We've shared so many of our China experiences with the Allen family, among them men's bike rides, women's Bible study, family small group, travel, school sports, mission trips, kids' sleepovers, and even the adoption of their 5th child. We had a wonderful, emotional prayer time with all the kids, and then posed for this photo right after... thus the red noses. We didn't want to say good-bye, so we are planning already for a reunion in Michigan next summer. Maybe our senior boys will even end up at the same college!
No one can replace Sue and Rich, Stacia, Lucas, Lance, Elise and Wade for us.
We are grateful, however, for the open and friendly community of expats we live in here. New friends arrive in Shanghai, ready to plug into relationships. God has even given me a new upstairs neighbor with a daughter Gwen's age. We walk to school together, run up and down the stairs between our apartments... so good. Another new friend came home with me after school assembly yesterday and we promptly had a 90 minute conversation about life issues, as if we had known each other for years.
It is amazing to me how God has provided me with kindred spirits at different times in my life, often in unexpected places. Even sleeping on the floor in a room in the girls' dorm at Grove City College when I visited Scott for the weekend, twenty something years ago... dear Rebecca, I am so glad we found each other!
Friends... what a precious gift. Godspeed, Rich and Sue! You are loved, from the other side of the world.
3 comments:
Nice!! Mom
God is good.
Wow! I got a shout-out in this one, and I haven't noticed until now. So sorry! You posted this on Will's b-day, which was also my first day in-service-- so there's a little way toward an explanation.
Nonetheless, ah, yes! How good God is to give us friends. I praise Him for His kindness to me in that regard. You are First among those blessings in my life.
And to that end, you know that you are a great long-distance friend. The Allen's haven't lost you at all.
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