk and the opportunity as well to buy either of her Lenten books.