November 2008

THE HEAVILIN HERALD
November, 2008

WE MADE IT! We made it to Kansas safely, and we made it to 50 years of marriage safely! We were blessed to be with Matt and some of his family on October 25, the actual day of our anniversary. Matt treated us to a wonderful dinner at a lovely restaurant. I think we ate enough to last us the whole weekend; however, it just doesn’t work that way. The next day we ate again!

While our hearts were blessed with this wonderful celebration, it was with great sadness that we said Goodbye to Glen’s Aunt Kitty. We are so grateful to God for allowing us to be close enough geographically that we could drive to Rockford, Illinois and attend her service. Aunt Kitty’s service was a blessing to us and, I’m sure, to all who attended. Being one of 15 siblings with six siblings remaining, the number of family who attended was amazing. Family members came from Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Our most precious memory was when the entire family (over sixty of us) gathered to say a final goodbye to Aunt Kitty. When the Heavilins get together, we sing. And sing, we did! We sang hymns without the benefit of hymn books, and most of us knew all the words. Some of the songs brought tears to our eyes as precious memories were triggered and flowed through our minds.

We were also saddened to hear of the death of Tom Tate. Tom played a major part in Marilyn’s teen life and in our early married life. He and his late wife Ruth were best friends to Marilyn’s parents. Tom drove us to Campus Crusade from Arizona where he lived to attend our first Lay Institute. We are grateful that God brought this very special man into our lives and allowed us to know him for over fifty years.

The weather has certainly turned cool. It was 33 degrees last night. Each night we disconnect our water hose. We are having beautiful, clear skies each day, and we are grateful. We also saw a sign for unleaded gas for $1.89 yesterday. Can you believe that excited us to think it had gone down that much! We do remember when gas was 27 cents per gallon; of course, we only made $45 per week then, too.

We enjoyed our stop over in Springfield, Illinois at the Lincoln Museum. This was our third visit, but we still discovered parts of the museum we hadn’t seen before. We definitely recommend visiting the museum. Even though Lincoln was president nearly 150 years ago, it is still one of the most modern presidential museums we have visited. We just enjoy all of the historical places around Springfield. We were sorry to discover that the state is closing down or cutting the tour days for many of the state-owned sites such as the Dana-Thomas House which was built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Apparently things are tough financially everywhere.

While in Indianapolis, Marilyn had an MRI on her shoulder which had been causing some pain. The MRI revealed a torn rotator cuff, but the doctor did not recommend surgery. That was a big relief for us as the possibility of spending a winter in Indianapolis would be very complicated for us. It is doubtful that we could spend an Indiana winter in our rig which would probably mean renting an apartment for the winter, and after surgery Marilyn could well have trouble negotiating the steps to the rig for quite some time. The doctor gave Marilyn a cortisone injection and an order for physical therapy and said she did not need to come back unless she wanted another injection or the pain became intolerable. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us. Please continue to pray for Marilyn that the pain will remain tolerable and no other serious injuries will occur. We are praying for God’s will in this matter, and know He will take care of us no matter what.

“I will praise the Lord NO MATTER WHAT happens. I will constantly speak of His glories and grace” (Psalm 34:1, TLB).

BE SURE TO VOTE! THIS COUNTRY CAN USE ALL OF THE HELP IT CAN GET!!!

In Him,

Glen and Marilyn

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS, 10/25/2008

GLEN AND MARILYN, 10/25/2008

AUNT KITTY CUTTING, 10/13/2008

TOM TATE 10/15/2008

THE LINCOLN FAMILY, PLUS ONE