Tenna's Birthday

After I had finished my post on Monday I realized that it was my Aunt Tenna's birthday. She passed away in Oct. 2000 after a botched heart operation. She was my mother's only sister and one of those special people who come to earth and leave a mark for good. She was married at a young age to a handsome Air Force pilot and had four small children when his plane crashed into a mountain and killed all aboard the aircraft. She met a nice family doctor with five children and married him and became a stepmom to them and went on to have 2 more children. That put the number at 11. As a young child I remember spending the night with my sister and the cousins. We had so much fun! We only had four children, with a Lamanite brother, but when we went to the Heap's it was an experience. Their house was always clean, and Tenna made sure those kids had lots of good food. Sometimes it wasn't stuff we were used to like brown sugar on our cereal and lots of veggies. Anyway, as she got older I remember asking her how she did it. How do you raise eleven children? All the boys and one girl went on missions and they were all married in the Temple. She had trials that I know I wouldn't have survived but she never lost her faith and bore her testimony about the Book of Mormon to all of us. I have thought a lot about Tenna since Kamber's passing. I have prayed that she has wrapped her arms around her and loved her like we do. I'm sure she has, and we will always look up to her as an example of love and charity.