For The Least Of These You Did For Me

Welcome to our family's blog. We are the Duryea family and we have seven 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.

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.

No comments:

Post a Comment