It was a senseless act in a senseless war zone in a country that makes little sense to most of us in the western world. Massacred after spending weeks aiding people with eye diseases and teaching children how to use toothbrushes, something they had never seen before. Selfless humanitarians helping the least of humanity.

And Cheryl was one of them.

She had a eye for photography and made beautiful and rugged Afghanistan come alive in pictures. She had a way with words that could capture emotion. In her last newsletter, dated just before she left with the team for the Nuristan province of Afghanistan, she wrote:

"Greetings from a peaceful and warm Central Asia. Today finds me catching up and reflecting on a busy but rich couple of months...There have been threats and concerns that have come and gone...Life and death have both been tasted again."

She placed a quote from Eddie Askew in this update. It read in part, "Lord, if this is where you want me, I am content. No, not quite true. I wish it were. All I can say, in honesty, is this: If this is where I'm meant to be, I'll stay. And try. Just let me feel your hands. And Lord, for all who hurt today - hurt more than me - I ask for strength and that flicker of light the warmth that says You're there."

Her family wrote, after hearing of her death, "Cheryl loved and respected the Afghan people...She was honored to be included in this most recent three-week medical journey to the remote populations of Northern Afghanistan....The wickedness of terrorism is being conquered through daily acts of mercy...Those who committed this act of terror should feel the utter shame and disgust that humanity feels for them."

My heart goes out to her parents. I remember them sitting in my Sunday school class when they were yet in high school. I remember playing cards with her grandparents on weekends at my in-laws' home. My husband remembers growing up around Cheryl's great-grandparents.

This is a fine family. It is an honor to know them. And that's what I think about it.