Grace Notes Grace Notes T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F G R A C E L U T H E R A N C H U R C H

Dear Members and Friends, July & August 2013

The name of our church is Grace. Grace is the undeserved love of God that is granted to us in spite

of our unworthiness.

I know that some of you love the winter, but I personally prefer summer. Part of the reason is that

it reminds me of the abundant Grace of God. The world is green again, the flowers add even more

color and the birds are back from their southern refuge.

When it rains I think of God replenishing the earth. When the warmth of the sun shines on my face

I feel it as the warmth of God’s love. When I mow the lawn I see the continuous growth as reassurance

that God is with us and sustaining us.

Fresh fruits and vegetables reminds me of God’s continuing care for our basic needs and when I

stand back from this lush season and take in the big picture, I see it all as the Grace of God.

I look forward to seeing everyone at Grace throughout the summer as we return thanks together

for the love of God that is shown to us in Jesus Christ.

By the Grace of God,

Pastor David Almleaf

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Grace Notes

Altar Flowers July & August July 7 - Dorian & Tabetha Angus

July 14 - Derrick McGuinness

July 21 - Maryland Warner

July 28 - Maryland Warner and

Kathy VanValkenburgh

August 4 - Rita Longfritz

August 11 - Peg & Ernie Niforos

August 18 - Larry & Carol Preston

August 25 - Joan Longfritz

Altar flowers are $33.00 unless you share a Sunday then they would be $16.50 each vase. If you wish to place a “special ar-rangement” in the Sanctuary the cost would be whatever you would like to spend. Nancy Blanchard (762-4234) and Linda

Bumpus (725-1927) are the Altar Flower coordinators.

Counters for July & August 07/07 - Darleen Gaugler, Charlotte Petersen, Bonnie

07/14 - Nancy Demarest, Ron & Jackie Hollenbeck

07/21 - Darleen Gaugler, Charlotte Petersen, Bonnie

07/28 - Nancy Demarest, Ron & Jackie Hollenbeck

08/04 - Nancy Blanchard, Greta Davis, Bonnie

08/11 - Nancy Blanchard, Greta Davis, Bonnie

08/18 - Darleen Gaugler, Charlotte Petersen, Bonnie

08/25 - Darleen Gaugler, Charlotte Petersen, Bonnie

Prayers of the Church Please notify the church office when your prayers have been

answered so your prayer concern can be removed from the list that Pastor raises up to God on Sunday morning. Thank you.

Bread Bakers July & August July 7 - Audrey Rulison July 28 - Cindy Walsh August 4 - Linda Morley August 25 - Carol Hennessey Please find someone to replace you if you cannot bake bread the Sunday you are scheduled and whenever possible, tell the church secretary so the bulletin can reflect the change.

Thank you, Peggy Niforos (I) - Intinction Sunday (R) - Rail Sunday

July 7 (R) - Kathy VanValkenburgh July 14 (I) - Carol Hennessey July 21 (I) - Joan Longfritz July 28 (R) - Bonnie Olendorf August 4 (R) - Marion Pellegrino August 11 (I) - Darleen Gaugler August 18 (I) - Peg Niforos August 25 (R) - Karen Ryder

Please find someone to replace you if you cannot make the Sun-day you are scheduled and whenever possible, tell Bonnie so that

the bulletin can reflect the change. Peg Niforos, Altar Guild Coordinator

Prayer Chain Ministry If you know of anyone in need of daily prayers for the healing of body, mind or soul, please call Bobbi Nigro (725-6781) or Nancy Demarest (725-8704). If requesting in person, please submit the name(s) in writing and add your name at the bottom. To further assist, please reconnect with that member of the Prayer Chain within 2 weeks to verify the condition of the person(s) receiving prayer. All requests are held in confidence unless otherwise desig-nated. Thank you.

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Grace Notes

Council Highlights from June 13th Meeting The grand piano has been tuned.

Steeple project keeps getting postponed.

Pastor David and Alison Martin reported on the June Synod

Assembly held in Rochester. Request to elect delegates to attend next years assembly at our October congregational

meeting due to the fact that a new bishop will be elected.

Discussed a new pictorial directory for the church - project on

hold until next year. We will need volunteers to work on it.

Recommendation from finance committee and approved by

council - due to the concern of meeting our summer bills:

1. ) To move $5000.00 from Love City fund to go towards

Pastor’s housing.

2.) To move from remaining Thrivent CD $5262.85 to be

used for regular bills if necessary.

August 28th - Choir Rehearsals will begin

September 8th - Welcome Back

Sunday School Starts

Recognition of ministries

Covered Dish hosted by Worship & Music Committee

Bell Choir to play.......

November 24th - Christ the King Sunday

and

December 1st - First Sunday on Advent

Next committee night will be Tuesday September 3rd 5:30 - 8p.m.

Next Council meeting will be Thursday September 12th at 6:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathy VanValkenburgh, Council President

News From the Property Committee:

Hopefully work on the new steeple will begin

the middle of July.

A “Garden Fund” is being set up to help defer the cost of placing annual flowers in our planters and gardens. If you wish to contrib-ute to this fund please put your contribution in an envelope marked “Garden Fund” with your name and envelope number.

We’d like to thank our garden committee consisting of: Linda Bumpus, Donna Coonradt, Peg Niforos, and Deb Seward

for the great job they did in planting the geraniums, marigolds and begonias. The gardens are starting to blossom beautifully and the splashes of color really pop!

Thank you to all of you who donated the geraniums, and to Kathy VanValkenburgh for donating the extra flowers, potting soil and flower boxes on the pergola.

Most of all we give thanks to God for providing the rain and sun-shine needed for our gardens to grow.

Thank you to Marion Pellegrino for creating

the flowers that she and Anna Butez passed out to us on Mother’s Day.

Your thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated.

Worship Services

are at 9:15am

June 23rd-Sept 1st

Thank you to our organist/choir director Darlene Pollak and the choir for enhancing our worship with their gifts of music. Choir rehearsals will resume on Wednesday August 28th at 7 p.m.

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Grace Notes

We need your help......... On Tuesday August 6th a bicycling group will be staying here at Grace over night. Last summer they traveled from Seattle to Minneapolis and are continuing their trip this summer from St. Paul, MN to Boston. They started doing these trips in the 1980's with church

youth sponsored by the Connecticut Conference, UCC. Now it is mostly retired adults who make the trip. On the day they stay here they will be biking from Utica

(about 55 miles) arriving here between 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. There are about 20 -25 people. We would like to be hospitable and offer a covered dish supper for them.

This is where you come in!!!

We need - Dishes to pass -

- People to help set-up - - Serve -

- Clean-up - to just be who we are, friendly, caring Christians!

Please let Kathy VanValkenburgh or Bonnie Olendorf know if you are able to help in any or all of these areas.

Grace will be at the Railfest in Gloversville on Sat-urday August 3rd. If you are interested in helping or would like more info, please see Alison Martin.

Now that the Christian Education year has

drawn to a close, thanks go to our teachers

and helpers, Alison Martin, Heidi Ropeter,

Barbara Frederick, Sharon Smith,

Karl Blanchard and Samara & Gabby Smith.

Thanks also go to Gordon Demarest & Don

Phelps for leading our Adult Bible Study on

Sunday mornings. Your enthusiasm and love

for the word of God is truly amazing.

Thank you,

Barb

A HUGE Thank You to Darlene Pollak and the Choir for all

of their time and support with the Youth Service on June

9th. They practiced for many months learning the new

liturgy, and it was very much appreciated.

DO YOU HAVE RETURNABLE BOTTLES AND CANS that are clogging up space in your home? Do you hate the thought of taking them to the store to return? If so, just bring them to church and leave them in the box next to the side entrance. Someone from the Youth Group will return them to help defray the cost of their trip to Detroit in July 2015. Thanks for support-ing them! As a further note, the Youth Group is continuing to collect old and used cell phones. There is a box in the narthex where you can leave them.

Happy Belated Birthday to

Dennis Hubley whose

birthday was on June 30th.

If you notice someone missing from the birthday list

please let me know. Thanks, Bonnie

At Home:

Eleanor Achzet

Eileen Spawn

Florence Sandner

Ruth Seiler

Helene Keach

Nathan Littauer

Nursing Home:

Donna Mae Batty

Ruth Brownell

Pineview Commons:

Shirley Snyder

Wells House:

Geraldine Moldt

Willing Helpers:

Lorraine Muller

Dona Frey

Prayer Concerns

Scott Bumpus

Brandon Caldwell

Tony Clemente

Brad Coody

John Ferrara

Kevin Funk

Zachary Goot

Jordan Keeling

Lance Corporal Corey Lincoln

Denise & Jacob Lockwood

Thomas Szumowski

And for our enemies

Remember Our Shut-Ins

Marianne Jones

Sue McGrattan

Tina Aldonis

Raymond Rulison

Kevin Kane

Christine Hahn

Marion Pellegrino

Anna King

Rick Hennessey

Anna Butez

Grandstaff Family

Sara Vesteese

Charlotte Palmeri

Clara Young

Greg Nellis

Donald Wright

Richard Elmendorf

Phyllis Lane

The Gleeman Family

Jenny Ayers

Marcia McCoy

Julie Cole

Nancy White

Pete Cinelli

Brenda Congdon

Betty Jones

All those who have served and for all those

who are now serving in the armed forces, especially:

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Grace Notes

Please pray for NOAH, the food pantries of Johnstown

& Gloversville and for those in need of them.

Please pray for the safety of those who will be traveling this summer.

Please pray for our high school and college graduates.

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Grace Notes

To My Dear Friends at Grace Lutheran Church,

I hope you are staying dry with all the rain we've been having. We have similar weather patterns

as we live in the Gulf Stream so we import and export each other's climate, precipitation and

storm activity. It makes me feel connected to my friends and family in the north knowing here in

South Central KY, we are a day or 2 ahead or behind you and sharing the same breezy air.

Please pray for our niece Abby (Steven's sister's daughter) as she had a bad bicycle accident and

has been in the hospital for 2 weeks with a serious head injury. It'll be a long haul for her, but she

is responding well to treatments, praise God. I also pray for the family of Ed Lakata whose bike

accident was fatal.

William and Leah are stable and have been enjoying their summer vacation. It looks like we are

planning a trip to the north for a week. We have a lot of ground to cover in a very short amount

of time, so unfortunately there won't be time for socializing with friends as we have some family

business to take care of. The farm animals and pets here will be tended to by a neighbor. We'll

be anxious to get back as we don't want to over burden the neighbors or stress out our animals

too much.

Thomas Ridge Christian continues to be our home/family church. We enjoyed a nice VMS session

and I've been really feel blessed preparing the weekly music liturgy. Hymns and praise and wor-

ship music are so uplifting to the soul. I'm so thankful for the Lord's gift of music and the wide

world of selections containing the word of God to help and guide us through any mountain or

valley.

Best wishes to all of you with His wonderful blessings and love,

Susan Gleeman

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Grace Notes

July Birthdays 1 - Edna smith

Jacqueline Fosdick

Warren Maas, Jr.

Jenny Ruff

2 - Brian Miller, Jr.

Mary H. Smith

Scott Parillo

Lylian Irene Angus

3 - Aiden Rubilotta

Jennifer Unislawski

Kevin Williams

4 - Joann Russo

Ron Bell

Robert Thodes

5 - Christopher Jordan

6 - Paul Ligon

7 - Brandon Morley

8 - Fawn Sager

Lucille Plantz

9 - Paul Bradt

Douglas Bleyl

Karen LaMonica

Derrick McGuinness

Roy E. Nellis

Mrs. Robert Wilson

10 - Carolyn Peck

Betsy Subik

12 - Edgr Achzet

Natalie Williams

13 - Lesleigh Anne Durfree

Brandon Hemmerich

14 - Dotti Nielsen

15 - Florence Sandnere

Nathaniel Ligon

16 - Erica K. Wagner

Arlene Madden

18 - Joanne Riccitiello

Kimberly Fiorillo

19 - Harold Edick

Emily Bradt

Jessie Lesser

Matthew VanValkenburgh

20 - Brandon Cross

Robert Hallenbeck

Drew Anthony Paxton

21 - Rita Longfritz

Betty Pemrick

Frederick Stortecky Jr.

Christina VanValkenburgh

22 - John Feffara

23 - Lewis Armstrong

Carol Ann Laincoln

Jeffrey Seward

Christian Rohrs

Clyde Smith

24 - Harold Achzet

Andrea Fisher

Alexander Grandstaff

25 - Tammy Capano

26 - Jeanne Behl

Tom Fraker

Madolyn Taglialatela

Ricky Rhodes

27 - Amelia Petersen

Judy Rhodes

28 - Diane Graudons

29 - Kimberly Brown

31 - Henry Fountain

Virginia Keller

Jack Jones

Cindy Subik

Eric Unislawski

Matthew VanValkenburgh, Jr.

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Grace Notes

1 - Randy Hollenbeck 2 - Kathy Frederick Kovarovic 3 - Samara Smith Linda Van Slyke 4 - Karen Shutts Ryan Harry Wicksell Lisa Gargiulo Marlene Slingerland 5 - William Tonn Nicholas Sandy Harlan Frederick Ernest Mrazz, Jr. 7 - Marilyn Lair John David Fisher 8 - Linda Morley 9 - Robin Simonds 10 - Dennis Healy Carol Akey Peggy Niforos 11 - Audrey Goebel Pamela (Ladd) Sandy Dona Mae Batty Kayla Miller 12 - Jacklynn Atkins 13 - Michelle Baird Richard Spinks William Cross, Jr. Tabitha DeVoe Kevin Subik Christine VanValkenburgh 14 - Alan Miller Paul Feinour 15 - Mark Leach Douglas Austin II 17 - Faith Sparks Matthew Healy

18 - Cassidy Fries Megan Sicilia Carolyn Schreivogl 19 – Howard Goebel Brenda Sparks Jordan Hale Michael Ronquillo Ross Williams Ronald Blood 21 - Richard Weaver David Hynd Adele Cromer Heather Dorsey 22 - Kurt Warner Sarah Rohrs Chapp 23 - Geraldyn Smith Audrey Flint 24 - Erin Bryan Robert Walker Melissa Tonn 25 - Nicholas Hughes Lee Hollenbeck Ernest Niforos David Petersen 26 - Thomas Petersen 27 - William Frey Nan Jones Raymond Spawn Thomas Subik 28 - Kathleen Warner Erica Peck Erica Hynd Linda Ferenz Sandy Walther Joseph Harry Wainwright 30- Peter Cinelli Elliot Haverly 31 - Cynthia Bradt

August Birthdays