Laura's Adventures

 The Tesch family is in Peru! I can't wait to hear about their adventures next week when I go up to Utah. Meanwhile I noted in the pictures sent on messages how good Jeffrey and Laura are together. It is heart warming to see the love they share. I am curious to know where they have gone and what it is like in Peru. The ocean, the city and the temple for sure. What did they think about this place?

  Some early memories that I have. The first memories that come to mind are of course in the Clinton house. I remember I got to sleep with Linda or Susan down in their room but I peed the bed and so I think I went back to the nursery. So that's a memory. [Linda Ann: I think every kid we had sleep with us peed the bed one night or another] I don't remember exactly but I remember their beds in the basement room. [LA Depends…..Susan and I shared a room all in pink, later I had a ‘private space’, large bed in the living room with a curtain for privacy. With younger siblings there is no privacy.].   I remember the nursery. I remember jumping from bunk bed to bed.  I don't remember who got the butterfly Band-Aid from hitting their head. [Linda Ann: It was Steven, we were playing – I was supposed to be tending – and he got a cut on a sharp corner when we were jumping off places we were not supposed to jump off. He got a gash in his forehead and the blood was everywhere! I a...

 Susie is a hub where family likes to meet. She has always been someone who will invite others for dinner, take care of children, think of new ideas, and gather her family and friends. On Sunday, Susie sent a picture of the Sister's Freezer Meal day for Laura, They were also celebrating Donna's birthday. So my interpretation is that they got together to make some freezer meals for Laura when she is feeling too ill to make something, and letting Donna know she is loved and appreciated.

  Laura is going to dictate her story on Marco Polo, which I will transcribe,  so we can have her own voice tell her story.    Laura: I guess, maybe I'll just start by telling just a little bit why I'm here. On December 26th my hip was really hurting, and I had to kind of crawl around and I went that way for a few weeks then on January 18th I decided to go to the emergency room because I just couldn't work, I couldn't do anything, so I went to the emergency room. They did a CT scan of my hip that included my lung area. The doctor came back to me and said, “hey the nodes in your lung are growing.  I was like, “I don't know what you're talking about”, “I wanted you to look at my hip”.     He said that I had some nodes that looked like they had grown since September, so then he sent me to an oncologist who did a CT scan. He found that there were four tumors in my lung, he also found out that there were four tumors - one here (pointing to her arm...

 Susan's invitation to her home was because Michael was going through the temple for his endowment and the family was invited to come afterwards to visit and for a meal. Another one of those family building blocks. Relationships flourish in personal contacts, chats, visits, and doing things together. The Lore's definitely get together for visits often. We wish Michael all the best. On a tender mercy side note in the family: Susan and I were talking and I noted that Susie was a little stressed and tired. She is a member of the committee for the Widow and Widowers that is hosting a meet and greet with hundreds of people. There are a lot of details and not enough hands to do the work. Several people have told her to drop the committee and have other people do it. But others are not stepping up and Susan feels that someone was there for her and these new widows and widowers need someone for them. I told her she ought to get a blessing, and she said she had already thought of that, ...

 Laura has a really wonderful attitude of gratitude when she recounted her blessings this week. She told me that today her ward would be fasting for her. She told me about a beautiful mask that a lady in the ward made for her. She explained how Donna had come over to give her a treatment with a rub that opens pores and absorbs cancer fighting elements into the skin. Donna also made Laura juice drinks to help fight the war. Some of her friends from high school came to visit and wish her well.  She feels very confident and happy with her young doctor oncologist who is from India. She said her radiation oncologist was an older, wise, and experienced man that knows what he is doing. All of which is very good because the treatments for her brain are not so fun and are definitely different than any normal doctor visit. The radiation oncologist explained to her how they are going to put her head in a mask or helmet that covers her head except for her eyes, nose, and mouth, then bolt ...

Susie and I were talking today and remembering when Laura was a baby. I remembered when she was small and crying. Dad and mom were each taking care of a baby at night as the twins came after Laura. I walked her around and around the living room until she fell asleep. I'm not sure why she was unhappy, my mind says teeth coming in, but since the twins were born she wouldn't be an infant.....ah memory, you have to write it down in the moment. Another memory we both had was dressing Laura up. Steven was much more amiable and cuddly, but Laura was so much fun as she was a girl (not that we didn't dress Steven up as a girl....but still). One of our best dress up and play was "walking the plains" in a covered wagon. We dressed up Steven and Laura as the pioneer babies, put a cardboard cover over our red wagon and hauled them around the yard, garden, and pasture. I think back now and consider it amazing we didn't spill those kids out over the ground. Did we sing, Pion...

 Susie sent out an alert to the family asking if, "we are still on for lunch tomorrow about Noon at my place for all who want to come. Laura is bringing Chicken noodle soup."  Immediately replies came back asking what they could bring. I recognized a trait I had just read about. I have been reading articles about Family History and the need for family stories, myths, and legends to knit family units together.  This does not have to be a DNA family, it can be those we choose to be our family. In the Lore's case it is our family stories growing up and then the stories of those who join us as spouses, children, friends and sometimes neighbors. There is a saying in the family that has stuck, "There is always room for one more."  Being the oldest of the twelve kids, my stories are different than my younger siblings. One day when I happen to be in Utah at mom and dad's house, the kids (big as well as small) decided to make a snowman. When I went out to look they s...

  I asked my family for stories that we could put together to help Laura through the rough times. All of these pictures have stories and wonders attached.......but I don't know them. It has been fun guessing when and where and who. Notice the full head of hair - not grey and all the faces without wrinkles - mom's house or someone else's? Ogden lights with small grandchildren...which grandchildren? years ago at a church for a reunion? Definitely Donna's wedding at the Great Salt Lake - Amy, Jessica, Krystal, and Krista I want to say Kayleen and Reynold long ago......but what if these are Kayleen's kids? I haven't been around  much after Kayleen got married. In fact I don't think I have seen her second...... Wow, look at that very young man. Is John coming or going on a mission? Where are they? Davey in the corner?