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, March 29, 2015

Nathan's Final Surgery

Tuesday, March 24, 2015 is exactly 3 months after Nathan's last surgery. It is the soonest he is allowed to have his final surgery. So, we scheduled it for this time so he can be free and clear to enjoy spring baseball and summertime activities.

This is his final surgery to repair the cleft in his aveolar ridge. The doctor will take bone from his left hip and graft it to fill his hole.

He may need surgeries when he is older, but he is finished for now.

We are so thankful to all the doctors and nurses who have taken care of him. We are thankful for everyone who has prayed and supported us during this long and unexpected process. We are thankful to the Lord, Jesus Christ who has blessed and chosen us to be Nathan's parents. We are thankful that we live in a country that has the most extraordinary health care in the world.

Our highest praise to our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Our hearts go out to the children around the world who do not have this opportunity and do not even have their basic health needs met.

They have never heard the gospel and that Jesus loves them.

Everyday 20,000 children die because of preventable health disease or starvation.

We live in the richest country in the world and yet we ignore the cry of these children.

 Easter is approaching and we will celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord. As we read the Scriptures and contemplate our allegiance to our Lord, the question we should ask is the same question Pilate asked the angry mob, "What do you want me to do with Jesus?"

I ask you, "What will you do with Jesus?" What will you do as children die everyday because we ignore their cry.

What will you say when you stand before the Lord one day and he asks "Why didn't you do something? You're an American. I've given you everything!"" What have you done with your life?"







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