First Day of Fall

Ready for a break from the summer weeding but so no ready to give up our flowers yet!!

Day Cruise on Lake Washington

A day on Lake Washington with good friends.....the Horns, the Dunns, and the Towers. Once again was a wonderful day of cruising on the water....what a time of peacefulness!!! We all brought food and had a delicious meal & great snacks/desserts!! Jim even let Gary pilot the yacht!! He loved it and we hassled him some!!

"self-protrait"-near University of Washington....Husky Stadium in background.
Beautiful scenery, gorgeous homes....a couple of homes we passed were the home of Bill Gates, Paul Allen and the floating house on the movie of "Sleepless In Seattle". Passed by the Seahawks training camp also!

"The gang"...Joyce, Susan, Jim, Carol, Deb, Gary, & Earl-Jim was taking the picture! Had a wonderful salmon dinner prepared by Susan!
End of the day....Lake Union heading to the dock. Great day!!!!!

Sweet Sixteen, Hannah!!!!!

Celebrating our grandaughter, Hannah's 16th birthday!! And what a celebration it was!! She had a wonderful time!! Family & friends came to help celebrate-all had a great time!! An evening of fun, food, dancing ....just plain fun partying!! Your friends are awesome!! Can hardly believe 16 years have gone by so very quickly!! We are so very proud of you, Hannah....it is a blessing and priviledge to be your grandparents!! We are thankful God allowed us to have you as our grandaughter. Happy Birthday...we love you!!

Begninng of Fall!!!!

Cannot believe I have not blogged since March!!!! What a sizzlin' summer....and I am NOT talking about the temperature!!!! This was one of the coolest summers we have had in a long time. Seldom used the airconditioner!!! The sizzlin' had to do with grillin' & gatherin' at the Chandler household every weekend!!! Loved it!! Fall.....my favorite season of the year!! I love my flowers-so thankful God blessed us with His colorful handiwork in flowers- but really love fall!! These pictures were taken the first day of fall....won't be long and they will freeze & wilt, looking horrible. That will be a sad day!!! Last year they lasted thru the 1st of November....maybe they will again this year?!?! Can always hope!!

Heartaches.....Miracles

My heart aches for my daughter and her husband......wanting a baby so very much and miscarrying over and over again is extremely heart wrenching. It is a helpless feeling of wanting to "fix things" for them but knowing I cannot do so......so I offer the best I can.....praying for the healing of their hearts & Gods perfect peace to surround them as they once again walk this difficult path. I continue to claim, Jeremiah 29:11.....His plans ARE for good and not for evil. We do not understand His ways but can trust He does know best for us even when we cannot understand and feel life is just not fair. This has not been a month of good news....another family friend has learned he has cancer and must endure 6 weeks of daily chemo & radiation. We lift them up also to the throne of our Heavenly father , the great Healer. In the midst of the difficult times.....we learn that Derrek has been matched with 40.....not 1 but 40 donars for bone marrow!!!! Miracles DO happen!!!! The process continues and soon he will be in Seattle for the transplant!! What an amazing community we have....Lisa & Sandy put together a fund raiser-almost 600 turned out, raising close to $30,000 for the Beaches! We can only give HIM the glory!!!

Answered Prayer

Answered prayer.......our friend Derek is in remission!!!!!! He will need to go thru another "round" of chemo to help keep him there and very soon have a bone marrow transplant. Now we need to pray for a match!! We are so grateful.....thank you, Lord for your healing hand and great mercy!!

Precious Blessings

We are going to be grandparents again!!!!!! Our daughter is expecting in October. We trust God for His protection for both Lisa and baby as the days go by. We pray that all will go well this time, that mommy and daddy will have His perfect peace as each day of this pregnancy gives hope that all is going well. They will go to a specialist in Spokane next week. We can only trust that God is in control of all things...He knows best in all cirucmstances of our lives.....we rest in His peace and care.

Storms of Life

Sometimes God calms the storm....sometimes He calms us. Peace.....God gives peace in the midst of the storms of life. Right now our friends are going thru a storm. Our hearts are aching. Our friend Derek has recently been diagnosed with acute lukemia. Things have not gone terribly smooth but God has given them His perfect peace as only He can give. The storm is far from over but God has blessed them abundantly time and time again, drawing them closer and closer to Him. The storm has deeply affected our daughter & her husband and their children as they are close friends with Derek, Brenda & their family. We know God holds them in the palm of His hand...we trust Him and pray for His healing hand upon Derek, asking for a miracle.

Celebration of a Life

Today my sister and I traveled over the Cascade Mountains to be a part of celebrating the life of our Aunt Fern, 89 yrs,......a woman of God, who loved Bible Study, was an amazing cook/baker of goodies, always had a little quip to share, mom of 5 boys-and survived them- enjoyed family history, grandma of 15, gt grandma of 30, and gt gt grandma of 3.......it was good to be together with so many family members, coming together to celebrate her life.....what a blessing to know that one day His children will be reunited. It is hard to say goodbyes, but we have His perfect peace to comfort us and the hope of what is yet to come!!

Dad and Mom were to come with us but Dad has not been feeling well all last week, and still not up to par, he did not feel like traveling. We spent half the night at the hospital trying to rule out all the "could be's" with a diagnosis of : probably Virtigo (spelling?). Another test next week and hopefully another "could be " will be ruled out! Doing better today! Soooo thankful!!

In spite of why we were traveling, Cheryl and I had a wonderful time reminiscing, laughing,talking and just being together!! Sunshine, my sister....great day!! To make the day even better....my hubby came from Olympia and met us there for the service! Was good to be with family.....we were a large group ( & that isn't even 1/4th of us!!!!) so good to be together!

Thankful for family....He gave us JUST the right one!!!

In the Blink of an Eye

Just in a blink of an eye.......all can change ever so quickly. Gary's brother, Bob, passed away 2 days before Christmas. My heart breaks for Mom C, losing her first born, and for Jeni, now alone. My heart wants to "fix"the heartaches of our loved ones, but most often that is not something possible to do. We grow, learn, stretch, become stronger, and become more like Him who created us through the difiicult times we go thru. Still my heart aches to see them go thru this devasting time. We stand strong in our faith in God, not always understanding His ways, but believing He is in control of all things & has a perfect plan. He is the way, the truth and the life....we can rest in His perfect peace knowing He is the Healer of the brokenhearted and will one day reunite us all with the loved ones gone on before us. For this we are grateful.