a little surprise

Today I was reminded again of how God is taking care of us here in Hong Kong...

When it became official that we would be moving here, Annika's sweet preschool teacher told me that she had a family friend that she should put me in touch with. She wasn't even sure where exactly in Asia this friend was, but knew that she and her husband worked at international schools and that she was someone I should be in touch with.

So she checked it out and came back with her email address and said that as it turns out, Karla was in Hong Kong with her husband and two young kids- the oldest one being Annie's age. I was very grateful for the chance to correspond with someone already living there, so I emailed Karla, and for the next few months we emailed sporadically. She was a great resource, especially for questions about things like what to expect with finding kids clothing, and I remember one email where she provided a lot of encouragement exactly when I needed it!

I wanted to email her when we arrived, but I wanted to wait until we were more settled and I had a better sense of how to get around the city. And I also wanted to wait until she'd be back in Hong Kong from her summer in Canada. And then I wanted to wait until Annika was in kindergarten. And I think I also got a bit chicken.

So this week for church, we kind of randomly decided to try a church called Island ECC that we've heard other teachers mention. One teacher had invited us last week already said that she attends the 11:30 service. Last night we looked at how we would get there, and then decided that if we were up early enough (and we usually are!), it might be better to try the 9:30 service so that we'd finish earlier.

We found the church no problem, and I got a good vibe from it. Annie went to the children's program, but I couldn't convince Leila to go this week. When I dropped Annika off, I noticed that the boy she was sitting beside in children's church looked a lot like Karla's son. Karla had sent me a link to pictures of their family so I could see some pictures of life in Hong Kong. So then I looked around the service and was pretty sure I could spot her and her husband. I wasn't sure if I would actually run into them after the service, but I did see her again, so I approached her, and she immediately recognized me as well. She gave me a big hug and invited us to join them and another new-to-HK family for dim sum for lunch. And then they even treated us to lunch! Annika warmed up to their son right away and said she wants to invite him to her birthday party! Karla also stays at home with their baby daughter, so even though we don't live super close to each other, we plan on getting together.

Isn't God amazing? There have been so many little things all along the way of this adventure where it is so clear to us that God is right here with us through it all!