To Benders

Colleen Bender wrote: Hi There,

    I heard Leonard had shoulder surgery and a muscle repair?

    How is he doing?  So many things happen and we hardly hear about them.

    We talked to Bert Paxman yesterday.  His chemo and radiation seem to be working.  That's good news.

    Vard White is not doing well at all.

    Anytime we go to the Dr. it seems to be the same, "Hate to tell you this, but it's age related."

    We sure hope Kirsten continues to heal.  Wow!  that was major.

    Tell Leonard we hope to see him soon, good as new.

    Are you still maintaining?

Love you,
Colleen


Myrna wrote: I prayed last night that I would have the needed energy to keep on keeping on.

Leonard had a rotator cuff repair (minor) and a ruptured biceps repair (major). The surgery went well and Dr. Robert Jackson was proud of the work he did. However, LHT ended up being allergic to tape and codeine (like Kirsten) so he ended up with hives all over the shoulder area. I thought that he had had percocet before but he may have built up an allergy. That can happen with anything.

It is good to hear that Bert is doing well. I wondered when he bore his testimony if that might be the case.

Whenever I scold LHT about not taking care of himself, he tells me that it would be a shame to put a healthy body in the grave.

Kirsten is healing but it will take quite a few more weeks. The doctor tells her that she should be a new and improved model of her former self by the end of June or the first of July. Meanwhile, her kids are falling apart. Emma takes gymnastics, fell and got a minor concussion. In a second fall, she broke her toe. She thinks she might give up the sport. (I wonder why?)

Thanks for your concern and for your continued love.

LHT It Sounds Familiar Said Eva

Hon, Sorry you are having to go through that.  When I was in he care center after my 2nd back surgery, they changed the huge dressing on my back, what a nightmare.  I was so totally allergic to the adhesive tape they used I thought I was going to die from the terrible itching. Now I have to tell everyone to use paper tape on me.   I hope you are beginning to heal after all that surgery. God bless you  Love you always.  Eva  

Helen About Funeral Photos

Myrna wrote: I posted all of the photos of Ila's funeral that I took on Facebook. Just go to my site and there they are. I can send them via email but you will be sorry. My kids hate when I do that because it bogs down the world. If you would email me the addresses for Jimmy, Neldon, Loy Beth, and Tammy, I would be happy to pass on the information or to share any way that I can. I uploaded them in the highest quality setting so they should download in a usable form for printing or sharing.

I also plan to upload to photobucket. When I get that done, I will send the link. It is password protected so I will send that as well. I love you all.


Helen wrote: Hi,  hope all is well- thanks again for your care for Tim- I do not have e-mail addresses you requested but am giving mailing addresses-
Jim- 1007 North 840 East--Orem, Ut  84097
Neldon- 899 North 75 East- Orem, Utah 84057
Tammy- and Loy beth I do not have addresses for- Claire told me she thinks Loy Beth might be living with Tammy at present- she has not been able to keep her own living accomodations- just spoke with Claire- she doesn't have their addresses either- Have a good week. Love Helen

Group Letter

How am I doing? I prayed last night that I would have the needed energy to keep on keeping on. ;) For a 72-year old woman, I am doing well. Grandma Smith, Aunt Renee, and Grandma Edna all died at about age 72. I guess I am just walking on the edge. Let's hope that I keep walking the narrow line and don't fall off. I have never been graceful when walking. Hehehe. I like being alive. I go to see the endocrinologist this week for thyroid and diabetes. Hopefully, the fact that I now weigh 122 pounds and am physically active will make a difference. 

Whenever I scold LHT about not taking care of himself, he tells me that it would be a shame to put a healthy body in the grave. I wonder about LHT's doctor. His A1C is as high as mine and his doctor did not declare him a diabetic. His bad cholesterol reading is a lot worse than mine and he did not get bent out of shape. He just tells him that his problems are age-related. I don't think that is comforting to me. I have a husband who has Factor V and had a heart attack. I worry about him. I think he should change doctors but Dr. James Besendorfer is the doctor who saved his life when he had the heart attack.

We had our young about-to-leave missionary/home teacher, Ben Horrocks (he is going to Italy), and his grandpa, come to our house and give LHT a blessing before he went in for his surgery. He was promised that he would heal quickly and would not have much pain. That certainly was the case. So we are thankful for that. He and Clifton Taylor, who is submitting his papers and who has been in our temple prep class, decided to bring the sacrament to LHT because they love him and they were doing the service for the shut-ins.  

Kirsten is healing but it will take quite a few more weeks. The doctor tells her that she should be a new and improved model of her former self by June. Meanwhile, her kids are falling apart. Emma takes gymnastics, fell and got a minor concussion. In a second fall, she broke her toe. She thinks she might give up the sport. (I wonder why?) The rest have had ear infections and etc.

Julie and family and AnnMarie and family all went to Disneyland this past month. Jim took a load of bees to California, came back and they left. Kyle and Megan were with the orchestra/choir from TimpView who performed there. So the whole family, including Alyssa, were able to go. They all had fun but Rachel got sick and Julie and kids all got ill. (Jim escaped.) 

Uncle David has damaged ribs. He said that he did not break the ribs but did injure the ligaments that cross over the ribs. He said he ended up paying for the doctor visit himself because his work has a policy that you have to report the work-related injury when it happens. He waited two days because it just kept getting worse so that he finally had to go to the doctor. They really don't do much for you when you do that kind of damage. They tell you to take ibuprofen and to be careful. 

We have our sixth, seventh and eighth missionaries from the ward leaving in the next month. We have two more who are submitting their papers. We have been teaching them in temple prep and it has been really great. We love these young and devoted men. It makes us think of our family missionaries whom we love and are so proud of. 

We had an especially spiritual testimony meeting. It was a touching meeting. One of the brothers, Bert Paxman, has been being treated for cancer and was thankful for his healing. Others were thankful for the temple, for family, for ward members who sustained them, for trials they had overcome, for the Spirit of the Holy Ghost which testified to them of various truths. All were thankful for the Savior and for our Father in Heaven. I suppose, on the face of it, it sounds just like most testimony meetings. However, my heart was touched over and over again. One 30-year old man, who is just going to be living in our ward with his family for a few months while their house is built, was just released as a bishop of his former ward one week ago. He and his wife put their house up for sale following that event and it sold for the asking price in five days. They put everything in storage and moved in with her parents, Norm and Carla Wood, until the house is completed. He was so grateful for the love he had felt through all of the upheaval that he could not stop crying. One of those who took the stand, on a lighter note, said he had just decided to take the stand to bear his testimony so that he could bet a tissue because he needed one. At any rate, I was happy that I was there and sad that LHT was not.

When I was a girl, after I was baptized at age 12,  I decided to attend church. I went alone, at first, and was a bit confused by how things proceeded but I stuck with it. (In those days, we met for Sunday School in the morning. We then went home and came back later for Sacrament meeting and, at the morning meeting, we left the chapel in class groups. I wasn't certain where I belonged but I was taken in hand and got where I was supposed to be.) It was not too long before Grandma Smith started going with me and then there were the two of us together and that was good. She had had her feelings hurt by a bishop and had stopped going but when I started going again she decided to bury her hurt and return to the fold where she had always belonged. I so wanted to be one of those families where the father, mother and children all gathered together at meetings each week and where the church was the center of activity. I chose that for myself. I assumed that my children would all want to attend meeting with me so that we could be a happy group together enjoying time spent worshiping as a unit. Now I know that the most important person a missionary can convert is himself. The most important person anyone can convert is himself.  And though I became converted myself, I cannot convert anyone else. Each person must do that job, with the help of the Spirit, by himself. Having said that, I am grateful for the missionaries in my life who introduced me to truth--line upon line--so that I could be converted. There is no greater job on earth. There is no greater calling than serving as missionaries for the living and as surrogates for the dead. I am grateful for the missionaries in our family. They make my heart happy.

How I love my family! I pray for each person. I think of each person each day. I care about what is happening in each life. I like to hear the goings-on. I like to see the photos and receive the contacts on Facebook, in email, on the telephone, by snail-mail. You are so important to me. I get teary-eyed thinking of how wonderful my life is because of each of you. I know that sometimes I am a bit grumpy and out-of-sorts but I do not mean to be that way. I have no idea why I am. LHT tells me that I get tired and should just go to bed. That is, of course, easier said than done. And, even though I am 72 and slower than I used to be, I still think I can get everything done instantly. Bear with me, I have never been old before. Nevertheless, I still like to go to programs (we missed Matthew's because LHT was in pain after surgery), I sill like to have you all around me, I sill like to go places with you and do things with and for you.

Thanks for your love. Thanks for letting me be part of your life. I love you to infinity and beyond.