More Kaylinn Pics

Kestra and Kaylinn - what a good big sister!

Kaylinn's not sure about this sister yet!

Daddy's not missing having another boy, is he?

Twins?

Pictures of Kaleo's Tennis Tournament

Update on Kaylinn

Well, again I am behind in keeping this blog updated. A lot has happened since little Kaylinn was born. She came home from the hospital with the usual mild jaundice, but after a week or so it progressed into severe jaundice and the doctor decided it had to be more than just the usual infant jaundice. After having some blood tests done, she found Kaylinn had some sort of infection (what exactly we were never able to find out). So Kaylinn was admitted into the hospital again to be put under the phototherapy lights and to be on IV antibiotics. We went to the clinic for what we thought was a routine checkup - EIGHT days later we finally were able to go home! Thank the Lord though that Kaylinn is fine now and doing great at home!

I'm posting pictures here for whoever is interested, but primarily for the benefit of grandparents, aunties, and uncles who aren't able to see Kaylinn in person! Enjoy! (These two are of Kaylinn in the hospital - poor little thing - it was a rough week.)

She's Here!

I know it's been a LONG time since I posted here but things have been a bit crazy around here. In January I went into early labor so really had to take it easy for awhile to keep the baby from coming too soon. I also started to have problems with my heart which got progressivly worse and finally I was admitted last week with the heart problem. The doctor then decided the best thing was to go ahead and take the baby c-section as the heart medication was also lowering her heart rate. So, Kaylinn Alora was born via c-section on Thursday, February 25th at 9:25 AM. Things have been up and down since then with recovery and all but Kaylinn is doing great and I am starting to feel much better now. My heart is also doing much better and hopefully I will be able to go off the medication soon. We came home from the hospital on Monday and are now adjusting to life with 5 kids.

Here are some pictures of our new little angel. Thank you all for praying. Please continue to pray as we are facing challenges from every angle. There has been a drought on the island and our water is being turned off often. We didn't have water at all for about 24 hours after getting home from the hospital so that makes life a little "extra interesting".

December, 2009 Prayer Letter

Merry Christmas! We are enjoying the holiday season here on Pohnpei and trust you are enjoying this blessed time of year as well. The holidays here bring heavy wind and rains and this year has seemed even more than usual. We are thankful for the somewhat cooler temperatures though.

MINISTRY NEWS

This year has been a good one for our family and ministry, and we are looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2010. I am including photos of the work done on our land here in preparation for our upcoming building project. It’s been exciting to see the progress and we are anxious to have our new church building completed. We are consistently running 90 to more than 100 on Sundays so we are especially eager to have more space for services.
Fall has been busy for us here. We started out the season with our annual missions conference. We are praising the Lord for the great response we had from our people and the largest Faith Promise budget we’ve had so far! We were able to take on a new missionary family for support, the Boylston family, who will be coming here to work with us in the ministry.

FAMILY NEWS

Our family is doing well. Susan is progressing in the pregnancy without any complications and we are thankful for that. Katrianne turned 3 in November and we sure are thankful for this little blessing in our family. She is a sweetheart. Kyler will be turning 5 just 2 days before Christmas. He’s been excited about his birthday for the past month and regularly “practices” blowing out candles, every time Susan has a scented candle lit.

CHRISTMAS!

With Christmas right around the corner, our young people have been working hard at preparing for our Christmas cantata. This year they performed Ron Hamilton’s cantata, “The Greatest Gift.” I translated the speaking parts into the Pohnpeian language and the young people did a fantastic job with the program. The church building was packed out for the performance with many having to stand! We pray that the seed was planted in the hearts of some of the unsaved that attended.
We pray that each one of you have a blessed holiday season and a wonderful New Year. We thank you for the blessing that you all are in our lives here and the part you have in our ministry here on Pohnpei.

Because of Calvary,
Rickson, Susan,
Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, & Katrianne

PRAISES

• The large attendance we’ve seen lately in our services!
• The Faith Promise giving promised for this year.
• Growth in the ministry here on Pohnpei.
• Progress on the land project for our new church building.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• The Boylston’s to be able to raise their needed support quickly.
• Continued growth in the ministry here.
• Funds for the land project for the new building.
• Susan’s pregnancy.

Katrianne's 3rd Birthday Pics

Birthday Lunch at South Park

Gift from Aunty Car

The Birthday Cake!

Flowers from Grandma

Two Little Princesses

Latest Updates

I know it's been awhile since I've posted an update here! Things have been busy around here. The last couple of weeks have been pretty good and we are thanking the Lord for the huge crowds we have continued to have at church. Several Sundays now we have had over 100 in attendance! It gets pretty crowded and warm in the building and we are looking forward to being able to start the construction on our new building.

Yesterday was Katrianne's 3rd birthday! She had a great day and we are so thankful for this little sweetheart. Later this week I will try to post some pics of her day. But for now I want to give an earnest prayer request for a good friend of ours. Kendener Ezekias fell from the top of a very tall coconut tree last week (the very tree he fell from is pictured at the top of this post) and is facing a very difficult recovery. It is a miracle that he is even alive. The frustrating thing as always has been the local hospital here and their care. He has been in excruciating pain, mainly from the dislocated discs in his back. His left leg was completely shattered. It wasn't until a day or more later however that the hospital realized his right leg was also completely shattered (how they missed that, I'll never understand). Due to improper cleaning of his wounds and delayed setting of the broken bones, he is now badly infected and even at risk of possibly losing his leg. And to top it all of, the hospital has now run out of pain killer! They are trying to get him to Manila for better care as soon as possible but the typical government system here is delaying that process. The state will pay for Kendener's ticket but he needs someone to accompany him, who will have to pay their own fee. His father is planning on going and is in need of around $1200 for his ticket. Please pray that the Lord will provide this money as he is needing to purchase this ticket within the next day. They are hoping to get Kendener on Thursday's flight out of here. Meanwhile, he has to face the pain he is experiencing, WITHOUT any pain medication. Please keep him in your prayers.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we have much to be thankful for in our lives. We hope that you all have a great week!