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.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

From the Heart

I want to share with all of you what God has put on my heart since I became a Christian. When I was in college I learned of the abortion video "The Silent Scream", the truth about abortion, and the lies of the abortion industry (please be courteous, open minded and continue reading.) Once David and I knew the truth, we would stand for life by going on pro-life walks, life chains and standing outside abortion clinics. We experienced their abuse first hand from being cursed at to having things thrown at us.

Have you ever met someone who had an abortion? I have a friend who did when she was very young and I don't think it is something one ever completely gets over,
except by the healing power of Jesus. In her testimony she cried that she killed her baby. Now do you really believe the lies of the enemy, that  having an abortion is a women's right to choose and it won't have any lasting effects on anyone? Anti-life people say "it's not a baby, it's a fetus". Well did you know that the word fetus is Latin for little person? Did you know that a baby's heart begins to beat at 3 weeks old? The Bible calls Satan a murder,a liar and the father of lies, John 8:43-45.If you had an abortion please know that Jesus loves you and forgives you. He does not condemn you and either do we. We live in a fallen world and we all make mistakes, sometimes without even knowing or understanding the truth. But, Jesus gives you real freedom and truth, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free, John 8:31-33.

Anyone can see that our family is very pro-life. God is the Creator of all life and all things under heaven. He has made everything beautiful in it's time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end, Ecclesiastes 3: 10-12. Just look at the world around you. Life is His and His only to give and take away. He is Sovereign and Holy. We cannot create life.  Now I'm not saying there is anything wrong with invetro, etc. I think it is wonderful that God has given doctors the ability to help struggling couples conceive, but what I am saying is that He still is the Giver of Life. All life is beautiful, who are we to judge the quality of life? The child with down's syndrome to the child who is deaf is precious to God. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17.

This brings me to the point I want to say. When you vote this November, I would appreciate it if you would remember my adopted children. Their birth mothers had the courage to give them life and not end their lives in an abortion. It took enormous courage and strength to go through giving birth to them and then abandoning them in a place where they could be found. I know their hearts still ache with the pain of having to let go of their precious treasures. Please don't judge them! That is why I say they had the courage and the love to give them life and do what they know is right. So, when you look in the faces of Hannah Min, Rebekah Lu, Nathan Gouchang and Luke Feng Zheng remember that they would not be here if their birth mother chose to abort them.

Remember them when you vote in November. Stand for ALL LIFE, all over the world.

All Christians, no matter what your denomination, need to stand with the Catholic Church in this fight for Life.

Mother Theresa said that "there is never too many children" and "give the children to me, I'll take them". I feel the same way. There are many childless couples who so desperately want children. Give a child life.

A book I would highly recommend is "Message From An Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Love and Loss" by Xinran. I pray after reading this book you will understand.

Another book I would highly recommend is "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: by Eric Metaxas. He had the courage to stand for truth.  Will we do the same today?