Day 2- Sunday, June 5, 2011
We woke pretty early today because our bodies hadn’t yet adjusted to BC time (3 hours behind), and got ready to head to Crossroads church in our new community- Chilliwack, BC! Dave had learned of a church that a couple of the docs and residents in town attended so we thought that would be a good place to start, hoping we might run into our new landlords there. After a BEAUTIFUL scenic drive from Vancouver we rolled into Chilliwack. We arrived a little early so decided to drive past our new house where, praise God, our landlord, Danny was doing some last minute repair to the princess border in Kara’s room. Already, I could tell this was a going to be a great rental experience. We got a quick tour of the downstairs and then zipped out the door for church where we met the rest of Danny’s sweet family. Another huge praise, his wife, Kerri was the first to greet us at the church and she had 3 little girls with her, all of whom were within a couple years of Kara! She introduced us to another Doctor, Allison who went through the Chilliwack program just a couple years ago, and a current resident, Pam, who is in the year ahead of Dave.
Church was more evidence of God’s goodness and hand of care in our lives. We sang several songs that were not only familiar to us but also personal favourites and very fitting for how we were feeling. Another refreshing twist to the service was the Pastor; he was so genuine starting the service. He confessed how he was feeling “annoyed and chippy” all morning and that he needed some time to just bring that to the Lord and ask for God’s help to change it. He gave the congregation the opportunity to speak out during the prayer time and share their own feelings to God and to pray for each other. The first word that came to my mind was thankful as we were feeling so richly blessed. It is so true what Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
During the service Kara and Emily were in Sunday school with their new friends and didn’t cry or complain at all when I left them, another praise! I returned to find them playing with the 9 other kids in their age group. After church we were invited to Pam and Dan’s house and we soon learned that Dan was connected to us through similar friends. We visited until nap time and then headed home to take a tour of our new house with the girls.
When we arrived at our new home the girls were ecstatic. I wish we had taken more pictures or video’s of the first reactions. Emily and Kara both squealed and screamed with excitement as they ran around our huge beautiful new home. Dave and I were blown away with how perfect it was for us, and how huge and beautiful it was. Some of my favourite features are the high ceilings, fenced back yard with climber, on-suit bathroom with super high ceilings and soaker tub, walk-in closet, tons of storage, pantry in the kitchen, modern appliances, and the open concept living room/kitchen area. Really, we didn’t know what to say because we were so blown away with the home God had provided for us to live in and grow our family for the next 2 years minimum. We can’t wait to host!
A few high lights in Kara’s responses…..
”Mommy my princess room! Hey, where is my bed??”
(Upon finding her pink and purple princess room, bedless. We’ve been on mission to find her once ever since.)
“I did it, I climbed the wall, I’m a BIG girl Emily! Emily you want to be a big girl too?” (after climbing her climbing wall into the climber in the back yard).
“I love my castle! My new home is so NICE! Hey look, another castle is getting builded!” (She shouted exuberantly as she ran around the back yard and then noticed the neighboring houses still under construction.)
“My sandbox! It’s mine fer playing in with my friends”
(We had told her about it months ago and she was quite excited to finally have it.)
The rest of the day consisted of groceries and dinner and buying a few essentials like sleeping bags so we had something to sleep in for the night! It was bit of restless night with all four of us sleeping on the floor in the master bedroom but it was memorable . The truck was scheduled to arrive in the morning!
