Found it!

After half an hour of tearing my room apart, I found my Hosteling International card snug in my wallet - where it should be!

Why do I  always fail to look in the obvious places?

I usually don't get cards because I don't think paying for them actually justifies the discount one eventually gets. But it did, just once, in lovely Montreal, and my gracious friends said I could have the card for free! Lovely, aren't they? (:

Hopefully, I get to put it to good use. Discounts for hostels in Sweden, India, France and Hong Kong before it expires. My head is in the clouds!

I never did think I would be using this card at all when the year was still fresh from christmas celebrations and we were freezing in Canada. But look how much things have changed!

And then today, another unexpected surprise came my way that would have been good news under normal circumstances, but under these (very different) circumstances, that little surprise took on more meaning and became more special to me.

Perhaps if I were to think of this in a spiritual way, one could say it was like God, a superior being looking down on me and blessing this path that I've chosen to journey on.

And I've just got to say that I'm very grateful, very thankful for the many blessings that have come my way thus far. Who knows how God will bless, how He will give, how He will punish, and just how much He will take away - but Christians trust that he knows what's for the best.