Welcome to Baby

Alison and Jonathan G. welcomed a new baby girl into their family on July 21st, 2018.

Lauren is so very happy to be a big sister to Camden Reese.

Grammy Glenda is very happy she got to hold newborn Camden about 5 hours after she was born.

Sabbath, September 10th, 2016 ~ at Orchard City SDA Church

It was very nice to walk into the church and hear such beautiful music being made by the trombone, voices, and the piano. Thank you to Beverly and Diane for the leading in Song Service... and to Dave W. for playing the trombone, and to all the people who came out and joined their voices in hymn singing.

The younger classes seemed to really enjoy this great weather and the interesting things their teachers are telling them.

Alex share insights into the Bible lesson of the week.

Teacher Loretta was telling the children about penguins and how they carry their eggs to keep them warm.
So the children were practicing.

Learning about penguins this Sabbath.

Not sure if that is a real penguin egg!?!??!?

He knows what to do with it though.

The Outdoor Class is ready for their boat explore around the pond.

Off they go... looking for turtles, ducks, and birds.

Ask them sometime what they saw on their boat ride.

Doug is watching the children after they had their Bible lesson.

Beverly shares the children's story this weekend. It was about porcupines.

Dave sings and plays a special piece of music.

Welcoming our new Pastor and wife team - Jim and Joann Weir.

Welcome to our new Pastor - Pastor Jim Weir.

Pastor Jim and Joann ready for a dedicatory prayer from Pastor Wesley Torres, our BC conference president.

Pastor Wesley

Liza had all the tables decorated so bright and prettily for the fellowship meal.

Delicious

Plenty of food for all.

I enjoy these bright splashes of colour each week.
So thankful for the people who make our church pretty and bright.

Farewell to Nadine

We had a little get together for Nadine and her husband to be, down at our park by the pond.

While we are sorry to see Nadine leave Kelowna area and our little church, it is wonderful for her to be moving to Saskatchewan and begin her new home with Charles there.

Here are a few pictures from our farewell.

A very beautiful poem written by a good friend is lovely to hear.

Nadine and Charles

Friends

Beverly brings the Aloha with her - they will be greeted this way in Hawaii perhaps, too.

A little farewell gift.

Pray for the Page Family

So sorry to have to post this...

"Derek's brave battle ended peacefully at 4:45 this morning. The hope of heaven is cemented in our broken hearts."
~ From Heather Page's FB post this morning

Derek Page - from his Uncle Kevin Page

Derek's uncle, Kevin Page, wrote this note on Facebook recently: "Please reach out to Vincent, Heather, and Kristen with all the love you can muster."

The following is what he wrote this morning.


Derek passed away this morning at about 4:45 am. This ended a five year epic battle with cancer.

When he was diagnosed with Leukemia the first thing Vince and Heather were told was, This is very treatable, his type of Leukemia has about an 80% survival rate.

It went downhill from there. Then they were told, Well, it's the T-cell Leukemia. More like a 20% survival rate. Then they learned that in fact Derek had one of the rarest types of T-cell Leukemia known. About 100 cases in the world.


Then they learned in fact he had TWO forms of cancer: Leukemia AND Lymphoma.

They soldiered on. Derek wanted to live and they wanted him to live. Countless chemotherapy treatments, radiation, bone marrow transplant, spinal taps, and on and on and on.

Meanwhile, science marches on. In the five years Derek was sick, cancer treatment has transformed. Now it's all about genes now. Chemotherapy is now targeted at specific proteins, genes, etc.

Derek was involved in numerous clinical trials and experimental treatments. Without these, he would have been dead years ago.

Saturday I talked to Vince, and there was hope at Stanford. Treatments that have been very successful in adults, but never tried in children. The research doctors at Stanford were willing to take him on as a one-person clinical trial, trying things that had never been done before. At this point, Derek's case had become the very tip of the cutting edge of Leukemia research.

So, Heather and Derek made the trip by ambulance from Loma Linda Children's Hospital to the Louise Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University. After the trip his fever spiked, then the organs started shutting down. His immune system was out of control. Large masses of T-Cells were building up in different places in his body and putting pressure on the organs. It was decided that further treatment was futile and possibly cruel.

They tried. Oh, they so tried.


From Heather Page:
Derek's memorial service will be held on September 10 at 2:30 p.m. at the Azure Hills Church in Grand Terrace, CA. It will be especially for children - all the children who have prayed faithfully for Derek for five years. So don't wonder whether to bring them or not. Do it. The service will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person. Details will follow as they are worked out, including where memorial gifts may be made.

Happy Sabbath

Sabbath School will be interesting as Benjamin Streit will share about his time in the Philippines in March.

Pastor Bob will have the church service.

Then we will enjoy a fellowship picnic to welcome Kristen to our church family.

Enjoy a very wonderful Sabbath.

Yesterday's bright colours.

Thank you, Jesus, for all the beauty that surrounds us each day.

See You in the Morning, Wilma...

JUST, Wilma Evelyn

We are shocked and deeply saddened by the passing away of my beautiful wife, Wilma, on March 26, 2016, at the age of 75. She was always cheerful, with a fetching smile. Her giving nature contributed to an RN nursing career. She received her degree in the first nursing class at the Branson Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. She was also head nurse at Walla Walla General Hospital in Washington and at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. Although she was in charge, she preferred the one on one personal touch patient care. Wilma was solid gold–very unselfish, always others first. She recently said that she wished she could trade her life with our recently deceased 14 year old beautiful granddaughter, Lindsey Rose Just. They loved each other and shared a bond. After retirement she volunteered service with the Pathfinder Club, Red Cross, Community theatre, led Cradle Roll Sabbath School and visited the elderly in their homes. Again, she was always cheerful through her many medical challenges. God will reward her greatly. She is sleeping peacefully, awaiting the call of the Life Giver. Left to mourn Wilma is Gerry, her loving husband of 53 years, son Mark (Cindy Holdal Just) of Anchorage, Alaska, grandson Lucas Allen Just of Anchorage, daughter Kelly Ann Just of Seattle, Washington, sister Linda Toop of Toronto, an uncle, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. Predeceased by her parents Lionel and Margaret West of Oshawa, Ontario, and granddaughter Lindsey Rose Just of Anchorage. A memorial service will be held Sabbath(Saturday) April 30, 2016 at 3 pm at Rutland SDA Church, 130 Gerstmar Road, Kelowna, B.C. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Canadian Diabetes Foundation, and to Make A Wish Foundations of both British Columbia and Washington--Alaska. Finally, the family wishes to thank the doctors and nurses of ICU and 4B of Kelowna General Hospital for the extraordinary care Wilma received! We are also thankful to the members of the Fire department and Ambulance for their quick response. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.springfieldfuneralhome.com, 

We are so happy Wilma and Gerry came to Orchard City Church

It is very hard to think of Wilma's death two weeks ago.

She talked of her family often - I think every time she spoke with me.  She was so crushed with the death of their granddaughter, Lindsey in December 2015.  

Wilma was proud of their son and his wife, Mark and Cindy and their son Lucas, who live in Alaska where Mark is a dentist, like his dad. 

She enjoyed sharing about their daughter, Kelly, and her accomplishments as the executive producer/investigations/special projects of KOMO News in Seattle, Washington. 

She enjoyed camping with Gerry and travelling to visit family. 

Her smile was genuine and came often as she spoke.  She was a kind and caring friend. 

It will be wonderful to meet her in the Morning when Jesus returns to take us home with Him. 

Gerry mentioned that Wilma had a favourite colour ~ Red.  If you want to wear red to the memorial for Wilma on April 30th, it would be a nice gesture and remembrance to her family. 

Wilma will be missed very much in the coming days, weeks and months. 

Love to all. 

Wilma and Gerry with their children Kelly and Mark

So Long, Sylvia...

We will miss our friend, Sylvia, in our Orchard City SDA Church.

Her smile will be seen in our remembrances now.

Sylvia added to our church family with a lot of talent. She was the lead bulletin secretary for many years and enjoyed taking computer classes to learn how to do more to make the bulletin pretty and neat.

She also really enjoyed the power point projects for our services. Sylvia spent time and enjoyed finding just the right pictures to have for sermons for people, Sabbath Schools she led out in, or for the highlights of the church service order, such as Praise Time, Children's Story, Offering, etc.

Sylvia helped out with VBS for many years, and one area she looked after was the crafts. She also took on the responsibility of advertising and changing the big signs for outdoors.

Sylvia was leader of the social committee for many terms and enjoyed getting us out as a group for games and fun. She enjoyed coming to Sunshine Bands and telling stories there, too. She loved hikes and rock collecting. She had many interesting interests.

There are many other ways Sylvia worked in our church but for now she was really looking forward to seeing the pews reupholstered and the flooring changed and walls painted. She put time and effort into the decorating committee and was able to see the pews get started with the change.

Sylvia wanted us all to know just how much she loved her two sons and their wives and families.
She talked with me (Glenda) about how much she wanted us to know her children and grandchildren for their lovely personalities and how kind and caring their were to her.

Lou will miss Sylvia very much as will her family, siblings, and other relatives.

It will be a joyful reunion in Heaven one day.

Sylvia as Sabbath School Superintendent - she had very creative ideas for her programs.

Colourful bulletins

Sylvia enjoyed the card classes she organized for interested people.

Sylvia helped out with VBS

She was Social Committee leader for several terms and came up with fun activities and games.

She enjoyed going to the Women's Retreat with friends. (Photo given by Sylvia)

PowerPoint co-ordinator

Banner changer

Sharing stories with the people at Sutherland Hills.

Sylvia liked to have a turn to tell the Children's Story.

She took part in many Special Programs like Christmas and Easter.

Sylvia and Lou at an OCC social. (Thanks for the photo, Heidi)

She so much appreciate the Sabbath School time we devoted to thoughts and comments about what she meant to us.

One of the cards made in the card class.

Love you....