Shelby's Prayer Calendar Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
(Psalms 5:2)| | 
November 6, 1981 - May 31, 2005 | Kennedy Family update 7-22-05
07/23/05 - 1:07 am
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It's been a while since we have been able to sit and write from our hearts. As most of you can imagine, life is very different now. We are still shocked at the... [more >]
| the Kennedy family has been prayed for at least 21 times over the past week.
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posted: Saturday, July 23rd 2005 - 01:07 AM
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It's been a while since we have been able to sit and write from our hearts. As most of you can imagine, life is very different now. We are still shocked at the idea that Shelby is gone, we had not expected her life to end here on earth so soon.
Writing our newsletters has been somewhat difficult as we have had to go back through lots of photo albums to pull out her pictures. We have read some of her testimonies of her trips into Haiti, Africa, and Hungary, which she wrote in her journals. As a footnote, Shelby has filled over 30 journals since she began writing at about 12 years old. Looking at her shelf of books tells us that she was even better prepared to meet Jesus than we had known. Her books are about missionaries who have suffered and many have died early in their lives. She prayed regularly for Christians who suffer in non-Christian countries. As Doug Phillips said at her memorial service, Shelby left this world with no regrets, her life was such that she was ready to go to heaven when it was her time. Our prayer is that each of you know Jesus in such a way that you also are ready to meet Him when your day arrives, whether it is today or 30 years from now.
Right now the Kennedy family is moving slowly. We are not rushing back into teams, but are trying to come to terms with this big hole in our hearts, which only our Heavenly Father can fill, and we know He will.
Saturday we are traveling to Mexico to attend a memorial service Sunday evening in honor of Shelby. Our friends in Mexico are mourning the loss of Shelby, even though they know she is in Heaven. They long to see our faces and hug us to let us know they love and pray for us. It will be a hard day for us, yet we know it is important that we do this, as much for us as for our friends in Mexico. Please pray for us.
Most of you should receive our newsletters, however if someone receives this and you don't receive our newsletters by mail and would like to, please write us and send your mailing address, we would be happy to put you on our mailing list.
May our loving, merciful Father bless and keep you as you serve Him!!
Because of Christ,
Ken, Debbi and Family
www.onlyaservant.org
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| Obituary |
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posted: Friday, June 03rd 2005 - 12:15 PM
Shelby Kay Kennedy, much beloved daughter of Ken and Debora Kennedy of Kendall County, Texas, was called by her Lord and savior Jesus Christ to her eternal reward, Tuesday, May 31, at 7:15 P.M. after a battle with cancer. Shelby’s life was the personification of sacrifice, servant-hood, spiritual joy and honor to her father and mother.
In her short but Gospel-rich twenty three years, Shelby brought hope and happiness to thousands through her mission work with her family throughout the world in regions as diverse as Mexico and South Africa. Shelby’s heart, however, always pointed to Haiti where she personally administered Christian schools, participated in discipleship evangelism, and managed significant food distribution efforts for the needy.
A ferociously loyal daughter and an eternally optimistic servant of the Cross, Shelby rests now in the bosom of her Savior. “Absent from the body, (she is) present with the Lord.”
Shelby is survived by her parents, Ken and Debbi Kennedy; sister and brother-in-law, Holly and Micah Wakefield and niece, Heidi; sisters, Sara, Brigitta and Michelle; brothers, Kenny, Micah, James, John, Jonathan, Carlos, Mark and Alex ; paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. L. Kennedy; maternal grandmother, Barbara McGovern; and numerous other relatives.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to “Only a Servant” Ministries, Inc., Attn: Shelby Memorial, Haiti Fund, P.O. Box 700155, San Antonio, TX 78270-0155 (www.onlyaservant.org)
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| Visitation |
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posted: Friday, June 03rd 2005 - 01:30 AM
A Family Visitation will be held for Shelby Kennedy on Friday, June 3rd, 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Porter Loring North location 2102 N. Loop 1604 East at Gold Canyon Road in San Antonio, TX.
Phone: 210-495-8221
[ map to Porter Loring North ]
We look forward to seeing you there. Thank you.
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| Reception after Memorial Service |
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posted: Friday, June 03rd 2005 - 01:24 AM
Plans are being finalized for the reception following the Memorial Service for Shelby on Saturday. Diana Hawley has graciously offered to organize and coordinate this event. We are asking that everyone would bring Finger Foods in a disposable serving dish to the reception. If you will bring enough for your family and a few others we will probably have more than enough for everyone attending the reception. Please remember that you will need to keep the food in your car during the memorial service so you may want to transport it accordingly (in a cooler). Diana will need a variety of willing hands to help with several different tasks so if you are able to help, please call her on her mobile at 210-241-0089. Thank you so much for your support and love for the Kennedy family.
Carole Clark
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| Wednesday 6-1-05 - MEMORIAL SERVICE INFO |
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posted: Thursday, June 02nd 2005 - 03:31 AM
Shelby's Memorial service will be held
Saturday, June 4th, 2:00 pm
at the First Baptist Church of Boerne
631 S. School St. Phone: 830-816-6141
for a map to the church visit www.fbcboerne.org
In lieu of flowers we ask that donations be made to
Only a Servant Ministries, Inc.
NOTE: Shelby's Memorial Haiti Fund
P.O. Box 700155, San Antonio, TX 78270
Please come in bright and cheerful
attire to celebrate Shelby's life!
Funeral arrangements made by:
Porter Loring North
Phone: 210-495-8221
For those of you who would like to help please look for another e-mail to come out tomorrow with more information.
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| Tuesday 5-31-05 |
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posted: Wednesday, June 01st 2005 - 03:54 AM
Dear Friends,
Our precious Shelby went to be with the Lord this evening at 7:15pm. Please pray for strength for our family with the upcoming decisions and work that needs to be done. We were all in the livingroom singing when she left us. We know that she is well now and in a better place.
Because of Christ,
Holly for the Kennedy Family
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| Monday 5-30-05 |
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posted: Tuesday, May 31st 2005 - 06:06 AM
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Again, we come to you thanking you for all your prayers and kind notes and e-mails for Shelby. We have worked hard since coming home from the hospital to get Shelby's pain down so that she would be able to continue radiation. As of now, that is still impossible. We have gone up and up on pain meds and yet we still can't get her pain free. If she is awake, she is in great pain. If we can't get her pain under control here at home soon, we will have to consider going back to the hospital.
We had hoped to be able to get lots of extra natural products in her feeding tube, but that has also not been a possibility. Her stomach is so small that we can hardly get the nutrition she needs into her stomach, much less anything extra. These things are frustrating as we continue to watch her strength go down, while her pain and the tumors increase rapidly through her body.
Please continue to ask our loving Father for the pain and tumors to go away and strength and healing to become evident.
Because of Christ,
Ken, Debbi and Family
www.onlyaservant.org
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| Wednesday 5-25-05 |
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posted: Wednesday, May 25th 2005 - 11:52 PM
Dear Friends in Christ,
Dr. Drengler told us Monday morning that Shelby could be released from the hospital. That was great news, but as we began to think of all the details that had to be worked out, we became a little overwhelmed. Shelby still could not sit up, we needed more guidance with the feeding tube, we needed a suction machine, pumps and oxygen and we weren't sure if home was the best place to go first. With some help from one of the nurses, and a representative from Home Health Services, we were able to organize and get started making plans to go home.
As things finally fell in place around 5:30 p.m. we called the E.M.S. out of Blanco, TX and they came and picked Shelby up. What a blessing they were, we could not have done it without them. We arrived home around 8:00 p.m., fairly exhausted after a week at the hospital. We were told a nurse from Home Health would meet us at home, but it didn't work out, so we hooked up everything and were able to get it all going on our own. Shelby slept OK that night and we attended to her medicine needs every three hours and helped with her restlessness.
The pain meds have her sleeping most of the time, and her speech is still very slurred. Tuesday she slept all day and most of the night. Today (Wednesday) her speech is a little better and she has been awake some more. We were able to take her off one of the meds that causes drowsiness and we feel that is what has made the difference for her today. Shelby is starting to take a little carrot & apple juice with the ambrotose that we are praying will make a difference with her tumors.
As soon as we can we will start back with the radiation, but at this point Shelby is too weak to be moved and the pain is too great when she sits up. For now with no radiation happening, we stay busy here, trying to keep Shelby comfortable and getting her meds on time.
Please continue to pray as we have asked so many times before. That her pain and the cancer would go away and that she would regain an appetite, strength and health. We serve an awesome Father and we trust Him for complete and total healing. We are very grateful for each of you and your prayers for Shelby!!
In Christ, Ken and Debbi
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| Saturday 5-21-05 |
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posted: Saturday, May 21st 2005 - 11:52 PM
Dear Friends in Christ,
We are sorry that it has been so long since you have heard from us. Some very serious things have been happening with Shelby and we have tried to send e-mail updates, but AOL temporarily shut down our account which has made it impossible for us to send updates. They say that we have violated a bulk e-mail policy which we had never heard of. Now we will send our updates to Shelby’s prayer web-site until we can get home and change providers. We will still be able to receive e-mails at our Kennedys15.aol.com address until then. This has been most inconvenient for us as well as you, because we desire to have you pray specifically and that has not been possible.
Shelby has had a feeding tube since Thursday afternoon. After some difficulties getting it going, we seem to be doing fine with it now. They had to work up very slowly as her stomach was so small that she could only tolerate very tiny amounts of formula at a time.
The pain specialist, Dr. Pacl (which rhymes with fossil) has been very good and we like his bedside manner a lot. He is still working hard to bring Shelby’s pain level down enough so that she can sit up even for a few minutes. He is working with methadone, which we thought she was allergic to and now know she isn’t. At this point she still gets in great pain just to move around in the bed a little. If she doesn’t move at all, the pain can be controlled.
The doctors have been trying to make sure we understand that Shelby is at a very critical place in her life. We have told them we understand their feelings, as in the physical things look bad, but we have faith that the Lord is completing a healing in her life.
Today Dr. Pacl was talking to Shelby to make sure she understood all this. He told her that there is a possibility that the end of her life could come soon and she needed to think about how she wants the doctors and nurses to handle an emergency situation. She said she would think about it and he left. A few seconds later she was trying to tell us something and because of all the pain medications it’s very hard to understand her right now. We leaned close and tried to understand but she had to repeat herself several times. She started crying as she couldn’t get her point across then we understood. “Tell that doctor that I’m going to live and proclaim the works of the Lord”. Debbi couldn’t get to him fast enough to let him know how Shelby felt. When she told him he said that it was music to his ears to hear, and he hopes for a miracle in her life also.
We have several specific prayer requests that we would appreciate you to pray for.
1.) The pain could be controlled so that she can move around without pain.
2.) The food going into her tube would give her energy and strength.
3.) The doctors would be open to putting ambrotose into her feeding tube, which we believe would begin fighting the cancer.
4.) That she could begin the radiation treatments again soon.
5.) That the tumors would miraculously disappear and God would receive the glory.
We are grateful for your continued prayers for Shelby.
Because of Christ,
Ken and Debbi
www.onlyaservant.org
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