Weekend Update!

Monday morning on this side of the world!   I know most of you are still on Sunday though.  We had a great weekend.  Saturday Rickson was gone most of the day at a workday helping Pastor George Milgrim and Good News Baptist Church put up their new building!  This is an exciting time for them as they have been praying for 6 years for their own land to build on!  

Sunday started our annual Missions Conference!  This year our theme is "Help Me Win the Lost".  We had over 100 in attendance in both the morning and evening services!  One of the missionaries our church supports, Pastor Sonny Padock of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Palikir, Pohnpei preached in the evening service and Pastor George Milgrim also shared some about the projects going on with the construction of Good News Baptist Church in Tomoaroaloang (I probably spelled that wrong!).  Our missions conference meetings will be this Wednesday, next Sunday, and the following Wednesday, with a closing banquet on Saturday, November 12th.  Please pray the conference goes well and we will be able to meet our Faith Promise goal for the year!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.  Monday is always is a busy day for us as I am getting the kids back into school mode as well as preparing notes and paperwork for Bible Institute classes this evening.  

October Prayer Letter

Kasalehlia!  We have had quite a summer and much to update you on.

I’ll begin by explaining the medical emergency we had with our daughter, Kaylinn.  Over the past several months, she has had breathing problems where she has just randomly stopped breathing for no apparent reason.  It’s happened about six times and each time gave us quite a scare.  The doctors here could not figure out what was going on; therefore, after her latest incident the last week of August, they sent us off to Hawaii to the Children’s Medical Center there for further evaluation.  Thankfully, some of our church people offered to stay with our other four children and Susan, Kaylinn, and I flew to HI on September 7^th.  We had expected to be there for about a week.  However, it ended up taking an entire month!  The doctors there also could not come to a conclusion as to the cause of her problem.  She had just about every test there was to run and saw nearly all the pediatric specialists that they thought could help her.  It would take an entire book to give all the details of that month here in this letter so if you are interested in the detailed story as well as the many ways God blessed during this time, please read about it at our blog.  We arrived back on Pohnpei on October 5^th and since have been trying to get back into a routine with the children and ministry.   While I am on the subject of Kaylinn’s medical situation, I would like to mention a need and that is the medical bills.  At this point, we have not received all of the bills from the hospital so I am not able to give an exact amount, but we were warned while there that it would be quite high.  If the Lord lays on your heart to help in any way with these expenses, donations can be sent through our mission board, designated for Kihleng Medical Expenses.

The ministry is doing well.  The church people worked together to keep things going while we were gone.  I’m so thankful for the men in the church that put so much into the ministry!  Since we’ve been back, we’ve had the exciting privilege of seeing four individuals come to know Christ as their Savior.  That was a great welcome back for us! 

The Baptist Bible Institute of Pohnpei started the Fall Semester in August.  We have forty-five enrolled this semester, all from the 6 different Baptist churches on the island!  What is even more exciting though is the fruit that we are seeing in the lives of these students.  Some of the students have started Bible studies in the public schools on the island and on the community college campus.  It’s been great to see these young people so on fire for the Lord!

We have several events coming up that we ask prayer for.  In November we have our annual Missions Conference.  This is always one of our favorite events of the year.  We’re looking forward to a time of honoring our missionaries that we currently support and hoping to be able help them more financially.  One of our missionary families is the Boylston family, who is currently on deputation in preparation to come here to work with us in the ministry.  We are fervently praying that God will provide the support quickly so we can have them here with us! 

In January we will be having revival meetings with Evangelist Ron Comfort.  Dr. Comfort started the Bible College that Susan and I attended and it is a great honor for us to be able to have him come and hold revival meetings.  Please begin praying now for these meetings!  Another need I would like to mention here is our need for a sound system which we will need for the revival meetings.  In the past, we have borrowed sound systems and speakers from other churches, but we would like to be able to obtain our own at this point as it is something we are always in need of.

Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family, our ministry, and especially these past couple of months for our daughter Kaylinn.  God has used some trials in our life to show us His love and care for us and we are so thankful for those who have faithfully prayed during this time.  

Because of Calvary

Rickson, Susan, Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn

Weekend Update

Good morning!  It's Monday morning over here in the islands and we had a great weekend!  Saturday we didn't have a whole lot planned so it was a nice day of much needed rest - though Rickson did spend a lot of time doing yard work at the church so maybe it wasn't so much a day of rest for him!  Sunday started out beautiful and sunny and we had a good crowd in church.  Three men met with Rickson after the morning service and accepted Christ as their Savior!  So exciting!  These are all men who have been coming for awhile but had not yet made this decision.  Sunday afternoon we had a huge storm hit the island!  It got very dark, rainy and windy. The power was knocked out from around 3 in the afternoon until about 2 AM this morning!  So evening service was held in the dark!  

Kaylinn Update

We had about a week of really rough nights with Kaylinn, but for the past four nights she has slept really well, probably the best she has ever slept!  We are hoping and praying that this will continue.  She has not had any breathing problems since we've been back and for that we are very thankful!  The doctor wants to try taking her off the medication in about a month or so to see what happens.  Of course, that makes me a little nervous!    She does have another small problem right now in that she got a small blister on her foot that ended up infected (a common thing around here as the bacteria seems to thrive in this humid environment).  So she is currently on Keflex for that and it seems to be healing well now.

Family Update

Well, we've been back two weeks now and are finally getting into some kind of a routine again with school and all.  Kaylinn has done pretty well since we got back.  Some days are really good and some days not so much.  I really wish we had more of an idea of what causes her problems and discomfort so we could help her better.  For the first week and a half after she started the medicine they gave her in Hawaii, it really seemed like she was better.  She slept well those nights and was just overall a happier baby.  But then about 4 or 5 days after getting back to Pohnpei, she started waking up a lot at night again and screaming like she is in pain and she's fussy a lot during the day.  Some days she seems fine though.  I've tried tracking what she eats and keeping her on a strict schedule but still not really seeing a pattern anywhere.  She is a mystery!  We'll be talking to the GI Specialist again in a couple of weeks and see if he recommends we continue the medicine or not.  We have found we cannot get the medicine here so will have to have someone in Hawaii pick it up for us and send to us.

As for the ministry, things are going well, though Satan is attacking as always.  One lady accepted Christ since we've been back and that was encouraging.  The Bible Institute continues to go well.  They took their exams last week and started a new block of courses this week.  We have missions conference starting next week.  So we are busy!  But a good kind of busy!

We're working on getting our new prayer letter out soon!  I know it is long overdue!

Thank you again for your continued prayers!

Pics of the Family!

Here's some pictures of our first family outing together just after we got back from Hawaii.  We sure missed these little rascals!

We're Home!!!!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get an update here since we got home.  BUT, I've been a little busy enjoying time with my kids!  The flights home were long and thankfully uneventful.  Kaylinn got VERY tired of sitting on the plane and made sure everyone on the plane knew it.  She did pretty good though.  The plane arrived at Pohnpei earlier than scheduled but then we hit bad weather and couldn't land.  We circled around above the island for about 40 minutes!  I thought I was going to go out of mind being THAT close to my kids and not being able to see them!  The kids all talked non-stop until bedtime!  I was exhausted!  But enjoyed every minute of it!  Kaylinn has done really well since we have been back.  It actually does seem like the medicine they gave her is helping.  She seems to be sleeping better.  A couple of nights she's hardly woken up at all which has been nice.  We started school yesterday and being a very organized homeschooler, this has been "traumatic" for me, LOL, considering we had to just jump in and start - BEFORE getting school supplies and having all the books/manuals organized, lesson plans done, and bulletin boards up.  I'm working on things as I can.  Kaleo survived his first day of 7th grade!  And Katy survived her first day of K4!  I think Katy is going to be my challenge this year!  Today we got in the school supply shopping and hopefully by Monday we will be a lot more oganized.  

Thank you all for praying!  The sweet comments and knowledge that so many are praying have been such an encouragement.  I know God has a reason for all that has happened.  Yesterday in my devotions I read II Corinthians 12:9,10 - "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:  for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:  for when I am weak, then am I strong."  The book I'm reading said this that really struck a chord with me:  "Often the difficulties we face in life are actually preparation for a greater work God wants to do through us."  As Iscanned through the previous verses in the chapter, the one that REALLY stuck out to me was verse 8, "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me."  YES!  I can relate - so many times I've asked God to spare us from these problems with Kaylinn.  But God is preparing us for something greater.  I've learned so much this past month, I can't even begin to put it all here.  

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts on our Month Long Stay in Hawaii

1. Obviously stopping at a red light here is optional. 
2. And apparently so is clothing.
3. The pigeons here all LOVE Kaylinn.
4. The homeless people here have cell phones and drink Starbucks.
5. You really don't need a car here! (I've enjoyed walking everywhere!)
6. It's not a good idea to stay at a hotel THIS close to a See's Candy store and a Dairy Queen.
7. I'm ready to go home!

Going Home!

Yep, we're heading back to Pohnpei!  We're disappointed and a bit frustrated that we are having to leave with no definite answers for what is wrong with Kaylinn, but as there are no other tests the doctors here can run, we have no reason to stay any longer.  We are anxious to get back to our other children and our life back in Pohnpei.  Kaylinn is on a medication now that may or may not help.  The hospital had Rickson and I take CPR while here so that we can be more prepared in case she has further problems.  We are also going to get a sensor monitor that will alert us if she stops breathing or her heart stops while she is sleeping.  There really isn't much else we can do at this point but pray that God will protect our little girl.  We fly out tomorrow and will have a one night layover in Guam.  We will be home in Pohnpei Tuesday (Wednesday Pohnpei time).  Thank you for your prayers.  We'll keep you updated as we can as we return home.  

Discharged Today!

Kaylinn is doing much better today so they "unplugged" her from all the machines this morning and let her go for a walk around the hospital and then mid morning I was able to take her to the play room - which she absolutely LOVED!  And after we got back to the PICU they brought Tucker to see her again!  So it was a good day!  She loved Tucker, until he licked her foot and that scared her half to death!   She had to have more lab work done and we were so thankful that the lab technician was able to get the blood through her IV - he wasnt' sure he'd be able to but he was and we were all greatly relieved after the whole needle experience with her yesterday (lets's just say, the entire 3rd floor knows Kaylinn hates needles!).  Then they discharged her and she goes back tomorrow for follow-up.   We'll get her lab results then as well.  Everything with the MRI was normal so that is good.  Both doses of the reflux medicine they gave her came back up again so they are trying a different medicine now which she will start tonight.  We are hoping we can plan on heading back to Pohnpei early next week.  We are frustrated and disappointed that so far they have no definite answers for her problem but they have run out of tests to do.  

Tonight's Update

Kaylinn is finally asleep and Rickson headed back to the hotel to try to wash some of our clothes and then get some sleep.  So I finally have a chance to sit down to the computer!  Been quite a day!  Tests all day basically.  She did get a little break from tests mid morning and they brought in the hospital dog for her to play with.  His name is Tucker and she fell in love!  I bought her a little stuffed version of Tucker in the gift shop and she has played and played with that (shown in the picture above)!  

They used a different drug for her for the MRI, much milder than yesterday.  She was pretty funny going out.  And a surprise to all of them too!  They were all ready for the worst - had everything ready in case of an emergency and a whole room full of doctors and nurses and everyone.  As they began to put the meds through the IV she started saying "uh-oh" over and over and each time it got loopier and loopier sounding.  But she kept trying to get up and fight everyone too which surprised them as they said it should take effect immediately.  It took awhile to get her completely out.  The MRI went well - we'll get the results tomorrow but they don't really expect any problems to show up.  She woke up right away afterwards and was so cute on the way back to the ICU.  She kept giving us the funniest smiles.  I was thinking she would be sleepy the rest of the day, but not Kaylinn!  She has to prove all doctors wrong!  She's been bouncing off the walls.  She's seen quite a few different specialists throughout the day and they also put her on a new medicine for acid reflux in case that is the problem.  She promptly threw up the medicine so not sure if that's going to do much for her.  She also got irritated with everyone this evening and threw her cup of yogurt at the monitor machines.  I don't think the nurse was too thrilled with the mess!  I'm hoping Rickson is able to get some laundry done at the hotel tonight as I have been thrown up on, been attacked by a wild child on a yogurt rampage, and got sprayed with the IV meds when they removed it earlier.  

As for the test results and all, well, we're not much closer to finding out the problem.  They've been able to rule out a lot of the really bad things it could have been so that much is good.  They all say the same thing - it's definitely unusual and obviously something very rare as she has such odd symptoms.  They GI specialist said he wishes they would have called him before the bronchoscopy as there are some tests he could have done then but he really doesn't want to have to sedate her again.  He's going ahead and treating her as though the problem is acid reflux though, but he's not really sure that is the problem.  The pulmonologist that saw her tonight is going to test her for some allergies though again he's not certain that's the cause.  They are just trying to cover every avenue.  We are having to face the reality that we may not find out the cause.  They are having us take CPR just in case.  We are not giving up yet though - still praying for an answer.

Hoping to get a good night's sleep - we definitely need it after the past two days!  Will give an update tomorrow.  

Quick Update

Quick update here as lots going on.  Kaylinn's MRI will be at 4:30 this afternoon.  She saw the ENT specialist this morning but she didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with her tonsils!  The surgeon came in later and well, he disagrees - he said he would talk to the ENT himself to see what she thinks.  The ENT also is putting in a request for us to see a pulmonologist and a GI specialist.  Meanwhile, they came in to do an echocardiogram as they just now informed us her EKG from yesterday wasn't normal, there may be a problem with her left ventricle.  The good news - she is being seen by specialists much more quickly  now.  The bad news - none of them seem to agree on her problem!!!!   Kaylinn is restless and cranky.  She woke up happy and in a very good mood - yelling "hey" at everyone that walked by our area and singing "Hallelu,  Hallelu" at the top of her lungs.  However, now after being poked with needles and everything else they've done, she's had enough!  Hoping to have some answers later today.  Thank you for your prayers.  

BTW, Kaylinn has learned how "fun" it can be to keep pushing the nurse call button!  

Update on Kaylinn

Ok, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post an update but things have been crazy today.  We are in much need of prayer right now.  We took Kaylinn to the hospital for her bronchoscopy at 5:30 this morning.  She was taken back and put on the anesthesia at 7:30 and by 8:00 AM they came to tell us all went well and they had found the problem!  Her tonsils are very swollen, so much so that they could hardly get the scope down.  Plus, she has some excess tissue in the back of her mouth.  They said the two combined is what is causing the problem.  This was an answer to prayer; however, it was not something the surgeon could fix but we would have to be referred to an ENT.  The surgeon contacted the pediatric ENT (the only one here) who told us she could not squeeze Kaylinn in for another two weeks!  The surgeon assured us he'd keep working on it and see if they could get us in sooner.  Meanwhile, we went back to wait for Kaylinn to come out of recovery, which we were told should only be about 15 minutes.  An hour later, the anesthesiologist came out to talk with us and said there was a little problem - they couldn't get Kaylinn to wake up!  They said this wasn't normal and he wasn't sure what was going on.  He reassured us she was "fine" though.  Another hour went by and they came to inform us her eyes were open but she was like she was paralyzed, which didn't make sense considering the low dosage of meds they gave her.  They told us they were admitting her into ICU.  Another hour went by and we were told she was finally breathing on her own, just with an oxygen mask but was off the ventilators but they were afraid there was something more serious causing all this.  Finally, I was allowed to see her.  She was pretty loopy though.  It's now 8:00 PM and we are in the pediatric ICU.  I'm not sure how long we will be here.  The good news is, they are FINALLY doing something.  The doctors came in and went over her entire history beginning till now and all said the same thing - they've never come across a case like this!  Leave it to our family to have to make medical history!  She will be seeing a pediatric neurologist and a pediatric ENT tomorrow.  She will be having an MRI tomorrow which will have to be under anesthesia again which means we'll probably be here another night.  They are now starting to think she has two separate problems.  The swollen tonsils would cause the sleep apnea but not the cyanosis while she is awake.  They are still leaning toward the theory of seizures being the cause.  Hopefully the MRI will give us the answers we need.  We were looking forward to seeing our other children by the end of this week - now things appear to be changing again.  Please pray for Kaylinn through this - she hates being hooked to all these monitors.  And pray for our children back home - it's hard on them and us to be separated!  We need to go home soon, but we also need Kaylinn to get well!  Thank you for your prayers.  I will update as I can.  

Kaylinn's Bronchoscopy Tomorrow

Tomorrow's the day!  We have to leave the hotel around 5:00 AM to have Kaylinn there at 5:30.  She's already had her "last" meal and is in bed.  Doing the test early in the morning is actually easier since her time of not being able to eat is while she is sleeping.  

We are praying this test will give us the answers we need and they will be able to fix the problem tomorrow!  We really need some answers and to see Kaylinn get well.  And we need to get back home to the rest of our family.  This is a huge prayer request and we ask that you all please pray with us on this.  

Good News!

Yes, we have good news!  The pediatric surgeon said that he is overscheduled and even booked into November!!!  But understanding our situation he said he'd see what he could do.  After waiting for a bit, they came back to tell us that she is scheduled for the bronchoscopy for 7:30 AM on Tuesday!!!!  He went over her complete history and then said, "this is definitely an unusual case!"  Kaylinn, our little mystery!  He said he is going to confer with some other specialists including an ENT as he has never run across anything quite like this.  Interesting.  So our specific prayer request right now is that the bronchoscopy will show EXACTLY what the problem is and that it can be fixed at the time.  

Kaylinn's Consultation Today

Ok, today isn't a big day of tests for Kaylinn but it is a deciding factor in how much longer we will have to be here.  So much prayer is needed!  We will be meeting with the pediatric surgeon at 1:30 PM to decide what will be the next step and when her bronchoscopy will be.  We are praying that he will be able to schedule it soon (tomorrow would be great!).  From what we are understanding, there are only 3 pediatric surgeons here who can do this and 2 are off island at the time, so this doctor has a triple load of cases at the moment.  So it will take a miracle to get her in for the bronchoscopy soon.  BUT, we know God can "rearrange" this doctors schedule and get Kaylinn in!  Kaylinn's taking her morning nap right now and then we will head off to the hospital for the consultation.  Thanks for praying!  

P.S. Rickson has a cold right now so I ask for prayer for him as well.  Pray that he will feel better quickly and also that this will not affect the scheduling as we were told with the EEG that if there was a sick family member, they may choose to reschedule due to the risk of an infection.  

Kaylinn's Update

Hi, I know everyone is waiting to hear how things went today, but we ALL ended up falling asleep as soon as we walked back into the hotel room!  It was an exhausting day!  Now we probably won't be able to sleep tonight!

The test went well.  Kaylinn had a hard time waiting it out till it was time for them to take her - she was desperate for food and sleep!  The pediatric anesthesiologist was really nice and we really liked him - even found he's been to Pohnpei recently and stayed at the Village hotel near where we live.  He reassured us that she would be fine and went over all that would happen.  Then he put her to sleep, which yes, was a bit traumatic for mom!  About an hour later we were with Kaylinn in recovery where she put up quite a fight!  She did NOT like the monitors hooked to her or the IV and was determined to get them all off.  We brought her straight back to the hotel where we then slept for the next several hours.  The doctor said she did fine during the test and never stopped breathing and that there were no abnormalities in the EEG that he could see.  I believe the doctor on Thursday will give us more info about the test.  

Thank you for praying.  Kaylinn seems to be fine at the moment and the anesthesia seems to be wearing off - she can walk a straight line now! :)

Kaylinn's EEG Today

Kaylinn is not too excited about being woke up this morning at 5:30!  But she has to stay awake from now until her EEG at noon.  She also has to finish eating before 6:00!  This could be a rough day for her (and for mommy!).  Please pray for this test that we will have some answers from it.  And especially pray for Kaylinn during the test.  Usually an EEG is a very safe test; however, she will have to be put to sleep for this and that brings up the possibility of her breathing stopping again.  The hospital has specialists scheduled to be with her during the test in case of problems.  Please pray for Kaylinn today that all will go well.

Kaylinn's Test Today

Kaylinn did pretty well with the Upper GI X-Ray.  It was traumatic for her not being able to have anything to eat or drink all morning and then she absolutely HATES the X-Ray room!  A lot of crying, but she got through it ok.   The doctor said he couldn't see anything abnormal but he will be working on a complete report to give to the pediatrician who she will be seeing again tomorrow.  She's been a little cranky throughout the day (but then again, who could blame her!) so we've tried to "spoil" her a little.  Hopefully we'll all be able to get a good night's sleep now.

Schedule of Kaylinn's Appointments

Things are finally starting to get moving with her appointments.  Here is the schedule as of now:

Today - 1:00 PM - Upper GI X-Ray
Tomorrow - 11:00 - Follow up with the pediatrician
Monday - 12:00 Noon - EEG (she will be put to sleep for this one so it is of some concern. They have the pediatric anesthesiologist scheduled to be with her since she has a history of her breathing stopping during sleep)
Next Thursday - 1:30 PM - consultation with the pediatric surgeon for the bronchoscopy

Second Update for the Day!

Ok, new update!  Just got a call from the hospital and they were able to get her scheduled for the upper GI tomorrow!  Yay, things are finally moving!  They are also trying to get an appointment for her EEG as soon as possible too but hadn't been able to get a confirmed appointment yet but will call us as soon as they do.  Thank you for praying!  We will let you know how the test tomorrow goes!

Latest Update

Kaylinn is scheduled with the pediatric surgeon for September 22.  We had hoped to get her in much sooner but that is the earliest they can get her in.  They should be letting us know by the end of today when her other appointments should be (EEG, sleep study, upper GI, etc).  She had an appointment with the pediatrician yesterday but that was basically just a follow up.  The previous night she seemed to have another slight breathing episode, but it only lasted a few seconds.  She then cried the rest of the night so something was definitely bothering her.  She didn't really go to sleep till around 5:00 AM.  She seemed fine though later when she got up and was fine at the pediatrician's office.  About an hour after we left the hospital though she started vomiting.  We took her back to the hotel but she continued to throw up so we called the pediatrician back.  She said to give her only pedialyte and if she continued, then to take her to the ER.  We took her to the ER later that evening as it seemed to only be getting worse.  They admitted her and ran some tests, did an X-ray of her stomach, and gave her some anti-vomiting medication.  Everything checked out fine so they decided we should take her back to the hotel.  She slept fine through the night and is back to her perky little self this morning.  So again, back to the waiting.  Please keep praying.  We're hoping to get these tests and all taken care of as soon as possible but the doctor has basically said this could all end up taking a month or more!  We are having to make some decisions now as to what we will do next (Rickson stay or return to Pohnpei, etc.) as we have the other children and our ministry back home.  Please pray with us that God will make it clear what we should do.  

Weekend Update

Well, there isn't a whole lot of new news to give at this point but I know a lot of you are wondering how things are going.  We should hear back from the doctors office by tomorrow about a better date for Kaylinn's bronchoscopy.  Meanwhile, we just wait...

Kaylinn seems to be doing pretty good.  She no longer has a fever and for that we are thankful!  She is enjoying having mom and dad completely to herself!  We sure are missing our other children though!

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Update on Kaylinn!

Ok, WOW!  Since my last update SO much has happened I hardly know where to begin!

  

Kaylinn continued to run a high fever the entire flight.  She wasn't too fussy, though did have one incident of vomiting but other than that the flight was ok, just VERY long and exhausting.  A couple leaving Pohnpei were also on the flight and he is an ICU nurse and talked with us a lot about Kaylinn.  He was very helpful and encouraging.  We thank God for bringing people such as these along our paths that can really encourage.  Plus, it was a great comfort knowing there was an ICU nurse on the plane in case of emergency with Kaylinn!  We arrived in Hawaii around 4:00 AM and settled in to try to get some rest - it wasn't very restful as Kaylinn didn't really want to sleep at that point.  We left a couple of hours before our appointment to make sure we could find everything fine.  Once we arrived at the hospital and talked the woman at the information desk, this very rude woman informed us we didn't have the proper information and we weren't in the system and there was nothing they could do for us!  Needless to say, it was a stressful couple of hours trying to get things figured out.  I will suffice it to say, there are certain people who simply have no business working at an information "help" desk.  After about 2 hours of frustration another man who worked at the hospital walked by and asked if he could help.  I explained the situation (Kaylinn had fallen asleep at this point so Rickson was walking around with her) and this man simply made one phone call, then personally took us to the right office. We thank God for bringing another person into our life to help out!  Of course we were in the system and our appointment was set; for some reason the other woman just did not want to help us figure it out.  This man went out of his way to help and remedy the situation.  He even stopped by later to make sure we were ok!  

The doctor was wonderful!  She was so personable and understanding and wants to do everything she can to figure out Kaylinn's problem.  She has ruled out several of the possibilities of the cause of Kaylinn's problem but still does not know what it could be, though she said she is leaning toward the possibility of seizures.  We were at the hospital all afternoon and into the evening.  The x-rays and all were rather traumatic for Kaylinn (she even threw up a few more times all over radiology - and mommy) but she got through it.  The x-rays showed nothing though so they are scheduling her for a bronchoscopy, EEG, and sleep study.  Unfortunately though, the doctor explained, none of this can be done quickly.  We have no idea how long we will have to be here - a circumstance that is a little worrisome (though we know God is in control and knows!).  The doctor considered admitting Kaylinn now, but has decided that we can keep her with us though if she shows even the slightest problem again, to bring her straight to the ER to be admitted.  We are hoping to hear by morning when the other tests are scheduled for.  

Thank you for your continued prayers.  We are in much need of prayer right now!  The past two days have been difficult and stressful.  It is nice now to have a bit of a "quiet" evening.  Kaylinn took a long nap and is now playing with daddy while I catch up on email and this blog using the free wi-fi at Starbucks (how we've missed Starbucks!).  I will keep updating as often as I can.  

Flying Out Today

We fly out for Hawaii today.  Yes, my nerves are a bit on edge! LOL!  But trusting the Lord.  Kaylinn has had a high fever since yesterday afternoon and that has us concerned.  Please pray this goes away for the trip!  I also seem to be coming down with something so also could use some extra prayer as I need to be feeling good to take care of Kaylinn.  

Please pray the trip goes smoothly and we can get her to her appointment with no trouble.  We will update you more once we have had her first appointment and know more what's going on.  Her appointment is HI time at 1:30 PM Wed.  

Thank you for praying!!!

Kaylinn's Medical Situation

Some of you I'm sure are already aware of what is going on with us and our little girl, Kaylinn, but I'm going to go ahead and explain the entire story here for those who are just hearing the news.  Most of you may remember her choking incident last November.  Though she coughed up a piece of plastic at the time and seemed fine after that, since then she has had many episodes of choking, gagging, and even her breathing stopping for a time.  It would terrify us at the time and then as she would recover she would seem fine.  Our doctor always just told us to keep observing.  This summer though the amount of episodes increased considerably - sometimes she is awake when it happens and it appears she is choking on something; other times she is asleep and we find her blue and not breathing.  Her pediatrician is now pretty concerned about it and the possible causes.  She has named a number of possible causes including the possibility that she may have NOT coughed up everything lodged back in November or even could have developed a cyst.  She has now referred us to a specialist off island.  We have tickets now for Wednesday, September 7th to leave for Hawaii (that is Tuesday for those of you stateside) and Kaylinn will have her first appointment that afternoon at 1:30.  We are told she will be seeing 3 different teams of specialist during our time there and they will determine what should be done after our initial consultation on Wednesday.  

Specific prayer requests at this time:

1. A safe and uneventful trip to Hawaii - there is always the concern she could stop breathing again while on the plane.
2. Wisdom and guidance for the doctors that will be seeing her.
3. That Lord willing, it will be a minor problem, easily fixed.
4. Specifically, that the issue will NOT be a congenital problem as if this is the case, our insurance will NOT cover any of the testing and treatment.  We believe the issue is related to her choking incidence and that this will not be a problem.  
5. And pray as well for our 4 children staying behind on Pohnpei and the church families that have so willingly offered to stay with them and take care of things here for us.  

We will keep you updated here on the blog as often as possible over the next weeks.  We do not know at this point how long we will be in Hawaii.  The Patient Referral Representative in Hawaii told us it could be anywhere from 1-2 weeks or longer, there is really no way of estimating until they have more of an idea of what her problem is.  Meanwhile, Kaylinn is doing well.  She seems fine during the day, pretty much as if nothing is wrong.  But then she will just randomly stop breathing and we never have any warning signs of when it's going to happen.  We can't leave her alone for a second, even while she is sleeping.  Needless to say, I haven't had much sleep!  

Thank you for praying!  Please check back here for updates!  

Baptismal

I also forgot to mention that four were baptized today.  One was a child saved at VBS, two were our youth who were saved at camp, and one was our nephew's wife, Myoleen.  We are grateful for what God is doing in the lives of our people here.

VBS Update

And I'm behind again!  I know, what happened to the posting every week!!!  Have been wanting to update everyone on our summer ministries, particularly VBS, but every time I sit down to work on it, distractions come from every direction!  

VBS went great!  It was an amazing week!  We saw over 20 kids come to know Christ throughout the week - I'm not sure of the exact number but I do know it was over 20.  Our youth workers are hard at work with the follow-ups and discipleship.  One of those children was baptized today!  We were able to meet our goal this year of 100 kids in attendance at VBS!!!  On the last day, we had 102 on the attendance charts, though several more came in late that were not counted on the charts so actually even more!  And at our closing program, the parents were invited and we had probably around 30-40 parents come and hear the gospel.  It was and exciting time for our ministry!  Attendance has been high in our church services ever since.  We have been averaging over 100 every Sunday morning the past few weeks and today was actually over 130!  I believe that is our record attendance for a regular Sunday morning!  We were blessed to have Rickson's brother Bruce preach this morning.  He is in the Army and being deployed so he has brought his family back here to stay during his deployment.  We are so glad to have them back!  The cousins are all having a great time getting reacquainted.  Bruce preached a great message this morning and the altar was packed during the invitation.  

I'm going to be working on adding VBS photos and video so check back over the next couple of days and see what's up!  

Also in updates, Kestra just celebrated her 8th birthday.  And Kaleo will be turning 12 in another week.  We hope to start school beginning of September.  

Hope everyone is having a blessed weekend!

Update!

I know!  I'm beyond past due for an update!  

Well, for the last two weeks of June we were able to take a much needed and long planned for family vacation to Guam!  We had a wonderful time!  Also, while we were there, we were able to get family photos done (which means we will hopefully soon have an updated prayer card!).  I'm gradually getting the pictures done up here on this blog.  

July is our busy month.  Youth camp was the week before last and it was a huge success.  Thank you to those who fervently prayed for this ministry.  Over twenty people were saved at the camp this year and we are seeing some wonderful changes in our young people.  Please pray that we will see continued growth in these young people and we will be able to disciple them.  This week is our VBS!  Please pray for a great week with this.  We are hoping to see at least 100 children this year in our VBS!  And we are adding some extra things to reach the parents as well.  I hope to be able to give you some great news about the week!

Our family is doing well and enjoying the summer months off of school.  Of course, the new school year is just around the corner and we're already planning for that, but having the time off from the usual routine has definitely been nice!  I will continue to add photos as I can.  Computer time is limited these days as we are having island wide power outages daily due to most of the generators on island being down.  We have had this for a month  now and are sure hoping they can get things fixed soon!!!!  The power is off daily first thing in the morning until afternoon - our most productive hours and the time we need power most!  But we've learned to adapt, though will certainly be glad when they can have things up and running again! 

Kyler's Kindergarten Graduation

Our little man graduation from Kindergarten on Saturday, June 4th.  We invited friends and family up to the house for a little ceremony and reception.  It all went really well other than having to start half an hour late due to a bad storm and power outage.  I've been trying to upload video too but just not getting it to work.

May, 2011 Prayer Letter

Kasalehlia! I know most of you are enjoying some warmer weather. As for Pohnpei, it’s just as hot as ever!

We have had about the best spring we’ve ever had here on Pohnpei, ministry-wise. Every year we have been faced with a lower attendance around Easter as so many are pulled back into their former denominations by very persistent priests. This year, we were excited to see our regular attendance and even higher! Easter Sunday we had over 100 in attendance for our main service and around 50 at our early morning Sunrise Service. It was a blessed Easter for us as in addition to the Sunrise Service and main service, we also were able to see 4 baptized!

Thank you for your prayers for our revival week! We had a great week with Evangelist Randy Chovan and saw 22 saved that week and several more in the weeks to follow! Brother Chovan also preached at the Christian school on the island and 17 came forward for salvation after the chapel services! The following week, Bro. Chovan also preached in several of the other Baptist churches around the island and there were many decisions made there as well. We are praising God for His blessings on this week of revival and ask for prayer for continued growth in these new converts. In recent weeks we’ve seen quite a few more salvation decisions and had another baptismal service just this past Sunday! God is really working on Pohnpei and we thank you for praying with us for this revival we’ve seen!

The Baptist Bible Institute of Pohnpei has gone well its first semester. We are still learning (and have a long way to go!) but we’re off to a great start. Thirty-nine students finished out the first semester and just this past Monday were given their final exams. We are off for the summer but will begin again on August 8th.

Summer is just around the corner and with it many summer ministries. Our family will be taking a two week trip to Guam at the end of June. We’ve been planning a trip with the kids for some time and found we had enough frequent flyer miles to get tickets for the whole family with just having to purchase one ticket at the child’s fare! Pray that we have a good time of rest and relaxation and uninterrupted family time!

In July we have our two major summer events, Youth Camp and Vacation Bible School! We are still looking into our options for this summer’s camp location but anticipating a great week with the young people on the island. And we are hoping to make this year’s VBS the best we’ve ever done with an extra emphasis on reaching the parents. We have some ideas for doing so and ask for you to pray with us that we will see many come to know Christ this summer. If you are interested in donating funds to either the camp or VBS, you may send your monetary gift to our mission board (address in the right hand column) designated to either Pohnpei Youth Camp or Pohnpei VBS.

As you may remember from our last letter, we are fervently praying that 2011 will see the project for our new church building move forward! We continue with these prayers and ask that you do as well. It is something that God is laying on our hearts all the time now and we know it’s time to move forward with the plans and preparations. We will let you know more in upcoming letters how YOU can help with this project!

On the family side of life here, we are working hard to finish out the school year! Kyler will be graduating from Kindergarten on June 6th. He’s excited about the graduation but more excited about the cake we told him we’ll have afterwards! Kaleo will be finishing 6th grade and Kestra 1st.

We are so thankful to finally have hi-speed internet here on our side of the island! We’ve been waiting for this for a long time and it was just hooked up out here about a week ago. Now, Susan is trying to update our blog better and hopefully keep it more up to date with photos and video. So check back there from time to time to see what she has added. The address is www.kihlengfamily.blogspot.com.

We hope that you are all having a blessed Spring! We thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. Please continue to pray for us and our ministry here on Pohnpei.

Because of Calvary,

Rickson, Susan,

Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn

Easter Sunday Baptismal Service

This is our niece, Cherish

Pictures of our Kids

Kaleo - Age 11

Kestra - Age 7

Kyler - Age 6

Katrianne - Age 4

Kaylinn - Age 14 months



Random Photos

Our backyard after the mudslide behind our house!

What we woke up to the morning after the mudslide - talk about a shock!

K-Bird, the newest member of our family!  (Pohnpeian parrots, called the serehd, actually have long green tails but the people who caught this one for us cut the tail off to keep him from flying away - it will grow back eventually).

Kestra and Katrianne at our nephew's wedding

Our boys and Kimo at the wedding (Kimo is our songleader at our church)

Our littlest princess




Spring Revival Photos

Our outdoor "building" we use for revivals and special meetings

Rickson interpreting for Evangelist Randy Chovan



Update

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've updated this blog!  BUT, I have great news!  We now have entered the era of civilization and have hi-speed internet out in the jungle where we live!  We have been anxiously waiting for it to be available on our side of the island for a long time and are so thankful to finally have it!

A lot has happened over the last couple of months and I will be sending out a regular prayer letter this week to update on everything but will briefly mention some things now.  We had revival services in March with Evangelist Randy Chovan.  It was a great week and we saw many come to know Christ that week.  And as the seed was planted, we have seen quite a few more come to know Christ since the revival!   We've had several baptismal services since, including one today and it has been great to see these new converts coming to services and growing in the Lord.

We're looking forward to the end of the school year.  Kyler will be graduating from kindergarten in a couple of weeks.  Kestra has about 5 weeks left of school and Kaleo, well, we're hoping he'll finish in time to have a little summer break!  Sixth grade has been a tough year for him but we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! 

Will try to get some photos up here soon!

Recent Updates!

 Trying to catch you all up here at once! Lots of things going on here on Pohnpei!

February 22nd marked our Ten Year Anniversary living here on Pohnpei! Wow! Has it been that long already?!! God has truly blessed in these 10 years and so much has happened, there is no way I could list it all in this one post! We have seen the beginning and growth of Ambassador Baptist Church, numerous islanders saved and baptized, the birth of 4 of our children, the building of our new home, the beginning of the Bible Institute, and so much more! We praise God for bringing us here and for what He has done in our lives and ministry.

We celebrated Kaylinn's 1st birthday on February 25th. Traditionally, here on Pohnpei, the 1st birthday is a HUGE celebration so we had a big BBQ and invited our whole church as well as other friends and family. We had a great time and Kaylinn enjoyed all the attention!

We have a total of 45 enrolled in the Bible Institute now! They all got to experience their first exam last week. So far God has really blessed with the Institute and we are so thankful for these students who have joined with such an eagerness to learn more about Him!

On March 13th we begin revival services with Evangelist Randy Chovan. Please be in prayer for these meetings. We are praying for God to prepare the hearts of the people here and that we would see good attendance to each service. Satan has been hard at work lately so these meetings especially need your prayers!

Have a great weekend! We're praying for some great pre-revival services this Sunday!

Mommy and the Birthday Girl

Our pretty angel

A new toy!  Does it bite?

February, 2011 Prayer Letter

(Sorry I'm posting this so late!  Our internet has been down a LOT lately and it has been hard to keep up with things.)

Kasalehlia! We trust you all had a wonderful New Year and are looking forward to a great new year in the Lord!  It’s hard to believe that we are already one full month into the new year! And much has happened this first month of 2011!

Ministry

Our attendance has remained high over the past month, with some services over 100! I want to share with you a huge answer to prayer. For the past year we have prayed for a young man named Jun who started to attend our church with his wife. He was unsaved but really liked what he saw in our congregation and for a year simply came, observed and asked a lot of questions. I spent time with him, encouraging him and witnessing to him during this time. I am excited to tell you that at our very first service of the new year, Jun accepted Christ as his Savior!

Another huge answer to prayer is the opening of our Bible Institute! On January 29th, we had the dedication service and on January 31st, we held the first class session of the Baptist Bible Institute of Pohnpei (BBIP). We are praising the Lord for the 36 students that attended this first session.

In upcoming events, we will be having revival services with Evangelist Randy Chovan in March. We ask that you pray that the Lord will prepare the hearts of our people, and that we will see many islanders saved and Christians revived during that week.

We have continued with the jail ministry on Tuesday nights. Over the holidays we were able to be a blessing to the prisoners by getting together gifts for them. This really touched them and we pray will be used to soften and open hearts to the Gospel.

A big prayer request that we’d like you to partner with us in praying for is the building of our new church. We have prayed about this for some time and are asking the Lord to provide this in the year 2011. It is a huge step and may look like an impossible request, but we know that our God is the God of the impossible. Please pray for this with us!

Family

Our children are growing like a bunch of little weeds! Kaylinn will be turning one this month and after the choking ordeal we had with her in November, we are especially praising the Lord for the chance to celebrate. She is quite the little joy in our life and keeps us laughing with all the new things she is learning each day. Kaleo is doing fairly well in 6th grade, though he’d much rather be outside playing, and he is surprising us with his talents musically, especially on the guitar. Kestra is as opposite Kaleo as can be and loves school. She is doing exceptionally well in 1st grade and enjoys playing the piano. Kyler is in K5 and quite the little intellect. He never appears to be paying attention but then surprises us by getting all the answers correct. Katrianne is a typical 4-year-old and loves trying to distract her siblings from their school work. Each one of our children are unique in their own way and we thank God for them all.

We thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. Please continue to pray for us and our ministry here on Pohnpei.

Because of Calvary,

Rickson, Susan, Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn