Grace Church member Sharon Karlson, who passed on February 15, 2021 and is now with the Lord, was a member of the Garden Club of Montclair. The club members knew that Sharon had planted tulips and other flowers on the Grace Church property, and in November they gave a gift of 100 “Big Smile” tulips to Grace Church to honor her memory. Pastor Robin and Jean Blomn took advantage of some mild November weather to plant the bulbs on the grounds of the church where they will give us all a smile next spring.

Emily Rishel has also been spending her time helping to maintain and beautify the grounds. In the summer, she and Yvonne Luengo removed the ivy that had attached to the wall of the manse garage. Some of the ivy had even started to push its way into the garage itself through cracks around a window. As the weather has gotten cooler the team has landscaped some of the trees and bushes on  the manse and church grounds.

In order to reduce this flooding, a special slanted covering was installed over the window well by the church office doorway. The heavy rain during the week of November 7 showed that it worked. There was no flooding in the basement from these storms. Gutter cleaning is also an important part of controlling rainwater.  So, thanks to all who became part of our “Flood Team:” Werner, Kurt, Heather, Dustin, Emily, and me, and a few others I might have missed. Also, thanks to our quick clean-up work, all but a small amount of moldy growth was avoided.  If you ever want a tour of the dungeons and crawlways under the church, let me know. Bob Roe

The extremely heavy rains we have been getting the last few years have sometimes caused flooding in the church basement. The good news is that repair work done on the east (manse) side of the Education Building has worked, and we no longer have any flooding in the Club 56 room, Donald Du Laney’s office, or the choir’s robe room. The lower basement hallway, classrooms, and storage rooms have remained a problem. Flooding happened there a few times this summer.

When the temperatures began to drop and the heating system first came on, the staff discovered that there was no heat in the Samson Education Building. The problem was a stuck control valve. Contractors were called to provide estimates and schedules for the repair, and the contractor who could perform the repair in time to meet the church’s needs quoted a price of over $5,000. However, Werner Heck, Grace’s de facto property manager, had a friend who knew a thing or two about boilers and control valves. This angel, Jim Smith by name, spent about two and one-half hours troubleshooting, then cajoling and coaxing the valve to work. We praise God for this provision.