I love how she tries to tell me about MY MOM. My mom. I don't remember her being in the hospital room the day my mom died - when I stood by her side, thinking that she was there when I took my first breath and I was there while she took her last. And she pretends to know what my mom would have thought, done or said. My mom would have been DISGUSTED by all of this. Absolutely disgusted.
Oh - and the thing about her going through my mom's stuff? Say it with me, CREEPY. I had asked my dad about doing this in September, right after mom died. and he said he wanted to leave things the way they were for a while. We attended a memorial service in Baltimore on October 7, 2007 and planned a reception at my parent's home at the end of October for friends and family locally.
Apparently, he met Ms. Kennedy between the Baltimore and Dallas services - and sometime shortly after the Dallas reception, the two of them decided to clean out all my mom's stuff and go through it together. I NEVER got the opportunity - even though I had offered and asked. He mentioned it to me in November - told me that the two of them had gone through all the stuff and that they had found a binder in which my mom had created an alternate identity and that he was going to have it investigated by a PI - complete with aliases, accounts, etc.
I don't know what this means, but I've seen plenty of movies about such things, so I have some ideas. I only ache to wonder why my mom felt she had to create an alternate identity - and what her plans were to use that binder with bank accounts, identities - etc. Anyway, I wanted to have the opportunity to go through my mom's things so I could save some special things for my children - her grandchildren - but I never got the chance.
Oh - and the phone call log? I assure you that my mom and I talked in July and August of 2007. We talked on the house phone - when my dad was not there or when he was not around her. She told me she didn't like using her cell phone and preferred a regular phone - as a lot of adult children do, I had to show her how to use the phone and she often said how much she didn't like it.
And we tried to visit with my mom plenty in her final days - tried to plan a surprise 60th birthday party for her on July 7, 2007 - but my daughter had pneumonia and we didn't want mom to catch anything since she had a compromised immune system. My son was sick at the end of July, so we had to start the two week wait all over again. It was at this point that we put the house on the market (yeah, the one that still hasn't sold and is being foreclosed on -- two years later) and were getting our daughter ready for school in August -- we were trying to make plans but were swamped with listing the house and getting her ready for school. Like a lot of other young families, we were busy and did our best to make plans with my parents as often as we could. Apparently, Ms. Kennedy has some thoughts on that... Again, I don't remember Ms. Kennedy being at the Cheesecake Factory when we took my dad (and business partner!) out to lunch for Father's Day and his birthday. Or how we had invited them to our daughter's end of school performance in late May. Or celebrated Mother's Day at a restaurant my mom specifically asked for. Or the surprise party we tried to plan - but which my mom said she was just not feeling well enough for. No, Ms. Kennedy, you weren't there.
My mom and I had lengthy calls about her treatment, about her fears, about how things were with her and my dad -- and she asked me to look into some things about her treatment and her finances. I don't want to go into it here - but let me tell you that she had some very serious things to say about my dad and how things were - and I did my best to help and protect her and find out w/not these things were true. Based on the way things happened on the day she was hospitalized and the day of her death, it sounds like there was more there than even what she told me. *This* is between my mom, my dad and God -- it's certainly not about Ms. Kennedy. And I know that my mom is in His arms now, resting and not hurting - no longer sick, restored and full of life eternal and that gives me peace.
Ms. Kennedy attacks our faith - which is just really concerning. I don't know a lot of Christ followers who would attack anyone else's faith -- I know Christ followers that are humble, gracious, merciful, honest and real. To attack another's faith - someone you have NEVER even met or talked to?!
The doctrinal errors speak for themselves - Jesus actually said that He would not bring peace - He didn't come for peace. He came to be a sacrifice, He came to challenge us, He came to call us to follow Him.
Matthew 10:34 says:
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
He said that families would be divided, that people would disagree, that there *would* be dissent because of Him. That was OK - because He came so that all might know His saving power. Peace would only come when He came again - *that* is when the wolf and lamb lie together, when there is no fear of the lion or serpent. For now, we know that there is anything but peace - and that is OK. For when we don't have peace, we seek Him - His power, His grace, His redemption, His love. And it is only then that we have internal peace - despite the external chaos and tension around us.
The peace is between us and God. When Jesus is called the Prince of Peace - as prophesied by Isaiah - it means that He brings peace between us and God. He came to bring a New Covenant with God, to bring peace, restoration and redemption. The peace was to symbolize the new peace that His followers would have with their God - with YHWH - who had sent His son to them as a sacrifice for mankind. *This* is the peace in Prince of Peace. If there is peace between man and God, then there should be peace between men who follow Him - but it doesn't always happen. Obviously.
And the First Commandment is to love God. I will leave this for Ms. Kennedy to spend time reading as she may not recall. You see, the Pharisees (you remember, those folks who pretended to be super religious and spent all their time attacking others?) tried to trick Jesus, as they were prone to do through His ministry. And they asked Him which was the greatest commandment. Can I just stop and mention here that it was a *lawyer* among the Pharisees that challenged Jesus on which was the greatest commandment from the Law? Go figure...
Now Jesus was too smart for those wise guys (no, not the ones from the east. the "wise guys"!) So, He said the following to them, as recorded in Matthew 22:37-40:
37And He said to him, " '(AC)YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
38"This is the great and foremost commandment.
39"The second is like it, '(AD)YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
40"(AE)On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
What does that mean? Well, first of all, we love God first. And we have no other Gods - and we love Him completely. And because of that love for Him, we love His people. Not just our literal neighbor, all of our neighbors.
So, it follows that if you love God and love your neighbor, then you will keep the other commandments (by not coveting, stealing, lying, committing adultery, etc.) because you will live in obedience to God and love others and not try to hurt them.
Now, perhaps Ms. Kennedy would like to show me the love in her actions helping John Dwight Wanken terminate my license, the emails she wrote about me, the drafts she wrote to be sent to me to terminate my license, making threats to me, filing a custodial lawsuit - I am willing to listen to how *that* was loving your neighbor. And then we could talk about stealing, coveting and lying - and whether or not those commandments have been broken by some of the parties here.
But you know, I am going to leave that up to God. I don't think I have anything to say on those issues. That really is between the parties involved and God. Not me.
As far as the legal stuff, I am going to leave that up to the arbitrators in October.
Anyway, to attack the faith of someone whom you had a role in destroying their career, family business, finances - and ultimately attempting to destroy their family? I don't think so, m'am. It is by faith alone that I have pressed on - if I lacked faith, I couldn't continue in this fight to right this wrong.
It's funny - I insisted that my dad take a larger split of our insurance commissions because I was concerned about him saving for retirement. I insisted that we share in the profits and losses - when we lost a client, we all took a loss. Yet somehow, this lady -- who had never met me -- attacks me and my relationship with my dad. She *doesn't* know anything about my relationship with my dad!!! As I see it, she knows only about HER relationship with my dad.
And the last time I checked, she is now an Associated Person with RJFS, Inc. working at Beacon Financial Advisors -- which was the business I built with my dad over ten years.
I don't want to deal with this nonsense. You know what I want? I want my business partner to pay me what he owes me, I want my former brokerage to clear my U-5 so I can work again and I want to move on with my life. It's pretty simple, really.
But these people don't want to do the right thing. So, I keep fighting the wrongdoing.
kayla kennedy
To: chriswanken@gmail.com
Dear Chris,
Well, it’s been over a year…I still don’t know you and that’s a pity…for both of us. As a child, spouse and parent myself, I think we would have a lot in common. In fact, I just buried my second parent, (my dad) who coincidently died from the same cancer your mother did. My mother died three years ago from Alzheimer’s, an equally devastating disease. What’s my point, you ask? My point is that death is pretty final and life is the real show, there are no dress rehearsals.
I have heard over and over again about the Christian beliefs you and Heidi embrace and claim to practice in your life, yet as an objective observer, I have not seen any evidence of those core beliefs as it relates to your father or family. And I know of what I speak. I became a born-again Christian over 30 years ago and since then have endeavored to learn and live the teachings of my faith. I am
certainly not perfect, nor do I believe I have any inside track about how people should behave. What I do know is something my own dad reminded me of after I found out about a devastating betrayal in my own life and that is “FORGIVENESS IS THE HALLMARK OF OUR FAITH” Simple words for a very difficult situation.
As an outsider looking in, it is far easier for me to separate myself from the emotion and just make observations. And, by the way, contrary to what you falsely reported to others, I have NO interest in your family’s money or business interests. I am completely financially independent, so I don’t have a
financial horse in this race. That being said, so far, Chris, what I have observed from you and Heidi is two insular people who have denied an abundance of love from a grandfather to his grandchildren, harsh judgment of a father’s pursuit of a new life after many selfless and devoted years caring for his wife, what appears to be a complete absence of gratitude for ANYTHING which has been provided to
you in the past and a general lack of respect for a father’s ideas, opinions, and beliefs, not to mention a cowardly and unfair attack on me, who had done nothing to anybody but love your father. AND all these things were occurring with a continual and incessant demand for more and more monetary consideration. In fact, money appeared to be the only part of your father in which you were interested, though you kept asserting that money had nothing to do with any of your actions.
Additionally, it was beyond my comprehension that your mother did not have the opportunity to see her grandchildren for the last three months of her life. (since June 20th at the Cheesecake Factory in Frisco, to be specific) What could have been so important to have kept you away? In helping your dad clean out the house (a job in which you really should have participated) I found your mother’s cell
phone. Her last calls were to you, yet there were no return calls from you on the log.
Please know that it is not my intent to sit in judgment. That is only for God. But the God I know would never bless any part of this situation. I don’t care how “wronged” you believe you were. Relationship with others is what is important in this life and you won’t even speak to your father. It looks like you
are afraid of actually having an open and honest dialogue with the very person who gave you life and probably knows you better than anyone. He certainly has known you the longest and believe it or not,loves you unconditionally. What, after all, is the “First and greatest commandment”? Jesus teaches us that it is NOT to “get what we think we deserve” or to “fight and prevail in a legal or business dispute”, or to shut out your father, your only living parent. Rather, He commands us to love our
neighbor as ourselves. And, by the way, He tells us to love one another, even when it is hard. Can you say you are honestly showing love to your father? Evildad.com is hardly a loving act. You can spin it any way you want, but it smacks quite a bit of vengeance. I could go on about ways you have not honored your father. I’m certain you have your issues, also. But really, Chris, who had a perfect
childhood? Who had perfect parents? I am asking you and Heidi to consider how your behavior is honoring God? How is it representative of fundamental Christian teachings? What are you modeling to your own children about family, love and forgiveness? Is this a cycle you want to see perpetuated? Again, love and forgiveness is the hallmark of our faith. As they say, that was then, this is now. The past does not have to be prologue to the future. A new year has begun and as a family you are capable of writing anything you want on the upcoming blank
pages. I have had the privilege to know your mother through your dad, your Aunt Beverly and Betsy, Mike and the girls. All of them loved her very much and all of them separately told me what she loved and treasured most was her family. And I’m told that even at her death, a primary concern of hers was keeping the family strong and together. If it’s too hard to honor your father right now,
perhaps you can honor your mother. Chris, there can never be too many people to love your children and your dad loves Brooke and Finn so completely. And your mother really wanted him to pass on her legacy to her precious grandchildren. Grandparents are wonderful witnesses to the past.
I pray that your heart is not so hardened that it can’t be opened to receiving your father’s love and following God’s commandments. Can you and your father, at least, come together and begin to look at your common interests and not get stuck in your respective positions? I believe it is what Jesus, the ultimate peacemaker, would do.
Wishing you the Peace that only God can provide,
Kayla Kennedy
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