The Heavilin Herald

Here we are, it is June already. Things have just been rolling along and we never seem to get writing the HERALD into our schedule. Let me try to bring you up to date.

Marilyn is in hospice here at home. She has difficulty getting her voice to be heard. She also is unable to use the keyboard or write legibly. So, you can figure this is Glen composing this edition of the HEAVILIN HERALD. I tell folks that Marilyn is the real voice, but she lets me carry her books.

You may notice in the pictures that Marilyn is always in her wheelchair. Since February, she has been unable to stand. That has changed our lives. Years ago, I purchased a Hoyer lift and had used it a about six times. Now I use it more than six times a day. Every transition from bed to wheelchair and from wheelchair to bed I use the lift. We are so fortunate that we can walk to our favorite restaurant. When there is snow or rain, we just bundle up and go. For medical appointments we use a non-emergency wheelchair transportation van. That has also enabled us to get to church and to hair and nails.

Marilyn’s books continue to be used in people’s lives. We have big stacks of the various books in our closet and as we meet people, we often give them a copy of a book. One evening as we came to our regular table at our favorite restaurant, a couple in a nearby booth waved and said “Hello.”  I said “Hi,” and we continued getting situated. One of the servers stopped and told Marilyn, “I’m almost finished with your book!” After we had finished our meal, I noticed that the couple in the booth were finishing, and they also were talking to that server who was reading Marilyn’s book. I thought “I can interject myself into that conversation.” I grabbed a copy of the book and stepped to the table. I put it on the table and said to the server “Tell these folks about this book.” The server said “It’s a wonderful book. I’m reading it. The author has written eight books.” The lady in the booth looked at the cover and said “Marilyn Heavilin, I’ve read a book by Marilyn Heavilin!” I said, “Roses in December?” She replied “Yes, I lost a child.” I said, “Let me bring Marilyn right over!” So even though they could only have a limited conversation, they held hands and the lady shared how the book had ministered to her.

Just a short time after that we were able to go to another of our favorite places. We had to book the trip on the non-emergency wheelchair transport van. It was worth it to see our friends. They welcomed Marilyn with a bouquet of flowers, a Mother’s Day card, and they even put a white tablecloth on the table. A lady in a nearby booth noticed our arrival and the fuss that was being made. I gave the lady a business card and said to her, “Yes, my wife is a famous lady. You can look her name up on the internet and see.” We enjoyed our meal and as we were preparing to leave, I looked to the lady and asked, “Did you check my wife’s name on the Internet?” She responded, “I have heard your wife speak and I even have a copy of “I’m Listening Lord.””

I am so thankful that Marilyn got to see these two ladies.

In Kansas, the Covid restrictions have been relaxed and we can see people’s faces again. Every day seems brighter with smiles. On Easter our family came over to a nearby grassy area and we had an Easter egg hunt for Naomi. While she was searching for eggs, I put one under my hat. With a little coaching she focused on my hat and I lifted it to reveal the egg. Naomi thought that was hilarious.

We have begun attending a different church. We are very pleased. We have been welcomed by the staff and by the Sunday School and by the congregation in general. We are not able to attend as much as we want, but the service is available live online and Sunday School is on Zoom. We have gotten to love the pastor and our Sunday School teacher, and we are pleased with our decision to change churches.

The pastor just finished a chapter-by-chapter series on the book of Genesis and now he is doing a quick look into the book of Daniel which will be followed by a study of the book of Revelation. His style reminds me of the old Bible study method:

What does it say

What does it mean

How does it apply to me

Here is a link so you can see his second message from Daniel:

Pastor Chad just opens the Bible and takes us along with him as we study together.

I tell folks “I don’t know if we have a day, or a week, or a month, or a year. We are going to live each day with Jesus.”

Blessings on you,

Glen and Marilyn

Thanks for reading this latest Heavilin Herald. As we looked back we see it is the first one since December 2019. Believe it or not we still look about the same as we did back then.

This is us from September, 2019. You’ll need to take our word that we still look the same.
This picture was taken as we arrived at church for our regular Sunday service. Of course after Covid-19 appeared we didn’t make many trips down that hallway.
Rather than write a detailed list of events from the time that has passed, we will just try to bring you up to date with where we are now.

Marilyn’s voice continues to weaken. She has been in a Parkinson’s voice exercise class for several years. The class is now conducted via Zoom. Even Marilyn’s doctor’s appointments have been conducted on Zoom. She wants to thank everyone who has sent cards. With the quarantine it is good to make some kind of contact with friends.
Glen has now had both eyes treated for cataracts. The Doctor did a good job and he had no trouble. Soon he will get new glasses. Already his distance vision is better without glasses than with the old glasses.

Our great grand-daughter Naomi Joy Heavilin is an active almost two year old. We are all enjoying her.

Out in California our family is moving to new houses. Mike and Mellyn just purchased a place to down size while Christian and Madison have purchased their first house.

Mike and Mellyn                                                                Christian and Madison

Like many of you our life at church has been changed. For months there was no gathering in the sanctuary or Sunday school classrooms. Our worship services were broadcast via the internet. The first week the service was recorded outside the building on a Thursday and then made available for playing from the church web page. Finally there are services now in the sanctuary. The congregation wear masks and must practice social distancing. Our Sunday school class has met via Zoom since the beginning of the gathering restriction. Now we have a live Sunday school with masks and distancing which is also shared on Zoom. Our small group has used Google Duo as the video conference tool so we have been able to keep in contact that way.
A year ago who would have thought that Zoom would become a common household word.

It’s October in Overland Park, Kansas. Just sixty two years ago in Flint, Michigan this young couple shared their wedding vows. We’re still together today and the Lord is with us as we face each day.

Blessings on you all,

Glen and Marilyn

Greetings,

If you’re asking, yes this is the first Herald since June. We are just busier and busier. Last time we wrote it was summer. Now it’s winter. We thought it might be winter already back on October 28 when we got 4 inches of snow. Then it settled into a pleasant fall. Just this month, on December 15, we got even more snow. It began about 7am and it continued to snow steadily all day and into the evening. Almost everything was shut down. Our church Christmas Concert was cancelled. We never left our apartment all day.

On the days when we do get out it is often for some medical appointment. In addition to our primary care physician we see the Cardiologist, the Neurologist, the Ophthalmologist, the Urologist, the Physical Therapist, and the manicurist. We’re thankful that Marilyn has not had any serious falls or any more hospital stays. She is just finishing an exercise program designed for Parkinson’s patients called LSVT Big. Marilyn’s present diagnosis is Progressive Supranuclear Palsey. The doctors have tried several Parkinson’s medications and treatments.  When they work then we keep them.

We’re both older now. Glen’s birthday was in September, Marilyn’s birthday was in November, and we celebrated our 61^st wedding anniversary in October. In addition to Sunday Church and Sunday School we also get out to our small group weekly get togethers. We are so thankful for our small group because they give us so much support and prayer.

We also have season tickets for the classical series of the Kansas City Symphony. In addition to the classical standards the Symphony also commissions new pieces by new composers. Recently we got to hear “The Golden Spike” commissioned to commemorate the 150^th anniversary year of the completion of the trans-continental railway. The composer, Daniel Kellogg, remarked that he was excited to write for Mahler’s Hammer, a percussion instrument we had never heard. Here is a picture of a percussionist at the ready with the hammer. As you can imagine, when the hammer strikes it makes a real impression. Glen is talking to everyone about the hammer.

In early November, Marilyn received a letter from a lady in Canton, Ohio, Jill Taylor. She lost a young grandson in a tragic boating incident. One of her friends gave her a copy of Marilyn’s book, “Roses in December.” She wanted to tell Marilyn how the book ministered to her. Jill has maintained contact with Marilyn ever since that first letter. Jill has a ministry called Choose Life Radio. This past week Jill did a phone interview with Marilyn. When she puts it all together she will feature it as a podcast on the Choose Life Radio web site.

Sometimes Marilyn wonders if her ministry has ended and perhaps God is somehow finished with her. This contact with Jill has helped Marilyn realize that even old age and chronic illness don’t limit being used by the Lord.

At our Thanksgiving meal at Matt’s house, Matt shared a precious story from his work. Part of his job includes working with people from other cultures and countries. One man he works with suffered the tragic death, by suicide, of his daughter. The man also has a younger son. Knowing that Matt is a bereaved sibling, the man has been meeting with Matt, looking for help with grief. Sometimes we think of crossing the ocean to find a mission field. In this situation, a mission field has come across the ocean to find Matt. Would you pray along with us that the Lord will work through Matt to show this man the Gospel?

Always a hit at family gatherings is our great granddaughter. Naomi Joy Heavilin. Here she is with our daughter in law, Deb. On December 28 she will be one year old. She is a jewel and sharp as a tack. We are blessed to have her so near.

That’s the news from here.

Glen and Marilyn

Dear ones,

It is with somewhat of a surprise that we are doing fairly well. Marilyn has fallen three times since we wrote to you. She has been in the hospital twice since that time. Through it all she has maintained the weight loss of the fluid we left in the hospital in January.

In the middle of the night Marilyn thought she could take her cane and walk from the bed to the bathroom. She couldn’t, and took a fall. We didn’t see any obvious damage. But just to be sure we made an all day visit to the ER and they did every test possible and sent us home. A few days later, out of the blue, Marilyn had a fall and hit her right knee on our coffee table. Our first impression was that it was no big deal. The knee did show a lot of swelling. However the swelling was followed by big blisters. The next day, as we were eating lunch Glen noticed that the knee blisters were seeping fluid, so away to the hospital we went again. That night the ER doctor double checked the previous ER test and decided to admit Marilyn. After five days we were back home again.

This time we were scheduled to visit a wound clinic. They focused on getting the skin of the knee to heal. After four weeks and three visits they said we should be able to see the knee return to normal. It’s been a slow process but the pain and swelling are gone.

We have pictures of her knee, but they are not very appetizing so we will not show them here.

Now for something completely different.

Easter time was a beautiful time at our church. The series of messages led us to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. We shared the journey to Jerusalem, Palm Sunday, and a Maundy Thursday service which helped us to humbly serve our friends and family. You can see us here about to enter the sanctuary.

We are also happy to enjoy our Kansas City Symphony concerts. We have seen the regular concerts and also been invited to several other special events. We got to watch the dress rehearsal for Handel’s Messiah and we got to see a special evening that honored symphony musicians for their longevity of service. That event also presented a young woman , a high school sophomore, who won first place at a local young artist competition. She was excellent.

Her presentation work with the orchestra was the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto number 1. She was brilliant, masterful, and just plain good!

In addition to the symphony we have also enjoyed a concert by Ten Thing, a women’s brass ensemble from Norway. You can find their videos on You Tube. Then we spent an evening with Itzhak Perlman the violinist. He just told us about his life and introduced us to his wife. She was a joy to hear. They told about traveling full time all over the world with their young children before finally settling on a home so the children could have a more normal school life. Interspersed along the way were violin pieces which illustrated his story.

This evening (May 28) as we are writing this Herald we are keeping our ears tuned to hear the news of this evening’s tornado events. The major Kansas tornado passed about 15 miles away from us. Our friends Wally and Vicki now are in Lawrence, KS and think they were about a mile from the tornado path. We are now seeing the pictures of the aftermath. With the present level of technology we got detailed prediction of the path with the warnings to take shelter. Our weather radio has activated at least ten times in the last three hours. Now that the wind events have passed, we get warnings for flooding. From our building we can see Indian Creek and have seen it rise as much as ten feet after a big storm. The weather here in Kansas is always part of the story.

We thank you for your prayers on our behalf,

Glen and Marilyn

Dear friends,

Well we thought our last issue was full of surprises. Sometimes each new day brings something new.

The new year brought snow. January 12 arrived with an eight inch blanket. Schools and businesses were closed and we just stayed inside.

We got the report on Marilyn’s xrays. They showed that Marilyn’s lungs were not filling completely. Our Primary Care Physician advised to do deep breathing exercises, but if Marilyn’s breathing got worse to take her to the ER.

We practiced breathing and things seemed to be on an even keel. Then on January 24 we saw a sudden increase in problems, so off to the ER we went. Very quickly they discovered she had retained fluid. They began diuretics and admitted her to the hospital. She was in the hospital six days and five nights. She got back home to our apartment on January 30. So far she has lost about 25 pounds of fluid. She feels much better and her breathing is much improved.

We had our first visit from Naomi Joy on February 4^th. She is a beautiful baby. You can see how proud Nate and Martha are.

Of course, Marilyn is a proud great-grandmother.

Every day we thank our Savior Jesus Christ for his blessings. It is our privilege to spend each day with Him.

We are so grateful for your prayers,

Glen and Marilyn

Dear friends,

We have had lots of excitement during the last few weeks.

We’ve been waiting for our first great-grandchild. Now she’s here! Our precious little Naomi Joy made her appearance on December 28. She is a doll and looks most like Nathan did when he was small. Here’s a picture of Naomi in Matthew’s arms and you can get a glimpse of Nate in the background.

As a follow-up for his heart, Glen had his nuclear stress test on December 19. We had planned for a big day, but he was back home before noon. They had told him that it could take up to as long as eight hours. So he was pleased that it only took four hours. He passed it with flying colors. They told him that as soon as they could they would pass the word all along that he was fine. The tests came back “no problems, no problems, no problems.” We thank the Lord for those results. Glen is Marilyn’s 24/7 caregiver so a good report on his heart is greatly appreciated.

We had Christmas. And it was lots of food and lots of fun. The main meal was at Matt’s and desert was at our apartment.

Marilyn has had trouble with breathing for the past couple of weeks. One of the results is that she gets out of breath while speaking. This morning we went across the street to the clinic and had x-rays of her lungs. She seems to be slightly better, but we are waiting for a report on those x-rays.

Seems like there is always something new just ahead.

Thank you all so much for you continued prayers.

Glen and Marilyn Heavilin

Dear ones,

This has been a busy month it started out on October 27^th with the anniversary party for our 60^th year of marriage. We had about 50 people in attendance for the party. Glen’s brother Al, who was a ring bearer, drove over from Kentucky. We had lots of fun and good conversations all around. The kids and grandchildren sang for us. That was a real surprise for me. Glen and I gave tributes and I think a good time was had by all.

Then the following Sunday was my birthday, November 4.  Martha’s mother chose that day for the baby shower and at 6 o’clock we returned to the church for an Ann Downing concert because I like her singing and she is a good friend of mine. The concert was wonderful and we made it to an 8:00 pm dessert in my honor given by Matthew for my birthday.

We were also able to see Liz Curtis Higgs as she was speaking at a church not too far from where we live. It was special to see both of these women as it may be the last time that I see them before I see them in heaven.

For my birthday, Matthew, bought me and all of his family the new JBL-Link-View with  Google assistant. Matt says he bought it for the rest of the family so that mom would have someone to talk to. It sets quietly on the coffee table until we say “Hey Google!” Then it wakes up to do something we ask. If we say good morning it will respond with the weather report and read our calendar for the day. It can answer questions and also make video calls to people in our contact list. We can call Matt and have a video chat while seated on our couch.

Believe it or not, we had snow yesterday. It was cold enough to snow. It was 28°! It is only November and the trees have the leaves on them that show the color.  It made a beautiful display this morning.

Our daughter flew in from California for our anniversary but she was not able to stay for the anniversary party. She had to fly out early on Saturday morning.

Please pray for Glen as he is doing double time at home and now the doctors feel there might be something wrong with his heart. He is undergoing some tests and talking with the doctors. He is well taken care of but it is still a stressful time for him and for all of us. Please pray that it will be nothing and that his prayers and ours will be answered positively.

We love you,

Glen and Marilyn

Yes, we haven’t written since May.

It has been a busy time. Most of our calendar is filled with appointments with our doctors. You may recall that Marilyn had emergency surgery for a blood clot in the artery of her left arm. The recovery from that has been long and tedious. Finally, her arm almost appears normal.

Our Neurologist sent us downtown to the Theo and Alf Landon Center for the Aging. Just that name tells a story. Marilyn had an appointment with the Director of Neurology there. Our Neurologist just calls him the grandaddy Neurologist. He spent quite a bit of time with Marilyn. Then Marilyn was seen by several others with varied interest in her condition. We have seen a Neurologist for pain who arranged physical therapy for strength and balance. She also signed off on an electrical mobility chair. We were also seen by two resource specialists who set up a new walker for Marilyn. The unusual feature of the new walker is that the user must squeeze the two handles before the brakes of the walker will release.

We took delivery of the electrical mobility chair, but it was just too big and too difficult to operate, so we returned it after a trial period.

We now have the new walker and Marilyn is learning to use it. I think it is more stable than out old walker, so we are keeping it.

We were also referred to an ophthalmologist who specializes in the brain. He showed us Marilyn’s most recent MRI and pointed out several problems Marilyn has with her eyes which come from her brain atrophy. One eye problem he saw was that Marilyn’s eyes don’t converge well. He proposes that her next lenses be made with a prism quality to help the wandering eye be able to focus in coordination with the other eye.

We have two more referrals yet to complete. The first is with a new cardiologist who has ordered a trans-esophageal-echo-cardiogram. This procedure will hopefully reveal how Marilyn’s heart is functioning and provide clues for helping her heart stay free of blood clots. The second referral is to a Psychologist who will provide support for depression. The echo-cardiogram is scheduled for September 10. Our new Cardiologist sees us the next day. We have a follow-up with the new Neurologist on October 24 and see the Psychologist the next day which will be October 25.

Speaking of October 25th, and we are, That date will be our sixtieth wedding anniversary,  We plan to get together with family then, followed by a big shindig on Saturday the 27th. The Lord has blessed us with these married years and we want to share his blessings with our friends.

Marilyn has had a slow day today. She went to physical therapy but could not complete the exercises for the day. She started this morning feeling tired and just never got ahead of that feeling. I put her to bed early in the evening and pray that a good rest will help her gain some energy.

The two of us still look well even when we’re really not.

Here’s a picture of us arriving at church on a Sunday morning ready for the worship service and then Sunday school.

Here we are at one of our favorite restaurants, Stroud’s Pan Fried Chicken. The two girls found out about Marilyn and we gave them each a book. It is a privilege to share blessings with friends.

Please continue to pray for us. Especially remember Marilyn’s health.

Dear ones,

It has been kind of a topsy-turvy time since the last Heavilin Herald. Each time we think things have settled into some kind of normal, we are surprised again.

How many of you can say, “We had snow for Easter?” We can. It was 1 April, and we nearly froze outside because of the wind. The temperature was in the thirties! We had a wonderful Easter Sunday at our church. I pray that each of you did too.

We had cold weather for most of April and finally May arrived with some warmer weather. We are very grateful for the warmer weather. It does seem a little late though. We are enjoying it.

We did try celebrating Caleb’s birthday outside at a park, because Matt and Deb were having an open house on the last weekend of April. However, it seemed very cold because of the wind. It always blows in Olathe.

Since Nate and Martha are buying a house in Gardiner, Kansas, Matt and Deb decided to sell their big house. They plan to move back into their older home where the kids were living.

In April, at the end of the month, we were privileged to watch and listen to Yo Yo Ma play the cello magnificently. We really enjoy attending the Kansas City Symphony so far, I am able to attend most of the events that I wish to attend.

We were rattled somewhat by a call Saturday, May the 5th, just before we were planning to sit down to supper. We received a call that Matt had been taken to the hospital by ambulance because of some heart problems. We arrived at the hospital in Olathe immediately to find a very flushed face Matt. I could tell he was in trouble immediately. After about two hours, they released him to go home with the promise that he would contact his doctor on Monday. His own doctor saw him on Monday morning and was very upset that they did that did not keep him at least until Sunday morning. After four prescriptions Matt is feeling much better, but he is stayed home and missed work for a week. Matt will be 59 in July and he knows that he must consider himself first from now on.

It has been about two months since I had a fall. I am feeling fairly well. My neurologist did say that I will live several more years. Praise God for that statement. We were surprised when I faced emergency surgery last Wednesday for a blood clot in my elbow which turned into quite an emergency. After a quick call to our Cardiologist we took off for the ER. They quickly identified the location of the clot and whisk me off for vascular surgery. I spent six days in the hospital for a slow recovery which included Mother’s Day.

To celebrate, Matt and his family brought in Vernors ginger ale. That was very nice. We had 12 visitors that day plus family. We were kept very busy. Then the doctors came in and said that I could go home on Monday. I have had quite a bit of pain, and swelling since then but I am so much happier at home.

We appreciate your prayer for Matt, and we know that our God is able to answer our prayers. We also would appreciate your prayer for Marilyn. That God will give her several more years yet.

LY, Marilyn and Glen Heavilin
4001 105th St, apt 433
Overland Park, Kansas 66207

Dear Friends and Family,

We are so grateful for our church, College Church of the Nazarene. We especially enjoy the LIFE group to which we have been assigned. The group has loved and supported us like their own family. God definitely knew in which group we belonged.

In the last 10 days, I have fallen twice. Falling is not pleasant. Fortunately I did not need to go to the hospital with either fall. We were blessed last summer to have a new medical building built just across the street. Our primary care doctor now has an office in that building. We can literally walk across the street for the majority of our medical needs. They have an urgent care center in the building, and we visited there after one of Marilyn’s falls. It turns out that the unusual sores on Marilyn’s shin are a recurrence of shingles. This will make the fifth time. No pain this time, so I would say the shingles shot worked! After the second fall, our doctor was not able to see Marilyn, so they arranged for another doctor to see me. I quickly found out that the new doctor was a Christian, so we had a nice chat. After x-rays were taken she was quick to report to me that no bones were broken the second time either.

We had the privilege of hearing the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra once again. Had we mentioned that the conductor is a son of violinist Isaac Stern? This year would be Leonard Bernstein’s 100^th birthday. Michael Stern, our conductor, grew up knowing him as Uncle Lenny. Introducing the Bernstein violin Serenade, Michael told us that when the piece debuted, in 1954, his father was the artist. Michael said he had no memory of the debut because he hadn’t been born yet. Remarks like that give us tender insights into Michael’s musical background. The picture is Michael at age 4 with his sister at a later performance, conducted by Bernstein featuring his father Isaac. We have bought season tickets for next year, too.

As we write this newsletter it is February 10. It is hard to think that 35 years ago our boy Nathan was killed by a drunk driver. We have had the practice of sending balloons off this day in remembrance of all three of our boys. Several years ago while at Morro Dunes RV Park on the California beach we met Wally and Vicki. Marilyn learned that Vicki’s mother had died suddenly and Vicki asked if we could also remember her mother at the balloon launch. We, of course, said yes and a new tradition with four balloons was established. Wally and Vicki have now moved to Kansas and today were able to join us for today’s launch. The temperature today in Kansas was 19 degrees. I don’t remember what it was on the beach in California, but I’m sure it was warmer.

Please pray for me that I will not fall again. This is very important to me. Please pray for Glen also that he will continue to enjoy good health so that he is able to care for me. I am also praying that my eyes will provide me good eyesight so that I may be able to read by myself.  For my morning Bible reading, Glen reads aloud to me. I am so grateful that Glen is willing to read to me.

Thank you for being willing to pray for us.

Glen and Marilyn Heavilin