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 ;)