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 ;)

And the decision is....

We had hoped to have this decision finalized a little bit sooner, but as we arrived home late Monday afternoon, we all had the stomach flu by Monday Night! We have "known" for a little while now, but wanted to make sure the decision sat right with us. After much prayer and consideration, many times of deciding on one place and then another, we really feel the Lords hand on our decision to move to Kelowna, BC. The decision was a difficult one through and through. At first we made our lists of pros and cons of each church but after a while, we felt an issue with which pros and cons were higher than another. Once we took out personal preferences and laid those to the side and look strictly at the ministerial aspects, we felt like the decisions were still difficult, yet more clear. James got a lot of advice over the past month, which was helpful in so many ways and yet still made it about a tied decision.  We do feel sorrowful for Brockville as we know they have a great desire to be lead by a man of God and we pray that the Lord will send them someone quickly. We ask for you to pray for them as they continue their search.

So what's next? That's a good question! We barely know! All we know is that we are packing up and Lord willingly headed to Kelowna on February 11. It's about a 36 hour drive (not including stops) so it will make for a long journey in the cold weather with an almost 8 month old! We plan on stopping in Lynden Wa first, then heading to Kelowna for a few days to look for housing and then hopefully moving. We pray this can all be accomplished within 8 days for the sake of moving truck costs, but we will see.

So as you can see there is a lot ahead of us and while we know somethings, we are still not sure on everything....moving to a different country is very confusing and we aren't quite sure what to expect. We DO know that God has been very good to us and has always had us in His tender loving care, so we will rest that since He is leading us, He will take care of all the small details that are at times confusing!

Please pray for us as we continue in this journey and as we seek to build up His church :)

"He shall choose our inheritance for us."

We have been in sunny California for over a week now and we were supposed to head back today, but decided since we didn't have to be anywhere just yet, we'd extend our trip for a little more family and sunshine time! :) 

I'm finally getting used to the idea of moving to Canada. It kind of struck me tonight that I have not been the most willing and excited Christian to go on the journey the Lord is leading us on. We listened to a couple sermons by Tim Keller today that I think finally instilled that in me. It was a good reminder to me today that God doesn't mess up and have a plan B. He leads us in his soveriegnty and today I am realizing that it appears to be in Canada. I have had this half in half out attitude that wants to stay in the states and is waiting for the Lord to mysteriously open up a church in the US. As we go forwards with making decisions I'm realizing how selfish that is.  I keep wanting him to guide and lead us, yet in my own mind I still have a slight pull that God couldn't want us in Canada right? Wrong. The Lord has made it clear at this point as he has provided us with two wonderful opportunities to serve His people as he chooses! 

Last year in a bible study at Reedemer, I was really hit with the idea that I have ways in which I want to serve God and yet those aren't always they ways in which I am able to because of a particular season in our lives, be it location, lifestyle/family, etc. but just because I am not serving God in that way, doesn't mean im not serving God, nor does it mean I just stop trying. It's selfish to think we can serve God the way we want to. I am reminded again of that today as we look on to see Gods providence beautifully leading us towards something new. He has been so faithful to us throughout our endevours and its was an amazing reminder to see his grace leading us to a church in Canada. 

The Lord is constantly teaching us to follow and now I pray that we can joyfully follow and not follow hesitantly. Serving His people where He has called us, what could be better! To God be the glory!

I leave you with this devotion by Spurgeon that we have come back time

 and again in the last year and half...a beautiful reminder of Gods good plans.

"He shall choose our inheritance for us." 

Psalms 47:4

Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask, "Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and deviate so much from a straight line?" His answer would be, "Because I should not get my vessel into harbour at all if I did not keep to the deep channel." So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows." Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love! 

"Trials must and will befall- 
But with humble faith to see 
Love inscribed upon them all; 
This is happiness to me." 

Kelowna, BC Canada (January 4)

Kelowna....wow, who knew Canada could be so beautiful!!! The drive from James' parents house was about 4 hours (5 hours with the snow) and what a beautiful 5 hours it was! We left Elijah home with his Oma and Opa because we had all been sick and we were worried he might get sick too.  The weather was also bad and we were traveling through the mountains in snow, so if anything went bad we wouldn't have Elijah to suffer the cold. Plus he got extra Oma and Opa time! :)

For those of you who don't know, Kelowna is a beautiful vacation spot!!! Skiing in the winter and water skiing in the summer! I have to tell you, Kelowna is a very attractive package on the superficial level for sure! James was pretty sick going. He had the flu with a sore throat that left him hard to preach since he was losing his voice, a slight fever (which turned very high after we got home), and congestion. Talk about a bad weekend for all of this! Despite that, the Lord gave him the ability to get through the back to back services. We met up with some of the people in the church the night before and had a little time of gathering at church. We did not stay long after church since James wasn't well and I wanted to get home to my little man! It was a very nice visit.  Our drive home was soooo snowy and we found that Canadians don't like to plow the roads! Good thing we had James' parents 4wd truck! :) Yesterday, we received word that despite the hard time James had preaching due to illness, they would still like to extend a call. Please be in pray as we consider the two offers on the table!  The Lord has been good to us and we pray that the Lord will prepare us in this time for the church he calls us to and to help us to adjust to all the changes well.

Bellingham, Wa (December 29 & January 11)

Although we were sad not to get the call in Michigan, it worked out for us to be home with family for the holidays! The Lord ordained opportunities for us in the Bellingham area (which is 20 minutes from James' families house). We flew out December 16th and spent a lot of fun time with the family. James worked a lot the first week on the farm and LOVED hanging out with his parents and brothers! It was so nice to be near family and I think they loved having Elijah there for the month :)

We had two preaching opportunities at the Bellingham URC on Dec 29 and Jan 11. We had lunch with a few families in the church both weeks and it was nice to visit with them.

James also was allowed the opportunity to preach New Years day in Lynden. He has been given a lot of opportunities this month to preach and for that, we are grateful.

Christmas time in Washington

We have had a really good time in Washington and the time is flying by! Elijah was able to meet his Opa for the first time, which was so special! He's loved being around family this month as we have been living in their basement. We've all had the touch of the flu, so that was rough. He's been out on the farm watching Opa milk the cows, has visited the calves and been on a four wheeling ride! We've been able to see a couple movies since James' parents babysat so we could have a date :) James' brother is engaged so we were able to spend a little time with him and his fiancé as well as meet travis' girlfriend, so that was fun! We also were able to have Elijah meet his great grandparents and his great-great grandpa! Time has been very good here and it makes me miss the idea of family being around even more, but the life the Lord has called us to is to follow him, which sometimes means not being near family! May the Lord grant us with the joy and thankfulness of spending this short time with family and not being embittered by leaving!