LOVE the Pacific Northwest!!

Spending the second week in Seattle with my daughter. 
Awesome update since last blogged.....God has seen her thru her pregnancy and we are at the end of the prenancy adventure and about to embark on the baby adventure of this journey!!! Soooo excited!! She was airlifted a few weeks ago from home to Seattle-but all is well.  She just has to remain here the last 6 weeks of her pregnancy, so several of us have been taking turns staying with her as her husband can only come on weekends til school is out. I have been priviledged to go to a couple of her appointments....got to see the ultra sound...and a 3D ultra sound.  Grandbaby was playing with her toes and putting her fingers in her mouth! Very awesome to be a part of this journey.  C-section scheduled for the 19th of June-if she makes it that far!

Seattle is so beautiful right now....the flowers are gorgeous and weather has been great...not much rain since I have been here but have enjoyed cloudy/sunny days!  Love living in the Pacific Northwest.  Such a variety of landscape and weather!  Thankful this is where my family landed in the 50's!!

Still working on my goals...and making great progress in each.  Some slower than others but I am not in a hurry, so all is well!!  One goal I set for myself was to lose weight this year..I procastinated  and procastinated.  Wanted to lose but wasn't willing to take that initial step forward.  Finally with a HUGE push from my son-in-law, I was pretty much shoved off the edge and began that journey of my life!!  That was in the beginning of March...have lost 50 pounds so far!  Feel sooo much better and looking forward to seeing the goal accomplished...with a new life style of eating habits!!!  Only want to go forward...do NOT want to see those pounds ever again!!

I am ever so greatful for all God has seen our family thru ...many have been praying for our daughter, her family and this new little one about to come into our life.  Much heartfelt thanks to each of you for your continued prayerful supplications to our Lord! All glory to Him!!!

February 2013

Happy New Year....a bit late but non-the-less...may God bless you in this year ahead.  My goal setting last year went really well!!Continuing on in the card making/sending goal...continues to be fun both to make & let someone know we are thinking of them.  My other goals have gone really well also-other than my blogging monthly...not accomplished to the end yet, but all works in progress!! My "secret" goal also is moving forward!!

We are expecting a grandchild....a precious little girl! Our daughter is expecting again after experiencing many losses, and she is almost 24 weeks along!  God has kept His hand upon both mommy & baby-things are progressing along very well!. Lisa needed surgery a few weeks ago to keep little Amarisa Marie hidden away as snug as a bug til the time is right to make her appearance!  All is going great.  We are continuing to pray she stays put as long as possible.  She is healthy & growing as drs want. She is due in June!  God is great! 

Oh how I appreciate running water and sewer sytems!!!!  Our septic tank quit working last weekend...how quickly we take things for granted until something does not work right.  Flooding floors, backed -up tubs, a yard all dug up and small amounts of water to be used until working again. Fortunately, after pumping, STILL not working and snaking out the lines, we are back to normal. Well, almost!!!  The tank is very old and has a super large lid-which fell in.  So this weekend my sweet hubby will be trying to pull that out and close up the gaping hole! He has three projects now going in the yard.  All of which involve large, long gaping holes in our pretty yard! The grass WILL grow again!!

Spring has sprung early for us this year.  Flowers, weeds, roses are sprouting, budding & blooming.  Way too early for us in this area.....worried about my flowering trees and the fruit trees in our area.  Too early to bud out for sure! "Yard work break" is coming to a grinding halt!  Happy Spring everyone!!

Surprise...I thought a WHOLE year had passed since I last blogged...I managed to write twice this year now!!   Still not sure how time can seriously pass by so fast!

Last December I set a goal for myself....to send Birthday & Anniversary greetings to all brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neices, nephews that I have dates for....some of which I have had to do a bit of search & rescue to obtain!!  I have managed to make it thru November 2012 and soon to be on December!!  I have great enjoyment creating the cards instead of buying them!  Not super professional looking but have definitely improved since beginning this project!!  Thank goodness for pintrest and new ideas to help me expand on or borrow an idea!

My next goal was to begin reading the Bible from begining to end in a year.  I did not set that goal until later in the year so have not accomplished that goal as of yet...and it is going slower than planned!!  I am loving re-reading the stories I learned as a child...and discovering new things God has in mind for me to learn along the way!!

I have now decided to set myself yet another goal...to write at least once a month on my blog...we shall see how I do there!!  I totally love reading my sister and several neices blogs...seeing what the great neices & nephews are doing and the wonderfully cute things they say and do-pictures are awesome!  Even if we do not talk often, this keeps me up with their growing little people!! 


This has been the year of goal setting for me personally-maybe not big or important to anyone else, but myself.

I have yet another goal in mind but not ready to share it yet!!  You will have to stay tuned!!

First Day of Spring!

Tomorrow is the First Day of Spring!!!!!   WOW!!  I have not posted since the first day of FALL!!!!!  Time flies when we are having fun!!!  First day of spring...our 41st anniversary!!!  What a loving God we have...I am sooo thankful for the husband He has blessed my life with. LOVE this man so much! Looking forward to many more blessed years together!! Time to clean up the yard...flowers are peeking thru the dead leaves!!!  Heather, pansies, crocus are already in bloom.  Daffodils and tulips are not far behind. Still pretty chilly out yet...a few  days in 60s but not many yet!  LOTS of wind...just about every day since the end of February has been windy. Ready for some gentle, warm breezes!!!

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.

Tis The Season!!!

December has arrived and with it a flurry of activities! I have always loved Christmas...the lights, the decorations, the caroling, family gatherings ...Santa fun, giving gifts.....but most of all the very reason for the season...the celebration of Jesus birthday.

Owning The UPS Store makes the month of December extremely hectic and to say the least very exhausting!! It is the busiest time of our year. It is always fun to see customers come in to ship their loved ones gifts, share some words of cheer and wish a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. My daughter -with the help of her daughter and a bit from me-bakes up a storm and puts out cookies & Starbucks coffee for our customers to enjoy while waiting their turn to get help at the counter! Everyone loves the cookies and are soon out the door, their packages on their way. We see friends, neighbors and "once a year shippers" that we haven't seen all year as they pass their packages over to be shipped. It IS fun but we are sooooo glad to close the door at night.....we are on the run the minute we open til we close! It is hard to keep focused on what Christmas is truly about when you get so tired and caught up in the busy days.

Last night we attended the Christmas Dinner at our church. The church was beautifully decorated, dinner was catered by Michael's On The Lake, Christmas music provided by the MLHS Swing Choir, harp & cello by Rena Harrison & Tracy Estrellado and we all sang Christmas carols together. Tonight, we attended the Christmas Musical at the Moses Lake Alliance Church.....wonderful music praising God.

In the midst of all the hectic busyness at the store, I once again feel a peace...my heart feels revived and more ready to face another week. The Christmas dinner and musical were just the remedy to remind me once again what the true "reason for the season" is all about. Thank you Lord, for the reminders!!

....and yet ANOTHER suprprise!!!!!!!!!

Lisa and Amador surprised Gary and me with a 60th Birthday Celebration!! I had wanted to plan one for Gary and while Lisa and I were "working on it together", they were planning one for the both of us!! Our birthdays are only 16 days apart! It was a huge surprise...they threw a wonderful birthday celebration for us. We had dinner at the Pillar Rock with many family and friends! Truely it was a wonderful blessing. Thank you with all our hearts to the kids for doing this and to all our family and friends for coming to celebrate with us!! You all are so very special to us and we love you each dearly!!

Surprise.....and surprise Again!!!!!!!

Tonight my husband, one of our grandaughters and I went to Wenatchee, WA. Gary had a dinner meeting, so Hannah and I went along to go shopping. Hannah suggested we go visit my sister, Cheryl and her husband. So I called to see if they would be home. Steve answered and I asked him to not let Cheryl know we were in town, but that if they would be home, we would stop by for a bit if it worked out for them. So...we rang the doorbell, Steve answered, directed us to the utility room where Cheryl was getting laundry into the washer. We "snuck" up on her and yelled "boo"! It worked....she was startled and we were laughing to see our surprise had worked!!!! Stayed for about an hour, visiting while they ate dinner!! Great fun!! Love you both much. Would love to have ahd a camera to catch her look of surprise!!! Didn't think to take in my phone!!!!!! Oh well.....another time!!!!! Oh....and by the way....the second surprise....Cheryl and Hannah.....I have blogged yet again!!!!! :-)

Vegas, Death Valley & Grand Canyon

We took a trip to Nevada and our best friends flew in to meet us there!!!! What a wonderful time we had! Took in a couple shows in Vegas, drove to Death Valley and then on to Grand Canyon. The desert was full of awesome flowers in bloom-made Gary stop many times so I could get a pic!!He grumbled but was a great sport about it all!! We took picnic lunches on our outings and had a great time together laughing, visiting, sight-seeing and just hanging out together!!


Dinner in Vegas on the strip.





Bill and Janet posing at the falls!


Ceasar Palace water show......fountains move in time with the music!!


Death Valley...hot & dry!!!!!


Gary and Debs turn to pose....Death Valley


Picnic lunch -this time in Death Valley!


Desert flowers...soooo very pretty!!


Grand Canyon.....such beautiful views....no matter where you look, it was gorgeous!!


Lookout tower at the Grand Canyon...



Janets camera episode.....


Janet's camera....you would have to ask HER about THAT story!!! God blessed us with awesome friends and we are ever so grateful for them!!

May 5th, 2010....Happy 30th Birthday, Amador!

My son-in-law, Amador...the birthday guy!!! Lisa planned a special party for the big event...BBQ, outdoor movie night, campfire-to keep us warm-was a very cold evening!! His mom came from Colorado to surprise him! Family and friends joined us to celebrate. We love you, Amador and are blessed to have you as a part of our family!!





Amador loves Mountain Dew , so Lisa had a special............"Mountain Dew" cake made just for him!!

BFF!!!!!!!!!!

Lori, Deb, Louise, Sylvia and Patti

Best Friends Forever!!!!!! That's what the five of us seem to be!!!!! We have been together since grade school!! Patti, Lori & I since kindergarten...Louise came to Lakeview School in first grade and Sylvia joined us in 4th grade. We all grew up in the same neighborhood-spending MANY hours together up though High School!!!!! Oh the memories we have!! It would make a book I am sure to record all of our memories we have shared!! We stayed in touch after graduation, some of us able to attend each others weddings...I managed to attend each of the weddings!! About five years ago we decided to have a yearly get together in Leavenworth, Washington. A couple of times not all of us have made it but we have done pretty well!! We keep in touch for all the "major" events in our families and share prayer requests in difficult times we encounter. We definitely are friends forever....amd consider ourselves blessed to have had our friendship for so many years now.....54 years since Kindergarten and counting!!!!