And Now Just Who Was Rooming Next Door?

As Jonathan and I were shown where to find our guest room at the "old farmhouse," as it is called there at AWC, we had a surprise. Up there in the second story where there were three bedrooms, the room right next to ours had another guest--the lady with whom I worked 28 years ago in Kiev, Ukraine, before either of us got married! What were the odds of that happening?

She was back in the States to spend time with her daughter who just had her first baby a few weeks ago! Boy, is it ever a good thing that we are on good terms with each other! Because we keep running into each other literally all over the world and all over the United States--since both of us married young men from Colorado, both of us have been in missions for about 30 years, both of us attend IHC sometimes, and both of us end up in the same place over and over again! (For her privacy and because of where she and her husband are serving now, I won't say a name here.)

And Sunday morning, we were both in the service in Salem,OH, where her grandson was dedicated! 

We keep running into Jonathan's good friend Ken Lefever, too, who sang with his wife and sister-in-law Sunday morning in church. 

And didn't we run into Joanna, too, (younger sister of Joy Albertson in SD), who is attending AWC now. She is such a dear, sweet girl, about 24 years old or thereabouts, who really deserves a wonderful young man--

but before I go off on that tangent.... 

It's amazing the people the Lord brings across our paths. We don't always know the whys or the purposes, but He just lets our paths continue to cross sometimes. 

Maybe it's for the laughs.

The day after I had spoken for the alumni service, we returned to our guest room to discover a paper stuck to it with sticky tack.

"Congratulations!" the paper read in the unmistakable writing of my former coworker in Ukraine, who must have been listening to my wee speech the night before where I told about getting two pink slips for my dorm room when I was a student at AWC.

"You have successfully passed room inspection!"

I stood there in consternation as I debated whether to believe that she had actually checked our room or was just teasing!

"She is just teasing!" I told myself. "Remember all those times in Ukraine when you took her too seriously?"
Maybe I have learned a lesson or two down through the years.

At least I hope so!