Dear Kids,

I’m looking forward to our Super Sunday dinner this afternoon.  If you still need the address, it’s 850 East 550 South in Centerville.  It starts at 3:00, and Al is in charge.  Bring whatever you like, and prepare to have fun.  It won’t be terribly hot, since weather.com is predicting 86 degrees for Centerville at 3pm.  Hey, it could be a lot worse. 

We had a super rainstorm on Thursday, and some of you probably had it, too.  I wanted to kneel down in it and kiss the ground, like the pioneers do in one of the church movies.  Funny thing was, it never showed up in the long-range forecast–it just appeared.  Looks like the Lord heard my prayers, and the prayers of all the farmers, too.  It would be great if there could be another storm soon, to help end the drought.  The Jordanelle is depressingly low, and I’m sure the other reservoirs are hurting, too.

My brother Charley is doing really well.  He never did have to go to rehab; they just sent him home from the hospital, where he’s recuperating.  We hope he’ll recover completely, and there’s a good chance he will.  Thanks for your prayers in his behalf.

Dad and I were invited to Paul’s house yesterday afternoon for a barbeque with the Riebens, so we took the truck, and we stopped at the Lifetime store in North Salt Lake on our way and bought the new play yard for the cabin.  It’s in a big crate that practically fills the back of Dad’s truck.  They loaded it with a forklift, but to take it out, we’ll have to dismember the crate and hand down the pieces.  I’m excited to have Dad put it together.  

I’m still gasping for breath.  My pen pal Chandra in Phoenix sent me a hand-held fan that you hold right in front of your face, and it helps, somehow.  There’s no medical reason–it just does.  Anyway, my echocardiagram is tomorrow, and my appointment with the pulmonologist is Friday.  There’s no relief for the short term, but at least I’m “on the path,” as Sharon put it.   Thanks for your prayers for me, and the prayers of your kids, too.  I know they help.

Lots of love, Mom

Dear Kids,

Just a reminder about super Sunday next week, 3pm, at the park in Centerville located at 850 East 550 South.  Allen will provide the drinks and everybody will provide the fun. And the food.  See you there!

And happy Fathers Day to all our wonderful sons and sons-in-law.  We really appreciate the wonderful way you take care of your families and set such a good example for them.  Dad seems to be having a good Fathers Day.  For a present I gave him a new bar for his chain saw.

My brother Charley had a seizure last Wednesday night and is in the IHC hospital in Murray, the “Death Star.”  It could have been caused by his forgetting to take his medication, but they’ve done all kinds of tests to rule out other things.  He’s going to be transferred to St. Marks rehab next week, according to Andy.  I’m praying really hard for him, and I hope he pulls through without permanent damage.  He’s been living on borrowed time for three or four years now, and I hope he can borrow plenty more.

I saw the pulmonologist on Friday, and it was very discouraging, but I expected that.  The nurses gave me the breathing test where you breathe into a tube and then blow it out hard, and they kept wanting me to do it over and over, to get consistent results.  I finally told them I couldn’t do it any more. Then I met the doctor and he was very nice.  He says he has to rule out every possible thing before he assumes it’s just my cancer doing what cancer does.  He ruled out asthma right away, which I could have told him.  The funny thing is that my oxygen is always around 98 or 99 percent, which is excellent, but why am I always gasping for air?  I’ll be having  an echocardiogram on the 28th, to rule out heart trouble, and then I’ll see the doctor again July 2.  That adds two more weeks of waiting.  I guess I can stand it, but it’s really hard.  I just get through every day, one at a time.

The farmers here are really concerned about the drought.  One of Dad’s friends at the coffee club told him he has 6 more days of watering, and then he’s going to cut his hay and be finished for the summer.  Usually they hope for at least 2 cuttings.  When you live in the city a drought only means you’re supposed to “slow the flow,” but farmers lose thousands of dollars.  It was a little cloudy yesterday morning, and while Dad and I were working at the cabin about six drops of rain fell, but that doesn’t help much.  I pray every day for rain.  When I say my prayers, the Lord knows what to expect–I want help with my lungs, and I want the drought to end.  I hope He’s not getting tired of me.

I love you all.  Mom

 Dear Kids,

I’m already looking forward to the next Super Sunday, two weeks from today, and Allen will be the host.  We’ll be meeting at a park in Centerville, and the address 850 East 550 South.  Allen warned that it might be “toasty,” but I reminded him that we’re all tough.  Besides, I’m sure there are trees we can sit under.  This will be our normal pot-luck format, meaning you bring whatever you want, but I’ll see if Al can provide the drinks, since we won’t have a kitchen sink with water nearby.  

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Adelaide had finished her mission application process (or that it was a rumor) but I was wrong.  She’s in the middle of the process now.  Last Sunday she had her patriarchal blessing, and she still needs her medical and dental checkups.  Then her “papers” can go in.  It will be exciting to see where she gets called.  We hope she’ll be able to do a face-to-face MTC, but it she has to do it at home, that’ll work too.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Provo temple with Julie because she was being endowed.  It was just us, Spencer’s parents, John and Heather, and Prices.  We were the whole session!  It was really nice, but I’ll be glad when the temples are open for big groups again.

It froze here a couple of nights ago, and when I went out ministering to my ladies the next day, they complained about losing tomatoes, petunias, etc.  I don’t know why anybody tries to grow flowers and tomatoes around here.  I thought it was a relief to leave Salt Lake and have a good reason not to grow a garden!

My breathing is still really bad, but I have an appointment with a pulmonologist this Friday.  He’s supposed to rule out anything besides cancer that could be giving me trouble.  The last resort, according to my oncologist, will be radiation, and I think he means the entire area of my lungs, not just the lymph node in the middle.  They always try to tell you as little as possible, in order not to scare you, but I would rather know everything.  Then I can face it.  I’m really confident that I’ll live several more years, whatever happens.  My patriarchal blessing talks about my days being “lengthened” to “fill my mission with joy and satisfaction.”  And I think being here for you kids and grandkids is part of my mission, so I think the Lord will preserve my life.

Lots of love to everybody, Mom

 Dear Kids,

The best news of the week is that Seth is going to be a counselor in their bishopric.  I don’t know if it’s first or second–Sharon didn’t say.  We’ll be watching their meeting on zoom later this morning, and then we’ll know.  Jerry and Juanita and Lucinda flew to Maryland so Jerry can ordain Seth a high priest.  I know he’ll do a wonderful job in this calling, because of his great spirit and his compassion for people.  We’re really proud of him.

And Bentley is a trainer!  I’m sure he’ll be great at this.  He and his new trainee are working hard and teaching people and having wonderful time.  Go, Bentley!

I’m still having a lot of trouble breathing, and various things are being ruled out, but I don’t have any answers yet.  It’s not asthma, because the nebulizer didn’t do diddily, and after that I had to take a course of prednisone that didn’t help, either.  They sent the CT scan to my radiation doctor, and he said he doesn’t see anything suspicious in the lymph node in my chest, so I won’t be having radiation.  That’s great news, but why can’t I breathe?  I’m just gasping all the time.  They’re trying to get me in to a pulmonologist who specializes in lung cancer, but their main guy is booked out really far, and they haven’t been able to contact their other one.  I know there are people worse off than me, but I wish I could jump to the head of the line.  Meanwhile, I really appreciate your prayers.

Friday afternoon I went to the Heber airport with Dad, where he helped John put his glider together, and helped him take off.  Meanwhile there were Laer jets coming and going, and small planes, and an old world war II plane flown by a couple of old coots who looked like something from “Secondhand Lions.”  It was all very entertaining, and helped me forget about my bad breathing.  I just hung out in the hanger and read for a couple of hours.  

Now that the old swingset at the cabin has been demolished, we need to go get the new one.  Dad will have to put it together himself, since the directions are the size of a telephone book, and you have to go step by step.  Too bad it can’t be a group project.  I’m also re-doing the fire pit, and Dad and Donna got the watering system going.  There are always wonderful projects at the cabin, and it’s cooler there, now that we’re in this heat wave. 

I love you all and hope that summer is off to a great start for all of you.  Love, Mom