On Friday night, my cousin Gary and his wife Kim were driving from Colorado to Kansas to be with family. Only about an hour from their destination, they were caught in a tornado and killed.
They had been so excited about this trip. It would have been the first time they were to meet their newest nephew. I’ve been reading on Kim’s and her sister-in-law’s blogs for the past several weeks about how excited all of them were to get together to see the baby and have a “sister lunch”. Kim, Jayme, Sally and Crystal all have had wonderful relationships and loved being together.
Gary and Kim had been married just over one year. They were absolutely perfect for each other and absolutely in love.
Both Gary and Kim loved the Lord and followed Him. Thank you God, thank you God, they are with Jesus now.
Gary worked as a chef at a Boy’s Ranch in CO. His dad, my uncle, used to tease that Gary and I had the same career…we both cooked all day for a bunch of boys!
You probably have met Kim here on my blog, but you would have known her as Suezque. She visited here and left comments all the time. She was a regular poster with Gratituesday. She was one of my biggest fans. I always loved hearing from her. I wonder how long until I stop watching for Suezque’s comments.
Kim was working to begin her own website called http://suezqueathome.com/blog. Her goal with her site was to encourage young married women as they worked to keep a home and work outside the home as well. She emailed me often with ideas…and mostly just with her excitement over beginning her own site. While I was wrestling with disbelief that this tragedy had happened, I went to her Suezque @ Home site to just try to be with her one more time. It was then that I realized that truly, she is now at home and it gave the name of her site new meaning. And I praised God.
I have many, many things I am so grateful for this Gratituesday.
I’m grateful to you and for your prayers. I am comforted by you.
I’m grateful for my husband. When I got the phone call, he was home with me. When we were trying to figure out if we should go to KS to be with everyone and I said, “Matt, I don’t think I can stay away. I need to go.” He just said, “Okay” and started packing.
I’m so grateful to be surrounded by family…to be able to hold people and weep with them. I needed to be here.
I’m grateful for blogging…as it brought all of the sisters closer, and helped me to get to know all of them so much better too. I loved being able to get to know Kim. And to get to know Gary better because of Kim.
I’m grateful for Marie and the friendship she had with Kim. Marie, I know you miss her so much.
I’m grateful for loving people and for how they have cared for the family during this time. I love watching how people have just stepped up everywhere and taken care of everything from casseroles to toilet paper.
I’m grateful for the life of Gary and Kim. God brought them together and they completed one another. Their love and joy for each other and for God was evident as they served Him together.
And now, they are truly experiencing life. The life we all long for. The life we are given hope for because of Jesus.
I thank God for life. Life lived for him on this earth and life lived with Him in Heaven. Oh how much we all have to look forward to in Him!
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Experiencing death of loved ones makes you realize how much we should all be appreciating the little things. I’d love it if you’d share with us. Please leave a comment or link up to let us know how God is working in your life. God is so good.
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