Oh Canada!

So here's the latest:

We have been having some major complications with our visitor papers. Since we gotten here we spent several hours a day trying to either get a credit card, a bank account, cell service, etc but we've had no luck. They just keep telling us we need a SIN number (the equivalent of a social security). When we tried to apply (this was Thursday) they told us our papers were incorrect. They suggested we go to the airport to figure it out. We went to immigration and they told us they were swamped with a flight but we could come back later. We went home for a few hours and came back around 5pm. They looked over it and said we had to go to the border to get it fixed. 

So that evening we drove to Osoyoos which is the closest border crossing about 2 hours 20 mins away. We drove outside of Canada to the US back to Canada... It was weird but what They told us to do. They looked over all our paperwork again and told us they might not be able to fix it. It might be something that would have to be fixed in Alberta! He said last time he had to do something like that, that's what had to happen. We just prayed the whole time we were there that he could fix it. About an hour later we heard the glorious sound of a printer reprinting our papers! It was such a blessing! We were so grateful to the Lord and this man for that. He also fixed a few other papers for us since Elijah didn't have the right documentation. After 3 exhausting days in Canada, we finally felt like we accomplished something! We were starting to feel pretty discouraged and lonely, but so grateful the Lord encouraged us when we needed it most. 

Friday we unloaded the Uhaul with the help of some friends to put in storage. After that, we looked at a home. We've had a hard time looking for houses because they were either really expensive, run down, interesting landlord, or just rented too quickly. I called this one and wasn't really too interested in it. It seemed okay, but a little higher than we wanted to spend, but we still wanted to visit it. We drove up and the location was really nice. Very near the lake. It's an older home, but not super old...maybe the early 90's? It has awesome pink carpet ;) but we started to fall in love with this little house, pink carpet and all (though we wouldn't mind if they decided to take it out! 😜) after realizing the lady showing us the home would also be our landlord we were super excited. She's so nice and lives nearby by herself. She's so sweet and helpful and would make a wonderful landlord. A landlord can make all the difference in living. Our housing in IL was pretty frustrating and we are ready to have a house where the landlord takes care of the tenant and doesn't just let gas leak everywhere! (I think our life expectancy has lessened about 10 years from the two years in IL!) 

At any rate, if you couldn't tell, we decided to rent this little house :) it seems surreal, but will feel great when we are finally moved in next week :) this will be our first place not living with other people in an attached house. I finally feel like an official adult and it only took 27 years! I think James and I just just didn't things a little backwards with a baby before stable housing :)  below are some pictures of the house.

After that we went to the Social Security office and applied for a SIN number. The computer had a glitch so we had to fill out a paper application which means a few more weeks before we can get it, which means still a few weeks without banks, Canadian credit cards and Canadian phone...but oh well, we will get there. 

We also purchased our first bed today! I know, it's crazy, but we've never owned our own bed our whole marriage! We were given one in seminary to borrow, then we were given one in MI and so now we own our own bed! Haha. It's so random, but it's the simple things that make you excited like getting your own place for once and owning a bed :). We also got the keys to our house today and a free table and chairs from the previous owner :) our landlord said If we needed to borrow any furniture we could just borrow it from Her house! How amazing is that?! We aren't going to inconvenience  her, but how loving is that? She also is getting us in contact with a lady moving out of the country that might give us or sell us some furniture for a good deal so we'll see :) we also can't put bills in our name yet since we aren't citizens with a SIN but our landlord said she would gladly put them in hers for now! So grateful.

Grateful for this home, our bed and our new landlord whom we can hopefully be a blessing to as well :)

Travels and the first 24 hours in Kelowna

Life has been so hectic the last week, but I will try to catch you up quickly as I'm not finding much time to write!

We traveled many, many miles from Michigan through Indiana, Illinois and to Wisconsin where we made it to Eau Claire, wi for the first night. It was a whirlwind packing the few days prior and it was nice to finally make it to the hotel and not worrying about the packing. (So grateful to our friends who helped us pack and clean the apartment)! It was -13 in wi that night though so that wasn't fun! 

The second day we traveled from Wisconsin through North Dakota and stayed about 100 miles into Montana in glendive. That was a long day of travel, but Elijah did well. On that drive, James' dad (who flew out to help us move :) was driving the uhaul and we ran out of gas one mile from the exit!! It was pretty comical until they were in -15 weather trying to fill the tank. 

We drove from Montana to Coeur d Alene, Idaho. It was a pretty drive that day and the 60 degree weather was a great change from the day before! The Rocky Mountains were beautiful! The day was very long, but we made it. Elijah kind of freaked out that night at dinner, but we got him back and he crashed.  You should have seen him every night after he got out of his car seat just scooting himself and so happy! 

Praise the Lord for "Praise Baby" :)

sleepy boy!

are we there yet mom??

Our last leg of the trip on day four was only 6 hours of driving which was amazing! We were back to James' house in Everson, wa by 2:30pm! Unfortunately on the exit, after 2400 miles we were rear ended on the freeway. No one was injured (I got minor whip lash) but my poor Corolla's trunk was smashed to pieces! We had to leave it in WA to be fixed. We bought James' parents old truck from them so now we have a nice, 4wd vehicle, which was a blessing and in a weird way it was perfect timing for an accident if it had to happen. The Lord was good to us in that!

We spent a few days at his parents house and Elijah was getting his crawl on (or at least trying to! I think the car seat prison inspired him ;) Tuesday we drove to Kelowna and spent 3 hours at the border trying to get in. Fortunately they were super nice, but were just trying to figure out the proper ways to help us immigrate. We made it to Kelowna around 4:30pm and are staying in a small apartment above a garage that is very nice that is attached to a church members house. It is in the foothills and so pretty here.

Here's a few pictures of the drive from WA to Kelowna

Kelowna is different than I imagined in many ways (we've only seen it once and it was snow covered). It's difficult to navigate as its a big city. I think I'm starting to understand the hwys a little now though. Today has been a frustrating and discouraging day as we have been looking for our own place to stay. Kelowna, while very ritzy also has some of what I would say we're not so nice parts of town. It's hard to tell completely since we don't know the area well except based on looks. It's so expensive to live and most places that seem nice for a family are way too high out of our budget. We want a rather big house (not huge) since we need space for James to work from home as well as entertain. But it's hard to find a big enough house that doesn't seem run down. While I'm not expecting some house you'd see in a housing development, I do still want a nice home to rent. Maybe our expectations are too high?  Well, whatever it is, we are praying for the Lord to give us patience in finding this home. 

This has been a lot of work the last few months and I think we are starting to get burned out from not having a stable schedule, Elijah's been struggling the most, and just being overwhelmed.  I cling now to the fact that the Lord has called us to this place and therefore he will guide, protect and lead us to where we need to go and that he will take care of us. We are reminded daily to trust in his provision and his love for us. Our God will take care of us, just pray we rest in that daily and do not get tense. The last few months have been teaching us how important it is to work together even when it's easier to snap (although we are still always working on that ;)

That was my short that turned long update! Trust me it could have been longer, but just wanted to update those of you interested :) 

Miss all of you friends and family. Much love to you guys and thank you for the prayers!

Last little picture to leave you with our happy little baby that isn't vain at all ;)