How God Led Us To Luke

I remember when the Lord first spoke to my heart. It was when I was a little girl. I was standing  in front of the mirror in our bathroom while brushing my teeth or washing my hands or face. All of a sudden I would hear a voice speak to my heart (not an audible voice): "Why are you hear? What is life?"  I would stop and think about. I knew it had something to do with God. This happened several times throughout my childhood.
I was saved when I was 17 at a play about Christ's life, death and resurrection. When I heard the sound of the nails being driven into His hands and feet and seeing His blood poured out for me, I bowed my head and knew that Christ died for me. God had planted the seed in my heart when I was very young and was drawing me to Himself.

Now, how do I know that the Lord has called me to adopt Luke, a deaf child. The Bible says "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me." John 10:27 

It all started when we were adopting Hannah. When we had the opportunity to visit her orphanage, our whole world changed. When you stand in the middle of an orphanage half way around the world, your whole perspective on life changes. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2. We always knew we would adopt again. We believed that as long as we were willing, the Lord would continue to put children on our hearts. We can't turn our back on the orphans and say "It's someone else's problem" or " We've done enough."

There is a cost for following Christ. The Bible says "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" Mark 8: 34-36.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

While I was looking at our agency's website ( they post several special focus children trying to find homes for them) , I noticed a cute little toddler. He was profoundly deaf. My first thought was "no way, that is too hard." But the Lord kept tugging at my heart and I kept finding myself looking at his picture. I started thinking how sad his life must be; being alone in the world without a mom and dad and being completely deaf. We decided to pray and seek the Lord to see if he was really leading us to adopt a deaf child. I talked with Nathan's audiologist and found out we would all have to learn sign language.We allowed fear to scare us and say, "no this is too hard." But over several months the Lord kept tugging at our hearts. We also found out that most people who are deaf can have either hearing aids or cochlear implants to enable them to hear.

As the Lord continued to change our hearts, He continued to put people in our path to encourage us. People who were deaf, knew sign language, taught sign language, etc. One day while I was at the YMCA, I was studying sign language (from a book) and the woman sitting next to me said she used to teach sign language. She actually brought me a sign language video the following week.

After about 9 months of praying, we decided to give the agency a call about the little boy. They said he had been adopted. We were very disappointed and confused. Did we hear wrong from the Lord? The next day   the adoption agency called back and said they found another little deaf boy for us. Do we really still want to adopt a deaf child? He was 3 years old on June 21, 2011. He was abandoned when he was 2 years old. He is very bright and wants to learn. So now we stand at a crossroad. We have a choice. God is a gentlemen and He does not force us to do something. The choice is ours. We could say   "no" and choose a different special need or we could say "yes" to something that is difficult, but we believe the Lord is calling us to do. Of course we were thrilled. The agency wouldn't let us look at his picture until we made our decision. We were given an adorable, beautiful little boy to love and nurture. In our flesh we wouldn't have pursued  adopting a deaf child. But, we believe the Lord was using the toddler from our agency's website to  mold and prepare our hearts for Luke.

As we continue to wait for the day when we leave for China, I sometimes allow fear to overtake me. We know  our lives will change and never be the same again. It's easy to stay where life is comfortable. We know there are challenges that lay ahead, but we know we have a Savior who will walk that road with us. When fear overcomes me, I  have to continually tell myself "this is not about me." "Life is not about me!"  Pastor Spansel reminded us a few weeks ago of The Westminster Catechism " What is the purpose of life?" To glorify God! This is what we are called to do.

Our children are so blessed to have siblings from China. They have walked and will continue to walk with them through their struggles. One time Ethan wrote a poem about Nathan and how he struggles with his communication skills (his difficulty in learning to speak) . His teacher was so blessed by Ethan's love for his brother. We are so blessed that our family is so close and the older siblings love to spend time with their younger sisters and brother.

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


The King will reply, ‘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


learn to do right! 
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. 
⁶ God sets the lonely in families,
    he leads forth the prisoners with singing;
    but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Psalm 68:5-6


But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
    you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you; 
    you are the helper of the fatherless.Psalm 10:14


You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; 
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 
¹⁸ defending the fatherless and the oppressed, 
    in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.Psalm 10:17-18

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.

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.

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

Special Post

Please refer to our special post (which is on our sidebar) which explains how the Lord led us to adopt this special little deaf boy, whom we are naming Luke Feng Zheng. The name of the post is Adoption Ministry Letter. We are still in need of funds for our adoption.

The Potter's Hand - A Ministry of Adoption

Some people don't believe that God has a purpose for our lives and actually calls believers to do His work for His kingdom. I've been told that some people have a difficult time seeing adoption as a ministry. Well I would like to share with you how the Lord called me into adoption.

While I was going through the Lord's pruning, it never occurred to me that this would become a ministry. I just thought that it would be one adoption of a baby girl from China. I never dreamed that I would have such a love for the orphans of the world.

I remember when the Lord first called me to adopt. At  that time I was playing the trumpet for my former church's worship team. We were playing many songs by Hillsong and "The Potter's Hand" was one of them. It seemed we were singing it every week. (I think the Lord had a reason for this). I didn't play anything on that particular song so I just stayed in my place on the alter and worshiped.

 I was also going through a very difficult and depressed time because I had secondary infertility and so I was very angry with God. The Lord used this song to break me of my selfish desires and wanting everything my way.  The Lord used the words of this song to break my selfishness and mold me to His calling. Every time we played "The Potter's Hand",  I would break down and cry. I would silently ask forgiveness for my selfishness and for being so angry with Him. This just didn't happen on one particular Sunday morning. It continued week, after week, after week, after week. {The rest of the worship team was very kind to me and understood that I was going through a difficult time in my life}.You see, I would return home ready to follow God's leading, but then during the week that selfish desire would creep back and I just couldn't let go of it. So, the next Sunday, even though I was mad at God and said I would never return to church again, I returned with my trumpet in hand. When we played "The Potter's Hand" the whole scenario would begin again. I would weep, ask forgiveness, and hear His calling. If I would only let go...

Finally, I realized that God wasn't going to change His mind and His way is better than mine. These are the scriptures the Lord gave to me:

" 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

^"1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, 
   because the LORD has anointed me 
   to proclaim good news to the poor. 
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, 
   to proclaim freedom for the captives 
   and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a] 
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor 
   and the day of vengeance of our God, 
to comfort all who mourn, 
 ³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion— 
to bestow on them a crown of beauty 
   instead of ashes, 
the oil of joy 
   instead of mourning, 
and a garment of praise 
   instead of a spirit of despair. 
They will be called oaks of righteousness, 
   a planting of the LORD 
   for the display of his splendor. " Isaiah 61: 1-3

"But now, this is what the LORD says— 
   he who created you, Jacob, 
   he who formed you, Israel: 
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; 
   I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 
² When you pass through the waters, 
   I will be with you; 
and when you pass through the rivers, 
   they will not sweep over you. 
When you walk through the fire, 
   you will not be burned; 
   the flames will not set you ablaze. 
³ For I am the LORD your God, 
   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; 
I give Egypt for your ransom, 
   Cush^[a] and Seba in your stead. 
⁴ Since you are precious and honored in my sight, 
   and because I love you, 
I will give people in exchange for you, 
   nations in exchange for your life. 
⁵ Do not be afraid, for I am with you; 
   I will bring your children from the east 
   and gather you from the west. 
⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ 
   and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ 
Bring my sons from afar 
   and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 
⁷ everyone who is called by my name, 
   whom I created for my glory, 
   whom I formed and made.” Isaiah 43:1-7


 ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

   ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

   ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

   ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:31-40

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
   ⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." Matthew 13:44-46

If I would have continued following my sinful nature, than I would not have been BLESSED with adopting these 4 beautiful children from China, two of whom are special needs. I AM BLESSED beyond anything I could ever imagine.

Where was David all this time? He was ready to adopt and waiting for me.

This is our calling!

Enjoy "The Potter's Hand" by Hillsong and allow the Lord to mold you into His calling for your life.

Our Log in Date

Our paperwork is in China and we have a log in date (LID)of February 21. Now we wait for our paperwork to be translated and for our Letter of Acceptance( LOA). Next, we have to wait for our TA (Travel Approval). The whole process could take from 4 to 6 months from our LID.

We are so excited to go to China again. We love the Chinese people and can't wait to have the opportunity to tell someone about Christ and the wonderful things he has done for us.

We want to thank everyone who has helped us financially with our adoption. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers. Thank you for having the vision to see this as a ministry.