St. Julian’s Guild will next meet at 7 p.m., February 19th, at the home of Helen Dudash in North Mankato. She is located at 2054 Black Squirrel Trail. Her phone number is 388-9897 if you need directions. All are welcome!

In February and March, 2008, the MDGs will be the topic for our Wednesday evening Lenten Pro-gram. We‘ve invited the declared candidates for the Minnesota U.S. Senate seat and the First District U.S. Congress seat to share soup and bread with us and discuss the role each would play in the area of worldwide suffering and poverty.

2008 LENTEN FORUM 2/6 Ash Wednesday 2/13 MSU Lecturer on Global Issues 2/20 Mike Cavlan (Green Party-Sen) 2/27 Randy Demmer (Rep-1st Dist) 3/5 Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer (DFL-Sen) 3/12 Al Franken (DFL-Sen) 3/19 Jim Cohen (DFL-Sen)

Imagine… Perhaps youve heard of the Million Trees project. If not, imagine driving by an ugly spot in our town or along a nearby highway and watching it change year-by-year with the growth of trees you and your friends have planted. That‘s the emotional and esthetic part of it.

In Our Thought and Prayers A word of thanks from Barb and Joe Hogan for all the prayers for their granddaughter’s husband, Joshua McNamara. Josh has returned to the States (Texas), will be home at the end of January and discharged in March after serving 4 years in the Army in Iraq. There is also good news about Josh‘s brother, Jason, who has been in our prayers. He is back from Walter Reed Hospital for a month and has been told he will need no further surgeries. Thanks be to God!

During December we received $13,695 in offerings and had expenses of $12,250. We will have the year end figures in the Annual Report and will go over any questions at the Annual Meeting on Jan. 27. We will also present the 2008 Proposed Budget. The year end donation statements will be in church mail boxes by the Annual Meeting. Please let us know if there are any discrepancies or questions. Thank you, Nickie VanStelten, Treasurer Bill Gray, Bookkeeper

Episcopal Church Women will meet Thursday, February 7, 2008 at noon at 101 Main ~ Holiday Inn Luncheon Meeting. Please join us!

For you parents and grandparents who cringe at buying disposable diapers doomed to generations in a landfill there is a new alterna-tive. The name is Nature Baby Care. They are not in the diaper section of Target. They are on the end section on the first aisle of baby items across from the laun-dry detergent (near the cribs. etc). They are $9.54 for about 30…which is about the equivalent to Huggies or Pampers but biode-gradable. Thanks, for the tip, Jolly.

At the Annual Meeting on Sunday, 27 January 2008, Jerry Wegman and Mike Kolbinger were elected to serve as Senior and Junior Wardens for a final year. Outgoing Vestry members Nickie VanStelten, Ann Taylor-Sundstrom and Jane Kearney were replaced by Pam Oster, Andrew West-berg and Mary Berner. The congregation also elected Delegates to the Diocesan Convention. They are Meg Stump, Alex Taylor and Bill Gray with Ann Taylor-Sundstrom acting as an alternate.

Erin and D.J. Damberger are the proud parents of Mary Rose Damberger born November 16, 2007. She came into this world at 7 lbs. 12oz., 20 inches long and with a full head of reddish/light brown hair. It was an 8-9 hour labor but beautifully timed for the end of se-mester break. Erin was able to be at home until mid-January and is keep-ing a relatively limited schedule this semes-ter. Erin sang at Shirley Clark’s memorial service with Mary Rose in atten-dance, but if you weren’t able to visit with her then, the family plans to make a return trip to St. John’s in the near future.