Well...it
finally happened!
Mike is officially without hair.
It began to fall out, so he decided to take matters into his
own hands. As a family we worked to make Daddy look as cool
as possible.
We will attach some pictures to show you the
process...enjoy!
After his third round of chemotherapy, he is very tired and
feels "weighed down" (kind of like gravity is holding him
down; I remember this sensation also...very weird). He is
also experiencing insomnia; he can't sleep at night or day!
His doctor, however, was very encouraging at the last
appointment. His blood tests are looking better and better.
Thank you to all who have been lifting us up. Keep it up,
the Father is listening and answering.
We are encouraged to know that so many of you think of us.
Your emails about funny movies and funny stories have been
very uplifting.
Laughter is such a huge part of the healing process.
We are taking an art class each week that is offered through
the Cancer Department of our medical group.
It is fun for us to have time together and it is very good
for Mike to express himself through art.
We are hoping that he continues to have energy to take the
class each week.
Please pray for us as we host our Slovenian pastor
and his family next week. We want Mike to have the
energy to enjoy the visit.
Pray that Mike would be able to sleep at night.
Continue to pray for the kids as they learn to trust God
to take care of Daddy.
And
please pray for me as I learn patience and grace in
helping Mike through this season in our lives.
We love and
thank God for each of you! We couldn't do this without you!
Love,
Michelle (for Mike, Ty, Tirzah & Hayden)
January 2007
Hello everyone;
Thursday was treatment #2!
Mike's oncologist was very pleased with his blood work.His iron levels are back up, and his red blood cell count looked
good.His white blood cell count was
borderline...but he went ahead and ordered the second chemo round.Now Mike will receive chemo every other Thursday and a shot to
boost his white blood cell count on Friday.
He is doing well. No nausea, just some hiccups and very tired.We can tell that many prayers are being lifted on our behalf.Thanks to all of you who are praying, keep it up!
If you know of any really funny movies, let us know.Laughter is the best medicine for the body and mind!
We will laugh with you as you pray with us...
Love to all,
Michelle (for the family)
P.S. - attached is the house God has provided for us to stay in while we
are in California.
We are
currently in the midst of a one week United World Mission
Conference. All UWM missionaries in both Western and Eastern
Europe attend this conference. It is held every two years and
the Slovenia team is hosting this year's conference. Please pray
that this will be a time of renewal and encouragement for all
who attend. Our home office and guest speakers have prepared
seminars that will assist us personally and cast vision on our
fields of ministry.
One more
prayer request is that we will have a home to move into. We gave
a six-week notice to our landlord and as the date approached we
realized that the new home would not be ready. A long story
condensed is that the new land lord 's mother died, left him the
house but he must have a literal stamp of approval from the
judge that it is in fact his home. …So we wait. He was gracious
enough to allow us to store our personal belongings in his
garage. However, at this point we have spent a view nights in
Todd's basement on our mattresses, this week at the conference,
next week in a studio apartment. And the week after that we will
be staying in the home of a family on furlough in the states.
They return mid September. So once again we are the
move…literally!
Please pray
that our home will be ready very soon.
Let me begin this newsletter with
a really cool story about the word above.
It was our fourth week here in
Slovenia, and life was crazy! We were in the second of four
missionary homes we would stay in before our house was ready,
English camp was over and Slovene language classes had just begun.
I woke up on a Tuesday morning and had a Slovene word in my head
... upanje. Hmm, that was odd, I couldn't find it in my
note book of words I had learned; I'm sure it wasn't used on my
first day of language school. Well, I decided to look it up in
the Slovene/English dictionary we had.
The words means "hope!" Have you
ever experienced one of those totally awesome God moments?
That moment when you know that God is the only One Who could do
something in your life! This was one of those moments.
Mike and I both needed to know that there was hope in our lives.
Hope that we would actually make it through two grueling weeks of
language class, hope that our house in Prebacevo would be ready on
July 18, and hope that our two crates would make it safely to
Slovenia in a timely manner. What was so cool was that God
chose to use our new language to give us His message of HOPE!
God know just what we need, when
we need it and how it needs to be delivered!
"Find rest, o my soul, in God
alone; my hope comes from Him." Psalm 62:5
JUNE 2005
Dear Paul,
We are approaching our fourth week in Slovenia,
amazing! The Lord hasprovided wonderful
servants, the Hlastans and the Greens, who have let usstay in their homes. Our home will be ready July 18th.
Apologies are in order for those we have not responded to by email,
becausethe Ricklick clan is still living out
of suitcases. We have left thecountryside
home of the Hlastans and are now residing near Ljubljana withthe Green family, missionaries with Campus Crusade. All to say we
arelimited to the availability of internet
and phone service.
ENGLISH CAMP
It has been a busy week
helping the Kranj team with the English Camp. Agroup of high school and college students from Oregon came to
teach English.
In addition, a half a dozen Slovenian
Christians from Murska Sobota assistedwith
translation in each of the classes. Twenty students from the Kranj area
enrolled in the English camp and have had an action packed week so far.
Activities have included:
· Sports in the gymnasium
· Three hours of English classes each day
· Evening dinner together
· Fun team building activities
· Star Wars movie night eating American sweets and popcorn
· Singing praise songs in English
· A short message from Gods word or testimony at the end of the day
· Lunch in the home of the Slovene students and their families
· The Amazing Race - seven teams ran all day through four different
cities,taking publictransportation and locating answers to clues. The Ricklick family
enjoyedsipping sodas at a river side café as
teams ran up to us and sang aChristmas song
(in English) before getting their next clue.
Hayden
& Tirzah in the English camp skit with two Slovenes.
PRAYER REQUESTS Slovene Family - Michelle and I
have prayed that God would use our children for His purposes.
As part of the week's events the Slovene students invited teachers,
translators and helpers to their homes for lunch on Saturday. Our son Ty
wasa helper in one class and a Slovene boy
named Doman invited Ty to his home.The boy's
family was very hospitable to their American guest and Ty now hasa new Slovenian friend. Pray that this would be an opportunity
for ourfamily to establish a relationship
with Doman and his family.
Follow Up
Pray for the follow up of these students. There will a number of
activitiesand parties through the remainder
of the summer. Pray that lovingrelationships
would be fostered in the coming weeks.
Language Studies
Michelle and I have begun two weeks of extensive Slovene language
training.Please pray that this will be a
productive first step in learning the
language.
Family Van
When the Ricklick family asks God to meet a need we pray in specifics.
Ourfamily is in need of a van soon. We are
asking you to please pray specifically for us
as well.
The vehicle prayer list:
· Seven passenger van
· Diesel - long lasting engines & better fuel consumption (fuel is
costly
$4.00 per gal)
· Stick shift - less maintenance issues
· Air Conditioning
· Under one-hundred thousand kilometers (60,000 miles)
· With in our price range - virtually all of the vehicles for sale in
thiscountry that fit the above specifics are
about five thousands dollars morethan we can
afford. We however, are certain that the Lord will provide.
PRAISES
Deb is here! Praise God that
Debra Stauss has made it to Slovenia and is now a wonderfuladdition to the Ricklick family!! She is a blessing
in that by her secondday
(fighting off jetlag) she helped Sarah and Michelle with
foodpreparation for the English
camp team. We are so very thankful to the Lordfor providing such a servant in Deb.
Deb's landing
& meeting at the Ljubljana Airport
We are excited to be a part of the Lord's
work here in Slovenia. Thankyoufor your prayers and support.
Love,
Mike, Michelle, Ty, Tirzah & Hayden Ricklick
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