Prayer please

I managed to get out of Dunedin 2 weeks ago despite the snow. I will blog about my Australian experiences later but more important is to ask for prayers for a fellow blogger, Birdie. 

Birdie blogs at Strelizia and I had the greatest pleasure in meeting her in Chicago nearly a year ago. We had a fun time driving down Michigan Avenue in her convertible and then cruising on the lake before lots of chat over lunch and finally being trapped in the lift, thankfully not for long, at the carpark.  Her efforts to develop gay acceptance in her Presbyterian church leave me full of admiration. I met Birdie on the Brokeback Mountain site and I do not think she frequents the Anglican/Episcopalian blogs that I mainly visit.

Birdie lives in Indianapolis and, after hearing of the stand collapse at a Fair in that city, I contacted her and her reply was that while she was not at the fair she was waiting to learn about a lump on her breast. The following week the news first got worse as she learned it was cancer and it was invasive but then thankfully some good news that it had not spread.
However Birdie begins the first of several chemotherapy treatments this week and faces a mastectomy around Christmas time.
Please pray for her, her family and close by friends as they support her, and the medical staff as they make all the decisions they make about her treatment.

Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve your servant Birdie., and give your power of healing to those who minister to her needs, that she may be strengthened in her weakness and have confidence in your loving care; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Another link passes

My sister has just rung to tell me that one of Mum's closest friends, Jean, has been called home by God. She was a year or two younger than Mum (who would have been 99 now).
In Mum's last years they would ring each other regularly but both being very deaf would speak across each other which often had me chuckling (Mum had a loud speaker on her phone so I could hear every word). Jean had 3 daughters, the youngest died in a car accident while a teenager, the eldest died of cancer about 10 years ago. So she had sadness in life but did have many grandchildren while Mum had none. The middle daughter came to Mum's memorial service and has had the difficult task of visiting a mother who did not know her in the last few months. Thankfully Mum's mental capacities were good until the last day or two. My sister and I will attend the service next Monday. While a blessed relief, it is still a sad Christmas for the family. My prayers are with them.
I like to think that Mum and her are now chatting and catching up and can both hear each other perfectly.

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord
And let perpetual light shine upon them.