thread for middle age to older Christian women.
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Ade, I am so sorry to hear of the passing of your sweet Maggie. Her picture is adorable and shows love. These times are so hard and make us cling even tighter to our anchor. Sending prayers of comfort. Chris
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Oh Ade,
I am crying as I type this post. When I was reading your post and then when I saw her picture that just did me in. Our pets are members of our family and losing a pet is losing a family member. I am so sorry that this was not the happy ending you thought it would be. She is not in any pain now. You did all that you could for her. I am glad you got my card when you did and I am glad it was a blessing on a very difficult day for both of you. I know Chris and Jean have been through this with their cats and Carol with her dog. I have lost many pets and each one was difficult so we all understand how painful this is.
I am sorry your birthday is so close to this difficult time. I will be praying for both of you for a complete recovery from Covid and for comfort in your loss.
Love,
Nancy
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Ade, I am so sorry for your loss of Maggie and can only imagine how difficult this has been for you. Her picture is so sweet. We have never had pets because of allergies but our son's family has a small dog and we have grown close to him so I know how hard it will be for them when he passes. I believe DH and I know how James feels about not wanting you to go before him. I think some of my anxiety is because DH has been feeling so bad and I worry he will have another stroke and I know he worries about my MBC. I pray often that God will bless us sometime in the future and let us die peacefully together. I hope that doesn't sound too morbid, but after being married 60 years, I don't know how either of us would manage without the other. But, I know Our God is good and loving and His way will be right for us.
Sending lots of love and prayers for everyone here.
Love,
Faith (in the future)
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Ade, I am so sorry to read of Maggie's passing. It is hard to lose a beloved pet. Praying for comfort and peace during this very sad time.
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Praying for comfort and peace Ade.
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Oh Ade, my heart hurts for you. Maggie was beautiful. Did I ask before if she was an Airedale or Welsh Terrier? While out with Jeeves one day, we met a delightful Welsh Terrier named Harriet. It was so cute to see them together! Identical, except for the 50 pound (give or take) weight and size difference.
Praying for comfort for you and that the peace of God will seep into your heartache.
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Ade, I know this day may not feel very happy but I did want to honor your special milestone of reaching 70 yrs. I will be joining that club in three months too. I am praying for both you and James during this big loss for you.
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Happy Birthday Ade, 🎂🎁🎊🎉
My prayers continue for you and James as you mourn the loss of Maggie.
Love,
Faith (in the future).
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Thank you dear sisters for your kind understanding regarding our grief over Maggie and for the birthday wishes (and lovely photo banner card, Nancy!). You are all dealing with SO much more than this, but yet you offer your sweet understanding and kindness to us. It is truly appreciated. You are a special kind of sisters for sure. Yes, Carol, she is an Airedale. We adopted her at 10 months from a rather abusive home. It's just been the 3 of us for so many years. She would have turned 11 on the 12th of May.
Faith, I share your same anxiety about losing your other half. That has been my worst fear for our whole married life. We celebrate 49 years on the 26th (have been in love since 1969) and we joke but are also serious about "going" together so the other one won't face the trauma of being left alone. We all know we will be together for eternity - but being without our other half to finish out this life on earth would truly be unbearable for sure. Our sweet friend, Ruby, from church (in her 70s) and her husband Gary celebrated their 60th anniversary with a renewing of their vows last summer and he gave her a beautiful new ring as a surprise. Just months later he died in her arms in their home of a heart attack. He refused to go to the E.R. because they would separate them (covid) and he would die alone without her. I cry just thinking of this. Faith, we just pray the Lord will be gracious to us, but know He would see us through whatever comes our way in this life. He is faithful and HIs lovingkindness endures forever. May the Lord ease your anxiety (and mine) and let us go together if it's His will. Best yet - may we be raptured together!
Nancy, may the Lord bless the work of your hands and grant you wisdom and strength as you prepare your mom's house for sale, and keep your travels safe, and grant you restful, refreshing sleep.
Love to you all,
Your OLDER sister,
)Ade
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Thank you Ade. I hope you had a good birthday and was celebrated like the special person you are. I will congratulate you on your 49 wedding anniversary early.
I am leaving tomorrow for downstate and hopefully my sister and I can make good progress on getting the house on the market as soon as we can. I grew up in this house and it will be an emotional time for both of us.
I think the internet provider after I spent two hours on the phone with them in October shut off the internet when I specifically told them to switch the billing to me and to shut off the phone. They shut off the phone and I never received any bills for the internet nor did my sister. So I am not sure what I am going to do as I just found this out several days ago.
I will try to stay in touch as best I can even if it means sitting in a parking lot next to a restaurant that has free wifi.
I will continue to pray for your needs. Please continue to post and I will try my best to post as well. I will be gone for three weeks.
I would appreciate your prayers.
You may have heard this cheesy joke today but "may the fourth be with you." Say it out loud. I can see you all rolling your eyes from here!!!!
Take care.
Love,
Nancy
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Hi dear sisters. I have some good news to share. My Mom's wifi at the house is still working so that takes care of my cell phone at least for calling and texting. There is no internet but I am able to get on my laptop and found a hotspot through my internet provider at home. I tried to set this up before leaving and I didn't think it worked but so far so good.
Off to get something to eat. I would appreciate your prayers for God to find favor with all we do with this house the next few weeks. I will be praying for your needs.
Take care.
Love,
Nancy
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Nancy, So thankful for your good news regarding wifi. May the Lord bless the work of your hands, grant you strength, wisdom and favor in this house prep and sale. (And full agreement with your sister too)
Blessings,
Ade
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Thank you Ade. We got some stuff done today but it was a slow start and I thought we will never get this house ready at this rate. We ended up working in different areas of the house and that made for less distraction and more work! I highly doubt we will be ready to put the house on the market by the time I leave but we will have a good start. I am exhausted tonight. I was at the grocery store at 10 pm. Not my usual schedule for sure.
Please pray for Chris as she had an MRI of her spine today and next week will have an abdominal scan. I know everyone of you understands the anxiety that goes into that.
Poor Cammie is exhausted from hiding out from all the goings on. She is afraid of my sister as she has not seen her much and I was shredding documents and she didn't know where to run and hide. I think we will both sleep well tonight. Cammie and I and I am sure my sister will too.
Take care dear sisters.
Love,
Nancy
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Nancy, may the Lord grant you strength and peace as you sort through your mom's house. This is a difficult task any time. I pray joyful memories overshadow any sense of loss.
Thank you for thinking of me. I got through the MRI fine and now it is just a waiting game. The oncologist office called me yesterday (before the MRI) and wants to schedule another office visit. I just saw her Wednesday so I am a little concerned, but I am so thankful she is on top of things and hopefully it is just to discuss results. It is all in God's hands. I am thankful her office and the hospital is only a short 20 minute drive from home.May God grant you all peace and comfort as we continue to navigate through these difficult times.
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This song is one of my favorites and as I listen the lyrics I could see this as a tribute to my Mom.
Then Disney took it over. I think Phil Collins wrote this for his daughter.
Chris, I am glad you will get to see your oncologist again. It makes sense so that she can go over the scans with you. I continue to pray for you and I thank you for your prayers. I am doing okay. I do have a specific prayer request. I have had trouble with upper back pain for quite a few years. I used to see a chiropractor and muscle therapist once a week and that got me through my teaching career. I am not used to working past my pain limit but these past two days of working at the house I have definitely done that. My sister is like the energizer bunny and could work circles around me. I just told her last night that I was in a lot of pain and usually when I am at my own home my limit no matter what I am doing is about two hours. I have been working way more than two hours and the only relief I can get is if I prop my feet up in a Lazy Boy which thankfully there are two of them here. I don't know how in the world I used to cope when I taught at school all day and then came home and taught clarinet lessons at my house. Yes I am ten years older and I have fibromyalgia and I don't have all the medical support I had back then. I do low back exercises every morning and that is the usual problem and I am managing okay with that. Emotionally I am doing fine. My sister has broken down a couple of times when we have talked about our family. I don't feel so alone at the house with both of us here working. I broke the shredder I was using today and that put my job of dealing with the paperwork and file cabinet on hold until a new one comes on Monday. We are making progress.
Chris, I know this has got to be such a difficult time waiting but I am guessing all the ladies are praying for you along with me.
I am so grateful to have internet. I am not sure how this will reflect in my bill but at this point I am so thankful to have it.
Take care dear sisters and Happy Mother's Day to all of you.
Love,
Nancy
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Nancy, thank you for the prayers and the song. Since it is almost Mother's Day it is timely and helpful. My mom has been gone six years and there are times I really miss her still. I will pray for your back pain too and that you can find a good solution. The reason for my MRI is increasing back pain from new metastases, so I understand the pain.
Thank you all for your prayers.
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Nancy, I was so glad to hear you still have access to WiFi at your mom’s house. It would be really hard to be there for three weeks without it. I’m sure you and your sister have a big job ahead of you and I’m praying that it goes well and you can get the house sold quickly and that God gives you both the strength you need at this time.
Chris, I was glad to see your post even without any answers yet. You have been on my mind and in my prayers that whatever is found, it’s very treatable. I’m praying that God gives you peace and strength that you need as you wait. We all know waiting is the hardest part but as you know, God is always with us in our times of trial.
May you all have a blessed weekend! Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers here and May God’s peace be with you all.
Love,
Faith (in the future)
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Prayed for you all as you are going through various trials. Mothers Day is difficult for many of us. May you all sense the peace of His presence. I had a Pet scan on Thursday due to my upper back pain at Sloan Kettering that was negative for cancer. Love, Jean
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Good news on the PET scan Jean. Sending prayers of hope and blessings for us all.
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Thank you for your prayers. Yes, Faith, I am so thankful that I have been able to access a hotspot to get internet.
Chris, I imagine that sense of losing our Mom's never quite goes away.
Jean, happy to hear your PET scan was good. Hope you can find some relief.
I hope all of you Mothers have been honored and loved today for your special day.
Love,
Nancy
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Hi dear sisters. Today Chris has her abdominal scan. Let's pray for her for peace in the midst of this storm. I am praying that her MO has a definitive plan of attack for her.
Today this was in my Jesus Calling devotional.
My sister and I were just talking about in the book The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom where she was thanking God when she was imprisoned by the Nazis for the fleas they had to put up with in their beds. They realized that the guards were leaving them alone because of the fleas. It gave them more freedom to pray. I don't remember the specifics as I read that book many years ago but it was a testimony of how God can work in the midst of horrible circumstances. My sister was sharing about a situation where tiny spiders had taken over her kitchen. She thought of this situation with Corrie and so she thanked God for these tiny spiders. I won't go into the details of how God used this to bless her as it is personal but it was a moment that we got to share in the midst of clearing out the house. We have seen God answer very specific prayers for us and we are thankful. We found this wonderful Christian man as a result of our snake in the basement problem several years ago. This man has proved to be a great blessing to us and he came to haul away a lot of things yesterday. He is coming back with a crew to move heavy stuff on Monday. Things are happening quickly. My sister has by far done the heavy lifting in every sense of the word. I am so grateful as I have such back problems I was really stressing on how I was going to manage this huge project. She is taking a much needed break today and I will continue to work. I have not felt emotional until today knowing that furniture and the home as I have known it will be rapidly disappearing on Monday. We still have a alot of work to do but I think my BIL and possibly my niece from Iowa are going to be painting inside when things are cleared out. My BIL got in a car accident today but he and the other person are OK.
Take care dear sisters. I pray that each of you can see God working in your circumstances.
Love,
Nancy
1 Peter 5:6-7New International Version
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18New International Version
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
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Nancy, I am thankful you are doing so well with all the hard work and emotional strain you are under clearing your mom's house. God sending you a Christian man to help is also a definite answer to prayer.
I had the privilege of hearing Corrie Ten Boom speak in person when I was a teenager, and I have also visited her house while visiting in the Netherlands some ten years ago. In her last years she lived in Placentia, California, not far from where I lived and is buried in the same cemetery as my 16 year-old brother. Her story has long been an inspiration to me. I remember the flea story!I had my CT scan this morning and now await the results. But I do have good news in that the MRI of my spine showed no evidence of metastatic disease...Praise the Lord! The pain I am having is from a non-cancerous hemangioma (a blood tumor). I will be able to discuss this with my oncologist in a couple of weeks to determine what I can do about it. Sometimes they go away on their own. Thank you for your prayers. I am confident God's presence is constant and His love overflows.
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Chris, I am so thankful that your MRI is clear. I pray your CT scan is too. Waiting for results is so hard. The blood tumor sounds very scary but I guess that is better than cancer. May the Lord grant your doctor wisdom.
Jean, I am thankful too for your PET scan results and pray for relief for you and Nancy for your backs. I have lumbar arthritis and am quite familiar with back pain too.
May the Lord help you and your sister, Nancy to finish the task and may the house sell quickly and for what you need to get out of it.
It has been a rough six weeks - from positive covid on 4/5, to Maggie passing on the 30th, my best lady friend's son died suddenly of a heart attack on Friday night, and one of my dearest cancer sisters went Home last week leaving 5 children and a husband behind. Add to that, we still have covid symptoms. FINALLY, James, after what will be seven weeks of illness, gets to see a doctor face to face in the office on Tuesday. (His own doctor hasn't even called, let alone be available for an appointment. James has intermittent fevers and constant cough. We both have aches, fatigue, cough, he has intensely itchy rash on his arms and neck and I have tinnitus and now hearing loss. All from covid. In it all God is still good. Anyway that's why I haven't been by so frequently. I'm writing through a migraine even now.
Praying for you all with love,
Ade
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Chris, Praise the Lord on your MRI results. That would be great if this noncancerous blood tumor would go away on it's own. I will pray to that effect. That is amazing that you were able to see Corrie Ten Boom in person. I have seen on TV many years ago. She is quite inspirational. Praying for peace as you wait for the abdominal CT results.
Ade, I am so sorry to hear of more sadness and loss concerning your friend and your friend's son. I know this has been such rough time for you and it would have been without having Covid but adding that to the mix has made it especially tough. I will continue to pray for both of you to get over these symptoms. I know you are not alone it this situation but that doesn't make it any more bearable. One of the things that is helping me get through what my sister and I are doing now is that this won't last forever. I hope you can hang onto that as well and praying that your symptoms will quickly diminish and won't last forever!!!!!
My sister took a much needed break from dealing with our house so she could spend time dealing with her own house. I did get alot done today on my own.
We need prayers for wisdom. We are dealing with a very moldy basement with mold on the cement walls. This is the ultimate sore spot of the house. Everything else is in good shape and my BIL is planning on painting inside. What I would like to see done is first getting an estimate from a mold and restoration company in town and I know it would be very costly. His plan I don't really think is a good idea and I won't go into that.
I am exhausted tonight so am going to sign off. I am praying for your needs.
Love,
Nancy
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Chris, I’m so happy to hear your MRI results showed no cancer and I will pray that the blood tumor goes away on it’s own. I’m also praying the the CT scan shows nothing of concern either. I’m so sorry that you have had to go through all this worry of the cancer growing but grateful so far it’s not serious.
Nancy, I’m glad to hear you and your sister are making headway on cleaning out your mom’s house but so sorry to hear of the mold problem. I will be praying that you find an inexpensive way to deal with it. I’m sure this whole process is very draining both mentally and physically. I’ve been praying that it’s manageable and that you will have a quick sale when you’re ready.
Ade, I’m sorry that you have had such a tough time lately with COVID that is still giving you issues and the sadness of losing friends and your beloved Maggie. But, I’m glad to hear that James will finally see a doctor in person and pray that there are some answers to his issues.
Jean, I’m so happy to hear your PET scan shows no signs of cancer but sorry you are dealing with back pain. I really understand your concern right now. I’ve been having back pain also and just had an MRI which shows deterioration in my spine but thankfully no signs of cancer either. I guess all of us here who have been dealing with cancer will always worry that every ache and pain is cancer again.
Sending prayers for everyone here that our worries will go away and our health will improve with God’s help. Also praising God for the blessings He has given us.
Love,
Faith (in the future)
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Dear sisters,
It is after almost 4 am. I have not slept a wink tonight so I got up and decided to listen to this third part on a grief series than one of my friends sent me. She pointed out that the third session was really good. I agree after listening to it in the wee hours of this morning. This lady is from Texas and is a grief counselor. As you can suspect by her appearance she has been through breast cancer treatments and I am supposing has lost her hair even though she makes no mention of that. She does talk about going through chemo last fall. This is a video that I think will bless each of you. I had it sitting in my inbox for several weeks and I knew I would at one point make time to listen to it. When you have a some time carved out I would definitely recommend you listening to this lady. She has much to say and there are gems for your particular situation I would be willing to bet. I may listen to it again when I get back home. For me my grief has been heightened by coming back to my childhood home which has been my second home for the last almost 70 yrs. Going through my Mom's things and my Dad's has been difficult and emotional. Going through my childhood report cards that my Mom had kept and seeing old pictures of my classmates made me realize that I am closer to the end than the beginning which invokes all sorts of feelings and emotions. I do not want to push down my emotions because they are painful and uncomfortable. I want to grief in a healthy way. I think this counselor has given me some helpful tools to do just that.
I know that every one of you are going through your own grieving over loss of many kinds. I do pray that this will be a help to you.
I do appreciate all of your prayers and I definitely believe it has helped me in this enormous task of cleaning out the house to sell.
Love,
Nancy
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Hi dear sisters. As you each are in the midst of your own personal storms I pray that you put all of those challenges at Jesus feet.
I had to do that today because I was getting so distraught over the basement situation. I cried out to the Lord for peace and that He take this burden that I can't see anyway out. We are getting to the hard part of clearing out the house. There is no electronic or hazardous waste permanent facility as we are fortunate to have that where I live. This creates challenges of what to do with this stuff. Our Christian guy who has been hauling away stuff for us came yesterday to get some of the big things. They didn't have enough room so will be coming back again for another load. Also time is running out for me to be here and we are still not on the same page as far as dealing with the mold. One company I reached out to wants $150 for an estimate only. I will contact another company today to see what there policy is. It has been raining for two days and water is coming in the basement everywhere. To say I am overwhelmed and exhausted would be an understatement. If I wasn't so scared of the mold (since having the lung issue from inhaling toxins when cleaning out my outside water fountain in the past and having to go to urgent care and put on an inhaler) I have looked into gas masks etc but this is a huge job and I don't have the strength to do it even if I wasn't afraid of the mold. I would appreciate your prayers for wisdom. My niece is coming this weekend from Iowa to help and she is going to talk her Dad into NOT painting at the house as she doesn't think he is up to it. So I hope she will be the voice of reason concerning the mold and that we need to hire this done. The house is not worth that much so pouring thousands into it would be counter productive.
Chris, have you heard anything on your abdominal scan?
Faith, how are you doing? Are your new meds helping? How is DH doing?
Hershey, I bet your Mom is fully vaccinated now? I hope so.
Carol, how are you doing?
Ade, how are you handling everything. I know it has been a brutal last several weeks for you and James.
Jean, how is your back?
Take care everyone.
Love,
Nancy
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Nancy, I am ramping up my prayers for your basement situation! I have no experience with it so I can't help otherwise. Praying God sends a solution (perhaps an angel of some sort?) and that you can finally put all of this behind you. Your story strengthens my decision we made already to downsize and put my house in order so my kids don't have to when I'm gone. Sometimes I long for my big house, but I know we made the right decision. We basically live in a one-bedroom condo (my DD and DGD live in the other room) so it is tight, but in some ways a relief not to have extra baggage. I am learning I don't need all the extra stuff although sometimes I want it! If I have to store it, I don't buy it!
I am still waiting on the results of my abdominal CT. It is hard to wait...but God is teaching me patience along with a lot of other things.
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)
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Oh Nancy, I am so sorry that your family is dealing with a mold problem. When my mom moved to assisted living, we found major mold issues in a large closet that she used for storage. All the contents, baseboards, and drywall were rotted and ruined. We had to hire a licensed contractor to correct the situation. It was just too much for my brother to tackle. I pray that the Lord sends someone your way who will work wonders with the basement.
Chris, I'm so happy that your MRI showed no evidence of disease. (I have hemangiomas, too: one on my shoulder, and one in my spine.) I hope your oncologist can suggest a simple procedure or benign medication to relieve your pain.
My mom is fully vaccinated, and for that I am grateful. I am concerned about COVID transmission and everyone's safety with the relaxing of mask guidelines, though.
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Chris, I hope you are not left waiting for too much longer. I can only imagine how difficult this is. Continued prayers for a viable solution no matter what is found. My sister was telling me about one of our cousins you is my age. He got in a terrible accident several years ago when there was an explosion at the plant he was working in. His mind has never been the same. They discovered he had cancer in his lungs within the last couple of years and the prognosis was not good. When he went to get a scan AFTER his diagnosis they found NOTHING. It was truly a miracle. Nothing is too hard for God. You were wise in downsizing. Actually my efforts in my own house with purging and reorganizing has been partly motivated by the fact that my niece may be the person who in the end inherits my house and she lives in Iowa. I want to make things as easy as can be for her.
Hershey, I guess mold is probably more common in basements than we would imagine and in places that get humid and poor ventilation. I am glad your Mom is fully vaccinated now. Yes, I agree. I will still wear my mask in stores whether they require a mask or not. My parents have dealt with water coming in the basement for a long time. My Dad put forth his best effort and it worked for many years but he died in 2005 and he took care of the basement issues. My Mom wasn't able to do that. There were so many big and heavy things stored that it was just overwhelming for my sister and I to deal with while dealing with my Mom's dementia. Much of that is gone as of just a few days ago. So now it is time to pay the piper one way or another. If I lived in town here I might be more tempted to buy a gas mask and protective clothing and attempt to clean the walls with a mold remover but it is not wise to live in the house while this project is going on because of the strong fumes. I have called a couple of companies and they require a large fee just to give you an onsite estimate. My niece is coming on Saturday to help and we'll see if she can convince my sister we need to hire this done.
Thank you all for your prayers. We are like the little engine that could in this huge project. I think I can, I think I can. I have been trying to walk on most days except the last few have been constant rain. In my walk there is a front yard sign that says Don't Give Up. I feel like that sign was meant for me every time I walk past it.
Take care dear sisters.
Love,
Nancy
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