Welcome to our blog! We thought this would be a fun way to announce that the Reeds have decided to adopt a baby/ies from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)! Read further to find out what made us decide to do this, and how you can be involved.
This past summer, we took a team of ten amazing college students to the DRC for three weeks. We immediately fell in love with the people and the culture, and developed close relationships with children and pastors in the area. When we returned home, we continued to struggle with the feeling we had left a piece of our hearts in DRC.
In John 21, after Jesus had already been raised from the dead and revealed himself to his disciples, Peter called to the other disciples and said, "I'm going to fish," and those that were with him jumped up to go with him to the boat. At first glance, it appears that the disciples are doing nothing more than passing the time, or making sure they have enough to eat. The truth is, they were going back to their old lives. They spent years falling in love with Jesus and developing a relationship with Him. Once he was crucified, they gave up, thinking he was a fraud. Even after Jesus proves Himself to be the Son of God to these men, they prefer to go back to their lives, unchanged. These years were radically altered by a relationship with our Savior, and yet these disciples chose to turn from their calling and return to their businesses. When Daniel and I arrived home from the DRC, we struggled with the temptation to be like the disciples were in this moment, and to return to the busy life we once led, as if our lives were not forever changed by our experience with true love.We spent the next few months praying over these feelings of incompletion. We decided to sponsor a local pastor we met on a monthly basis, and even received the honor of sponsoring a child with special needs to attend school. After committing to these sponsorships, we still felt like we were being called to something more as a couple. I spent some time praying, and the idea of adoption came to me. Unlike a lot of Christian couples, Daniel and I had never brought up adoption during our fourteen-year relationship, so I was a little nervous talking to him about it. While Daniel had been wanting to be a father for as long as he could remember, I had always planned on postponing parenting as long as Daniel, and my body, would let me.
A few days after receiving confirmation from my women's group that adoption was what I was being called to do, I spoke to Daniel about it. Understandably, Daniel would need more information and time to think about it. Within a matter of weeks, our church had its first "Adoption Sunday," with church members explaining their experience with adoption. When our PLNU alumni magazine arrived in the mail, it was completely focused on adoption.
Needless to say, Daniel and I both felt that God was confirming in us a calling to take on the huge blessing and adventure of adoption, specifically from the DRC - and we are both so excited! It is amazing to feel such a strong and unexpected calling!
Thanks for reading the long, drawn-out story of our decision to adopt! This is only the beginning of our adventure, and we want to use this blog to keep our friends and family updated on the process, as well as create a journal for our child or children to read someday. Thanks for following along!
While additional updates will be poster here as well, take a look ahead at our Blogger page: http://weleftourheartsindrc.blogspot.com/
