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• Introduce candidates for Vestry and Senior Warden (biographies below)
• Entertain motion for election by acclamation

IF NO MOTION FOR ACCLAMATION IS MADE AND PASSED:

• Distribute ballots
• Balloting to be closed after 15 minutes
• Election results will be announced when tally is completed and will become the next point on the agenda at that time. 

Approve minutes of the 2011 Annual Parish Meeting

Rector's Report

Senior Warden's Report

Junior Warden's Report

Financial Report

Motion to close the meeting

In November we will have two sessions on sexual ethics in scripture. The first Sunday, November 4th, will be an introduction to some of the many different sexual norms and ethics held in scripture, and a brief look at "biblical marriage." Next we will consider how some people look to the bible to derive a contemporary sexual ethic, and consider some approaches that might be helpful to us.  

November 18th (after the parish meeting) we'll host a panel of people to answer questions about sex and scripture. We hope to have many perspectives and voices during these two discussions. Readings will go out by email a week before the first session, and will include some questions for consideration.

Participants shouldn't feel that they need to have completed the reading before coming, the reading is a resource for those who want to engage deeper with the topic. If you don't get the email or if you have questions do not hesitate to talk to me or Jane Mosbacher Morris.  We will see you in November!

Come one and ALL. Pageant time is here again!! 

We would love to see everyone this year!! We need a Joseph and a Mary. We need shepherds, towns people, angels, and everyone's favorite baby sheep.   

In addition to actors, we need help with costumes. Our number of sheep have multiplied exponentially. 

Please contact me or Amy Dunn and let us know how you would like to get involved this year!!!  

Rehearsal Schedule:

November 11 - During Sunday School

November 18 - During Sunday School

November 25 - During Sunday School

December 2 - During Sunday School

December 9 - During Sunday School

December 15 - ALL CAST SATURDAY DRESS REHEARSAL 

December 16- PAGEANT 

• Barbara de Beaufort submitted the Nominating Committee's list of nominees to the Vestry. There is one candidate for each opening in the Vestry.
• Margaret Davis will stand for a second term as Senior Warden
• Barbara de Beaufort will stand for a second 3 year term
• Diana Dick and Marie Laure Poire will both stand for 3 year terms  
• See their bios below

• The Vestry unanimously approved the motion to waive the bylaw on contested elections. It is still possible to nominate someone by petition within the 21 day deadline before the November 18 Annual Meeting.

• John Graham, Peter Wallace, and Braden Murphy interviewed candidates for the bookkeeper position. They found two highly qualified finalists and John will announce their selection shortly.

• The Stewardship campaign has held receptions at several parishioners' homes. The response has been positive and generous.

• The landscape designer for Eastbanc, the company that is building luxury condos in the former Verizon parking lot next to Grace Church, has submitted a beautiful garden plan for the portion of the churchyard garden on the side of the Ritz Carlton. Two of the goals of the plan are to screen the Ritz building and to create a more sheltered feeling in that area.

• John Graham has been in the process of searching for an assisting priest. He describes the priest he is looking for as someone who will be a liaison with the Sunday School and with Grace's Table; someone who would develop the 5:00 PM service; who would initiate new spiritual growth opportunities; and who would share pastoral duties as well as officiate on Sundays at communion and preaching.

Full Minutes of Vestry Meetings are in the notebook in the Volunteer office of the Rectory after they have been approved by the Vestry.

For election to a first term as Vestry Member  

I am a life-long Episcopalian, raised in the Chicago suburbs and New York City, where I spent several summers during college staying at the rectory of our church, Holy Trinity, at 88^th St and 3^rd Ave. 

I served on Grace's Vestry during the mid-eighties, with Bob Tobias, Rob Cahill, Ken Bacon and others you may know or recognize. During those 10 years at Grace, my main interest, when I had the time as a single mother, was outreach and I also took part in an every-member-canvass, making calls at parishioners' homes.  I had been formerly married to the Canon Precentor at the National Cathedral during his time there and at Memorial Church, Harvard.

Professionally, after moving to Boston in 1992, I was the development director for an independent school, the operations manager/senior administrator for the legal department of an $8B international medical R&D company, the development department of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Wellesley College.

While in Boston, I was a parishioner for 16 years at Trinity Church, Copley Square where I sang in the choir and served on the outreach committee for 3 years. In 2008, I incorporated my own business, My Concierge in Boston and then here since 2010, and I also subcontract as a project move manager and senior professional organizer. 

My work invariably involves "people skills," from helping the domestic logistics for a high administration official and his daughter who lost their wife/mother to breast cancer, to assisting a retired government attorney prepare taxes and medical paperwork for her child in a treatment home, to helping many seniors (reluctantly) move into retirement facilities.

I currently serve on Grace's gardening, lay and stewardship committees. I have one son Sam Cave who is a professional punk rock musician/personal trainer living in Toronto with his wife Judy Chun and a soon to be 2 year old (cutest-in-the-world) granddaughter Millie.

I am honored to be considered for Grace's Vestry this time round. 

Marie-Laure Poire

For election to a first term as Vestry Member 

I am Franco-American, but was born and raised in France until I moved to Washington, DC in 2002. 

My first visit to Grace Church happened thanks to my very good friend Goranka Henegar who, at the time, was living alone as Alexander, her husband, was serving in Iraq. It was in 2004. I never left Grace since then.

Just as much as Goranka came to Grace to find the strength, warmth, comfort, love and faith she needed while Alexander was deployed, it became quickly evident to me that Grace excels in providing all this to whoever walks through its big red doors, including me. I often say that, although I was raised Catholic, I found that my faith got stronger at Grace and despite being far away from my family who I miss very much, I found a new home at Grace.

Whenever I can, I very much enjoy partaking in all the activities and programs Grace organizes. I have been involved in many of them, but always on the periphery. Becoming a Vestry member would be a wonderful opportunity for me to give back to Grace who has giving me so much and to make my commitment to Grace more central and substantial, rather than just peripheral. 

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, an avid cyclist herself, kicked-off the rides with an opening prayer and blessing of the bicycles before joining riders on the 16-mile route. 

Helen Buhr, Bishop Mariann and Margaret Davis after the ride

Grace's Helen Buhr and Margaret and Drew Davis joined volunteers from St. Paul's K Street to prepared a delicious picnic cookout of hamburgers, hot dogs, salad and fall-themed desserts.

Previous rides with the Bishop this year included a June tour of historic St. Mary's County in southern Maryland and a Strawberry Festival ride in May.

Look for additional rides starting next year. The next proposed ride is an Anacostia EcoTour on January 21, 2013, in coordination with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the inauguration. Organizers hope to encourage more youth and beginner cyclists to the event.

For more photos and information about the event, check out the Episcopal Diocese of Washington article or St. Dunstan's Facebook page.

Earlier hauntings have included Edgar Allan Poe's mother, Eliza, an actress who performed in Washington, DC; the famous "Poe Toaster", who usually appears in Baltimore; the victim of a steamboat wreck on the Potomac; the Cooks, who gave the land for, and later built Grace Church; and (after Hurricane Katrina) famed New Orleans voodoo leader Marie Laveau. This year, the event was haunted by Eddie Yost, an old-time Washington Senator, unhappy that Washington just missed making it to the World Series.

After ruling out the possibility of an exorcism, the ghost was pacified by the reading of a special poem, Frank Jacobs', If Edgar Allan Poe had written 'Casey at the Bat.'

The evening's readings included well-known stories and poems by Poe, Annabel Lee, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, and the less well-known The Oblong Box. The performance concluded with The Raven.  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The actors of Guillotine Theatre (formerly known as The Georgetown Theatre Company) would like to thank the Reverend John Graham and Helen Buhr for allowing them to do spooky things in Grace Church.

What's going on behind the green curtains on the second floor of the rectory?

For anyone who has ever wondered, that's where I have been counseling individuals and couples for the last few years as a licensed professional counselor. It's a lovely little space (feel free to come see it!) with a warm atmosphere that helps people feel comfortable exploring how they might want to improve their lives and their relationships with others.

I like to say that my work has three focal points:

• the present
• the past 
• the future 

For the present, we immediately address any symptoms or worries that are making everyday life more difficult: anxiety, depression, intimacy struggles, etc. In terms of the past, we may consider old experiences or beliefs, and how they influence the way a person experiences daily life. 

As for the future, the promise of counseling, to me, is that it helps people feel clear about real life goals - something we aren't often asked to think about in a regular workday. Together, we create an individualized action plan to achieve these goals. 

Some of my additional training has been in Imago Relationship Therapy, which helps focus the work on how a person envisions the connected, relationship-filled life of his or her dreams, and how to get there.

Meeting with both couples and individuals helps me stay attuned to how we operate in and outside our various relationships. I think this is a very important point, in that many people want to work through things with a partner who will not attend therapy. 

My aim is never to undermine their relationship. Rather, I help people understand their motivations and to brainstorm more effective ways to get what they really want from their partnership. I also enjoy premarital work and have been gratified to watch many couples I've worked with as they move into married life and build their families.

My passion is for helping couples get to the point of realizing that their struggles with parenting, family, or even their spouse, actually may reflect long-term beliefs about how relationships "should be." We all have these beliefs, and they are formed well before we are even aware of what relationships can really be like. Just by becoming aware of these unconscious thoughts and expectations, we can make better decisions and find more happiness in our lives.

Working on the Grace grounds has been such a benefit to my clients and to my own vision of my practice. Such a variety of people cross through the courtyard, and witnessing how they find peace in this quiet little corner of bustling Georgetown has been a grounding experience for me as I work with clients to make room for that kind of peaceful connection in their own lives. 

If you have any questions or if I can be of help in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me via email or phone at 202-460-2667. You can learn more about me and my practice at www.stacymurphyLPC.com.