Couple who lost small children in wreck have 2 new reasons to celebrate

Hadley and Gentry Eddings, the Charlotte couple who lost both of their small children in a wreck in May 2015, announced Sunday on Facebook that they are pregnant with twins.

“Y’all have held us up in prayer and we are so grateful! Now we ask you to add two more Eddings to your prayers! We are expecting twins this summer!" Hadley Eddings posted on the Prayers for the Eddings Family Facebook page on Sunday.

Gentry Eddings, a campus pastor at Charlotte’s Forest Hill Church, and Hadley, who teaches 4-year-olds at Forest Hill, drew an outpouring of support following the Memorial Day weekend accident in Pender County along Highway 17.

The couple also drew attention after publicly announcing that they forgave the 28-year-old truck driver from Wilmington who has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor death by vehicle and failure to reduce speed.

On Monday, Hadley Eddings released this statement through the church:

“The Lord has not left us for one second in our grief of losing our two boys almost 2 years ago. God is a redeemer and a restorer! God blesses us beyond what we deserve or could ever imagine. We are excited that Dobbs and Reed are going to be big brothers to TWINS! We are so thankful for our family and so many friends who have prayed for us and cheered us on our way. We're rejoicing, and thank Jesus for these two precious little ones!”

Speaking to his church following the accident, Gentry Eddings told a gathering of 800 mourners that “we have, in our hearts, forgiven the man who did this.”

He added: “It was not the easiest thing to do, but in some ways it was because we know – Hadley and I – that Jesus Christ has forgiven us our debt. ... So in some ways, it was very easy to forgive a man who made an accident.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2017 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Couple who lost small children in wreck have 2 new reasons to celebrate."