PRAYER REQUESTS

Hi there! We're quite busy so this will be short (you're probably pretty busy yourself).

We will be meeting tomorrow, Dec. 23, for our Christmas service and soup fellowship afterwards. Due to family Christmas visits, and being a small group, we will not be having a Christmas Eve service.

PLEASE PRAY FOR open hearts to God's Word and fellowship in His Spirit

We are trying to get into our local assisted living facility to visit for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day some of the residents who are separated from loved ones during this holiday.

PLEASE PRAY FOR open doors to go and to share the love of Jesus there

Dejan and one brother in the fellowship have been trying for a few weeks now to get together for discipleship, but each week his children keep getting sick the day before, and he works from home so he has been needed there to care for them.

PLEASE PRAY FOR health for their family and the ability to meet beginning this week

In the midst of this giant move, we have had much less time for investing in our marriage and family relationships, as much of our time has revolved around logistics and safety (keeping the girls out of things that are being unpacked or that aren't put up or nailed down yet). We are feeling close in new ways as we face new challenges together, but we miss each other, too.

PLEASE PRAY FOR a spiritually and emotionally healthy family and strong marriage

Thanks for your love and prayers! We wish you a truly blessed Christmas this week!

Because of Jesus,
Dejan and Julie

First Steps

Details, details
So it's been 3 1/2 weeks since our arrival here in Canada, and we are pleased to report that we have all our logistics in order:  housing, driver's licenses, Social insurance numbers, car, tenant and health insurance, and our car is inspected, registered and plated for Alberta! We also have a mobile phone that we share, and it can text free in North America.

Our faithful Lord has led us in all these things, and we are very grateful for the help of our hosts--the family we wrote you about who are from Calgary and just recently moved to Edmonton. Through them we learned about applying for what we needed and that we are in fact eligible for provincial health care, of which we heard otherwise at the border.


Ministry Beginnings
On November 11th we gathered our two families to worship and study the Word for the first service here in Edmonton! Dejan is going through the Gospel of John, and he finished the second chapter this past Sunday. Julie is leading worship and teaching the children in the parables of Jesus. The second week we were joined by another couple who have been praying for quite some time for a Calvary Chapel to be established in Edmonton. Our fellowship is edifying, and we are looking forward to meeting each week.

This Sunday we were joined by a family of missionaries who are on furlough. They are originally from Edmonton, but they were led of the Lord to Mexico, where He connected them with Calvary Chapel Bible College in Ensenada, though they had no previous knowledge of Calvary churches. It was a great blessing to fellowship with them.

Prayer
Please continue with us in prayer. We definitely feel the difference, and there is such comfort from the Lord in our transition as we are lifted to Him by you. Our most keenly felt prayer needs right now are:

• our family relationships (that our marriage and our girls would thrive despite all the chaos of logistics and moving in); guidance in parenting/effective, godly discipline
• to be filled and empowered with God's Holy Spirit in all we do
• direction and open doors to minister the gospel
• getting to know our local community

We're Here!

After 3 days of travelling and 3 1/2 hours at the Canadian border, we are successfully into Canada with all our things and our visas! We are so grateful to each person who helped us finish packing, cleaning and moving out in Pocatello, and for our road crew that got us and all our stuff up here to Edmonton. May the Lord reward you for your service to Him!

Here are a few pics from our journey:

We have passed the past 5 days getting some very basic things set up for ourselves. The biggest blessing is that we are being hosted by a family who recently moved here from Calgary and the Calvary Chapel there, so we have internet access, a temporary address, and our children have other children to play with while daddy and mama work on things.

Snow has already fallen the past three days, and it looks like Christmas, it is so wintry. The first day, Edmonton saw near record snow fall for a single day, with 20cm/8 inches dumping on the city over several hours. We figured it would be cold this season, and expected snow this year, but it sure was an interesting way to start out. Apparently, once the snow falls here, it stays until winter ends...in late March. Bring it on.

We hope to be into a place of our own by the middle of the month, and we will continue to work on the logistics of just living here, but Lord willing, by December we can be somewhat settled. We'll keep you posted as things go along.

Thanks for you prayers and support!
Dejan and Julie <><

The Finer Points

So far it is looking like everything is coming together for our move! Our last items of paperwork are in-hand. It is hard to imagine that next week at this time, we are supposed to be totally out of our place here and getting on the road heading north. We are blessed to have significant help from friends and family in loading and hauling.

Explaining to our toddler that we are moving (and that we will see grandparents but only for visits, and we will play with friends from nursery but only a couple more times), caused the reality of this huge change to hover like a heavy cloud of sadness. Going is exciting and a privilege, but it is also a reality that affects each person in our family, even many in our home church. We will miss everyone!!

It is interesting, though, and a comfort, that the LORD prepares us for what is ahead in every way. He can use anything, even the weather! We have to trust that He is going to use this event in the lives of our children for His glory and their good, even as we know He has called us two grown-ups to go into His harvest field. 

Our place is a total mess of boxes, lists and stuff that needs to get into the boxes and onto still more lists. How is it going to be possible to get it all done? Thank God that nothing is impossible with Him, and that even seemingly un-spiritual things like this are not outside of His promise to care for us. "All things" means all things!

With all the logistics of preparing our stuff, it sure will be good to actually get where we're going and get it unpacked and put away, so we can serve in the ministry to people!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers...

And another thing...

Add this to our requests in the post below:
There have been attempts to hijack our e-mail account and someone stole Julie's card info and tried to buy over $1000 of items online using her card number. All this in the past 10 days. It is leaching time and energy from our other efforts. We appreciate your prayer in the spiritual battle we currently face in the cyber world.
Thanks!

Countdown

We had such a great month last month. Call it a "babymoon"; it was nice to be about something besides lists and boxes for a few weeks. Alas, the time has come for moving on, moving out, going out! Our target date is November 1st, Lord willing. We are still waiting for one document and must finish packing.

A few points for prayer:

• Health and strength - two of us have become ill in the past 10 days or so, since the weather turned and we are not out in the sunshine regularly. As we move far north and into a new environment at the start of winter, we are especially desiring that all our children will handle the change well, physically. (Our oldest became quite ill at the close of our visit there last summer.)
• Peace - big changes are all around us, from the arrival of a newborn baby to leaving friends to ending our weekly routines, and on and on. Again, it is our little ones for whom this is so drastic. We seek God's comfort and the stillness in our hearts that helps us remember that He is God and is in control of all. His love does not change!
• Provision - we have researched, analyzed and estimated our moving and living expenses as much as we can; now the Lord must take care and make up for our lack, both in knowledge and in means. Our hope is for no big financial expense surprises.

These things, and anything else the Lord puts on your heart to pray for us, would be a great help and blessing to us right now.

"Brethren, pray for us."

Dejan and Julie <><

No score and four years ago...

This month it will be 4 years since we began considering and praying about church-planting in Edmonton. It began initially as a sense that we wouldn't be returning to Serbia, which was clearly confirmed not long after through logistical/legal circumstances there. Then, Julie was praying towards church-planting, daily for a couple of weeks, although the city was undecided. Not long after, Dejan sensed a need to survey the map and pray about the direction the Lord would have us go. His attention was directed to Edmonton, and the rest, as they say, is history.

We are now, Lord willing, just weeks away from setting out in this venture and seeing the beginning of our vision come to pass! It has been a period of excitement, growth, testing and much learning for us, and we are grateful to have been given the time of waiting to strengthen our faith. It is such a privilege to be able just to be children of God, we are blessed that He also entrusts us with ministry opportunities such as this.

The final factor in the timing of our move is legal paperwork for our newest little family member, who arrived almost a month ago now. We have the birth certificate and are awaiting the Social Security card so that we can submit an application for a passport. Since all five of us need visas to live in Canada, everyone needs a passport; otherwise we could cross the border with just the birth certificate.

Once we have the documents in hand, we will finalize our packing and get moving! By God's grace, we will be able to enter Canada before winter weather arrives there in earnest. We are in total transition now as a family (the people) and soon will be also as a household (all the stuff). Your prayers are always greatly appreciated.

Till next post,
Dejan and Julie <><

Waiting, Hope, and the Bigger Picture

Well, it's been more than two weeks since we expected our little one to join us on the outside, and still we wait. Things are well, and we are well. This time has given us occasion to reflect on the LORD in several ways. We realize that in His perfect timing, He will bring about this child's birth as well as our subsequent move. We were hoping for a certain time frame, but we must wait for a bit longer.

Rom 8:24b-25 - "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

After so much waiting for the time to venture back out into the mission field, it seems a bit torturous to wait still more. All told, it's probably just a few extra weeks, but this time of waiting has been challenging at times, wondering if all is well with baby and when things will happen. But again, there is the certainty that it will all come together in due time.

Rom 8:28 - "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

We are firmly convinced of the Lord's call on our lives, not just in salvation, but also specifically to serve Him in the Gospel and the ministry of His Word to people in Edmonton. So, while we know that our timing is not His, we can also trust that, because He is perfect, our time of departure here and our arrival there are going to be just right. There are many pieces to this picture, and the Lord is the only one who sees them all. Our job is to know Him and continue to wait patiently, hoping in Him. 

The Big Life

As of this post, we are still packing, packing, packing! So far over 50 boxes have been totally itemized and labeled, but it still looks like we haven't done anything. And we are getting out many boxes per day, even while we are expecting Julie's labor to start. We are thankful to the Lord for allowing us this time to get more accomplished before our new addition arrives, as once that occurs, not much else is going to be going on for a little while.

As for Edmonton, we are busily preparing ourselves to get there both physically and spiritually, and yet, the city itself is obviously totally unaware and probably couldn't care less about the whole thing. Praise God for living for Him and not man's opinion! Jesus sent out the apostles to be His witnesses in all the world, preaching the Gospel and making disciples. Doing His agenda consumed them, and their lives were huge with purpose and fruitfulness.

One of our very good friends, a sister in Christ, described once how the Lord led her to see her life from His perspective. She was traveling home with a ministry team from a weekly Bible study and was looking out the window thinking about what she did in life. Just a job at a small shop, helping out at home, friends, and of course, attending every event at church available. But that didn't seem so significant to her. Then, as she was looking at the moon, it came to her: "If you think of your life in terms of you, yes, your life is quite small. Because you are small. But if, like the moon is going around the earth, you remember that your life revolves around ME, your life will be huge. Because I am great."

People come and go, pursuing their goals, jobs, hopes, even just striving to make life work so they can get through another day. It can all seem trivial, like Solomon's wise cry so clearly points out: "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity..." But in God's eyes, and for His children, His servants, we are living the big life.

Blessings in His Great Name,

Dejan and Julie <><

The Report

Downtown Edmonton in summer rains

Almost a 1900-mile weekend

     Dejan returned safely Monday night from his journey north to Calgary-Edmonton. The Lord blessed his time there, which was worth every mile of the long drive! It was a quick trip, even though it was a long one for our family both in body and spirit, and we are grateful that this opportunity was given to us. As the months of waiting has turned into a full-fledged season of active preparing, for Dejan to physically be in Canada for these several days proved to be very productive. 

     

Meeting a contact in Edmonton

     He was able to meet with several different people with Edmonton connections both in Calgary and on his day trip to Edmonton itself. There is a family moving from the church in Calgary to Edmonton this month, as well as two contacts we have met with on our previous visits as a family. The friend of Dejan's host in Calgary is also from Edmonton. Dejan had many opportunities through these meetings to discuss the city, and the need for a solid Bible-teaching church was both reiterated and underscored.

Couple moving from
the church in Calgary

     On Sunday morning, those of us who stayed behind with "the stuff" (Julie and the girls), were able to listen online to the service in Calgary and hear Dejan share again about our coming. It was a blessing to participate, even from 800 miles away. The church there has taken us on as missionaries, in addition to our own home church here in Idaho, and we are continually thankful for their backing. From the start, Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel has been morally and logistically supportive of us coming, with welcome hearts and arms to help us get into Canada and get started.



     Lord willing, within the next 9 or 10 weeks, we will be able to go out to labor in this harvest field with the Word of God and for His purposes. It definitely seems that God Himself is the One who is extending the invitation, that He is receiving us with a welcome to this city of souls that He loves.

Sending Our "Spy" (July 25-30)

Before the children of Israel entered the promised land, they sent 12 spies to check things out and bring back a report. Yes, we've already all four of us been to Canada and to Edmonton and to Calgary to do this, but Dejan is going to go one last time before we move. And he is full of "Joshua and Caleb" confidence, so this isn't just a shot in the arm, but we believe it will be fruitful and encouraging nonetheless.

The vision for the visit from our pastor's perspective, is to freshly connect with our receiving church in Calgary and a few of the contacts we have in Edmonton. Dejan also hopes to check into some visa issues at the border and a few other logistical expenses for importing our car. So, he will hopefully be sharing this Sunday morning with the congregation at Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel in Calgary, as well as making a day trip to Edmonton Friday or Saturday.

Please pray for Dejan's trip; he will be driving up Wednesday, July 25th and driving back July 30th. We praise God for providing for his expenses, and look forward to his return and report.

Accounting

Greetings!
To all of our Canadian friends, we wish you a Happy Canada Day today! And to all of our American compatriots, we wish you an early Happy 4th of July! We are blessed indeed to reside in North America.

Dejan is making excellent progress in translation (see sidebar). We are already in the middle of our childbirth class and less than two months from meeting our newest family member. Add in an anniversary, a men's retreat, and Father's Day, and we find that June came and went much more quickly than May. 

Looking Ahead
As the days and weeks start to roll into one another, we are now in the first stages of packing (and re-packing) and itemizing our household in preparation to move. Since we probably won't realistically be able to do the bulk of that with a newborn to care for, we figured we should get as much as possible done ahead of time. So... boxes and the shifting, sorting and winnowing of our belongings is now a part of at least one day of our weekly schedule.

As we prepare physically to re-locate, we are amazed at how the LORD has added to us over these past years since we moved to the U.S. We arrived here with no children, four checked bags and two carry-ons, one of which was our cat. There's no way we're going to be able to be that thin this time. Much like Abraham's possessions and his household increased as he sojourned, we have increased in number and goods as well. And the Canadian government would like to know each and every piece we intend to accompany us across the border and its value. Your prayers for us in this process are greatly appreciated.

Enjoy your early days of summer, whatever the LORD has for you, be it vacation, renovation, reunion or rest!

Dejan and Julie <><

The Seventh Year

This past week we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. What a blessing to look back and see how the Lord has led us and worked between us!

We do find it interesting that 7 years ago we were praying and planning to leave Hungary (where we met and were serving in ministry together at Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe) to serve on the mission field of Dejan's hometown and at his church in Subotica, Serbia. We ended up going in October of that year.

Our hearts were always for evangelism, discipleship and church-planting. We were able to do some of that in Serbia for 2 hard but fruitful years. We have been here in the States these last 4 years for many reasons which are known to us, a couple of which were 1) for the Lord to re-direct us to Canada for church-planting and 2) to thoroughly connect us to our home and sending church, where we have been so blessed to worship, fellowship and serve.

Now, 7 years later, we are praying and planning to depart yet again for the mission field, and it will probably be in late September or early October. Interesting, isn't it? How God works in cycles and when He leads new beginnings. We are so blessed to be part of His plan together.

All in good time

So...
Dejan's computer arrived the last day of May, and it's up and running, ready to begin it's life as an instrument for God's glory starting Monday! If you like tracking the translation progress, just watch the sidebar for updates.

And...
We are on the home stretch regarding our move up north! God's providence in our circumstances became unmistakably obvious recently. We will be spending the summer right here in Pocatello with our home church, hopefully raising the remaining 11% of our support, and then 6 weeks or so after our new little blessing arrives and we have the paperwork, Lord willing, we'll be off and going!

If you pray with us...thank you!

We are in awe at how God moves in our lives and it's such an amazing grace He showers us with!

Keeping you posted, Dejan and Julie <><

Upgrade

Over the last 6 months or so, the computer Dejan has been using for 5 years to work on translation slowly lost efficiency until it was constantly operating at full capacity with only one simple program open. By March, the system was often taking longer to "think" about what it was asked to do than it actually did things, which made Dejan's work quite tedious and slow, waiting for typing to appear on the screen after a freeze and often loading for 20 or more minutes.

After multiple attempts to prolong its life, this valuable tool for ministry whirred its last as the CPU stopped and the whole system shut down. It will be missed.

But God...

We waited less than a week after this unpleasant event before God's provision came through for a new computer which is able to support all the software that is needed for translation (including the audio/recording software). Needless to say we are praising the Lord for His grace! The new computer is being built and will soon be on its way.

Moving along...but not moving yet

So many things have transpired over the last week that it's hard to know where to start, so we'll just jump in:

Overseas Visit
Dejan had a fruitful visit back home. He spent a very full and busy two weeks in Serbia visiting and helping out his mom, visiting family in the area and catching up with friends from both in and outside the church. During his visit, one relative actually asked Dejan to share more with them about his "faith"! After more than 17 years with the Lord, this was a huge thing for Dejan, as none of his family are saved but him.

Calvary Chapel Subotica, Serbia
It was a great blessing to be able to re-connect with his closest friends and to be able to fellowship at his home church as well. The Lord gave Dejan two teaching opportunities, one Wednesday night and also a Sunday service. The church there is praying for us and the mission to Canada, for which we truly praise and thank God. They are such a blessing.

Translation
As you know, Dejan translates Pastor Chuck's sermon series into Serbian. He also has help from Zlata (pictured center, with her husband Aco) who proofreads the transcripts before they are finally uploaded onto the internet for free access through Calvary Chapel's Translation ministry. She is working on one transcript per month, which means that the whole book of John should be finalized by the end of 2012, at which time Dejan can record the audio version of those messages as well.

More Details on the Move
We have been blessed recently with a further increase in support commitments, so the time is drawing nearer for us to depart for the field. Our budget is being reviewed by a Canadian in the ministry, so we hope that the feedback will be that we have estimated correctly. It continues to amaze us how expensive it seems to live in Canada and yet how the Lord is providing steadily the funds for us to go out into His harvest field.

One American missionary we got in contact with has also given us very helpful info regarding our visa situation, and the news was all good! We are currently preparing our paperwork for that end of things.

Lastly, we earnestly desire your prayers for us regarding all the many details surrounding our preparations for going. Logistically there is so much to get and keep in order. We truly need God's help and wisdom both.

Until next post,
Dejan and Julie <><

ANSWERED PRAYER

We are thankful to report that there have been a few answers to our prayers in the last week.

• After negative test results for parasites and toxoplasmosis (praise God!), our baby had an appointment with an allergist/immunologist last week. There are no obvious food allergies, and the concluding diagnosis was rather nondescript: "toddler bowels". He advised a wait and watch approach, which is great with us, as she is otherwise healthy and growing physically and developmentally.

• We are getting closer to being able to move:

1. Through conversations with another missionary/pastor in Canada we learned what is needed for applying for Dejan's visa and that Julie can apply for an open work permit at the border, which would enable her to resume her "side" work of teaching Kindermusik a few hours per week (something she has missed doing since she closed her studio almost 2 years ago).
2. Dejan had a blessed two weekends of sharing vision and meeting folks at Calvary Chapel Whitefish, from which a few have joined our support team.
3. Dejan has been invited back East to share at another fellowship who is partnering with us, and Lord willing, he will be able to go next month.

• After 2 1/2 years, Dejan is back home for a couple of weeks, visiting and helping his widowed mom, reconnecting with life-long friends in Christ, and hopefully lining things up for the proofreading of his translation work (things have moved very slowly the last 18 months or so).

"The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry." ~Psalm 34:15

Occasion for Praise

This month has been filled with blessed gifts from the Lord from beginning to end! We'd like to share them with you so you can rejoice with us!

• Of course, Dejan's citizenship on the first was a highlight for our family and a relief.

• Then, the second and third weekends in March Dejan was in Northwest Montana at one of our supporting churches to share our vision for Edmonton with the fellowship there. In between those two weekends he applied for his U.S. passport and got his Social Security card status updated.

• This past week we got some encouraging news from another missionary in Canada on a clergy/religious worker visa, Dejan was given an invitation to speak at another church that will be supporting us on the East Coast, and he had the opportunity to be very involved in some local evangelism for three days at our city's spring expo. (Even our oldest daughter was joyfully passing out Gospel coins and invitations to the Easter/Resurrection service next weekend. Her first voluntary service to the Lord--an awesome blessing to us as parents!)

• We also celebrated Dejan's birthday this week. We enjoyed the celebrations with our own family, but Dejan also got a very nice gift from the U.S. government: his passport! The official issue date is his literal birthday, and we received it today, the last day of March, about 3 weeks earlier than we were told it should arrive. (Yeah, we know--praise the Lord!)

So, we are rejoicing in God's kindness and goodness. We do have prayer needs, of course, but we'll put that in another post. For now, we'd just like to glory in the Lord and all He is doing on our behalf, for what He is allowing us to do with Him, and for how He is working in us.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me; bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."

~Psalm 103:1-2

Blessing Him,

Dejan and Julie <><

Dual Citizens

It's official!

On Thursday morning during a very wet snow storm in Boise, Dejan was naturalized as a citizen of the United States of America. We are hopeful that now our entry into Canada will be a bit simpler, as Dejan won't have to worry about preserving his residency here while living in another country. He is a true citizen! Now all of our family are citizens of the same country!

The ceremony included 32 people from 17 different nations from all over the globe, including a little family from Sudan, one Canadian, and of course, one Serbian. They were sworn in at the beginning, and then there was a message from the President, a video presentation and a speech by the official overseeing the proceedings. We had quite a delegation from our family in attendance, as well as some friends from a nearby town. It was a great blessing to have such support.

"All American Family"

We never married with the intention of synchronizing our earthly citizenship. Because we are followers of Christ, we've shared heavenly citizenship since we met. Now we are both dual citizens of the same countries. Lord willing, our children will be one day as well.

We are so grateful to have reached the end of this journey of 4+ years. God has truly given us a smooth, straight-forward experience with the U.S. government from the very beginning. May He do the same for us with the Canadian government and our visas for church-planting!

PRAYER UPDATE

We would like to say thank you to those who have been praying with and for us over these last weeks. Here's an update of answers/continued needs:

• We have our baby on a supplement that is supposed to help with her G.I. issue. Being a tablet that is not chew-able, it is difficult sometimes to give it to her as regularly as she needs it, but it does seem to be helping a bit. Please do pray for further insight and wisdom, as she has another doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon (2/23/12).
• Dejan's citizenship process has been very speedy! He completed his interview and exam swiftly on Valentine's Day, and he will become a U.S. citizen at a Naturalization ceremony March 1st!
• Our backs and necks have greatly improved and we are rarely in the chiropractor's office! Your continued prayer for still more improvement is greatly appreciated.

Until next post...

Dejan and Julie

PRAYER UPDATE

Thanks for your prayers. Here is an update on our most recent requests:

• Dejan received the appointment notice for his civics exam and interview. It is scheduled for February 14th at 8 a.m. We received this notice about 6 weeks earlier than expected!
• Our baby is sleeping a bit better, but she still has some virus she's working through in her G.I. system. Please continue to hold her up in prayer and for Julie for rest.

"Men ought always to pray and not to lose heart..." (Luke 18:1)

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank you for joining us in praying for these issues:

• Our baby has been having difficulty with her G.I. system since New Year's Eve. She also hasn't been sleeping well for many nights, and this is starting to take its toll on Julie, causing her to be quite tired during the days. They both need rest.
• Dejan has applied for his U.S. citizenship and one step in the process is complete. We are awaiting the appointment notice for his civics/English exam and interview.
• We are still recovering from our accident in October. The girls have completed their treatments, but we are still in the doctor's office more often than we'd like. Speedy healing is our desire so we can close our claim.

God's Elevator

Most of us have probably been in multiple elevators. When we visited Washington, D.C. a few years ago, our hosts took us to a grand hotel on the Delaware River that had glass elevators around their vestibule. Maybe you've even been in those elevators that have double sets of doors, so that when it's time to get out you exit on the opposite side from which you stepped in.

Elevators seem to fascinate us, even while they are hum-drum for the everyday high-rise office worker. They are particularly novel for children. No one expects to stay in an elevator for long, though.

Our best description for where we're at right now is " in God's elevator". It seems that when God is leading in a new direction, doors start opening that way to encourage us to pursue it. But at some point as we walk through them, doors start closing behind. It helps seal the commitment and prepare for that last open door. Kind of like an elevator. Once you're in, unless the doors close, you're not going to get anywhere.

Lately we have experienced some doors closing behind us, and though we still do not see the doors open before us to move out to Edmonton, we know for certain that God is working and moving us in that direction. It's exciting, really, and an indication that the time is getting quite close.

When things are aligned just right, the door will open of its own accord, with no forcing by us (and no risk of being caught dangerously between floors). God is lifting us up in His time, and we are glad to be in His control!