Snow Day = Answered Prayer!

For awhile I have been praying for a Mandarin speaking friend who lives close to us who would be willing to help us communicate when we first bring home our son. I am praying that this person would have children who speak Mandarin and our son would be able to play with them to maintain his Mandarin (assuming he has positive associations with the language and would like to keep it). As a language teacher, I would love nothing more than for him to be a well attached, loving, bilingual American.
Although race and language have never before been a qualification of mine for friendship, I am interested in our son having positive role models who look like him and with whom we can share the parts of his culture that he would like to maintain.

Today, I took our children and the 3 kids I babysit to the library because this is our 3rd snow day! I actually saw 5 of my friends and their children stroll in, coincidentally with the same idea! It truly was the highlight of my week visiting with adults while my children read books!

Anyway, Anna had a Chinese classmate from 2nd grade named Henry. She went to a different school in 3rd grade, so they lost touch. We always remembered him, because in 2nd grade he would hug her and then tickle her arm pits. For years we have fondly referred to him as Tickle Pits Henry. Well, he has grown up and when she walked by him in the library and he said, "Hi Anna!". And there sat his adorable little sister and his friendly mom! Just like any good mom would do, I went over and introduced myself to my new friend, Judy! Although slightly embarrassing, I thought, "moms would do anything to help their children", this is my answer to prayer.

We chatted for 30 minutes! She lives less than 1 mile from us and now Henry and Anna are in middle school together. They speak Mandarin!!! And she is connected to the Chinese community and was so very friendly.
She and her husband own a Chinese restaurant in Bon Air. Because all blog posts need a picture, I took a screen shot of her restaurant because, she is my friend and I'm happy to advertise for her. We exchanged contact information and when she said to her daughter in Mandarin, "Say hi to Auntie" I was both in awe that I understood her and touched that she referred to me with that term of endearment.
Feeling so incredibly blessed how the Lord is weaving our story. Thank God for this snow day!