New Home for My Blog

From now on I will be posting from www.selahatlast.wordpress.com as Blogspot is not available to me while in Ethiopia. Thank you for being willing to follow along with us on this journey. With much love-- Kimberly

Remembering Kary

Ushering my brother into heaven today--

Here is the blog entry I posted on my brother's blog today at www.inkaryscourt.blogspot.com

Surrounded by those who loved him, Kary was finally able to be freed of his suffering at 10:25 this morning. We were able to sit with him through the night and think through our precious memories of him as we watched him move to such a peaceful state. There were many times in the night he was even smiling. Kary knew what was happening and he let us know he was headed to a glorious place with no more pain. As Kary took his last earthly breath, he truly smiled. That is the last picture I have of my brother. What a treasure he has left us with! Kary's faith has continued to amaze me. He was ready to fight if God allowed him, yet so willing to accept leaving this earthly home. I could almost hear the, " Well done by good and faithful son, well done..." as he was drifting. It was a moment of extreme sorrow and yet joy knowing Kary will never have to feel the pain here again. It is sorrow because he leaves a big, actually huge, hole in our lives. He loved so purely and so innocently. It is fun to comfort my heart and think of him meeting up with our daddy. WOW-- I wish I could share my picture with you! I pray that Kary's life has impacted you in some way and most importantly I believe Kary would want you to know that with Jesus there is so much hope. I will miss you beyond what words can express my dear brother. I am not wanting to sign off as this will most likely be the last post I will write on your behalf. You nodded last night in agreement when I said it will not be long and we will be spending eternity together and you will be my brother forever. So for this short time, I will not see you, but I long for the day when we will be reunited. I love you forever and as Jan would say I love you MORE!.

My Baby Boy-- Growing Up

I am not sure when this actually happened, but I am noticing my son turning into a young man. Tonight he graduates from the 8th grade and in many ways I am so excited for him and then in other ways I am mourning time. I have LOVED being his mama and wish I could add on another 14 years to him being home with us. He has made it easy and challenged me at the same time, but not in the way most parents are challenged. He challenges me because of his great faith and steady walk. He seems unmoved by the hard times of growing up and when he is up against a struggle I have seen him make hard choices and follow through on what he knows is best. I find more and more when he asks me for advice on what he should do or say about a situation I try to deflect it back to him with ," ...what do you think buddy?" He has wisdom beyond many 14 year olds and I want him to know he can trust what he knows or thinks as he is making decisions that are from his character and relationship with God. Sure there are times I still manage to get my 2 cents in, but I see him developing into this solid teen. My prayers for him are that he would continue to be challenged , but to grow deeper in his faith. So although I mourn time, I also look with great expectation to the future as I know this son of mine has been set on a path with a purpose. Here is a little devotional he wrote and shared with the 8th grade graduation breakfast today. He was told yesterday that the teachers had meant to ask him two weeks ago to share, but somehow that never got to him, so he wrote this up last night. He wears a blue wrist band that reads, "HAGIOS"...


Hagios. Hagios is a term that means to be made sacred by God, holy. It is also now used in the word Saint. For we are all saints. The point I want to hit on this morning is us being set apart, being that sacred holy person God made you to be. For we are strangers and aliens of this world. The world isn’t even our home so there is no reason for us to act like it is. For we are put on Earth not to be in fellowship with the world but in fellowship with God. For we should be rebels to this world and its ways. Teenagers are probably the most underestimated people there are. Everyone thinks all teenagers party and are the definition of the world’s ways this is called the myth of adolescence . For God our creator put us on this world for a reason to show the world how Christians are different and declare his love to the world. Life is short but heaven will last forever. There is no reason for us Christian teens to fall. The devil throws everything he can at us TV, computer, music, magazines etc. If one falls, we must unite together to help that person get out of his or her struggles. One way for us to avoid struggles is by listening to our God -given conscience which we receive by reading His word. An ancient Navajo Indian tradition says your conscience is a triangle that turns and pricks the flesh of your heart when you do something wrong. But if you keep ignoring that triangle the corners slowly get rounder until it’s a circle and you don’t feel anything at all. So pretty much we need to build that strong foundation in our faith. As I have watched my Uncle fighting for his life I’ve seen his faith sky rocket to heights I have never seen before in a person. Right now I don’t see him worrying about the world and what’s on here, but he is looking toward God. He tells us he feels God’s presence wherever he goes and does. I will like to leave you with this verse: 2 Corinthians 6:17

17
"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."
So lets lead be that Revolution against the world!

Little Flying Bugs--

Turning away from thinking about bugs and dirty water in Ethiopia has helped to keep my fears of the unknown at bay. However, yesterday we received a 24 page letter about things we "Need" to know about moving to Addis this summer. One of the larger sections detailed shots we need and the growing problem of malaria. Not just regular malaria, but drug -resistant malaria...It used to be that malaria was not a problem in Addis because the elevation was just too high for mosquitos, but now those buggers are coming higher and higher. Then we also received a special email explaining how malaria is becoming resistant to the regular meds given BUT that the newer ones are causing so many health problems. Recently a family had sold all they owned and went overseas with Wycliffe and within two weeks they had to return to the states since the wife had significant mental health complications due to the malaria meds.

We also have to get yellow fever and RABIES shots very soon. We were told to get these at different times as they will make Aser and I pretty sick and we will need to tag team caring for our family.

After my last bout with getting sick, from not receiving a shot I thought I had, I take this pretty seriously. VERY SERIOUSLY! If I am honest it pretty much scares me at times. I know how fragile our bodies are, but I have also experienced God's amazing healing. So we move on in preparing and I will have my moments of uneasiness with this and thinking of my children's bodies, but hopefully can keep things in focus. I have a prefield coordinator always telling me to count the cost. Today she emailed me to encourage me and reminded me that we can do only so much to prevent things in our lives and then we must leave the rest to the one who is really in control. So I am trying to count the cost, but move on looking forward to our future. We will be on a plane in TWO months exactly from today.

Here is a picture of Kary from this past year during his time of remission from the beast. He is fighting hard and is contagious with his optimism and faith. He is one strong man! I did not realize my brother was made of such steel. If you think of it we appreciate your prayers for him.