Summer is coming to an end.

Wow what a summer we’ve had, at one point there were more than 800 forest fires burning, and some days it was so smoky we couldn’t even see the outline of the mountains around us. As each summer approaches we hope and pray the rain will fall at just the right time, in just the right amount, so we won’t have to deal with the frightening wildfires. The last three or four years have been pretty bad and the doomsayers tell us we can look forward to much of the same, but I think when it comes to predicting the weather or natural disasters that might occur, it’s anybody’s guess. We decided to do make some finishing touches on the back yard this summer, it’s nice to have a large lot, but it takes a lot of time and money to make it look good and keep it that way. Earl got material and recruited Luke’s help, and they really got into it. But it really does look better, even though it looked pretty good before we started. There have been a few upsets in our family recently. My brother-in-law Lorne Plett (Jenny’s husband) went for a stress test, and they wouldn’t even allow him come home, they flew him to Kelowna, did all the tests, and then flew him to Victoria where he had several stints put in. Apparently the quickest route to getting treatment is when the Dr. treats it as an emergency. Lorne was up and back to work in a few weeks. My grand niece Eric Vanderbrink has Hodgekin's disease and is undergoing chemotherapy treatments. She has two young active children so you can imagine how hard it is to be there for them right now. Then we got the news that Earl’s brother Elmer from Ladner also had a heart attack. Fortunately it happened at home and Marlene called emergency right away and got him into the hospital, hopefully not too much damage was done to the heart. He had a stint put in as well, and has to take it easy for a few months. Things in a family can change so quickly. We are going out for a visit this week. Will visit a church in Victoria on Sunday and then drive down to Seattle to visit Ruth & Royden. Grandpa will do some wiring, and grandma … well, she’ll do whatever her hands find to do. They were just here visiting Royden’s dad who is suffering from colon cancer. We would really appreciate your prayers on behalf of these suffering relatives. Royden’s sister from Seattle was here to see her dad as well. She brought little Vincent (the Lepp's first grandchild) much to grandpa and grandma Lepps delight, and they weren’t the only ones to enjoy him, so did the rest of us. What a sweet little fellow he is.