it 'just so happened' ....

oh canada.. beautiful canada!

As some of you know we had originally planned on going to Canada in mid-May to put some of our things in a container that was being shipped from Calgary to Roatan. Then our friends asked if we'd come earlier. So we quickly booked our flights, packed and got ready to go. Since there was no time to plan well ahead, as Bob is accustomed to do...we took a lesson from God that we are learning more fully in Roatan, and just trusted God to do the planning and reveal it to us along the way!
I had just said to Bob, "Where do you think we should stay in Vernon?" when I 'happened' to get an email from our friends Carolyn and Doug saying that when we come in May they'd love to have us stay with them. So I emailed them back and told them we were coming early (like in two days!) and they were happy to accommodate the change. It was just the beginning of the unfolding of His plans.
In Roatan you pretty much have to let things unfold and not worry, since things happen very differently than in our culture. Things happen and get done when they do, rarely as they are planned, and our Canada trip shows many examples of how we trusted and He worked everything out.

When we got to Vernon one of the first things we did was to try and secure a truck for Monday so we could drive to Calgary with our stuff. There wasn't anything available for Monday. We didn't worry we just thought, "Well, He must have something else for us." We met at our storage container on Saturday (thanks Richard and Gervin for your help!) and began the process of going through our things to decide what to send to Roatan.

the pile on the left is what i went through.. still didn't bring down all that i had marked 'roatan' realize we really don't need alot of 'stuff' down there

At the end of the morning we had planned on taking it to someone's garage and sorting through it more, repacking (since I had opened up many boxes and only took out what we needed) but none of the guys with garages showed up. So there we were, closing the container, and standing there with a large pile of belongings in the parking lot. Then God reminded Bob that there was a Budget rental on Main Street, so off he went, leaving me in the parking lot. One hour later, Bob drives in with a 17 foot box truck from Budget...the only one they had, which was only a one-way designated truck, that they had made an exception for us to go two ways for less than a one way fare. This meant we had plenty of space to sort through and pack items on board instead of having to put it into someone's garage and stuff it into a panel van (our original idea)...thanks God!

have truck will travel!!

After having a wonderful time sharing and visiting with people at church, and lunch with some of my family and Doug and Carolyn (and what a fun lunch that was...we laughed sooo much!) we headed off to Banff, with no place to stay.

me and my sister,Kathy

Here is where it starts to get tricky. We weren't able to get a hold of any of our friends in Banff by phone so we didn't really know what we were going to do. But we trusted and drove down. We don't have a cell phone in Canada that works so we just used the direct Line to God a lot!! Everything worked out. We stayed with our friend Florence who we knew back in 1980. It was wonderful to see her. She is 88 years young!! Thanks for everything Florence.

our friends Paul and Betty in Canmore

Dan in Calgary couldn't load the container until 5:00pm the next day, so that gave us great opportunity to visit our friends in Canmore, get shopping done in Calgary at just the right stores that were right on the route to the container. When we were all done, we noticed that it was 4:45pm and we had a ten minute drive to the house where the container was located. It all worked out beautifully!!

Doug, Dan and Bob loading the container to be shipped to Roatan

Although there was snow we didn't have any trouble traveling...except for being frozen to the toes! It was a very quick trip but it was enjoyable for us since it brought back many memories winding our way through the mountains. We met in Banff 27 years ago, Bob proposed in a canoe on the Vermillion Lakes, we did a lot of hiking in the area, we married in Banff, church planted in Canmore, both Emily and Matt were born there so we did much reminiscing as we traveled along those roads!! Remember when.. remember when... ? It was precious.

Bob climbed this mountain back in his younger years!! I stayed home and prayed!

Castle Mountain - we both climbed this mountain... was amazing!

We left Calgary around 6:30pm (still not knowing where we'd stay on the way back through Banff (didn't want to impose on our dear Flo again) We had wanted to see our friend Clara and she just happened to get back from a cruise the night before and was more than willing to have us stay with her. All of our plans were made as we were going. I believe He ordered our steps. It was so stress free. Truly. We are learning to 'watch what He will do'. There isn't anything wrong with planning. It is good. But without a phone or internet we realized that we really needed to allow Him to take care of the details and He did!! It was wonderful.

Here is still another little story that shows this well. Once we got back to Vernon Bob realized that he had forgotten to pack the fence and guide that goes with the table saw he had sent. Don't know what a fence is? Don't feel bad.. neither did I. Basically it is the guard used so that they can cut straight. Very important part of the saw. Okay now here is the deal: it is in the storage in Vernon somewhere!!! But where? The storage is packed pretty much from floor to ceiling. Bob went and started to search, climbing all the way to the back, moving large pieces of furniture but couldn't find it anywhere. He then prayed, Lord I need you to help me find that fence please. Well, right in the very front of the container on the floor was a long box labeled 'shelves'. The Lord prompted him to open it, even though he knew it was just plastic shelves for the work bench. So he opened it up and sure enough... there it was!! Cool huh?!

Now here is second part to the story: how to get the box from Vernon to Calgary without driving it again ourselves!!! (it is too big to fit in the suitcase). Well...Bob's friend Greg 'just happened' to be driving from Victoria to Calgary and 'just happened' to be spending the night in Vernon that very night...and 'just happened' to call Bob just as he was about to call Greg again!! Can you believe that??! Bob had been trying to get hold of Greg for days (we had thought we'd see him in Calgary) and he had left messages with the number where we were staying. It all worked out again!!! Bob left the box at the Best Western...even booked the room for Greg!

We are presently staying in Victoria for the week at our daughter Emily's place... still trusting for this week.. .watching God unfold our final week here as we visit with the kids, and possibly even bring Matt back to Roatan with us.

enjoying spring here!

david and bob waiting for the bus. bob was saying 'debi quit taking pictures!' i was fooling around with night shots and the flash and it was really a bit much for them after about 20 shots later!! tee hee.

bob and i celebrated our 27th anniversary last evening

Again we thank you for your prayer and your support.