{"id":386619,"date":"2021-03-15T15:54:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T19:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=386619"},"modified":"2021-03-16T15:36:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T19:36:11","slug":"father-of-eight-who-lost-his-wife-we-walk-through-this-grief-together-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2021\/03\/15\/father-of-eight-who-lost-his-wife-we-walk-through-this-grief-together-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Father of Eight Who Lost His Wife Pays Tribute to Rush"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRETT: Let\u2019s go out and talk to Caleb in Washington State. Caleb, welcome to the program. I appreciate your patience in holding.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah, Brett, it\u2019s great to talk with you, and mega dittos to you and the Rush community. I\u2019ve listened since a baby riding in the car with my dad, and it\u2019s a pleasure to finally get through.<\/p>\n

BRETT: I\u2019m so happy to have you here.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you. It\u2019s my pleasure. I wanted to call because I wanted to share just a tribute to Rush. You know, I just turned 40 a couple of weeks ago and, like I said, I grew up kind of in a Rush family, a conservative-Christian home. Over the course of the last month and a half, our family, my wife and I and our eight kids, um… We walked through an experience that has just been traumatic, difficult, and, yet, you know, we walk through these things in life every day.<\/p>\n

\"\"So on January 23rd, my wife and I and our eight kids we went for a hike behind our house in the mountains, and on that hike my wife said that she felt some discomfort in her abdomen, some bloating and swelling. So over the course of the next week, it had just gotten worse and worse. On January 30th, we went into the hospital. They did some, you know, CT scans, some blood work.<\/p>\n

The following Sunday morning they went in, they did surgery, and they found that her abdomen was full of tumors. It was a recurrence of a melanoma cancer that she had had about 10 years ago. Now, she\u2019s only 31 years old at this point right now. So we went into the hospital January 31st, and then over the course of the next two weeks, you know, we waited for biopsy results.<\/p>\n

We were looking forward to different treatment plans, and as — as as the days went by and things just got worse and worse, you know, we were praying. (choking up) We had literally an army, hundreds of people, you know, family coming around us, friends, church people, just supporting us, helping with our kids, with our home, so that I could stay in the hospital with my wife.<\/p>\n

At 1:20 in the morning on Valentine\u2019s Day my wife, you know, went from — went from looking at my face and holding my hand, uh, to stepping into eternity and holding the hand… (choking up) holding the hand of her savior and looking at the face of Christ. And so, you know, I\u2019ve been walking through this last month… You know, yesterday was one month.<\/p>\n

So with our kids walking through the grieving process, walking through, you know, trying to figure out how to put life back together in the wake of this. Shortly, you know, after she passed I heard of Rush\u2019s passing, and, you know, it\u2019s just been incredible for me to see (deep breath) the grace of God extended to me in our suffering because even now, it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

You know, I put my 4-year-old to bed last night. You know, the hope that we have because of our faith, because of the principles this country was founded on and what we see in the community around us, it\u2019s just like a solid foundation for us to be able to go forward. And so I just wanted to tell you, all the Rush listeners, all the people involved in this that, you know, we walk through it together, and there are better days ahead. I don\u2019t know how. (chuckles)<\/p>\n

BRETT: Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER: You know, it\u2019s hard, but we have faith, and it\u2019s gonna work. So that\u2019s kind of my story right now.<\/p>\n

BRETT: Caleb, I can\u2019t express condolences enough to you for this fight that you\u2019ve had to walk through for this last month. As a married man, as a family man, I just want you to know I\u2019m gonna be praying for you. And you have such an opportunity to witness to these eight children now.<\/p>\n

You have an opportunity to transform their future trajectory because of your heroism with your wife and your heroism in standing at this time and your orientation to come out and say, “She held my hand and looked at me and then looked at Christ and held our savior\u2019s hand” is exactly what you need to share with your children.<\/p>\n

Because this is a temporary station in existence, and we have got to be confident that we will all be together again as one united family with Christ. And God bless you for your work through this. And I know you\u2019ll see your wife again one day.<\/p>\n

\"\"CALLER: Could I share one last thing with you?<\/p>\n

BRETT: Please.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. You know, my wife, like I said, she was 31 years old and when she was 19, she went to Malawi, Africa, and —<\/p>\n

BRETT: Caleb, they\u2019re gonna knock us off the line here \u2019cause we have a hard break here. Just stay with me, please. Stay with me, okay?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

BRETT: I\u2019m gonna come right back to you, man, I promise. This is unbelievable.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

BRETT: I want to welcome back to the program Caleb from Washington State, who has been sharing with us his story of loss of his wife at age 31 just this last month — and, Caleb, I appreciate you holding on the line. What was your wife\u2019s first name?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Her name was Becka.<\/p>\n

BRETT: Becka. Becka.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yep.<\/p>\n

BRETT: And you were talking about this moment as we were going to the break. You were talking about how she had made a trip to Malawi. Talk about that.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Exactly. Yes. When she was 19 years old, she had the opportunity to go to Malawi to do some orphanage ministry work with some friends.<\/p>\n

BRETT: Mmm-hmm.<\/p>\n

CALLER: And through a short time there, she fell in love with the place, the people. And so she moved back there and over the next 10 years she had bought some land, built a farm to make it sustainable, and began working with a partner there to build an orphan home that would be fully sustainable, self-sustainable, and be able to take care of kids as they get older.<\/p>\n

\"\"And then over the course of that, you know, in 2012, she completed adoption of our first son, Wongani is his name — and then a month later his older brother, Petey, Peter — and she brought them back to the United States in 2012. Her and I were married in 2013, and then in 2015 we moved. We relocated for work, and we began the journey of going through pursuing some adoptions to build our family.<\/p>\n

And then over the next, you know, five years later, here we are today. We\u2019ve had several kids come and return to family, and we\u2019ve had six that have come and stayed and have permanency now in our home. And so, like I say, our two oldest ones are from Malawi; our four kind of in the middle at the bottom are tribal, they\u2019re Native American; two, I would say, “They\u2019re pale skin like us, like me and Becka.”<\/p>\n

So our family is a beautiful collage of God\u2019s creation. I would say that, you know, Rush especially last year after George Floyd and all that happened, you know, we were really emphasizing with our kids that, you know, the world we live in is a broken place and love and sacrifice are the two things that God did in healing the brokenness of this world, and that\u2019s what we need to do. And so my wife\u2019s legacy, I would say, is that in… (choking up) In her short 31 years, in our short eight years of marriage, God gave us the opportunity to dramatically change the lives of these kids.<\/p>\n

BRETT: He did.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I just want to encourage every person, every single person that God gives us one life. That\u2019s what Rush said after the George Floyd thing: God gives us one life. There\u2019s no going back. No second chances. And if we can make the most out of it like my wife did, like I hope to, then the effect is gonna be huge. It\u2019s gonna be amazing. And so I just to want pay tribute to my wife. I want to share with my kids as they grow up how beautiful her life was and that each one of us has an opportunity to live that kind of life.<\/p>\n

BRETT: Well done. Well said. You\u2019re doing it. And you just have to keep doing it. I can\u2019t tell you how many people have been touched by this phone call and hearing this message that\u2019s so important, and I\u2019m so happy to know that she and Rush are probably having a great conversation right now.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Absolutely.<\/p>\n

BRETT: Caleb, God bless you and your family. I appreciate you coming by on the program and sharing this — and please, keep in touch with the show, okay?<\/p>\n

CALLER: All right, Brett. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.<\/p>\n

BRETT: God bless you, man. That\u2019s Caleb, and a lot to think about there. A lot to unpack, and the impact… You know, I think the key impact, the key takeaway with Rush was his overwhelming generosity, his overwhelming desire to see people succeed, even people he might never talk to on a telephone call or get an email from but knowing that generosity is innate in our American spirit.<\/p>\n

We are a giving country.<\/p>\n

We are a loving country.<\/p>\n

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