DRC

Before this journey to adoption began I was aware that, halfway around the world, there was a country called the Congo.  Until a few months ago, I didn't even know that country's full name.  I knew there was a horrible history of violence and pain that scarred the people and the land.  Whatever else I knew was from novels like Conrad's Heart of Darkness, or Crichton's Congo.

  It wasn't personal, it was distant and blurry...

It seems these days that everywhere I look I see the Democratic Republic of Congo.  I read articles in magazines, see pictures on the web, hear stories about the people and even know some missionaries who served there.  It seems that everywhere I turn I am confronted with this place.

Even today, while I waited to get my hair cut, I was reading a local magazine called Kootenay Mountain Culture.  In the magazine was an article about the DRC.  It was haunting.  There was one picture, amidst a story of murder, destruction, and a ravaged land, that actually made me smile.  The picture showed a little boy, about 8 years old (maybe younger) carrying a smaller child on his back.  I couldn't help but think about how I am going to look into a little face from the same country and call them my own!  Beautiful child...

Friends, won't you join me in praying for this country, its leaders and people--that they would know peace and provision. 

(picture found at http://www.peacewomen.org/countries_and_regions/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-of-congo-drc)

One day, in the not so distant future, Jason and I will get to travel to the DRC.  We will be confronted first-hand with the realities that others live with daily.  The more I learn, the more certain I am that God has chosen this place for us to bring our child home from.  The more I learn, the more I hope the time comes quickly...