The Burketts in the Ukrain

Andrew is on the bottom wearing the Lions sweatshirt.

When you find out that you are going to have children you begin to look at life differently. You begin to think about where you live and where you want to live to raise your children. You think of things like the right school for them, will you have access to good medical care, and your financial state, can you provide all of the extra stuff for them?

One family has been the definition of dying to self for me. They lived out JESUS' words in

Matthew 10:37 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.

They were living the American dream. They had a good job a nice home and 4 beautiful children. Then in 2000 they announced that they would be leaving for the mission field. I was so excited for them. What a great responsibility for them to take such a large family and make such a huge change. They sold their stuff, gave away their pets, and moved to the Ukraine.

They had such a joyful spirit as they learned about their new task. The kids jumped right in and learned the new language and loved learning about the culture.

They knew of the corruption of the country right from the start as they bought their house with cash. They couldn't trust any banks or "mortgage" company with this transaction. So they sent their oldest son and the father to get the 10's of thousands of dollars. The son who was like 10 or 12 years old carried the money on the train ride back in a paper sack. Because that was less suspicious to those who would steal.

Another corruption was in the medical field. To get good grades in college a student has to give the best bribe. So someone who is completely incapable of passing the course could if they had the finances. People have said that since freedom has come it has been scary to go to the doctors because you never know if they just bought their diploma or earned it.

And this is exactly what the Burketts were dealing with as they planted hope and churches for these hopeless people.

I got an e-mail last night that said the second oldest a son named Andrew had pneumonia in two lungs and needed to be transported to a hospital in Germany for the care he needed. I started to search to see if anyone had an update and found Kim's FaceBook page full of messages of condolences. I cried. And I have had a hard time not crying all day.

This is the message I received from Kim this morning:

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From whence shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121

Many of you may have already heard, last night, our precious Andrew went home to be with his Savior. This all happened so quickly, we are waiting to wake up from this horrible nightmare…but that will not be the case.

We thought Andrew had a bad case of the flu which has been going around. When we took him to the clinic yesterday morning, the doctor immediately began to treat him. Just before we were getting ready to leave, Andrew began coughing up blood. The doctor ordered an x-ray at a local hospital. To make a long story short, everything happened so quickly, as he was being transferred to a different hospital, his heart stopped. The doctors did what they could with the equipment they had. Now he is resting in the arms of our Heavenly Father.

Please continue to hold our family up in prayer. Our kids are doing okay – I think we are all in shock still. And we thank you for all your prayers on our behalf. We love each and every one of you.

In His arms we rest,
Herb and Kim

Andrew was my favorite kid to babysit. I was a horrible babysitter. But for some reason I took a liking to this sweet little boy. My only real memory is of me getting him ready for bed I changed his diaper and noticed how really chubby he was. Then I read him a story in a rocking chair in their upstairs bedroom and put him down to bed. I remember him crying and falling asleep as I sang "JESUS Loves Me," and some other songs. I remember thinking that I just might be okay having a boy of my own someday if he was as sweet as this.

Then I had my son so many years later. I hadn't known in advance what the gender was and when he was born they had to rush him to NICU. When I saw him the next day I had to pick a name and I looked as his sweet face and remembered little Andrew Burkett and said, "He looks like an Andy." My hubby agreed. As my Andy grew he got soooo chubby. Again a reminder of the sweet little boy I had put to bed that night so long ago.

Andrew was 16 years old.

The Burketts are trying to get back here to the states for the funeral this week. We are praying for all of the plans to go smoothly and for GOD'S peace to follow them as they embark on this never expected journey.