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 <><