strange connections

today was one of those days that could have only been designed by the Lord.

we went to the park to eat lunch, like normal. afterwards, we went to play at the playground for a bit. we weren't going to stay long. taylor had a birthday party he was going to, and i'd told the other kids that we'd visit the water park while taylor was at the party.
while the kids were playing at the park, i was crocheting this. a girl who was there with her russian bloodhounds, asked me about it. we got to talking. i learned that she grew up in this ward. she is an it works! distributor. we both suffer from clinical depression and anxiety. after about an hour of talking, we moved things to my house, the kids were cranky. we let the dogs go out back, and continued our conversation. i was so comfortable with her that i found myself telling her things i don't normally tell people when i first meet them.

in our talk, we discovered the strangest connection i've ever found with someone. i was telling her about how we came to find the house we are renting, and how the last 4 years have been difficult. i then gave her basics about elizabeth's abuse. she then told me about a guy that made lewd comments to her and a child she was walking home one sunday after church. she reported it, they had her meet with a sketch artist, and she was told to call (someone, we think a detective) if she saw him again. she never did. but she told me that even though it's been 13 years, she's never forgotten his face. since we were on the subject, she asked if i had a picture of elizabeth's abuser. i did, in fact, have a picture; it was just a matter of finding it (leading up to, and during the trial, it was highly publicized. to the point that his attorney asked for a change of venue.) i did some quick digging, and was able to find the article the prosecutor had made a copy of. she told me that if you put white hair on him, it was the same guy.
she also told me that she had been praying that they would catch him, and he would go to jail. when i let her know that he was in jail, and based on his sentence, he most likely wouldn't make it out alive, she was immensely relieved.

i tried calling the detective who had been in charge of our case, but he was unavailable. i left him a message though. i don't know what this will change, but knowing (even though we already did, just not formally) that we aren't alone, was a huge relief for me.