Day 7

Thank you so much for all your prayers everyone! We got across the border and it was a total miracle of God! They seemed hesitant to want to let me, Dana, across because I am an American coming across with no job and no proof of how I would support myself. Or course we know that God is our provision...but they wouldn't understand that, necessarily. I was praying and the Lord just confirmed in my heart that He had it taken care of. They made us go inside to talk to an immigration officer. I told the officer that we had tax money in the bank. He asked me for a way to prove it. I told him I had no paperwork of that sort but I could call the bank and have him listen to the amount we had. He said that would work. He didn't have a phone I could use so I tried to add money to my cell phone. But while I was trying to do that the phone died because it was out of "juice." He ended up saying "that's fine." I don't need it. He wanted to know about health insurance for the kids...which I said they did have in CA...but I wasn't sure if it could be used here in Canada...and he wanted to know about schooling for the kids which we told them they are homeschooled. He looked at our records from when we lived here before and said we had done everything "by the books" then so he was going to let us in. He said if we're here longer than 2 months then we need to get paperwork for that. God is sooooo good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again for your prayers!! God is definitely at work! We ended up not making it to our final destination last night because we were going through really crazy weather yesterday...most of the day. The rain was of the torrential sort last night and the wind was very strong...so we decided to stop again one more night. We have another 3 1/2 - 4 hours of driving today. Yeah! We're almost there! :)

Day 6

We traveled from Rolla, Missouri to Richmond, Indiana. Richmond is around 20 minutes East of Indianapolis. Wow! Indianapolis is a HUGE city!! We told the kids about the big car race that happens in that city. We also went through St. Louis today and I couldn't resist a good singing of the song "Meet Me in St. Louis." We were able to show the kids the big arch that St. Louis is famous for. We drove right by it on the highway.

Again, we have missed all bad weather that was forecasted. The Lord has really taken us through that amazing window of good weather and safe travel. We traveled through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Our last day of travel will take us through Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and into Ontario. That is very exciting to know we are almost there. We are very ready to arrive. It has been a very good trip. The kids have been absolutely amazing!!! They have not complained about being in the car for too long at all. They have been so good about playing in the backseat together, reading books, keeping a log of the things they see in each state. They have been learning the geography of many states by a very concrete, first-hand experience. Rory has been taking lots of pictures.

The Lord is so faithful and we are truly grateful! We appreciate your prayers as we go through the border. We know He is faithful and already has the path paved before us. He has all the way...so we KNOW He will continue to do so.

Day 5

Today was a very eventful day. We started out from Erick, OK and needed to go through Oklahoma City. In OK City we had to transition from the 40 East to the 44 East. We were sad to say goodbye to the 40 since we had been traveling on it for so many days. The 44 East ended up being a turnpike...a toll road. We got on it before realizing that was what it was and we had not gotten gas or lunch yet. There was nothing for quite a while and were getting concerned about our gas tank getting pretty low. God is so good and took care of it. We eventually found one but had to pay to get off of the turnpike. We did not know we were getting on a toll road so were not completely prepared for this situation. It was a machine that wanted exact change. God is so good and had prepared us for this situation without us not knowing it.

While in Albuquerque, NM...two days earlier...I had tried to get Rory a water from a vending machine with a dollar bill. However, the waters were all out so it gave me change back in 4 quarters. I ended up needing those 4 quarters for the exit off of this turnpike.

The turnpike machine was not responding to the change I had put in. I ended up having at least $2 in change...God is good...but it still had a red light. I asked the driver behind me what I was supposed to do...since I am not used to these things...and he told me he would drive through. So, I took his advice and drove through. It beeped at me like I was breaking the law...but I knew I hadn't. I ended up asking the girl in the gas station we went to and she told me that we wouldn't get a ticket for it since the cameras didn't work in that area. I was thankful. I had paid...so I knew we were right before the Lord. While at this stop area, we got some lunch and ended up meeting a pastor and his wife. We talked with them for a bit about the ministry the Lord was calling us into and they told us of the ministry they were doing in that area. It was a neat time of fellowship. Rory ended up going after them, when they had left, and asked them for contact information and prayed with them. This was a divine appointment. God is so faithful!

Texas and OK are currently struggling with fires due to the dryness and heavy winds. We ended up driving through an area where there were fires next to our side of the highway. I had never been that close to a fire like that before. They were not big fires but there was a good amount of smoke. Both states have lost over 4,000 acres from these fires. Please pray that they will be stopped soon. God is good and kept us safe through that.

We made it to Rolla, Missouri. When checking in, the woman who was working the front desk told me that a week ago it had snowed 8 inches here. Not far away, where her daughter lives it had snowed around 1 1/2 feet...yet today it had been 83 degrees there. Wow! We had been prayed for before we left that God was taking us through a window to give us good weather and get us to our destination safely! I cannot tell you how much that has been true! This account of Rolla, MO was a GREAT example of this!! God is so faithful! We are so grateful!!!! He is soooo good!!! :)

Day 4

We woke up feeling much better! Rory was still a bit weak but doing well. He did an amazing job getting our luggage on top of the car and secured down even with not feeling 100%. We were happy to get back on the road and thankful that the Lord had healed our bodies! God is sooo faithful!
We made it from Albuquerque, NM to Erick, OK. Erick is just inside Oklahoma about 10 minutes. Around suppertime we had stopped for gas in Amarillo, TX. Our car was down to a little over a quarter of a tank of gas left. It took a little under $10 to fill our car. This was an amazing miracle. We have never seen our car fill up for this small amount even with how cheap the gas was. We were and are so thankful to the Lord! The weather has been amazing and we haven't needed our tarp over the suitcases. The kids have been amazing and really are enjoying the trip. Jacob even said on the 2nd morning in Albuquerque, NM. "Mommy, this was so fun to stay in the hotel one more day. It was like a vacation!" Sometimes things look different than what we are expecting but the Lord shows up and shows us His purposes. He has really been telling us to relax and enjoy the trip. He doesn't want us to stress about getting there as quick as we had been planning on but to really enjoy this time together as a family. We are really trying to purpose in our hearts to do that. God is sooo good and sooo faithful! We truly love Him and are thankful to be in His family!

Day 3

We decided to stay in Albuquerque, NM one more day to try and get over feeling sick. Rory has a 100.8 degree fever, with the chills, yucky feeling tummy and Dana still feels junky and a yucky feeling tummy. We are praying that we will feel better enough to get on the road again tomorrow.

Day 2

We made it to Albuquerque, NM. It was a long day of driving. The kids have been doing great making observances of what they see in each state. They have been making lists of what they see. This is a great way of learning about each state that we go through. It has been fun. They have been doing great in the car as well. At lunch we had them run around a sidewalk a few times, racing one another, to get all their energy out. It seemed to really help. :)

At one point in the day, Dana started to get the aches you get when you're getting sick. We have also been feeling other attacks by the enemy and were praying through them. We put worship on in the car and really felt the Spirit's Presence with us. We just really know that God has something great coming. This trip has been proof of it. God is so good and is so faithful!

Day 1

We got away late but finally got on the road. We ended up making it to Kingman, AZ and stayed in a Motel 6. They were out of WIFI rooms so we had to enter this day late. :)

As we headed out on the road we were going to make a left turn. Rory did not see a car turning left from the oncoming traffic. He saw the back door as we were about to hit it. He quickly tried to swerve to miss the car but knew he couldn't make it. However, we didn't hit the car. He asked Dana how we missed that car and she told him that she had no idea because she had her eyes closed. LOL :)

We know it was a miracle and God was protecting us on this journey!