Rebecca K!!'s mother has passed away

[Hane]

My sympathies to Rebecca and her whole family.

[Black Aliss]

1 hour ago, Koala said:

Who does the little guy belong to?  I am guessing that it's not their brother, but maybe I am wrong...

I believe the Kellums were fostering him with the goal of adopting. I hope Mrs. Kellum's death doesn't disrupt what appears to be a wonderful placement for this child.

 

[usedtobenice]

Awww, poor family. I'm sure their hearts are just broken right now. I hope their religion will bring them comfort and peace.

[hoipolloi]

This is so sad. My heart goes out to the family. 

[Sobeknofret]

I am so very sorry to hear this. Mrs. Kellum always seemed so kind and loving on her daughter's blog. My condolences and prayers for her family.

[VaSportsMom]

How heartbreaking. My dad will have been gone 11 years 8/4 and my mom 1 year 8/5. I would never wish that pain on another. I don’t think that the hole ever  goes away but the edges become less raw and you learn to carefully tend to them. 

[smittykins]

My condolences to the family.

(Given the current political climate, I can't say "thoughts and prayers" because it sounds...so empty. )

[Georgiana]

I edited the title since she has now passed.

This is truly tragic.  I am sorry for Rebecca and her family.  I hope they are able to continue on since their cake decorating business was run by the three of them together (mom, R, and her sister).  

The loss of a parent is ALWAYS devastating, but even more so in these fundie families where the grown children are still highly enmeshed in the family...emotionally, financially, and spiritually.  It adds, I think, an additional layer of complexity and loss to an already complex and sad situation.  

[kpmom]

Oh, this is so sad.

I was just thinking about Rebecca today as someone with her name responded to Sarah Maxwell's post about staying home.  I wondered if it was her, but obviously not.

So very sorry for Rebecca and her family.

[MakeitSew]

Thoughts and love to Rebecca and to her family.  This is very sad news. 

 

[ChunkyBarbie]

My heart goes out to them, they have my condolences.  They seem like such a loving family. 

[anniebgood]

I feel so sorry for Rebecca and her family. They were so very close to each other. She's going to hurt for a while and she's going to wonder why this happened. I hope they have a good support system of friends to hold them up during this immediate time of mourning and after. 

[nokidsmom]

I am so sorry to hear this.  Rebecca and her family seemed so close and loving.  I remember her posting pictures of her parents 22th anniversary vow renewals a few years ago.  The whole family participated and I was touched by just how emotional the event was for all of them. 

My condolences to Rebecca, her dad and siblings.  It has got to be so hard.

[Briefly]

4 hours ago, VaSportsMom said:

How heartbreaking. My dad will have been gone 11 years 8/4 and my mom 1 year 8/5. I would never wish that pain on another. I don’t think that the hole ever  goes away but the edges become less raw and you learn to carefully tend to them. 

2001 for my mom, 2004 for my dad.  It doesn't go way, but it does get softer.  It takes a while although it's different for everyone.  But having a strong, supportive family will help her.

[Lisafer]

Oh, so sorry to hear she passed away. Makes me remember how my cousins lost their mother when the oldest child was only mid-20s. It's so hard when a life is cut short. 

[Closed Womb]

My heart is broken for Rebecca and her family.  I hope she has comfort and support, as needed. 

 

[Koala]

24 minutes ago, Closed Womb said:

My heart is broken for Rebecca and her family.  I hope she has comfort and support, as needed. 

Me too.  I was looking over their blog, and thinking what a shocking contrast it is to the other self righteous, sanctimonious fundie blogs we follow.  

The second greatest commandment is to love others, and that seems to be their deal.  They just love each other.  They seem to be all about helping others, offering a kind word...I don't know, they're just different than other fundie families.  Kind of hard to put into words.

It really makes me sick, because the hateful ones (looking at you, Lori Alexander) seem to get so much attention, but the Kellums haven't gotten a single response about their wife/mother's illness and death.  It just seems so unfair, and makes me hope they have a large support system in place.

As for the little one being a foster, that would kind of surprise me.  You aren't allowed to post pictures of foster children on social media/the internet.  My niece is a foster mom, and they have to be very careful to protect their foster baby's privacy.

Anyway, I hope he gets to stay with them, because it's obvious they love him to pieces.  I would hate to see their family fractured any further, for all of their sake.  

Side note-  It'd be nice to see the Holy Maxwells get off their own planet for five seconds, and go over to the blog and offer condolences.  Rebecca is always so encouraging to them, but they're just too damn full of themselves to offer kindness or support to anyone else.

[Pretzel]

@Koala Exactly. The Kellums are so different from the other fundie families. They really take love thy neighbor literally. I feel so very sad that they lost their mom, can't put it into words TBH.  I hope they find a way to deal with this and that the little boy gets to stay. I feel especially sad for him. Imagine being torn apart from your bio-fam only to lose your foster mom, who's been the heart of her family. 

[petrushka]

Mrs. Kellum's obituary is online now--don't know the rules for posting the link to it so I won't right now.  She was 62. Much older than I would have guessed. Memorials are suggested to an organization called Divine Nest--looks like something that supports foster care and adoption.

[Triplet3]

@Koala, I think Rebecca probably has had plenty of comments, she just hasn't approved them yet so they don't yet show up on the blog posts. I commented (even though I don't normally comment on fundie blogs) because I felt compelled to offer my condolences, and I can't have been the only person to do that. It might feel daunting to be faced with a bunch of messages, even supportive, kind messages, in the immediate aftermath of her mother's death, when her loss probably doesn't even feel real yet. I think she'll probably read and approve the comments when the pain is a little less raw and immediate.

[ladyamylynn]

Poor Rebecca. I hope she can find a way to continue all the great progress she was making in life.

[Koala]

2 hours ago, Triplet3 said:

@Koala, I think Rebecca probably has had plenty of comments, she just hasn't approved them yet so they don't yet show up on the blog posts. I commented (even though I don't normally comment on fundie blogs) because I felt compelled to offer my condolences, and I can't have been the only person to do that. It might feel daunting to be faced with a bunch of messages, even supportive, kind messages, in the immediate aftermath of her mother's death, when her loss probably doesn't even feel real yet. I think she'll probably read and approve the comments when the pain is a little less raw and immediate.

Glad you mentioned that.  I hadn't thought about the fact that her comments might be in moderation.  I feel better knowing that she doesn't have to think that no one cares.  It's such a sad situation...

[anniebgood]

I left a comment. I've been commenting on her blog for a long time. 

Here's the link to her obituary:  https://www.baue.com/obit/mary-elizabeth-kellum/#comment-306189

[Koala]

They picked a lovely picture of her for her obituary.  She looked so happy...

[darkplumaged]

13 hours ago, Koala said:

Me too.  I was looking over their blog, and thinking what a shocking contrast it is to the other self righteous, sanctimonious fundie blogs we follow.  

The second greatest commandment is to love others, and that seems to be their deal.  They just love each other.  They seem to be all about helping others, offering a kind word...I don't know, they're just different than other fundie families.  Kind of hard to put into words.

Humility. They don't think they're better than anyone else, unlike so many other fundies we discuss. They're down-to-earth folks who have genuine relationships with each other and truly enjoy simple pleasures. It probably would never occur to Rebecca to pat herself on the back or browbeat others. She's a kindhearted, sincere person who seemed to adore her mom and has just started her own adult life. This must be heartbreaking for the whole family.