I was fortunate to be able to get out to South Armagh for Patrick's Day with the guys from Crossfire Trust in Darkley. As ever a rewarding time supporting fantastic people doing an unbelievable job. A lesson in perseverance.

Being a hopeless blogger this is the first update since 2009.

I cannot move on without at least putting down a marker to remember Penn, who passed away in May 2010.

Our memories are rich and she is much missed by many.

Malcolm

Penny April 2010

Wednesday 14th April 2010 

Penny is bright, eating well and able to get up and walk about a little. We have a chair in another bedroom that she can sit in to get a different view on the worlkd.

Yesterday we had a survey done for a stair lift. Penny's hope is that if she can get down stairs we may be able to go out in the car, maybe do some shopping, sit by the river or even go for a meal. It would be lovely for her to have a few more chances to get out of the house. Please pray for strength for that. She is eating well and is very bright in herself.

If you have been receiving Penny's updates you will know that she is resolved to dying. The only question is when and how. Clearly our prayers have to be for minimum pain and for the best quality of life in the meantime. The last thing she needs is to spend months and months wasting away in bed.

One sure sign though that Penny is on the decline is her lack of concentration. She is hardly reading these days and certainly no longer gets through two books a week. She is not sleeping well and gets some back ache from lying around all the time.

If you live within travelling distance she would love to see you, but be sensitive to the fact that she may only cope with half an hour or so before she is too tired.

Malcolm

(March 2010) 

Health 

Last Summer, Penny was diagnosed as having a cancerous cyst and multiple shadows in the abdomen. There was a build up of fluid which was expanding quite quickly. The symptoms suggested a rare form of cancer which would require a long operation to remove all affected tissue and the fluid mass. Last August they decided that the operation would not be successful long term and that Penny might not get through it.

She was given three lots of Chemo, which very nearly killed her but has left the cancer unaffected. She spent many weeks in Sue Ryder unable to leave the bed other than by hoist. She came home for Christmas and has home care. During Feb 2010 she began to get out of bed again and walk a little.

She can now just about get to the bathroom for the toilet and to have a sit down shower. Healing and restoration become less likely by the day and we are surrounded by others who are impacted by cancer. 

Prayer

How on earth do you pray about such things. Much easier when it is someone else!   Just prayer for God to keep us moving forward and help to keep up with all that he is doing. Pray that Penny remains pain free and full of the Spirit.

Finance

We  had to stop fostering. The relief was great. The peace and quiet is lovely. The empty bank account is not so good! But the Insurance did pay up and we cleared the mortgage.

Travel

All travel has had to cease for now, although Malcolm is getting to South Armagh for Patrick's day thanks to Penny going for respite care at the Sue Ryder hospice in Nettlebed.

Holiday

Would love to take Penny to Canada. She has wanted to go for years. Health and finance, especially insurance, are big hurdles.

TRAVEL

2009 travel

Malc was looking to do two trips to Ireland, two to Sweden, probably only one to Germany. With Penny's illness and financial constraints that may not now happen. It would be great to get Penny to both Sweden and Germany this year.

• S Armagh in March
• Stockholm in Feb. mainly to spend time with Christer and Kattis Aadland

2008 travel

• Berlin in April which led to
• Lakeland in May! Picture is of Clearwater, Florida not Brighton!

2007 travel

• Sweden in February. A good trip seeing a lot of friends and continuing the connection with Stockholm.
• Both of us in Berlin with Nigel and Karen in March.
• Brazil in April with Martin Scott. This was a heavy time, praying in Brasilia, Uberlandia and Imperatriz. Malc wants to commit to Brazil once year so finance is a big prayer need. Photos at http://www.malkimalk.blogspot.com/
• Malc was involved with the March of the Abolitionists
• Went to Sweden for two weeks.
• see more at http://malkimalk.blogspot.com/

Youth

As we have had time to reflect, our calling to youth has been wonderful.

Our dream still is to see young people's lives changed for the better and destinies fulfilled is not lost. So many messages have come back to us of the impact that everything from the Forbury onwards has done.

Being called to Fostering was never going to be easy. Penny's health put a dead stop to the work and maybe God was saying that she had done enough and should rest.

FACEBOOK

Malc and Penny can be found on Facebook!   Do look us up.

There's even a Reading Revival Group now.