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.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Fundraiser T-Shirts

 We have decided to raise funds through Adoption Bug with Shaohannah's Hope.

The way it works is that you can buy a Show Hope or Adoption Bug t-shirt through Adoption Bug. Adoption Bug has set up a store for us in our name on their website. A portion of the money goes to Shaohannah's Hope (also known as Show Hope) and we get a small commission to help support our adoption.

This is a great way for anyone who wants to support adoptions and help orphans around the world. Shohannah's Hope was created by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth as a ministry to care for the needs of orphans. They also help families who want to adopt by providing grants for adoption.

Click Here to visit our store.

Click Here to learn more about Show Hope.
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Happy "Gotcha Day", Hannah!

March 31, 2012

We can't believe it has been 9 years since we made the wonderful journey to China to bring our beautiful baby girl home. We will never forget the day they placed you in our arms. It was the most wonderful moment of our lives; a moment in time that we continue to relive everyday. We are so thankful that God has blessed us to be your parents. You are more precious to us than ANYTHING in this world! We thank God everyday for the wonderful care you received from the orphanage, for your nanny and especially for your birth parents.


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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Good News!

We have good news! Our adoption agency has informed us that our paperwork status has been moved from " to be processed" to "in process". We should have our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) with in the next 30 days.

After we receive our LOA we will apply for our visas and fill out more paperwork for the US Embassy Consulate.

It should take about 8-10 weeks for travel approval from the US Embassy.

This means that our paperwork is moving faster than we originally thought. So we could be traveling to China this summer. I'm guessing the end of June??? Or beginning of July.

If you want to pray for us, here are some things you could pray for:

1.Pray we will continue to learn sign language. (Luke might be learning Chinese Sign Language) So, pray that we will be able to communicate with him and pray for his adjustment. Pray that we will be able to communicate with him and that we will understand his needs and wants. Pray that he will understand and know that we love him.

2. Pray that we are approved and receive our LOA.

3. We have a lot to do before we leave. Adam is graduating from online high school in June. We need to prepare for his graduation party as well as prepare for Luke's arrival. Pray that we get everything done.

4. Most of all, we give God all the glory. Pray that He will be glorified in all we say and do.

5. We are close to our goal but we are still in need of some funds. We are so grateful for everyone who has contributed and everything God is doing to bring Luke into our family.

6. If you would like to contribute to our adoption, you can make your tax deductible donation to Duryea Family Fund at European Adoption Consultants, Inc. eaci.com
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