November 13, 2006

Ups and Downs of life.

So, it’s been a while since I’ve updated everyone on the goings and comings of David and Rita Hjelle :)

I don’t even remember the last time I updated, I should check it out…nice that I can just check it out fast on the web page, just check under “All Rita’s Entries” and there it is! Oh look, the last one was just after we got back from New Brunswick. Well, at least I know where to start now :)

Well, an update on the grad school idea. David has written his GRE two weeks ago. So far we know he did pretty well, but we are still waiting for his grade on his essay. I am pretty sure he did well. He was really excited about the topic and was excited about what he wrote. So we wait…

David’s parents took us on a trip to San Francisco for Shaklee’s 50th Anniversary convention. I have pictures up from that trip as well as the New Brunswick trip under photo’s. Look under Life in 2006, both sections ;) It was a good trip. Fun to be somewhere I’ve never been before. Fun to take a vacation with David’s parents. And we experienced a lot of things we’ve never experienced before either. It was a good trip.

My sugars have been getting better!! So much so that we have “permission” to expand our family! :) God blessed us quickly and we were pregnant the next month, for a week. We had a miscarriage just a week after we found out we were pregnant. I guess that is why they tell people to wait a few months before telling others that we are pregnant. Now I understand it a bit more.

God is good. David and I are doing well with it. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me long to be “okay” with it all. I think a big part of that is because we barely had time to let it sink in. I have to remind myself some times that yes I was really pregnant and it wasn’t just an irregular period. The doctor confirmed it himself, and my body knew it too. Both before and after. But I believe that God also had prepared me for it in other ways. Teaching me early that miscarriages can be a blessing, and that God has each pregnancy in His hands. I am able to say that God is good, and I praise Him for His gifts, both those He gives and those He takes away.

Because of the miscarriage we are not sure if we are in a hurry yet to start a family, we will keep praying and seeing what God has in store. Especially since we are still looking at this grad school idea too. So, please, keep us in your prayers and we will let you know what is happening!

The same week we had the miscarriage, David’s great uncle died. He was sort of a grandfather figure in his and Jon’s life. The three of us took a trip north for the funeral. That meant taking Monday off work for the boys. It was a good trip for me. It was good for me to get away from the apartment and to think about other people other than myself. It was a bit harder for David. His uncle was not a Christian, that we know of, and we are not sure how many people in his family are. It was a little bit difficult to be in a church, at a funeral, to hear so much truth and know that there were things missing. Baptism isn’t the route to heaven, but how many of them knew that??

My sister came to visit at the end of that week (it was a busy few weeks!). I had such a wonderful time with her! It was so much fun to have a sister to talk to about so many different things. It was fun to have a family member to go shopping with! She was really here for meetings, but we had a lot of time together too. I loved it. It was refreshing for me. like a breath of fresh air! :)

And, now, about 3 weeks or so later, my birthday is coming up soon! Silly David was so excited to give me my birthday present that I got it two days ago! :) He got me a digital camera :) We had been talking about it when we were sure we might be expanding our family, but when we had the miscarriage it became less important to me. David decided to get it anyway, and I love it! There are so many features to it , it will be a month before I figure it out! But there are a few photo’s already on the photo section, so feel free to check it out. :) David doesn’t care for me putting the picture up of him, but I like it ;) (obviously since I put it up twice ;))

David is busy and stressed at work again, you can pray for him. They are in the middle of a big project and it hasn’t been going well. He will probably have to do a lot of extra work to get it done on time. He and a number of other people working on it too. Please pray for them that it gets done smoothly. Thanks.

I am doing well, and signing off. Going to play with my camera more!

In Christ, Rita

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The Dead Sea Water Project

A close friend of mine (Don, you need to get a blog so I can link to you!) recently emailed me a link to Ezekiel’s Water Project. As I understand it, this is a proposal to built a channel or tunnel from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. Gravity would bring the fresh-er water from the Red Sea to replace water that is currently evaporating our of the Dead Sea itself. Don writes:

The World Bank is right now considering two competing proposals for filling the Dead Sea, providing hydroelectric power, and desalinating water for Israel, Jordan, and Palestine.

According to this article at the World Bank, they launched a 2-year study in July of 2005. That means they should be about half done now. Apparently, Ezekiel’s Water Project is one of the proposals under consideration.

I thought you’d all be interested. There is far more information available than I’ve had time to sift through…let me know what you think!

And, Don, feel free to correct all the mistakes I made by adding some comments. :-)

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Wonderful Miscellany

First, take a look at some new photos that Rita has put up in the Photos section.

Then, when you are done with that, here’s a teaser picture of what the new site design I’m working on will look like:

New Site Design Preview

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