THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412070147
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Mandi Chandler's home is filled with angels. A trio of angels grace the coffee table, while a number of others flutter from the branches of the family Christmas tree.
Nine-year-old Mandi even sports an angel on a green sweatshirt decorated especially for Christmas. But the angels closest to Mandi's heart are her guardian angels, siblings Sarah and Joshua.
Mandi lost both siblings to leukodystrophy, a genetic abnormality that attacks the nervous systems of young children. Sarah, who died before Mandi was born, would have celebrated her 11th birthday last Sunday. Joshua lived for eight months, from February to October 1992.
Because angels hold such a special place in her heart, Mandi decided to share them with others through a Christmas card she designed for Edmarc Hospice for Children, the Portsmouth-based agency that helped the Chandlers cope with the loss of their loved ones.
The card shows three little angels, each sitting on their own fluffy cloud in the sky. From each cloud, the angels pour bright red hearts of love over a Christmas scene.
``I came up with the angels because my brother and sister died, and we believe that they're angels . . . angels that watch over us,'' said Mandi, a third-grader at Butts Road Intermediate School in Great Bridge. To her parents, Donald and Christy Chandler of Great Bridge, Mandi is their ``angel here on Earth.''
Mandi's card is one of two that Edmarc is selling. The other is a winter scene drawn and donated by J. Robert ``Bobby'' Burnell. All of the profits will go directly into services for children and their families, said Julie S. Sligh, Edmarc's executive director.
This is the second year that Mandi has designed a card for Edmarc. Last year's card featured a snowman donning a hat, scarf and broom and standing in front of a decorated Christmas tree.
``Mandi's a wonderful, wonderful little kid who's got incredible artistic talent,'' Sligh said. ``One of the things so charming about Mandi is her humility . . . She's also an incredible perfectionist. She won't stop until she gets it right!''
Mandi's mother, Christy Chandler, agreed. ``She took a good amount of time on the card . . . It's hard for her because she likes everything just right. She is a perfectionist,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Mandi's 1994 Christmas card for Edmarc Hospice for Children.
Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Mandi Chandler, 9, has for two years in a row designed Christmas
cards to benefit Edmarc Hospice for Children.
by CNB