Rare jewels

How do I begin to tell you about Carla? There are some people that God allows in your life that are like rare jewels. Carla is one of those jewels. Steve and I first met Carla in the summer of 1996 when we were on a mission trip to Mexico. We loved her enthusiasm for Christ. It was contagious. Until this year, we had not seen Carla since 1996, but had heard of her journeys: to Italy as a missionary, her evangelism in Mexico, her marriage to one of our children's Sunday school teachers. We only hoped that our paths would cross again... and they have. Carla and her husband joined us at our church on Easter Sunday. (You can read about that on my first post). When she found out that we were planning to travel to Spain, she offered to tutor our children in Spanish. Since then we have had weekly meetings with Carla. They have brought us all great joy as we have learned together, laughed together, cried together, and prayed together. Last week we celebrated Carla's birthday with her as we thanked God for her life and for her impact on The Kingdom. A rare jewel indeed.