October 17, 2008

A Visit from Mom and Dad Hjelle

David and I just enjoyed 5 full days with his parents here in Ithaca. They drove out from Minnesota and arrived at our place last Thursday evening. It has been an enjoyable whirlwind of 5 days. I thought I’d tell you a little bit of what we did and add a few photos.

Friday our highlights included walking the gorge, eating downtown, and visiting the Cornell bell tower to see the Chimemasters at work. We also checked out a few of the libraries close by.

Preparing for Friday lunch.

Saturday we tried to go on the planet walk (a walk, less than two miles long, that is a scale of the solar system) hosted by Bill Nye. But found out that it was Sunday instead. So mom and I went shopping while Dad and David walked the planet walk a day early. We met them to go to the Farmer’s market and discovered that they were carrying a tent they got at a free sale. We shopped the rest of the afternoon, went out for supper and came home to check out the tent. We also Skyped with Jon for a couple of hours.

It looks really good! It might look like there is a piece missing, but David decided not to add the poles to the fly. I’m excited for next summer! (Josiah and Kelly, we have our own tent now!) And it was Free!!

Sunday we went to church and headed back down town to do the planet walk. On Saturday we weren’t the only ones thinking about doing the walk on Saturday, there were at least 10 of us confused people, when we got to the Commons we knew we had the right day. There were about 500 people there!

Bill Nye introducing Saturn.

Breaking for Lunch after the walk. We are still all dressed up for Church.

Monday we took a campus tour and ate lunch on campus. We did a lot of walking and toped it all off with a trip to the Diary Bar! Yummy Ice Cream! A photo by Bebee lake:

Tuesday we decided to split up and do what Mom and Dad wanted to do most. So Mom and I did a bit more window shopping. Dad and David went to Wilson Lab Synchrotron. We both enjoyed our own activites and it made for a more relaxing morning for all of us. On the way home we stopped by Ithaca Falls. Beautiful!

It was a good, full week. Usually every day when we got home we were pretty tried. Mom and I were anyway. But it was so nice to spend time with them and show off some of the finer points of Ithaca.

Love!

In Christ,

Rita

A photo to leave you with:

Comment • ~ permanent link ~ • Category: [News / Rita]

September 12, 2008

A book worth Reading

This summer I reread a book titled “Brother Andrew, God’s Smuggler.” I can’t explain just how much it has impacted me. In order to do that, I’d also have to give a synopsis of the book and tell why and how each part has impacted me. How I longed to hear Baas’ playing. My fascination and jealousy of Andrew’s monkey. The miracles I rejoiced in reading about. The example of Mr. and Mrs. Hoppy. My desire to go to a school like the WEC and be pushed to be a real Christian. Knowing that Andrew was a real average person, yet is being used by God, and God is constantly proving Himself to Andrew and providing for him.

In short, the story is about a man named Andrew who grew up during WWII, had a desire for adventure, found God through scripture, let God radically change his life and, ended up being a traveling missionary to Communist countries.

The three biggest thoughts that linger are: 1. My desire to live my life in a way that God has an opportunity to do big miracles. 2. Thoughts about living more simply, and what if we ever had to flee from persecution. 3. How much I take my Bible for granted, and am so glad and honored that I am able to read my own Bible as often as I desire.

To give an example of this last thought, and to share a piece of the book, here is a quote.

“Our last Sunday in Russia we attended a Baptist church in a Ukrainian village not far from the Hungarian boarder. The singing was stirring, the prayers fervent. But when it came time for the sermon, the pastor did a strange thing. He walked off the platform, borrowed a book from one of the congregation, and took it back to the pulpit. It was the Bible! We had heard that there were ministers in Russia who did not have Bibles of their own. But this was the first time we had seen it with our own eyes.

“After the service the pastor invited us to join him and his elders in his study for a brief visit. The visit began, as it so often did in Russia, with an attack. We had learned that this was a safety device, since all pastors knew that their actions were observed. …

“At any rate, we got to talking about the Second Coming of Christ- by far the most popular theological topic in Russia- and the tone of our conversation immediately changed. I drew out my own Dutch Bible out of my pocket to follow the references he was making and when he was through, laid it on the desk.

“I noticed almost at once that he had lost interest in the conversation. His mind was taken up with the Bible! He picked it up and weighed it in his hand, unzipped it, started at the Dutch words he could not read, zipped it up again.

“Then he put it back on the desk. Not as I had put it down, but with great percission. He set it down on the corner and slowly ran his finger along the edge so that it was aligned with the desk. And then-his voice distant, talking more to himself than to us- he said, “You know, Brother, I have no Bible.”

“My heart broke. Here was this important man, the spiritual leader of a thousand souls, who did not own a copy of the Bible.

“All of the ones we had brought with us were gone-and then I remembered. The little Ukrainian picket Bible! ‘Wait!’ I shouted. I jumped up from my chair. The Bible societies would just have to take my word for it [that large Russian bibles etc could be printed in full in pocket size]. I raced outside to my car, threw open the door, got the little bible from under the seat, and ran back to the study.

“‘Here.’ I shoved the Bible into the pastor’s hand. ‘This is for you. To keep.’

“The translator repeated the words, but still the pastor did not understand.

“‘Whose is it?’ he said.

“‘It’s Your! To Keep, to own.’

“When Hans and I left that day, our chests ached from the embraces of that group of elders. For now their pastor had a Bible of his very own. A Bible he did not have to return at the end of the service. A Bible to pick up whenever he wanted. A Bible to read and to love.”

Oh, how often do I neglect my own copy of God’s word because it is so common to me? What a privilege it is to have it!

In Christ,

Rita

Comment • ~ permanent link ~ • Category: [News / Rita]

August 30, 2008

A New Semester

Where has the month of August gone? After all the traveling we did this spring, and the mess with our car, it was really nice to just “relax” this past month. I don’t know how much relaxing we did, the month sure has flown by.

A few items of news. We have a new neighbor! The trailer next to our has been empty for as long as we have been living here. A cheerful lady moved in just a few weeks ago. We enjoyed watching the progress of her move and were able to meet her as she brought in her last load of things.

I praise God because she is the nice “back yard neighbor” that I was hoping for. I was a little nervous that we would have younger students next door and I’d be too shy to welcome them, and then resent their being so close to my “back yard.” I have been praying that God would have someone move in that would be nice neighbor, and He has answered my prayer. I look forward to getting to know her better.

David and I did go to the New York State Fair last Sunday afternoon together. If you want to hear a bit more about it, check out my new blog on the Jar of Wood webpage.

Now we are getting back into school mode. It is nice not being a first year student. Instead we are able to welcome this year’s first year students and try to make them feel more comfortable. It it nice to not be learning everything all over again: where the stores are, where churches are, how to ride the bus, etc.

This year does start a bit different though. This year David is starting as a Master’s Student, instead of a PhD student.

David has been doing some wrestling about his schooling. It has been hard for him not be catching on to this student thing as quickly as he hoped. Even this summer when he didn’t have to worry about classes things seemed to be going slow for him. It doesn’t help that his interests tend to be all over the place and difficult to focus on a single topic. (Last line added by David.)

One week was particularly hard. He was really ready to quit, to leave and not be sad about it at all. After much praying and thinking, he instead decided to switch to the Master’s program. If his advisor approves, he has the option of switching back to the Ph.D. program again later.

David is seeing how much competition there is in upper level schools, and it doesn’t attract him. Instead he likes the idea of teaching at smaller schools, or community colleges. I am glad. I think it will fit us better.

Here we go, into another year of school!

In Christ

Rita

Comment • ~ permanent link ~ • Category: [News / Rita]

July 28, 2008

Good bye Old Car, Hello New

So, after 6 weeks of being without a car that we could drive, we finally have a new one! Horray!!! On Friday evening a friend of ours came and took our Escort away for us.

Last night we were able to pick up the volvo that we had looked at a month ago.

(If we are tired in the morning, we have a hard time spotting our car, it blends in so well to the trailer…)

I am so glad to be able to run normal errands again! David went with me to the local grocery store on Monday, and got to see first hand why I have been missing my regular grocery store. The prices are much more expensive and the check out lines were veeeeerrrrrrryyyyy slow. When I take the bus to the the store, I have just about a half hour to get groceries, check out, and be back to the bus to go home, or else I’m stuck there for another hour. We took 15 minutes or less to get the food we needed, and then waited in line for over 10 minutes before we got to the check out ourselves. At our regular store, the checkers often are taking the items off the belt faster than I can take them out the cart. A nice, no nonsense type of store. And cheaper.

Besides being able to do my regular errands again, we are glad we were able to get a wagon. It’s a bit bigger than our old one, but Lord willing we will be able to fill it up with kids some day. Now we are glad we can offer space to our friends when they need rides.

In other news, David is busy like usual, and worn out. He would appreciate prayer for real rest and recuperation. It’s been a busy last two or three months. He has been able to slow down a bit at home this past week, mostly because he was sick. He is still tired and trying hard to keep up with the work he has to do.

I’m doing well. Maybe trying to take on too many things and projects, but I am enjoying it all very much. Carving is going well. I am pretty steady with orders. God has been blessing my work and sales. Dutch lessons are going well. Slow and steady. The trailer gives me a lot of work to do. I am constantly cleaning and hoping to do more painting. The garden is growing beautifully. Of everything I planted, only the lettuce and endive didn’t survive. The peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and beats are doing very well!

Comment • ~ permanent link ~ • Category: [News / Rita]

~ Previous Entries→