Great News in the Great Adventure of the Groenewold's!!! (Say that 10 times fast ;) ) As of yesterday, I am officially a permanent resident of the country they call the Great White North; the place where beavers and moose roam free; where red-coated mounties ride keeping the peace; where dog sled is the main mode of transportation; the place called..... wait for it......... CANADA!!!!!! Well actually, most of that isn't true; but it IS true that I am now a permanent resident of Canada. This means that I now have all the rights of a citizen, except for the right to vote. SO I can have a job, go to school, get a BC drivers license, and I can finally have a joint bank account with my husband!!! Hurray!!! It happened about 5 months sooner than we were anticipating which is a marvelous answer to prayer.
Yesterday, Jesse and I drove down to the United States/Canada border at Pt. Roberts, where we crossed the border, and promptly turned around to re-enter into the country we had just left. Has anyone else noticed that the States' border guards seem to be a lot more personable and cheerful than the Canadian ones? Maybe that's just the history of our experience..... Needless to say, all went well, they let me back into the country, AND named me a permanent resident. Now I just have to wait for my permanent resident card to get here! Then I'll feel super-de-duper official. :)
God was blessing us so much yesterday (He does every day, but these are not every day occurrences), because we got a problematic tire fixed on our car as well! The past few weeks, we've been having trouble with our left rear tire. We don't drive very much, so every time we drove we were pumping up the tire, then four days later when we were ready to drive again, the tire would be down to 0-10 psi. Trouble EH? So we'd pull out our little car air compressor; you know - the kind you plug into your cigarette lighter in your car (thanks mom and dad B. for that car kit Christmas present from a few years back - it's definitely come in handy), and we'd fill it just full enough to limp down the street to the gas station to fill it up the rest of the way. Needless to say, we're very thankful that the only gas station that we've found with a FREE air compressor is just 2 small blocks from our very humble abode. After weeks of the same old story, we finally made a point of getting our tire looked at. Thankfully, there's a tire place right across the street from where we live too! They took a look at all our tires and said - "You have great tread still." YAY! "But your tires are old and cracking." Oh.... "But they should last until next winter probably." Yay!!?! At least we don't have to purchase new tires quite yet. :) They took off the back left tire, patched it up, and good as new!! Well, I guess not as good as new... we'll still have to replace them within the next year most likely, but better than it was! So far so good - as far as we know it doesn't need re-filling yet. :)
The blessings I was speaking of is that both of these things were taken care of very smoothly, without difficulties. We had the finances to be able to have them taken care of without worry. We had access to these places without having to travel great distances. And despite all that - even if it didn't go smoothly - we still have a God to trust and put our hope in; a God who promises to add unto us all the things that we need when we seek His kingdom first, and His righteousness. At the beginning of the day, I was nervous about how the things at the border would go, and about what we should do about the tires on the car, or if we'd have to get them all replaced, and how we would go about paying for them; and then my WONDERFUL husband reminded me whose hands the day and every event of the day was in, and he prayed over us, and I was given peace. And God added unto us all the things we needed and then-some. God is great! May we sing of His Great Mercy every day!
We look forward to seeing what He has in store for us in this day.
As they say here in Canada, Adieu, eh?
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
This is the Great Adventure!!
Much has happened in the past year - last May, Jesse and I graduated from Dordt College; Jesse with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and myself with a degree in Theology, with a missions emphasis.
Not long after, we professed our love and commitment for each other in the Covenant of marriage; becoming husband and wife on June 4, 2011. It's hard to believe it's been 7 1/2 months already! As Jesse often says, "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." ~ Groucho Marx
God has been so good to us in our marriage thus far.
Since our wedding, we've added a variety of odd jobs to our resume's. Beginning with orchard pruning, housesitting, horse feeding, becoming buddies with some great kids who happened to by a bit hyperactive (ADHD), and only recently ending with Jesse working as a Mechanical Engineer in downtown Vancouver, and myself currently unemployed serving as a homekeeper for my wonderful husband.
Amidst all this, we've lived with both our family's for a total of about 5 months, before acquiring our own home in South Vancouver about 2 1/2 months ago. We were so grateful for the time with both our family's, but were also very anxious for the "leaving and cleaving" part of marriage. So we rejoiced on November 1 in finding out Jesse had a job! In less than two weeks, we packed, found an apartment, moved, unpacked, and Jesse started work. I must mention that moving onto the 3rd floor of an old apartment building that doesn't have an elevator is very taxing. Needless to say, after 4 1/4 hours Jesse and I decided to order pizza instead of cooking.
So far, Jesse has really been enjoying his job as an engineer. He is learning a lot, and has many nerdy moments at home (doing calculus for fun...), and is eager to learn more, and be more greatly challenged in his work. He has been becoming friends with many on his way to and from work; on the streets and in the skytrain.
I've conquered some of my fears of living in the city - things like driving by myself, taking the public transit system by myself, talking with strangers, and seeking to show compassion to the homeless. It's amazing how quickly we can change when we need to. I'm so thankful for God's amazing grace in these learnings and transitions. I don't know that I'll ever be a "city person", but I'm comfortable enough to call it home for the time being and eager to learn more about what it means to be a God follower and professor in this time and place.
Yet another joy of having our own place - I get to make dinner almost every night, and so must I do now, thus ending this post.
God's richest blessings through Jesus Christ to each and every one of you.
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