Women’s Ministries

The United Methodist Women (UMW) is a community of women whose purpose is to know God and to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ, to develop a creative, supportive fellowship, and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church.
United Methodist Women has organized “circles” within the unit to encourage smaller groups of women with common interests to meet in order to learn, share and support each other. All groups invite anyone with an interest to visit and become a part of that group.
(Ask your circle leader about making child care reservations. Reservations must be submitted to Children’s Ministry a minimum of four days prior to the start time of said meeting or event. Cancellation of previously-made child care reservations is appreciated.)
UMW Activities, Gatherings, and Events:
Book Clubs
There are two women’s book clubs that meet regularly.
Book Sisters (which has changed its name from Covered Dishes to more closely reflect who we are and our purpose) meets 7-8 Monday nights throughout the year at 6:30 p.m., currently virtually, on Zoom. The group will continue its virtual meetings until group members feel comfortable meeting in person at the church.
Expect lively conversation as we review contemporary and classic books related to our lives and the world around us. Members volunteer to partner with one another to lead discussions. See upcoming Book Sisters dates and book selections below. Contact Sally Davies via email here (sallydavies12@verizon.net) for more information, and/or visit the Facebook private group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/booksistersbookclub and ask to request to join.
Book Sisters 2021 book selections
January 11 – The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman’s struggle for fulfillment in a society pivoting between the traditional and the modern, The Henna Artist opens a door into a world that is at once lush and fascinating, stark and cruel.
March 1 – Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
This poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers shows that the unlikeliest of people can find they have more in common than they ever imagined.
April 19 – Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
How much can a family forgive? Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes, an NPR best book of 2019, is a portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.
June 7 – The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
An emotional family story explores the history of light-skinned African-Americans “passing” for White. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.
August 2 – Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.
September 20 – Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
Giving the reader a behind-the-scenes peek from both sides of the couch, this is a witty, relatable, moving homage to therapy—and just being human.
November 8 – The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Inspired by an astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this unforgettable historical novel. The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.
Contact Kristina Stacey to join the book club.
January 21, 2021 The Whole Town is Talking by Fannie Flagg
Elmwood Springs, Missouri, is a small town like any other, but something strange is happening at the cemetery. Still Meadows, as it’s called, is anything but still. Original, profound, The Whole Town’s Talking, a novel in the tradition of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Flagg’s own Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven, tells the story of Lordor Nordstrom, his Swedish mail-order bride, Katrina, and their neighbors and descendants as they live, love, die, and carry on in mysterious and surprising ways.
Lordor Nordstrom created, in his wisdom, not only a lively town and a prosperous legacy for himself but also a beautiful final resting place for his family, friends, and neighbors yet to come. “Resting place” turns out to be a bit of a misnomer, however. Odd things begin to happen, and it starts the whole town talking.
With her wild imagination, great storytelling, and deep understanding of folly and the human heart, the beloved Fannie Flagg tells an unforgettable story of life, afterlife, and the remarkable goings-on of ordinary people. In The Whole Town’s Talking, she reminds us that community is vital, life is a gift, and love never dies. 402 pages
Plano System Availability: 2 (of 3)
Audio book Availability: 1 (of 1)
eBook Available: 1 (of 3)
Large Print System Availability: 1 (of 1)
Allen Library Available Copies: 1 (of 1)
Large Print Available Copies: 1 (of 1)
Amazon Kindle $12.99, Paperback $13.58
February 18, 2021 Rest in Power: the enduring life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton
This memoir by Trayvon’s mom and dad is so descriptive, you feel some of their pain and anger. 331 pages
Plano System Availability: 1 (of 1)
Allen Library Available Copies: 1 (of 1)
Amazon Kindle $6.99 Hardcover $7.81 Paperback $14.99
March 18, 2021 The Only Woman in the Room by Benedict, Marie
Summary: Hedy Kiesler is lucky. Her beauty leads to a starring role in a controversial film and marriage to a powerful Austrian arms dealer, allowing her to evade Nazi persecution despite her Jewish heritage. But Hedy is also intelligent. At lavish Vienna dinner parties, she overhears the Third Reich’s plans. One night in 1937, desperate to escape her controlling husband and the rise of the Nazis, she disguises herself and flees her husband’s castle. She lands in Hollywood, where she becomes Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But Hedy is keeping a secret even more shocking than her Jewish heritage: she is a scientist. She has an idea that might help the country and that might ease her guilt for escaping alone — if anyone will listen to her. A powerful novel based on the incredible true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication. 254 pages
Plano System Availability: 1 (of 3) Current Holds: 0
Large Print System Availability: 0 (of 2) Current Holds: 1
eBook Available: 2 (of 5)
Allen Library Available Copies: 2 (of 2)
Large Print Available Copies: 1 (of 1)
Amazon Kindle $9.00 Paperback $10.94 Hardcover$10.61 (Used avail. For less)
April 15, 2021 The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Sue Monk Kidd is a biblical scholar who is best known for her Dance of the Dissident Daughter where she takes on patriarchy in the church. This book is a novel written from the perspective of being Ana, the wife of Jesus. It is intriguing and helps the reader to see the human side of Jesus. It is a love story, and I enjoyed reading it for fun and just something different. 418 pages
Plano System Availability 6 Current Holds: 12 eBook Available: 3 (of 12)
Allen Library Available Copies: 0 (of 2)
Large Print Available Copies: 1 (of 1)
Amazon Hardcover $16.80, Kindle $14,99
May 20, 2021 The Memory of Light by Francisco Stork
This is a YA novel about a young woman who tried to commit suicide and her journey to finding herself and dealing with her family. I enjoyed watching the interpersonal relationships in this book and the heroine’s search for courage. 325 Pages.
Plano System Availability: 1 (of 2) Current Holds: 0, Audio Book 1 of 1 available
Allen Library Available Copies: 0 (of 1) Amazon Paperback $8.49 Kindle $10.99
June 17, 2021 For such a Time as This: Hope and Forgiveness after the Charleston Massacre by Rev. Sharon Risher
This 127 page memoir recounts her personal involvement with this tragedy. Rev. Risher was serving as a Chaplain at Parkland Hospital, Dallas, TX, at the time.
127 pages
Plano System Availability: 0 (of 1)
Amazon Paperback $17.99, Kindle $8.99
July 15, 2021 The Book of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel
Inspired by an astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this unforgettable historical novel from the New York Times bestselling.
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.
The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?
As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears. 388 pages
Plano System Availability: 0 (of 7) Current Holds: 32
eBook Available: 0 (of 6) Current Holds: 30
Audio book Available: 0 (of 5) Current Holds: 12
Allen Library Available Copies: 0 (of 2) Current Holds: 9
Amazon Hardcover $20.87, Paperback $16.99, Kindle $14.99
August 19, 2021 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
“A profoundly moving novel, and an honest and true one. It cuts right to the heart of life…If you miss A Tree Grows in Brooklyn you will deny yourself a rich experience…It is a poignant and deeply understanding story of childhood and family relationships. The Nolans lived in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn from 1902 until 1919…Their daughter Francie and their son Neely knew more than their fair share of the privations and sufferings that are the lot of a great city’s poor. Primarily this is Francie’s book. She is a superb feat of characterization, an imaginative, alert, resourceful child. And Francie’s growing up and beginnings of wisdom are the substance of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”–New York Times 493 pages
Plano System Availability: 0 (of 3) Current Holds: 2
CD System Availability: 1 (of 1)
eBook Available: 0 (of 2) Current Holds: 2
Allen Library Available Copies: 1 (of 1)
Amazon Kindle from $3, Paperback from $14,59, Hardcover from $23.99 Used available
for less.
September 16, 2021 Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother? From #1 New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah comes Winter Garden , a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past. Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time–and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are. 391 pages
Plano System Availability: 0 (of 2) Current Holds: 2 CD Availability 1 of 1
Large Print Availability: 0 (of 1) Current Holds: 1 eBook Available: 0 (of 4) Holds: 6
Allen Library Available Copies: 1 (of 1) Amazon Kindle $9.99 Paperback $11.23 Hardcover $36.01 Used available for less
October 21, 2021 The Rosie Project: A Novel (Don Tillman Book 1) by Graeme Simsion
The international bestselling romantic comedy “bursting with warmth, emotional depth, and…humor,” (Entertainment Weekly) featuring the oddly charming, socially challenged genetics professor, Don, as he seeks true love.
The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.
Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate for The Wife Project (even if she is “quite intelligent for a barmaid”). But Don is intrigued by Rosie’s own quest to identify her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie―and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.
Plano System Availability: 2 (of 8)
Audio Available: 2 (of 2)
Large Print Availability: 1 (of 2)
eBook Available: 0 (of 2)
Allen Library Available Copies: 0 (of 1)
Large Print Available Copies: 0 (of 1)
November 18, 2021 Untamed by Glennon Doyle
The book is an intimate memoir in which Glennon reveals her choice from being a dutiful mom who loves her children and chooses to stay married even though her husband is cheating on her, to her choosing to marry a woman whom she adores. The book is about choosing to be true to one’s self. I found it interesting and instructive. I loved her statement: “Our marriage ended; not our family.” 333 pages
Plano Library, System Availability: 0 (of 12) Current Holds: 46
Audio Book Available: 0 (of 10) Current Holds: 77
eBook Available: 0 (of 17) Current Holds: 46
Allen Library Available Copies: 0 (of 3) Current Holds: 2
Amazon Hardcover $16.75, Kindle $14.99
Questions About UMW? Contact…
UMW President: Suzanne Betterley via email here or call her at 214-585-1531.
Membership: Amy Curry via email here
Other Upcoming Events (click the event name for more info):
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For Moms:
Building Better Moms:
A place that meets you right where you’re at as a mom, woman, and friend. Learn how to be better equipped as a parent through speakers and discussion. Grow through a supportive network of moms who “get it”- from newborns to teens. Serve not only your family but also your community through outreach opportunities. This Fall Custer Road will continue to offer a place for moms of all ages to connect and grow together. Our group will meet mostly first Tuesday evenings of the month from 6:30-8:30 with fellowship and gathering opportunities available outside of meeting times. The annual registration fee is $20/person and includes childcare during regular meetings. Building Better Moms t-shirts (new design this year!) can be purchased for an additional $10. To learn more, click here.