We want to thank everyone for their loving and generous donations for our adoption. We can't thank you enough! The outpouring of love, support and prayers has shown us the love and care of our Heavenly Father. There have been so many times people from our church family would suggest resources for us to use for Luke; fundraising ideas, adoption funding websites, sign language teachers, speech and hearing centers, etc. All of this shows us God's care for Luke and that we don't need to walk this road alone. So many times, even now, I still ask the Lord if he is sure that he wants us to do adopt this little boy. It is going to be so different and difficult at times. But the Lord always answers me with his reassurance of his deep love and care for the orphans, the least of these. If you want to see the kingdom of God, visit an orphanage, see the despair on their faces, and you will see God.
Recently, there has been a many robberies in the county where we live. It has been so numerous that our sheriff's department called everyone to make them aware of the problem. Now I started thinking about the mission trip that our church recently went on to Ethiopia to bring eyeglasses and shoes to the people in the Amhara region.
They were so grateful, you would have thought they brought them a new flat screen TV. Many of them needed eyeglasses badly and the others had never worn a pair of shoes before. To put things in perspective, I started thinking about the robberies. No one would ever steal my shoes nor my eyeglasses. They would steal the things that we bought because we desired them and not because we needed them.
For the people in Ethiopia, for the orphan, for the people around the world without clean drinking water, etc. their needs are great. We have so much in this country. We can live with less and give more!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Our Dear Pastor, Mark Spansel Writes About Our Adoption
Dear Friend,
One of the core characteristics of God is His Fatherly care over His children. It is no surprise then that James calls caring for the fatherless orphan one of the truest expressions of religion (James 1:27). Whether through hardship, war, abandonment, or death, there are millions of children who will never experience the tangible love of a human father. Thanks to families like the Duryeas, yet one more beautiful child will not only experience that parental love and care, but will be taught of the Heavenly Father’s love and care. I can’t tell you how much I admire David and Laura’s faith to trust God in the leadership of their home. It is nothing short of a divine calling that they have from God and they are simply doing all they can to delightful obey what the Spirit has told them to do.
Please pray for them, partner with them, and support them as God has provided you with the means to do so. In the days we all have remaining here on earth, may we use them with the kind of purposefulness that this family is. Let their example inspire you to greater faith as well!
By Grace,
Mark Spansel
Lead Pastor, Leroy Community Chapel
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Meet Luke
We now have online approval!!!!!
Our dossier paperwork should be in China by the end of this year!
Next, we will be waiting for final approval.
Next, we will be waiting for final approval.
Meet Luke, our new son.
He is three years old and deaf! He was abandoned when he
was two years old and has been in the orphanage for a year now.
Please pray for us, as we learn sign language,
and make preparations for this new little boy
that God has brought into our lives!
He is three years old and deaf! He was abandoned when he
was two years old and has been in the orphanage for a year now.
Please pray for us, as we learn sign language,
and make preparations for this new little boy
that God has brought into our lives!
Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Happy Adoption Day Rebekah Lu
Hosea 14:3 In you the orphan finds mercy.
Rebekah Lu Duryea
from Chongyang Hubei Province, China
Born: December 9th, 2004
Adopted: October 25th, 2005
Once upon a time I held a child,
whose eyes did not match mine.
Its hair a different color,
Its smile was just divine.
This child was not born
from my womb,
but given by another,
For me to love and give a home,
to one day call me Mother.
No greater gift
will I receive
or cherish more than this.
Thank you Lord
with all my heart
for granting me my prayer.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, that comes down from
the Father.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Dang Feng Zheng
We have some exciting news to share. We are adopting a little three year old boy from China. His name is Dang Feng Zheng. We are told he is very bright and wants to learn, even though his disability is deafness.We have been researching hearing aids, implants and sign language. We have signed our contract with our adoption agency and are moving forward with the next step which is the home study. Please continue to pray for us. If you would like to contribute to our adoption fund, you can send a tax deductible gift to our adoption agency:
European Adoption Consultants, Inc.
12608 Alameda Dr.
Strongsville, Ohio 44149
Attention: Duryea Adoption Fund
We would love to put his picture on our blog, but we need to wait until we have approval from China. As soon as we have approval than we will post his pictures.
European Adoption Consultants, Inc.
12608 Alameda Dr.
Strongsville, Ohio 44149
Attention: Duryea Adoption Fund
We would love to put his picture on our blog, but we need to wait until we have approval from China. As soon as we have approval than we will post his pictures.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
adoption books
I would like to share some of my favorite books about adoption.They have given me insight into what life is like in the orphanages in China and have helped me to answer God's call of adoption.
"The Lost Daughters of China" by Karin Evans was the first book I read about adoption. I found it in our local library while I was waiting for our referral for Hannah. It gives you much insight into Chinese adoptions and the reason behind the one child rule. It helps you to understand why things are the way they are in China. It also gives you love and understanding for the Chinese people.
Another book I love is "Choosing to See" by Marybeth Chapman. It's about their adoptions, the story behind the tragedy of Maria's death, their hope and faith in Christ, and their assurance that they will one day see Maria again. It's hard to get through this book without crying for the Chapman's. They are a beautiful family.
"Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage" by Kay Bratt. Kay becomes a volunteer in a Chinese orphanage while her husband was working in China. It is her journal of everything she has experienced while living in China. This has so many sad stories of the plight of survival of the orphans.It's very hard to get through, so I found myself having to set it aside for a time so that I may meditate on the realities of life for these orphans, meditate on scripture and pray about what God is calling me to do.
"Saving Levi: Left to Die...Destined to Live" by Lisa Misraje Bentley. This is the true story of how a badly burned baby was left in a cornfield to die. An elderly man was the only one from the village who had the courage to bring him to his home and eventually to an orphanage. Eventually he was sent to the christian orphanage where Lisa and her husband were working. The story tells how Lisa miraculously got him to America for surgery on his badly burned body, how so many people of the body of Christ prayed and contributed the funds for his surgery and needs, and how they eventually adopted him.
"The Waiting Child" by Cindy Champnella is the true story of her adoption of a 3 year old little girl from China and how they eventually were able to bring home an orphan boy who she called her "baby". This little boy was so weak and pathetic he needed Jaclyn's protection and love in order to survive. After Jaclyn was adopted she was very worried about him and it was her persistence to save her "baby" that led Cindy down the path to getting him adopted by her sister. This book has given me real insight into life in an orphanage and how it is survival of the strongest. I love the Waiting Child poem at the beginning of the book. It encourages all of us to remember the older children who are left behind and are waiting for a forever family.
Here are a list of other books I recommend: Adopted for Life by Russell D. Moore, Loved by Choice by Susan Horner & Kelly Fordyce Martindale, and A Treasury of Adoption Miracles by Karen Kingsbury.
"The Lost Daughters of China" by Karin Evans was the first book I read about adoption. I found it in our local library while I was waiting for our referral for Hannah. It gives you much insight into Chinese adoptions and the reason behind the one child rule. It helps you to understand why things are the way they are in China. It also gives you love and understanding for the Chinese people.
Another book I love is "Choosing to See" by Marybeth Chapman. It's about their adoptions, the story behind the tragedy of Maria's death, their hope and faith in Christ, and their assurance that they will one day see Maria again. It's hard to get through this book without crying for the Chapman's. They are a beautiful family.
"Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage" by Kay Bratt. Kay becomes a volunteer in a Chinese orphanage while her husband was working in China. It is her journal of everything she has experienced while living in China. This has so many sad stories of the plight of survival of the orphans.It's very hard to get through, so I found myself having to set it aside for a time so that I may meditate on the realities of life for these orphans, meditate on scripture and pray about what God is calling me to do.
"Saving Levi: Left to Die...Destined to Live" by Lisa Misraje Bentley. This is the true story of how a badly burned baby was left in a cornfield to die. An elderly man was the only one from the village who had the courage to bring him to his home and eventually to an orphanage. Eventually he was sent to the christian orphanage where Lisa and her husband were working. The story tells how Lisa miraculously got him to America for surgery on his badly burned body, how so many people of the body of Christ prayed and contributed the funds for his surgery and needs, and how they eventually adopted him.
"The Waiting Child" by Cindy Champnella is the true story of her adoption of a 3 year old little girl from China and how they eventually were able to bring home an orphan boy who she called her "baby". This little boy was so weak and pathetic he needed Jaclyn's protection and love in order to survive. After Jaclyn was adopted she was very worried about him and it was her persistence to save her "baby" that led Cindy down the path to getting him adopted by her sister. This book has given me real insight into life in an orphanage and how it is survival of the strongest. I love the Waiting Child poem at the beginning of the book. It encourages all of us to remember the older children who are left behind and are waiting for a forever family.
Here are a list of other books I recommend: Adopted for Life by Russell D. Moore, Loved by Choice by Susan Horner & Kelly Fordyce Martindale, and A Treasury of Adoption Miracles by Karen Kingsbury.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Adoption Ministry letter
Dear Family and Friends,
We are writing you today with a special request that God has lain on our hearts.
As you may know our family has a ministry of adopting orphans from China. We have three special children that God has blessed us with, Hannah Min, Rebekah Lu and Nathan Gouchang. Even though, the majority of orphaned children are abandoned in China because of the one child policy or the inability to care for their special need, each has a special gift and a special place with God’s Kingdom.
Hannah, who is 8 years old and our first adopted child, was not excluded from the one child policy. She was one day old when she was abandoned. We know this because her umbilical cord was still attached. She was 8 ½ months old when we adopted her. She is a delight to our family and is very bright.
Rebekah, who is 6 years old and our second adopted child, was 3 weeks old when she was abandoned. She was taken to the Chongyang orphanage where she lived until we adopted her. We remember the day she was given to us. She cried and cried and her clothes smelled of smoke. She was 10 ½ months old. Rebekah is a joy to our family and is also very smart.
Nathan is also 6 years old and our third adopted child. He is a special needs child. He was 2 ¾ years old when we adopted him and only 19lbs. We discovered that he had a parasite. He was born with a cleft lip/palate. Nathan also has a severe language delay and developmental delays. Nathan’s speech is progressing but requires a great amount of speech therapy.
The Lord has given us the strength and abilities to minister to our children and the faith to take on special challenges. The Lord has opened are hearts and eyes to the needs of orphans in China. On our trip to China to make Nathan part of our forever family, we had the opportunity to visit his orphanage in Luoyang, Henen Province. This was a special needs orphanage with about 600 children. We were able to visit Nathan’s room which had about 20 -30 special needs children including one blind child.
The statistics of waiting special needs children in China are staggering. According to "Love without Boundaries", 85% of children in Chinese orphanages have some sort of medical special need. Some of the many needs are heart defect, missing fingers/limbs, club foot, cleft lip/palate, deafness, hepatitis, malformed ears, etc.
The Lord has been stretching, growing and stirring our hearts to answer his call that is found in James 1:27 “…taking care of the orphans and widows in their distress.” (NIV). While we were looking at our agency’s website we noticed a cute little boy on their special focus list. He is deaf. Our first thought was no way this is too hard. But the Lord kept tugging at our hearts and reminding us of what his life is like in an orphanage, being alone in the world and in total silence, without hope, without love and without knowing the love of Jesus Christ.
The Lord has lain on our hearts to pursue the adopting little boy like this one. “Their cries are heard only by God – if we listen with our hearts, we can hear them, too.” – Children’s Hope International. During his stay in the orphanage he will be provided with the basic necessities, but may not be able to be schooled or trained in any deaf communication. Even the best institutions can only do so much because the children are so numerous. By the age of 18 he may be sent on the streets to survive on his own.
Although he has been adopted (PTL), the Lord has used him to stir our hearts and pursue adopting another deaf little boy. We would like you to prayerfully consider joining us in this ministry to adopt this 2 year old boy. If God has stirred your spirit with our story and you would like to help continue his work, then we are asking you to first pray that God’s work continues and He guides our direction and resources to His plan. Second, please pray and consider helping us with financial resources to offset the monetary burden of this adoption.
In 2 Corinthians 9:12 God says in “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God” (NIV). When God’s peoples’ needs are supplied, God’s blessings will overflow. The cost of the adoption will be $30,000 plus special medical costs for his condition. We have been blessed that God has provided the funds through employment and tax credits for our previous adoptions and we continue to pursue these sources for this adoption. However, even with these resources we are experiencing a financial need.
If God has moved you to help us with financial support, we have a special fund set up with our adoption agency, European Adoption Consultants (aka EAC). The funds can be anonymous if requested and the donation is a tax deduction since EAC is a nonprofit organization.
To send resources directly to EAC: European Adoption Consultants, Inc. 12608 Alameda Drive, Strongsville, Ohio 44149. Attention: Duryea Adoption Fund, Phone#440-846-9300, 800-533-0098. www.eaci.com
For more information about Chinese Orphans you can visit these websites:
This child's life will change forever through adoption. He will have the love and care of our family and his medical, educational, and nutritional needs met and most importantly he will know the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
May God bless you and we thank you in advance for all your support and prayers.
David, Laura, Adam, Ethan, Sarah, Hannah, Rebekah, and Nathan Duryea
We are writing you today with a special request that God has lain on our hearts.
As you may know our family has a ministry of adopting orphans from China. We have three special children that God has blessed us with, Hannah Min, Rebekah Lu and Nathan Gouchang. Even though, the majority of orphaned children are abandoned in China because of the one child policy or the inability to care for their special need, each has a special gift and a special place with God’s Kingdom.
Hannah, who is 8 years old and our first adopted child, was not excluded from the one child policy. She was one day old when she was abandoned. We know this because her umbilical cord was still attached. She was 8 ½ months old when we adopted her. She is a delight to our family and is very bright.
Rebekah, who is 6 years old and our second adopted child, was 3 weeks old when she was abandoned. She was taken to the Chongyang orphanage where she lived until we adopted her. We remember the day she was given to us. She cried and cried and her clothes smelled of smoke. She was 10 ½ months old. Rebekah is a joy to our family and is also very smart.
Nathan is also 6 years old and our third adopted child. He is a special needs child. He was 2 ¾ years old when we adopted him and only 19lbs. We discovered that he had a parasite. He was born with a cleft lip/palate. Nathan also has a severe language delay and developmental delays. Nathan’s speech is progressing but requires a great amount of speech therapy.
The Lord has given us the strength and abilities to minister to our children and the faith to take on special challenges. The Lord has opened are hearts and eyes to the needs of orphans in China. On our trip to China to make Nathan part of our forever family, we had the opportunity to visit his orphanage in Luoyang, Henen Province. This was a special needs orphanage with about 600 children. We were able to visit Nathan’s room which had about 20 -30 special needs children including one blind child.
The statistics of waiting special needs children in China are staggering. According to "Love without Boundaries", 85% of children in Chinese orphanages have some sort of medical special need. Some of the many needs are heart defect, missing fingers/limbs, club foot, cleft lip/palate, deafness, hepatitis, malformed ears, etc.
The Lord has been stretching, growing and stirring our hearts to answer his call that is found in James 1:27 “…taking care of the orphans and widows in their distress.” (NIV). While we were looking at our agency’s website we noticed a cute little boy on their special focus list. He is deaf. Our first thought was no way this is too hard. But the Lord kept tugging at our hearts and reminding us of what his life is like in an orphanage, being alone in the world and in total silence, without hope, without love and without knowing the love of Jesus Christ.
The Lord has lain on our hearts to pursue the adopting little boy like this one. “Their cries are heard only by God – if we listen with our hearts, we can hear them, too.” – Children’s Hope International. During his stay in the orphanage he will be provided with the basic necessities, but may not be able to be schooled or trained in any deaf communication. Even the best institutions can only do so much because the children are so numerous. By the age of 18 he may be sent on the streets to survive on his own.
Although he has been adopted (PTL), the Lord has used him to stir our hearts and pursue adopting another deaf little boy. We would like you to prayerfully consider joining us in this ministry to adopt this 2 year old boy. If God has stirred your spirit with our story and you would like to help continue his work, then we are asking you to first pray that God’s work continues and He guides our direction and resources to His plan. Second, please pray and consider helping us with financial resources to offset the monetary burden of this adoption.
In 2 Corinthians 9:12 God says in “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God” (NIV). When God’s peoples’ needs are supplied, God’s blessings will overflow. The cost of the adoption will be $30,000 plus special medical costs for his condition. We have been blessed that God has provided the funds through employment and tax credits for our previous adoptions and we continue to pursue these sources for this adoption. However, even with these resources we are experiencing a financial need.
If God has moved you to help us with financial support, we have a special fund set up with our adoption agency, European Adoption Consultants (aka EAC). The funds can be anonymous if requested and the donation is a tax deduction since EAC is a nonprofit organization.
To send resources directly to EAC: European Adoption Consultants, Inc. 12608 Alameda Drive, Strongsville, Ohio 44149. Attention: Duryea Adoption Fund, Phone#440-846-9300, 800-533-0098. www.eaci.com
For more information about Chinese Orphans you can visit these websites:
Shaohannah’s Hope, www.showhope.org
Half the Sky Foundation, www.halfthesky.org
Love without Boundaries, www.lovewithoutboundaries.com
Allow us to leave you with some scriptures that the Lord has laid on our heart pertaining to adoption:“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27.
“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families. Psalm 68: 5-6
You can also follow us on our BLOG at For the Least of These: http://fortheleastofthese-duryeafamily.blogspot.com/This child's life will change forever through adoption. He will have the love and care of our family and his medical, educational, and nutritional needs met and most importantly he will know the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
May God bless you and we thank you in advance for all your support and prayers.
David, Laura, Adam, Ethan, Sarah, Hannah, Rebekah, and Nathan Duryea
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Nathan Gouchang
Well after adopting our two beautiful girls, Hannah and Rebekah, I knew that God was speaking to my heart again. We could either say no to God's calling and instead fill our lives with all kinds of material stuff that moths and rust will destroy anyway or listen to our hearts and the call God has placed on our lives. How could we turn our backs to the cry of orphans and think only of our selfish desires.
So, we had to make a decision. Do we want to adopt or save our new house that we just built. We couldn't afford both. When we started down the road to building our dream home we never knew that adoption would make such an impact on our lives. We were your typical American family, living the typical American dream. However, we are Christians and God doesn't call us to live like everyone else in American. God doesn't call us to live a comfy, narrow minded life, that when we accumulate all our wants and desires we say "is this all there is" or "what did I do with my life". He calls us to live beyond anything we can think or imagine. A life full of eternity in our hearts.
We weren't sure if we could adopt from China again, but the Lord opened the door again. China was just opening their special needs program and they were using our agency as a pilot for the program. When we called Zhou from our agency to see if there was any way we could adopt again, the agency had our family in mind to be help began this program. (Our friends, the Hedden's were the other family that the agency had chosen). God is so Awesome! We were traveling with our very special friends who we met while we were in Rebekah's travel group!
The agency had a 2 year old little boy with a repaired cleft lip/palate. Remember when we were adopting Hannah we saw 2 toddler boys with repaired cleft lip/palate at her orphange. We flew to China and on July 29, 2007, Nathan was placed in our arms. He was 2 ¾ years old when we adopted him and only 19lbs. We discovered that he had a parasite. Nathan also has a severe language delay and cognitive developmental delays. Nathan's speech is progressing but requires a great amount of speech therapy.
He is a happy little boy, loves baseball, riding his bike and dogs. He enjoys being home and schooled by mom. He is such a blessing and brings joy to our lives.
So, we had to make a decision. Do we want to adopt or save our new house that we just built. We couldn't afford both. When we started down the road to building our dream home we never knew that adoption would make such an impact on our lives. We were your typical American family, living the typical American dream. However, we are Christians and God doesn't call us to live like everyone else in American. God doesn't call us to live a comfy, narrow minded life, that when we accumulate all our wants and desires we say "is this all there is" or "what did I do with my life". He calls us to live beyond anything we can think or imagine. A life full of eternity in our hearts.
We weren't sure if we could adopt from China again, but the Lord opened the door again. China was just opening their special needs program and they were using our agency as a pilot for the program. When we called Zhou from our agency to see if there was any way we could adopt again, the agency had our family in mind to be help began this program. (Our friends, the Hedden's were the other family that the agency had chosen). God is so Awesome! We were traveling with our very special friends who we met while we were in Rebekah's travel group!
The agency had a 2 year old little boy with a repaired cleft lip/palate. Remember when we were adopting Hannah we saw 2 toddler boys with repaired cleft lip/palate at her orphange. We flew to China and on July 29, 2007, Nathan was placed in our arms. He was 2 ¾ years old when we adopted him and only 19lbs. We discovered that he had a parasite. Nathan also has a severe language delay and cognitive developmental delays. Nathan's speech is progressing but requires a great amount of speech therapy.
He is a happy little boy, loves baseball, riding his bike and dogs. He enjoys being home and schooled by mom. He is such a blessing and brings joy to our lives.
Rebekah Lu
Adopting Hannah changed our lives forever. We were totally unaware of the impact that adoption would bring to our lives. When you stand in the middle of an orphanage and see the sad, lonely faces of babies and children, how could our lives not be changed. We knew that God had a calling on our lives.
We weren't sure if we would be able to adopt again from China since we now had four children, but God opened the door and China said "yes".God is so good.
So 6 months after arriving home with Hannah we started the paperwork again. We only had to wait 6 months for our referral for Rebekah and everything went smoothly.
Rebekah Lu, who is 6 years old now and our second adopted child, was 3 weeks old when she was abandoned. She was taken to the Chongyang orphanage where she lived until we adopted her. We remember the day she was given to us. She cried and cried and her clothes smelled of smoke. She was 10 ½ months old.
Rebekah is a joy to our family and is also very smart. She loves playing dress-up, having tea parties, dancing and riding her bike.
We weren't sure if we would be able to adopt again from China since we now had four children, but God opened the door and China said "yes".God is so good.
So 6 months after arriving home with Hannah we started the paperwork again. We only had to wait 6 months for our referral for Rebekah and everything went smoothly.
Rebekah Lu, who is 6 years old now and our second adopted child, was 3 weeks old when she was abandoned. She was taken to the Chongyang orphanage where she lived until we adopted her. We remember the day she was given to us. She cried and cried and her clothes smelled of smoke. She was 10 ½ months old.
Rebekah is a joy to our family and is also very smart. She loves playing dress-up, having tea parties, dancing and riding her bike.
Friday, April 8, 2011
The Journey to Hannah Jennie-Marie Min
An invisible red thread leads from one person to another, no matter how far apart the two may be. - Ancient Chinese Proverb
Our journey to make Hannah Jennie-Marie Min part of our forever family begins when we went to St. Louis to visit David's family for a reunion. David's cousin, Carol, had adopted 2 girls from China. We were already praying about adoption because after having Sarah, our third child in 1998, I had surgery for severe endometriosis. We had prayed about this for a year and I am so thankful that I listened to the Lord and didn't drag my feet any longer. I've read that some people with infertility wait for years with no results. This was the right time to adopt! If I would have waited, I might have missed the opportunity to adopt our baby girls because the wait for a baby girl now is about 4 years.
After moving into our new house (which we later sold) in July of 2001, we started the adoption process, and September 11 happened. Even though this was a terrible and scary time for our country we still felt called to adopt, so we continued with the paperwork. In December of 2002, David was laid off from the consulting company that he worked at for10 years. The whole IT consulting industry crashed and an enormous amount of people found themselves without jobs and no new ones were available. At that time we had all our paperwork done and had been waiting 12 months (and I thought that was a long wait) for our referral. Finally, in January 2003 we got the call and our referral of our beautiful baby girl. She was only 6 months old. We were expected to travel in 6-8 weeks.
We thought that we would travel the early part of March. Well, as we were waiting for our TA, and waiting, and waiting, we were getting increasingly nervous because the war in Iraq and SARS had started. At the beginning of March, my grandmother who was just 2 weeks away from turning 90 years old, passed away. She had suffered from Alzheimer's. If we had traveled at the beginning of March I would have missed saying good-bye to her and missed her funeral. So you see, the Lord knows what is best for us. I would have heard the news while we were in China and been devastated.
We finally received our TA and traveled the end of March during the war and the height of SARS. We were the last group to travel from our agency before the embassy suspended adoption travel because of the epidemic. However, it didn't really seem that bad while we were in China. The US news media really put a lot of fear in people. We were becoming increasingly nervous due to the fact that we were watching CNN. I believe the Lord allowed us to go through all of this to strengthen our faith in him and to show us that he is bigger than any opposition we encounter here on earth. Also, David was named the expert witness for a lawsuit case with his old company. He had part time work and was able to bring a W2 to the embassy for our adoption. You see how the Lord worked everything out. We didn't need to worry, even though we did.
Our "Gotcha Day" for Hannah was March 31, 2003 at 9:00pm. Yes, they brought the babies to the hotel lobby and we received them there. It was one of the Most Important Moments of our lives. It could only be orchestrated by God. I can't even fathom how 6 people, 2 worlds apart, could ever meet and become one family. We still, and always will, cherish this moment and cherish sharing this with our adoptive families.
Let me tell you about our travel group. We became part of a larger family when we adopted Hannah, something we realized on our "Gotcha Day". Our families are the best people in the world. Since our daughters are from the same orphanage, this is the only link they have to their past. We are family, we care for each other and we love each other.
When we were given Hannah, she never cried. She kept looking up at the hotel lobby chandelier. She slept through the night without a peep. In the morning, she stood in her crib, didn't cry, and just followed me around the room with her eyes, peeping over her crib. She was a very happy and easy going baby.
We had the opportunity to take a 2 hour trip to Yueyang to visit her orphanage. I remember it was a cold and rainy day when our bus pulled up to the gate of the orphanage. We were all very somber, even the men had tears in their eyes. The orphanage director welcomed us in a room and talked about the orphanage. We were allowed to walk around the courtyard and visit our daughters rooms. We saw rows of cribs in her room along with Hannah's empty crib. There was one baby who was laying on a cot with an IV and a nurse taking care of her. We could see that the babies were loved and well cared for by the nannies.There is no or very little heat, so they have to bundle the babies in many layers to keep them warm. Hannah's orphanage was sponsored by Half The Sky Foundation. We saw a playroom for the babies and toddlers and also nannies being trained by the Half The Sky staff. Together with the Chinese government and Half the Sky Foundation they had just built a new building for the orphanage which they soon would be moving into. The nannies recognized Min and were excited to see her.
While we were standing in the courtyard 2 toddler boys walked to their open door. We talked with the nanny and took their picture. They looked like they had a cleft lip which had been repaired through surgery. We never realized at the time that God was preparing us for adopting a boy with the same medical defect. He always puts the right people in our path when he is calling us to do something new.
Later, the orphanage director took us to a nice traditional Chinese restaurant for lunch to thank us for what we had done. It was more than we had ever expected. We have a love for the Chinese people that we would have never experienced if we had never traveled. So our trip brought us our beautiful babies and a love for a people and their country half way around the world.
There is so much more I could tell, like visiting the awesome Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, and lots of sightseeing and shopping, that I could go on and on. However, I will end with our wonderful homecoming of family and friends. We were finally home to be reunited as a new family. Our God is awesome and we give him all the praise and glory for his wonderful love.
Our journey to make Hannah Jennie-Marie Min part of our forever family begins when we went to St. Louis to visit David's family for a reunion. David's cousin, Carol, had adopted 2 girls from China. We were already praying about adoption because after having Sarah, our third child in 1998, I had surgery for severe endometriosis. We had prayed about this for a year and I am so thankful that I listened to the Lord and didn't drag my feet any longer. I've read that some people with infertility wait for years with no results. This was the right time to adopt! If I would have waited, I might have missed the opportunity to adopt our baby girls because the wait for a baby girl now is about 4 years.
After moving into our new house (which we later sold) in July of 2001, we started the adoption process, and September 11 happened. Even though this was a terrible and scary time for our country we still felt called to adopt, so we continued with the paperwork. In December of 2002, David was laid off from the consulting company that he worked at for10 years. The whole IT consulting industry crashed and an enormous amount of people found themselves without jobs and no new ones were available. At that time we had all our paperwork done and had been waiting 12 months (and I thought that was a long wait) for our referral. Finally, in January 2003 we got the call and our referral of our beautiful baby girl. She was only 6 months old. We were expected to travel in 6-8 weeks.
We thought that we would travel the early part of March. Well, as we were waiting for our TA, and waiting, and waiting, we were getting increasingly nervous because the war in Iraq and SARS had started. At the beginning of March, my grandmother who was just 2 weeks away from turning 90 years old, passed away. She had suffered from Alzheimer's. If we had traveled at the beginning of March I would have missed saying good-bye to her and missed her funeral. So you see, the Lord knows what is best for us. I would have heard the news while we were in China and been devastated.
We finally received our TA and traveled the end of March during the war and the height of SARS. We were the last group to travel from our agency before the embassy suspended adoption travel because of the epidemic. However, it didn't really seem that bad while we were in China. The US news media really put a lot of fear in people. We were becoming increasingly nervous due to the fact that we were watching CNN. I believe the Lord allowed us to go through all of this to strengthen our faith in him and to show us that he is bigger than any opposition we encounter here on earth. Also, David was named the expert witness for a lawsuit case with his old company. He had part time work and was able to bring a W2 to the embassy for our adoption. You see how the Lord worked everything out. We didn't need to worry, even though we did.
Our "Gotcha Day" for Hannah was March 31, 2003 at 9:00pm. Yes, they brought the babies to the hotel lobby and we received them there. It was one of the Most Important Moments of our lives. It could only be orchestrated by God. I can't even fathom how 6 people, 2 worlds apart, could ever meet and become one family. We still, and always will, cherish this moment and cherish sharing this with our adoptive families.
Let me tell you about our travel group. We became part of a larger family when we adopted Hannah, something we realized on our "Gotcha Day". Our families are the best people in the world. Since our daughters are from the same orphanage, this is the only link they have to their past. We are family, we care for each other and we love each other.
When we were given Hannah, she never cried. She kept looking up at the hotel lobby chandelier. She slept through the night without a peep. In the morning, she stood in her crib, didn't cry, and just followed me around the room with her eyes, peeping over her crib. She was a very happy and easy going baby.
We had the opportunity to take a 2 hour trip to Yueyang to visit her orphanage. I remember it was a cold and rainy day when our bus pulled up to the gate of the orphanage. We were all very somber, even the men had tears in their eyes. The orphanage director welcomed us in a room and talked about the orphanage. We were allowed to walk around the courtyard and visit our daughters rooms. We saw rows of cribs in her room along with Hannah's empty crib. There was one baby who was laying on a cot with an IV and a nurse taking care of her. We could see that the babies were loved and well cared for by the nannies.There is no or very little heat, so they have to bundle the babies in many layers to keep them warm. Hannah's orphanage was sponsored by Half The Sky Foundation. We saw a playroom for the babies and toddlers and also nannies being trained by the Half The Sky staff. Together with the Chinese government and Half the Sky Foundation they had just built a new building for the orphanage which they soon would be moving into. The nannies recognized Min and were excited to see her.
While we were standing in the courtyard 2 toddler boys walked to their open door. We talked with the nanny and took their picture. They looked like they had a cleft lip which had been repaired through surgery. We never realized at the time that God was preparing us for adopting a boy with the same medical defect. He always puts the right people in our path when he is calling us to do something new.
Later, the orphanage director took us to a nice traditional Chinese restaurant for lunch to thank us for what we had done. It was more than we had ever expected. We have a love for the Chinese people that we would have never experienced if we had never traveled. So our trip brought us our beautiful babies and a love for a people and their country half way around the world.
There is so much more I could tell, like visiting the awesome Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, and lots of sightseeing and shopping, that I could go on and on. However, I will end with our wonderful homecoming of family and friends. We were finally home to be reunited as a new family. Our God is awesome and we give him all the praise and glory for his wonderful love.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
For The Least Of These You Did For Me
Welcome to our family's blog. We are the Duryea family and we have six children. You might be wondering why we chose this name for our blog. Well, to begin with we have three beautiful biological children and three beautiful children from China. I'll share our journeys to China to bring home our beautiful children later. For now, I'd like to share why we chose this name for our blog. The Lord showed me this verse when we were first seeking adoption. The Lord chose to grow our family through adoption. However, the Lord has also opened our eyes to the needs of orphans , especially in China. We consider "...looking after the orphans and widows in their distress..." James 1:17, as a way of life for us, a calling.
As I read through the many stories in our adoption agency's storybooks, there are countless stories that begin with "...after many years of experiencing infertility, we started the adoption process and are now a forever family"
If you are one of the countless couples that have experienced infertility, let me share with you the wonderful way of starting a family and at the same time providing a home for a needy orphan.God loves you and cares about you. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. If you are feeling hopeless, let me promise you that the Lord hears your cries. If you haven't ever trusted in Jesus and put your hope in him, do it now. Your life will be better than you could ever imagine. I never planned or dreamed I would go to China (3 times) and have this wonderful family. My plans surely would have never been as wonderful as they are today.
I had endometriosis for many years, yet I was able to conceive and have three beautiful children. After Sarah was born in 1998, I experienced severe problems and had surgery. However, I was unable to conceive, probably due to the scars left by endometriosis. Like many of you I had emotional scars as well. Even though I already had three children , I still felt called to have a larger family. Many months, tears, and prayers later we considered adoption. I heard about the plight of baby girls in China and the one child policy that left them abandoned. As we were praying about this, David's family in St.Louis was having a first time ever family reunion. I knew this wasn't coincidence, because David's cousin, a single mom, adopted two girls from China. One was 5 years old and the other was 9 months. This gave us the opportunity to meet them and talk to his cousin about adoption. When we came home we saw an advertisement for an adoption seminar in our area. We attended and were ready to start the paperwork to begin our adoption for a baby girl from China. Our lives would never be the same again.I will share each adoption journey on separate posts.
As I read through the many stories in our adoption agency's storybooks, there are countless stories that begin with "...after many years of experiencing infertility, we started the adoption process and are now a forever family"
If you are one of the countless couples that have experienced infertility, let me share with you the wonderful way of starting a family and at the same time providing a home for a needy orphan.God loves you and cares about you. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. If you are feeling hopeless, let me promise you that the Lord hears your cries. If you haven't ever trusted in Jesus and put your hope in him, do it now. Your life will be better than you could ever imagine. I never planned or dreamed I would go to China (3 times) and have this wonderful family. My plans surely would have never been as wonderful as they are today.
I had endometriosis for many years, yet I was able to conceive and have three beautiful children. After Sarah was born in 1998, I experienced severe problems and had surgery. However, I was unable to conceive, probably due to the scars left by endometriosis. Like many of you I had emotional scars as well. Even though I already had three children , I still felt called to have a larger family. Many months, tears, and prayers later we considered adoption. I heard about the plight of baby girls in China and the one child policy that left them abandoned. As we were praying about this, David's family in St.Louis was having a first time ever family reunion. I knew this wasn't coincidence, because David's cousin, a single mom, adopted two girls from China. One was 5 years old and the other was 9 months. This gave us the opportunity to meet them and talk to his cousin about adoption. When we came home we saw an advertisement for an adoption seminar in our area. We attended and were ready to start the paperwork to begin our adoption for a baby girl from China. Our lives would never be the same again.I will share each adoption journey on separate posts.
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