So many of you have gifted us with being there for us (your attendance this past Friday), words of encouragement, prayers, flowers, memories, meals, hugs, and so on. Each of them help – a lot!

This morning we received another wonderful gift from a dear friend – an amazing writer who has given a loving tribute to Kari in a big way. I’ll give you the opening paragraph or so, then give the link so you can read it in its entirety. And can we ask you to pray for this testimony? Rob’s stuff goes out to many subscribers (nearly a thousand, the last I heard). Many of them follow because of his having been a TV News Anchor. Surely many of them would be skeptical of some things Rob writes. Thanks.

The girl who could not speak.

Her life spoke volumes.

Rob Vaughn

Nov 11, 2025

Kari Jo Denlinger, a dark-haired wonder of a woman, who for 39 years rolled her way across the earth (no walking for her) or who was lifted and carried around by others (reminiscent of princesses of old, toted in their sedan chairs) and who never spoke, but through her dark eyes and expressive mouth communicated messages of love and wisdom, has taken her leave of this world, having assumed a new role in a new place where many now marvel at the sight of her long-delayed walking and the sound of her long-awaited speaking, and soon — if they have not done so already — will situate on top of her head a gleaming crown fit for a monarch.

You think I speak in metaphors. I do not. Well, mostly not. Jesus and the apostles spoke of the solid realities of heaven; I’m good with their descriptions.1

Kari – a dear family friend who died on October 31 after being the longest-living human being with her rare disability – is now a resident not of a metaphorical “heaven” of clouds and floating cherubs, but of the ontological heaven – that is, the real thing, wherever that may be2 – which we read about in Scripture and which, one day, will give way to the “new heavens and new earth” forecast in the book of Revelation – a place where tears, and wheelchairs, will be no more.

Which makes this a story worth telling.

It’s not only about Kari and her strange journey through life, but also about the indefatigable human love that carried Kari along the way. 

https://robvaughnnews.substack.com/p/the-girl-who-could-not-speak?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true