Ohlson Herald

Dear Praying Family,

It's hard to believe that we have not posted anything since February :( First we want to ask you to pray for our daughter Barbara who has been fighting cancer for a year and a half now. About six weeks ago her doctor was thinking of taking her off of chemo as she has in his words been in remission for nearly 9 months. Before he did that he ran a in-depth CAT/PET scan and one small lesion was "glowing" meaning there was some kind of activity. He had been wanting to refer her to a surgeon for several months so after this report he sent her to the surgeon who said that 14 of the 20 previous lesions had completely disappeared and of the six remaining, including the one glowing, were located in one section of the liver and he was recommending surgery to totally remove those lesions. Her oncologist agreed. She is scheduled for this surgery at Ceder Sinai in Hollywood this coming Wednesday May 28th. Joan leaves Calgary tomorrow to be with Barb for nearly three weeks. I (Dave) go down on the 29th for six days. In her pre-op check up for the surgery she asked her primary care Dr. to go ahead and run her normal blood cancer count test, which they did, and the good news is that even though she has been off all chemo for over five weeks the test came back that she was in the normal range. Do pray for her during this operation which is scheduled to take 4 hours and has a recovery time of 4+ weeks. Also pray for Erik Barb's husband and for their five kids, Kiayah, Clare, Elise, Robert and Vivianne who is 1 1/2 years old.You can learn more by going on Barb's personal site www.caringbridge.org go to visit and type in 4barbararouth.

Joan & I were gone from April 13-May 12 to Asia where we spent 10 days with our daughter and family who are in a large Asian country with an agency that teaches English as a second language. 8 days were on our way to 2 1/2 weeks of meetings in another Asian country for our Wycliffe triennial Convention and 2+days on our way back through Jon and Amy's country of service. It was wonderful being with them and getting to see our 4 grand kids Jeremiah, Alenna, Sydney and Maddie who just turned 1 on March 25th. Joan was delighted that she got to spend Mother's Day with Amy in Asia.

We were back in the office here in Calgary on the 14th just in time to do final preparation for the Wycliffe Canada Board Meetings. Those meetings ended yesterday May 23rd. They were good meetings and we got to share with the Board lots of good things that are happening in Wycliffe Canada and around the world as reported on during the International Convention.

Tim and his wife Naomi who live in Portland, OR are expecting their third child in October and we are all excited about that. This little one will make grand child # 12. Their two girls Shalom and Renatah are excited about being joined by another new brother or sister. Tim travels a lot with Noritsu a Japanese photo-chemical company that he works for. He has made several trips to Alaska over the last few months as well as to several states in the Pacific Northwest.

Daughter Ruth is teaching Jr. High math, ESL and ceramics in Norwalk, CA. She has just completed a calculus course and has one more math course to finish which will complete her needed courses and update/upgrade her teaching credential for math.

After my return to Calgary on the 3rd of June I will hold director's meetings on the 4th and then on the 9th of June I'll fly to Toronto for 2 1/2 days of meetings and then on to Nova Scotia for the official dedication of our Atlantic Canada Training Center. This property of 62 acres and training facility was donated to us a number of months ago. Joan returns to Calgary on June 13th and I return on the 16th. On the 15 th of June our dear friends David & Muriel Standing who we shared an apartment with for three years in Manila will come from England for a month long visit and we are really looking forward to time with them.

Well I think that covers most of the major events in our lives over the past two months and on into the future for 6 weeks. We are grateful for all of your prayers, especially for Barb. God is good and has done good things for us as a family and for Wycliffe Canada and the whole of Wycliffe around the world. Your prayers are a vital part of our lives and ministry and we thank God for each of you.

Dear Praying Friends,

Wanted to do a brief update specifically on our daughter Barbara. She continues under treatment and continues to do well as she battles colon cancer. The Dr. says she is in remission and always reminds her she is a miracle, not normal terminology for a Dr. especially one like him who is so convinced that the only treatment for illness is chemicals. He does not seem to have any kind of definite plan for Barb other than to keep treating her with the two chemos that she is currently taking and possibly further surgery at some point in time. You can check Barb's blog at www.caringbridge.org
Just type in 4barbararouth in the space indicating whose site you want to visit.

She and Erik need lots of wisdom from the Lord as they seek His perfect will in the days ahead as they personally manage Barb's ongoing treatment that includes more than just chemicals, such as diet, faith and all of your prayers.

I am attaching some pictures from Christmas