We Bought a Van!!!

So it isn't new by any means, but it is fully paid for and alot more room than the Jeep Patriot we used to own.  We are travelling around the country (From Vancouver Island to Dauphin, Manitoba and many stops in between) so living out of your suitcase can be cumbersome but having more room makes travel much easier!

I know I have mentioned this before, but seeing how God works is amazing and how we ended up with this van seems ordinary, yet totally God moving and working!  It all started about 3 years ago when we found out we were pregnant and not going to Mozambique.  We had just sold our Mazda 3 and we needed a family vehicle and preferably one that we would not have to bend over to put in a car seat.  "Why not a van?"  "No!  They are UGLY!"  so, we didn't buy a van but an suv.

Then, right before we were going to go to Ukraine, we hit a deer.  Fortunately, we had rental insurance (if you do not have rental insurance, I would strongly recommend you get it) and our insurance company rented us a van.  Well, because we had no choice, we drove a van (by this time we had 2 kids) and we could carry more people than our family!  (If you know Emily from Grassy Lake, ask her about our trip from PRBI to Bow Island in our Jeep!).

We sold our Jeep to go to Ukraine and there was no looking back.  So when we returned, a van was on the docket.  We thought we would take out a loan at a dealer and talked to our agent, Glen, at Bluesky's in Vegreville.  He helped us buy our Jeep and we

would recommend him to anyone wanting to buy Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep.  Well, in the time of waiting for Glen to get back to us, we went to Dauphin.  There, we found a house we really loved.

It is an old 1914 manse - the house occupied by a minister of a Presbyterian church (thank you google.ca for the definition).  A beautiful brick house with lots of room on the main floor for youth and an upstairs that will fit our family without disturbing guests downstairs.  From our earthly perspective, looking at ministry, this house is perfect.  But, of course would be out of our price range if we had a loan for a van.  We are praying hard about this house, that God would provide the place He would have for us (even if it isn't this house).

 

 

So, keeping the story moving, we began looking at lower priced vans, but only at dealerships at my dad's advice.  We found a van we liked and talked to my dad about it.  He then proceeded to go to Kijiji and found a newer van that had a few more bells and whistles for $ 500 dollars less.  The key to this is it was posted 15 hours ago.  We would have never seen this van if we hadn't gone through the whole process as it was a new listing.  We saw the van and offered $1000 less and got ourselves a van for $7500 less than we were hoping to spend on a van one month ago.  The great part about it is it is equity and not debt so maybe we can afford a house in Dauphin?

 

God is moving in ways we would have never thought of and, in some-ways, ways we would not have even seen if we had not been looking.  It is a very similar way we ended up in Dauphin.

 

I have taken my wife to Vegreville (a Ukrainian town) numerous times and the end result is a resounding "I would never move to a Ukrainian town!" (smells like garlic or something like that).  Then God moves us to Ukraine to show us that is not where He would have us but calls us to Dauphin (another Ukrainian town) and we would have never considered moving to a place with a bunch of Ukrainians had we not gone to Ukraine.  Again God's had is in all of this and we would not have seen this had we not been looking.

 

Where is God moving in your life?  Look back the last couple of years before you need to make a decision and usually the answer is pretty clear.  God isn't playing hide and seek with your future, but carefully directing each step He has for you!

 

I have a feeling where God is directing Jolen's future!