Lincoln Journal Star (NE) - May 6, 2000
Deceased Name: Howell-Burke -- Benjamin Robert

Howell-Burke -- Benjamin Robert, 11, Lincoln, died Thursday
(5/4/00). Born in Brazil (12/10/88). Member, Lincoln Berean Church,
where he was an actor in the Easter play, "The Promise." Student,
Humann Elementary, played saxophone in school band, sung in school
chorus.

Survivors: parents, Jim and Dina; brothers, Nate, Orlando, Fla., Josh,
Joe, Danny, all Lincoln; sisters, Erin, Katy, Christina, Rachel, all
Lincoln; paternal grandparents, Gene and Zelma Burke, Omaha; maternal
grandmother, Yvonne Howell of St. Petersburg, Fla.; aunts; uncles;
cousins.

Memorial services: 10 a.m. Monday, Lincoln Berean Church, 6400 S. 70th
St. Cremation. No visitation. Memorials in lieu of flowers to Holt
International Children's Services, 430 S. 30th St., Council Bluffs, IA
51505. Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, 6800 S. 14th St. "

Lincoln Journal Star (NE)
Date: May 6, 2000
Edition: City
Page: 03

Taken from a sermon from May 13/14, 2000 by Pastor Bryan Clark of
Lincoln Berean Church, Lincoln Nebraska. Found on the internet.

  This past week, as I thought about this text, I thought about the
  funeral on Monday for eleven-year-old, Ben Howell-Burke, and I
  thought about his mom and dad. There was a time when they already
  had five children. By their own admission, they really didn't need
  any more children. But Jim saw this picture in a magazine of four
  little Brazilian children, in a poverty-stricken orphanage, and God
  laid it on his heart that, these children need to be your children.
  He really felt like that's what God was saying. And so he shared
  that with his wife, Dina, who felt they didn't need any more
  children. And Dina said she wrestled through a sleepless night of
  trying to figure out what was God's will in all this. And to her
  credit, by the end of the night, she realized that Jim was right and
  this was what God wanted. They spent the next year and a half
  jumping through the hoops to eventually adopt these four children
  from Brazil.