We are the Reeds

 Come check out our new blogs at:

http://smilesandtrials.blogspot.com/ and

http://theukrainetrain.blogspot.com/

Here are all of our children on the first day of school.  Only Jonny is still at home now, but even then, only twice a week.  He is going to Pre-K this year.  The rest of the kids all go to the same school from Adam who is going into 7th, all the way down to Andrew who is now in kindergarten.

Our *new* family picture taken at the San Diego Zoo.                                                                     

We are blessed to announce our new daughter Rachel Jana!  She joined us on May 29, 2007.  She is beautiful, responsible and funny and fits right into our family.  This Christmas she will be twelve years old!

Welcome home! 

Here we are just this past Saturday at my cousin's wedding down in SoCal.

Spring is Here!!

Hi family and friends.  Hope you had a wonderful Easter!  Annalyn, Julia and I went to Mexico over Easter break on a mission trip.  You can find details in my blog.  Check out the video as well!!!!!

Andrew and Jonny are our youngest children.  At three and five they are probably at their most adventurous.  There is never a dull moment when they are around.  Here is a short video of them pretending to be on a boat.  Please stop the homepage song at the bottom left hand corner.

Hi everyone!  Happy Holidays!  Here is our most recent family picture taken on December 2, 2006.

Here is one more picture of our girls.  That includes our dog "Dolly".

Welcome Annalyn Christine!

She joined our family August 11, 2006!

Anna, Sveta, Annalyn, and Julia

Here's a picture of the girls being silly!

As a Mom, I cherish my beautiful children.  I love my job being a mother and wife and I am so happy to "Have my hands full."  I married my husband John when I was eighteen and this December we will celebrate our 12th anniversary.  I am very blessed to be able to call him my best friend.  Our journey to becoming parents started in 1995 with the birth of our oldest son Adam.  During the next eight years we had six children biologically.  With five boys and one girl we always hoped our next child would be another girl (maybe just to level the testosterone in the house.) With that in mind we were always open to having more children with the belief that they are a blessing.  But to our surprise, God seemed to have other plans for us.  In the beginning of 2004 I had a hysterectomy which ended our baby boom and we began to live life as a family of eight.   Fine with that being our fate and excited that our 10 year bout of diaper changing was finally coming to an end, we were again surprised when we began to think about adoption.  After the Asian Tsunami hit we began to seriously discuss adopting another child.  With so many factors to consider we finally decided to adopt two older children from Russia.  Fast forward to the present, we are now home with our two new daughters and we are a family of 10.  

Adam is our oldest child as he celebrated his 10th birthday in May.  He enjoys reading, playing guitar, and baseball.   He is very helpful in explaining things to others and is called upon often to teach others.   

Caleb is our 2nd son.  He was born in 1996.  He and Adam are very close, not just in age either.  Caleb really enjoys staying active and is well rounded in many sports.  His favorite sports include skateboarding and baseball.  He and Adam are commonly found playing catch in the backyard.  They hold a special place in my heart as the ones that protect their mother - Me. 

Julia is our 1st daughter.   She is my special gift from God in regards to giving me the mother-daughter relationship I always dreamed about having after I realized how special my relationship with my mother is. 

Next is William, our third son, fourth child.  He is very bright and has a tender heart.  He is my cuddler and will not hesitate to come curl up with me whenever I am able to sneak in a nap. 

Andrew is our fifth child.  He is a spitting image of Caleb.  Not only does he look like him but he also has a very similar character.  A true "Mini-Me."  Andrew's birth was a family event, our first delivery at home.   Jonathan is our baby!  He too was born at home.  Everyone finds him irresistably cute, and he knows it! 

Sveta is our 2nd daughter.  She is eight years old and fits nicely between Caleb and Julia.  She is very helpful around the house and has a love for animals.  She has an ear for music and dances wonderfully every time she hears it.

Anna is seven years old and falls behind Julia in age by seven months.  She is very bright and I consider her the "Drama Queen" of the family.  She has a face for everything.  To me, Anna and Sveta are icing on my already beautiful cake.  They are blessings above and beyond what John and I could have ever imagined.  We are so blessed to have each and every child God has entrusted to us and I feel privileged to be their Mom.

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