December 07, 2004

“Small but exciting news!” (e-mail)

Hi hi all!! I just wanted to write you all an exciting e-mail telling you that I am writing this e-mail from the comfort from our own apartment. Horray!!

David is at his second day of work, and things seem to be going well. He didn’t come home for lunch yesterday and it was a LONG day for the both of us. So today he drove to work so he could come home for lunch. It was much nicer.

I can’t write much, the floors are demanding to be vacuumed and the bathroom needs to be cleaned, even though we haven’t even been here a week. Not only that, but I have to walk to town and get some meds. It’s good excercise for me, about an hour of walking.

I hope to be able to talk to you more later. If you have MSN, you might see me mroe!

love you, in Christ Rita and David

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November 28, 2004

Moving to Sioux Center! (mass e-mail)

hihi Everyone!! This is another long overdue e-mail, but thinking about writing it got me out of bed, so that is a good thing (wonderful sunday afternoon naps!!)
I just wanted to let you all know that the finally stages of this chapter are coming to a close. Ie. In two days we will be moving to Sioux Center Iowa and sortly after that David will be starting his first “real” job!! Horray!!

This week David and I went to Sioux Center (after going to Minneapolis to buy a matress at Ikea!! ;)) to find an apartment and do some errands before we moved into town. We are going to be renting a two bedroom apartment in the Carriage house Apartments. Although, it’s not really two bedroom. It’s more like two living room. It has the main living room and the other room that I am sure could be called the second bedroom doesn’t have a door or what not for privacy, so it’s more like another living room or study area or what not. We are hoping to make it into a libary/reading room of sorts. Which fits us perfectly since we have so many books! :)

The plan is, tomorrow (Monday, so since there was a delay in my finishing this and sending it, it’s today!!! for most people) is my birthday. (Every one sing now!! ….) and we will be doing a lot of last minute packing things and painting and shopping or what ever else we need to do, as well as celebrating my birthday. Then Tuesday we will be picking up the U-haul truck and packing it, so that on Wednesday morning we can just get up and go right after breakfast. It takes about 5 or so hours to get to Sioux Center so we will get there mid afternoon and be able to have a lot of time to unpack.

David is starting work on December 6 at Interstates. Horray!!! again!

I think that is about the most of it and we are super excited to get started. God is good and faithful and holding us. Thank you again for your prayers.

We love you! In Christ rita

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November 16, 2004

David has a Job!!!

Hi hi everyone! sorry for the long delay in an update, but I finally have something super exciting to write about! You probably have guessed it, David has a job!!!!! HORRAY!!!!!!!!!!!! A week and a half ago David was offered a job with Interstates in Sioux Center, Iowa, but had also just had an interview with a company in Minneapolis so he wanted to wait to hear back from them. Today he called the company back (again) and they still didn’t know if they wanted David for a second interview, and, since we are tired of waiting, David called Interstates and accepted the job.

SO! Lord willing within the next two weeks we will be moving to Sioux Center! We are super excited about the prospects and can’t wait to write the next chapter of our lives. God has been good and we are doing well.

For those of you living in Sioux Center, we hope to see you in the near future. We may be calling to say hi or to even ask if we can spend a night as we look for apartments, etc.

We ask for your continued prayers. Thank you so much for all of them so far.

We love you all, In Christ our Lord Rita and David

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November 12, 2004

Passing time in Fergus Falls… (E-mail to Family)

Hi hi all! Thank you for the e-mails. We are doing pretty well yet. Getting very tired of wiating though, and it’s wearing us down a bit. David called goodrich on Wednesday like we had planned, and they said that they hope to call on Monday to inform those that they would like to have second interviews with, or something like that. We don’t want to wait much longer, since we already have a job offer from the company in Sioux Center, but This is the company David has been hoping to work with all summer. Keep praying and we will let you know what happens.

Right now we are also busy with planning for the Minnesota reception. It’s on November 20th. You are all invited :) So if you are in the area, please come by!

David is otherwise busy packing and cleaning years of belongings. This week’s project has been his filing cabnet. It’s been a big project, but we are seeing the end.

last week I was spending my spare time crochetting and reading and listening to books on tape, this week I have taken up whittling. something I’ve wanted to try for quite a while (believe it or not) Sunday we went to their other house in Barrett (It was Dean’s parents home) and I picked up a stick to try to whittle into a spoon. It’s been my goal anyways, and it’s looking pretty good! When I’m done I’ll e-mail the before and after pictures :) Unfortunatly today I also had my first accedent. I have a big gouge in my hand from a slip of a very sharp and thin chisle blade :( That was just about 2 hours ago. God was good. David and Dean were both home and just as I was letting myself cry to prevent shock, a nurse friend of Dean’s called and heard me, he and his wife came over to see how bad it was. God is good! The guy, Mike, fortunatly happened to have some Starery (??) Strips with him and could patch it up better than with a bandaid. So it will heal faster. And then David let me get some ice cream to feel better :) There was a LOT of blood, it was kind of scary. Especially since yesterday we got a call from Jon saying that he had to get stitches because of a fall at Dordt, and he has a few chipped teeth. Actually, it was the clinic that called for information, then David called Jon to find out what happened. kind of scary. 2 in 2 days, we are good! :)

anyway, other than those excitng adventures, we are doing really well.

Rich, thanks for the e-mail. it was great to hear from you a bit. Please tell Jack that I miss him lots :) When I was at the Mall of America, I saw another book of Apple tree farm stories, and I was going to buy it for Jack and send it to him, but when I went back to look at it, it had all the same stories in it that he already has :( Sigh, oh well.

Yeah, I do miss everyone quite a bit (Jack has just been one of the harder ones to leave behind, understandably i think :) I’ve been wishing I could even be in On tario to see my sisters new appartment too. That would be so exciting. Thank you so much for the great day we had in Ontario. It was REALLY nice to spend time with you. It was so relaxing for me and I loved it.

Thank you for your e-mail’s Kevin! :) they are great to get. How are things going for you? yeah Bush! ;)

Mom, thanks for the super great e-mail. I’m excited that you would like some of the knitting stuff. It’s exciting. So I’ll have to send you a nice package in the next week or so. :) Oh yeah, and for my birthday… :) I kind of already decided what I would like from you, if that is ok. I would love to have the settlers game :) I loved it when we played in Iowa, but it is kind of expensive and I didn’t see it here yet. You can decied if it is something you would like to send as a package (I would love that ) or if it would be easiest to send money. (Package package, Rita wants a package! :)

anway. I love you all and miss you like crazy, but God is good and we are diong well and still in on piece! :)

In Christ Rita

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October 01, 2004

Car!!!

Hello all! I just wanted to let you know that we finalized our plans for traveling this week. After looking at prices of of buses, trains, planes and rental cars, we decied to buy the car that our mechanic found for us. Thank you SO much for your prayers! It wasn’t an easy decission, but we know it was a good one. Now we are praying to sell our car before we go to help cover the cost. I have a friend who’s family car is a wreck, but she has to convince her dad that they need a new car first :)

God is good and he constantly shows his faithfullness. We are exciting and are going to follow the same plans we had earlier. We are excited! Please continue to pray that things go well, like the meeting in MOntreal on the 13th. We woudl love that!

Love you all! In Christ Rita

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September 22, 2004

Car “trouble”

HI all I hope you don’t mind me writing again. I wanted to let you all know that not so good news that David and I recieved on Monday and ask you to pray for us about it.

After spending all day monday trying to pack everything we don’t need in the next 3 weeks, and even putting it into the car to see if it will fit, we found out that our car is not allowed to come with us across the border. :( Mazda can not give it a letter of regestration because it doesn’t meat US safety codes or what not. THat is a bit of a damper.

God is good and ever faithful. We know we are going to make it ot the states before the month is out (Lord willing) or shortly there after.
As soon as we knew for sure that we couldn’t bring our car into the states I called my mechanic that I bought the car from and he is going to be looking for another one for us. It will take a while and will cost more than this one did, but it is an option at the moment. A few other things we are looking in to is renting a car either to take us all the way or to just take us to north of Minnisotia and possibly David’s parents could pick us up. Or we might just take as little as we can and go by bus or train. David’s parents do have a car that we could use for a while while we are getting settled.

I would like you to pray for God’s guidance. We knew we would need a new car some what soon as this on is getting on in years, but we were hoping it wouldn’t be until after David has a job and we won’t go into debt over it. We are not fully sure of what to do right now because it would be easy NOW to just buy a car and worry about the detals later, but that might not be best at the same time. Please pray that we know what to do. And if it comes to getting a new car, please pray that we can get the money for it one way or another. We can get a bit from this car, that will help and we have a few other small sources we could work from, but it really depends on what the mechanic can find and if it is worth it. Maybe we should just come by motorbike……
(wouldn’t that be a sight! :))

THank you for your thoughts and prayers and e-mails! It’s great to get so much encouragment from friends! We love you! In Christ Rita

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September 18, 2004

Moving!

Hi HI everyone!! I just wanted to let you all know that, Lord willing, in 3 weeks David and I will be moving to the states! Horray! we have my interview in Montreal on October 13th. We hope to visit with my sisters in Ontario on the 14th and head to the states on the 15th. :) Thank you for your prayers so far and we greatly apprecate them as we pack to move and do a lot of driving.

We love you all! IN Christ Rita

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August 18, 2004

Grampie Died :(

Hi all, Just a quick note, Grampie died today before lunch. We don’t think he had any pain but hasn’t eaten or drank much since SUnday ( I THINK I e-mailed then, but I am not sure). David and I have been there every day for the past five days visiting and helping out, and we went today when we found out. It was good to see the body, now I know that he really is gone too. It sure helped the greiving. The funeral should be on Saturday.

Love you all, I just wanted to let you know In Christ Rita

Ps. for those that didn’t know, he was a Christian and we are greatly conforted by that!

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August 12, 2004

Mass e-mail summer update:

Hi hi All I just thought I would write and tell you the latest news. David and I are still doing well. Still in NB and waiting to go to the states.
Good news is that we received papers for the last step for the Visa, Horray!!!! We have done some of what is required and sent the papers in for processing. Right now we are waiting to call a doctor in Halifax to make an appointment. He is on vacation until tomorrow, so won’t be back into the office until Monday. We will call then to set up an appointment. The earliest we could get an appointment is 2 months, they say it’s 2-4 for get it. But once we have everything in place we will push a lot harder to get it sooner. Lord willing!! He is good!

Grampie is continually getting worse, but it’s very gradual each time. It’s hard to say what the process is because it’s so slow. We are staying there Friday night again incase Grammie needs any help.
We are back there again on Monday because Mom and dad are kicking us out of the camper for a night :) My sisters are coming home on Monday and some of Mom’s friends are still here from Ontario that night, so my sisters need our bed :)

Good news! David has been praying for a computer for the past two weeks or so. We even went yard saleing on Saturday. On Monday I was talking to my sister in Ontario and she said they just got a new computer and is going to bring the old one here for David to use!
It’s so exciting. David and I Have been talking about how he could get a cheep or free computer and we prayed about it together and I was sure we would get one, now we are! God is good! We don’t know how he is going to provide all the time, but he does and that is great. OH yeah, the reason for hte computer. David is really getting antsy to do something that takes thinking. He’s been on vaction for 3 months since we have been married and is getting ready for something more challenging again. (Not that we haven’t had our challenges!)

The biggest reason I want to write is because I think I finally found something that I want to do with my life. After years of uncertianty and seeming lack of direction or passion, I think I have found something I would love to do. Short story: One day I was praying for God to become first in my life again (it’s hard to keep him first when I have such a wonderful husband, but David is just the gift from the awesome giver, and a great one at that) and for some reason my mind jumped to sex. Sorry guys, just being blunt and honest. My thoughts were (not R rated) about how is it not anything like I would have expected before I was married. It takes a lot of work. and my thoughts jumped to Teens and how easily they get messed up in physical things WAY too early. It’s got to hurt them!
Emotionally a LOT. I KNOW it does. My heart started to ache for them, not for the first time.

Since that first thought I haven’t done much more, but it keeps coming back up in my head. And I have found that I really care about this. About kids and letting them know the truth about sex. The problem is, I don’t even know the facts that much. I am sure so many of them could educate me more than I could them. (at least about the details) For once, I want to learn. I want to know what I can so I can help. a LOT.

Tomorrow I’m going to call the crisis pregancy center and see if they are still looking for volunteers to see if I can help. Lord willing, where ever we go it won’t be too hard to look for another place to volunteer or work part time. Then we will see what God wants from there. I’m really excited about this and I have to say that this is the first time I’ve felt any direction since choosing to go into youth ministry at Dordt over 6 years ago. God is good and I hope I can be used as he wants.

Now to find David a job…. :) Please keep praying, still not much direction there. But we know that God has a plan, we will know when it’s time.

I love you and and miss you like crazy!!

IN Christ, he is great! Rita and David

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June 17, 2004

E-mail to friend about wedding:

Hi hi

How are you? I am doing well. I missed you at the wedding. How are your plans going? I have to admit, I was WAY too stressed to really enjoy mine to the fullest, but it worked out ok. I was stressed up until friday night before. even Saturday morning a bit. BUt the rest of the day went by great! HOnestly, it flet like just another day for me. for the most part. But after the ceremony was done (was there one? I don’t quite remember, but I watched a video of the sort, so there must have been! ;)) and we were taking pictures, I started realizing how much of a party this was. Frank, our neighbour, played music in between the ceremony and the reception. It was GREAT! And not expected. I had orrginally planned that they would just play at the end, but they took charge and did it while we were taking pictures, so the rest of the guests really enjoyed it. People even Danced! That was exciting! The food was SOOO good. the cooks did a GREAT job. Everyone loved it a lot. THat was nice to hear. I loved it too! Then Frank did more music and David and I even danced, not slow dancing like typcial weddings. More like, swing your partner round and round, try not to let her feet leave the ground, kind of dancing. it reminded David of the movie “Fiddler on the roof” and the kind of wedding dances jews can have. Just a lot of fun. It was GREAT! We both love that kind of dancing much better.

Want to know something that I keep thinking was really great?
Watching JAck and Keturah (my nephew and neice, they are cousins) at the reception. FRank was playing music and they were running and dancing and pushing eachother around and loving it. It was SO cute.
And they were having SOOOO much fun, and no one was telling them to stop and behave. I think that was one of the best signs of a good party :) So it was really good. I wish we would have gotten it on video though, but we didn’t. Then there was another short reception after that too. The other VanOord family sang for David and I. And Our family sang and Jack and Keturah Sang for us. It was great. It wish it was on Video too, but if I keep putting it in writing, and I have pictures, then I’ll remember it well enough. It was great.

Anyway, that was the wedding, sort of. David and I are back in New Bruswick now. If youw ant to hear about the honeymoon just ask :)
Warning! They are not all they are cracked up to be! The first few days were hard for me, and I even had a time of mourning. … (piece taken out)… I wasn’t prepared for that, but I was warned by someone else, so I was glad for that. THings are getting better.

I had to write you to let you know the update on my visa. I still don’t have one. And right now I dont’ know when I will. David has been trying to get a push on it, but we haven’t found the right people to contact yet. Pray HARD that we will have it before your wedding. Otherwise I don’ t know what is going to happen (sorry for the bomb shell!! :( ) I just wanted to let you know where we are at right now. I am praying that we will be in the states by that time, but in reality, we have no idea. I’m not worried. I know that God is in control, and there are things going on here right now that makes me not want to leave yet, but the time is coming that I might be stressed if we dont’ hear anything from immagration.

Here is the whole scoop. My grampie is dying of cancer right now. I’m doing ok. David and I really want to be here until the end. Which is why I’m not too worried about the visa yet. They are trying to keep him at home as long as possible. And with 7 children, so far so good.
Both a daugther from Yellowknife and their son from ontario are here now too to help. David and I are also on relief duty. And I even went to help him with his morning bath on Monday. This is the grampie that I visited all year while I was helping grammie clean house. (once a week)

The other two things going on is that we don’t have a visa and david doesn’t have a job. And we are praying that God will work EVERYTHING out in his time, since it is best. I’m going to send a prayer e-mail out to the intervarsity group here, so they can pray that we can be in the states for your wedding, will you pray for us too, or get some others to too? I love you Rachael and I want to be there!!! Even if I have to cross the boarder without papers! :)

I just wanted to let you know the update. How are things gonig for you? Are you still stress free? I hope so for you! enjoy it!!

LOVE YOU!!!! In Christ Rita

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