“Mom, I have a surprise for you! An out of town guest is coming and they want to surprise you this weekend. You will be very happy to see them.” My son Alex kept this up for several days. I searched my brain over and over trying to figure out who could possibly be so important.
I agreed to meet them at his dad’s house totally puzzled as to who it could be. When I walked in, my mouth dropped open in shock!
There stood Julie Avila from Colombia, South America. I had not seen her in ten years. I had lived with the family when I was down in Colombia when we had the ministry to raise up girls from poverty.
I immediately ran to hug her and the tears of joy came.
Julie was the oldest of a family of six orphans when we first met her and her little baby. They made a family of seven living in abject poverty without decent food to eat. Our mission reached out to help the family as Julie raised her siblingsNow she is a successful businesswoman and her daughter is a teenager and the rest of the family is doing well. There is so much more to this beautiful story, and this is such a healing time.
Many people in the community helped our mission during that time and are part of this beautiful God-directed journey.
My son Alex from Brazil had reached out to Julie on messenger over the years but nothing came of it until recently. Both she and Alex had asked for our approval to pursue a relationship and we said a hearty yes! Julie is one of those rare gems, a woman of character who loves and serves the Lord.
Alex wanted her to come so he could see her in person. She prayed about it and felt led to come. I knew visas were hard to come by so I never dreamed she would come. A series of miracles brought her here. My heart has been overjoyed to see her. 
Then we took her to see my daughter from Colombia, Rosita and family to surprise them. What a delightful shock and surprise for them! They had visited Colombia this summer where John was born so my grandsons had a chance to spend time with the family. John Andrew’s father is a cousin of the Avilla family. John was especially overcome and jumped into her arms.
Love is a beautiful thing in the way love brings people together!
You don’t often get to see the fruit of your labor but in this case, we have.
God operates in such mysterious ways!