Hey jsdds,
sure, if you would order the Journeyman Standard Series immediately you could get familiar with the machine and begin to work with it until the Elite Upgrade package is released 
If you plan to make accessories like table, wasteboard, enclosure, that’s all easier if you have the machine in your hands. And if you plan to use a spindle and build your VFD control cabinet, that’s custom stuff anyway, it won’t differ between Standard and Elite Series, at least if you take into account some dimensions of Elite accessories, especially longer stepper motors. See recommendation to reserve enough space around the machine when building a table or enclosure. Just think of ordering the 80 mm spindle mount, as 65 mm spindles don’t clear the stepper with the standard Z-16 slider, they have thin walls when water-cooled, some cheap chinese 65 mm spindles had hairline cracks and broke (see also here). Also the drag chain that is offered on the Elite is not announced to be wide enough for everything when you plan to use a water-cooled spindle later. See here for width computation for a drag chain.
If you really don’t mind the wait. As far as I know, the Standard Series (like the Journeyman X-50) are available within 2 weeks.
Welcome to the forum!