About a Week in Canada!

It’s been about a week since we arrived in Canada, and things are just starting to settle down a bit, including the kids. (Except that as I write this we are being attacked by Nerf darts.)

Traveling

We survived the drive remarkably well. We left Pennsylvania at 5 am Saturday the 3rd of July and traveled with Jeff's parents and their camper to Ann Arbor, Michigan. The boys rode with Jeff's parents all the way. Mary drove the minivan and Jeff the U-Haul. We stayed and rested a few days with Jeff's sister and her husband. It was crazy hot, and we went to a state park swimming area one day and met with Mary’s college roommate friend, Gabrielle. Jeff should have brought an extra shirt for swimming because his shoulders are still peeling.

Then it was north in Michigan to Christmas, which was really fun to tell the kids along the way. “Two hours left until Christmas!” But that day also included, “don’t fall asleep yet! The giant bridge (Mackinac, from the lower to upper peninsulas in Michigan) is only a half hour away!” Despite being up until 11pm the night before, no one slept until a few minutes before we reached Christmas. Google didn’t know about a main road detour, and Isaac nodded off while wandering around Munising, Michigan. We had a delicious BBQ dinner at the one local restaurant recommended for children.

The next day was the slightly shorter (5 hours road time, according to Google) drive to Duluth, Minnesota. The kids enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool, and we woke them up to head to the Canadian border bright and early! Jeff didn’t feel comfortable about going into any of the little pull-off gas stations with the U-Haul, and then we hit construction on the lightly-traveled Route 61 to Grand Portage. The sign said, “no lane markings, 6 miles.” Pretty soon there was nothing but gravel, the road was down to one lane with a pilot car directing the line of cars and making sure no one went more than 30mph. That last stretch in the States was a bit tedious, but we made it to a gas station on the other side of the construction in time to fill up the gas tanks and make a rest stop before heading on to the border.

The Border

The officer asked us a few questions, and then had us pull over to the side. Fortunately Mary’s handwritten list of the contents of the U-Haul was enough that they did not pull everything apart, just one box before he got the list. We all had to go inside and give them our paperwork. It was probably less than 15 minutes when we were done. They gave us back our passports with work permits stapled in and told us we were free to go. We hurried out because the kids were running all over the waiting area, stomping on the “stand here” six feet apart stickers and for some reason wanting to roll on the floor. They were done with traveling. They had been really good.

But that last hour in the van was way too loud. There was insistence on eating oranges despite Mary telling them that peeling and eating navel oranges in the car was not advisable. Sure enough, they couldn’t really peel them, CJ got orange oil in his eye, and even Oreos didn’t make things peaceful for very long. But it was only an hour and we made it. Then we opened the boys’ passports and realized they had not stamped them or anything and remembered we were supposed to ask for 2 year visitor status for them (matching our work permits) so we wouldn’t have to reapply in six months, the typical limit for visitors to Canada. Oops. We had no idea how big a deal that would end up being.

Settling In

People from the Living Hope office brought us meals the first three nights and we started on the long list of paperwork and things to do to get settled here. Since Jeff and Mary are both fully vaccinated, we did not have to quarantine but the children are still on a strict 14 days of not being allowed off the property. We get calls every couple days asking extensive questions about whether they have been around anyone and how they are getting food and fresh air. Mary started exploring the different grocery store options.

We needed health cards ASAP. Adults have to apply in person because they get a photo card but children don’t, fortunately. So we could still get health cards for everyone...or so we thought. Service Ontario said, no, they needed a visitor record, the implied 6 month status all Americans get at land border crossings was not enough. You can’t find this requirement anywhere online. Service Ontario call line does not know anything about it. Immigration and Border Services call lines (after a mandatory half-hour on-hold time) on multiple calls have said that it is not their policy to stamp the passports and Service Ontario should give them health cards. But the one office that actually gives them health cards says no.

We’ve called and called and gone to the inland border office here and spent over 10 hours on this and our last hope is to go back to the border and ask them to give the kids a visitor record. But we can’t do that until the kids’s quarantine is over. (Okay, there’s a chance in 8-9 weeks they will grant our appeal to get them health cards, but we aren’t holding our breath on anything right now.) If that is not successful, we will apply for study permits for the two older kids and a visitor record for Isaac. Current processing times are 153 days. For now, we bought travelers insurance for them, since they are young and active and Stephen already stepped on a nail in the woodpile.

Other than that the paperwork has been successful, if not complete yet. Car insurance, getting another car, home insurance, van registration and plates, have been researched but not purchased yet. Jeff and Mary both have Ontario drivers licenses and health cards. We have Canadian bank accounts. The funds we needed transferred to Canada are here, with an extra 20%, since the US dollar is worth more than the Canadian. Housing is a bit cheaper here, which gives us more options!

House

We have an accepted offer on a house less than 3 miles from the church and walking distance to the youth centre with good (city) yard space (⅛ acre) for the kids and a community garden beside it. It’s a bit older and needs carpets ripped out before we can move in, but it has a big finished basement room and four bedrooms--plenty of space for hospitality when it’s updated a little bit! There are some extra hoops to jump through since we have not had Canadian jobs for even three months yet but the home inspection is scheduled for Tuesday the 20th. Settlement is Sept. 1.

Adjusting

The boys had some hard days in the beginning, but seem to be doing better now. We’ve gone through a magazine of things to do in Thunder Bay and promised them that we will not visit the marina until we can go with them. (Thunder Bay is on Lake Superior.) Thursday when their quarantine is over we plan to go to the border and then to the second biggest waterfall in Ontario, which is on the way back. Then the splash pad at the marina. We have been sharing lots of fun ideas with them, and they are starting to get excited about what they will do after quarantine instead of just being sad when one of their parents leaves without them.

Shopping

Prices are different for food, usually higher but not always. Beef and pork are probably a bit cheaper. There are more lactose free options but less gluten-free options. Unfortunately, we need gluten free. Some of our staples like corn tortillas and boneless skinless chicken breasts ($5 USD/pound!) are prohibitively expensive. Other things like gluten-free oreos and corn chex don’t appear to exist. But we did find the flour necessary for making corn tortillas, which made Stephen happy as quesadillas are his favorite food. Other things are just new and exciting like canned hummus, ketchup chips, pickle chips, and the flashfood app for close-dated items on sale. Wild salmon for less than $3/pound? Yes, please.

Mission Work

Jeff went to the prayer breakfast Friday morning and the youth centre softball game that night. Mary went to the Young Adult game night at the park on Thursday, met over a half dozen young people and discovered she can still play Ultimate Frisbee and is just as out of shape as ever. We are trying to get out a little bit and get plugged into the church community, but we have not done any “work” yet. That will come soon, but for now we need to settle in. We have some orientation scheduled for the week after next.

Prayer requests:

1. That the health card fiasco would be solved on Thursday when we can go back to the border.
2. That we would continue to relax and settle in, especially the boys.
3. That everything would continue to work out for the house, especially the mortgage, and it would be a great place for ministry.
4. That we would start out well showing Jesus and building relationships in the community.
5. Rain. Many northern communities are threatened by forest fires burning within a few miles. People from Deer Lake, Poplar Hill, and Pikangikum are evacuated to hotels here in Thunder Bay but many more places are on alert.