Welcome ...

Joel Thorne Duran (Joe-L)

Weight: 7 lb. 5.3 oz.

Length: 19 1/2 in.

Date of Arrival: 08/12/2011

Time of Arrival: 11:24 PM

We would like to introduce to you

the newest member of the Duran family.

When we were convinced that God had another baby in store for our family,

we made a deliberate decision to trust Him with yet another part of our lives.

The pregnancy was stressful as we followed the strict regimen set up by the doctors.

Several weeks into the pregnancy, I was feeling very similarly to how I felt being

pregnant with Katrina so we began to think the baby was a girl.

After that I was reading in Luke 1 about the angel of the Lord who came to Zechariah

to tell him about the child soon to be born to him and Elizabeth.

Zechariah's response to the angel's news was, "How can I be sure of this?"

As I read this, those word struck a cord deep within me.

I too was having many doubts and was asking the Lord,

"How can I be sure that this

baby is part of Your plan?"

I continued to read what the angel replied,

"I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God,

and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news."

In that moment I was convinced that the baby's name would be Gabriela Hope.

The next morning I told Pancho and he was 100% on board with the name.

So, a few more weeks passed and we went to the ultrasound,

sure that we would be handed a strawberry.

Much to our surprise, we were handed a blueberry!

Don't get me wrong, we were not the least bit disappointed

but we were so sure about

the baby being a girl that it took us a bit

to get our minds around the idea of another boy.

So, after our party that evening,

I was feeling a little anxious about a name.

Gabriela Hope was no longer an option.

Back to the name drawing board we headed.

I really like names with strong meanings

so I started to send Pancho names that I liked via instant messenger.

He vetoed most of the names.

I absolutely LOVED the name Thorne but it was a no,

until we paired it with Joel,

putting the Thorne in the middle.

I told him that I loved the meaning.

Joel means "God will be willing."

Throughout the pregnancy 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

became very dear to my heart.

"Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,

for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself,

there was given me a thorn in the flesh . . .

Concerning this I implored the Lord

three times that it might leave me.

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,

for power is perfected in weakness.”

Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast

about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses,

with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties,

for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

So, to us, Thorne is what God used to manifest His sufficient grace to us.

Therefore, his name means

"God will be willing to make His grace sufficient."

Joel Thorne

We decided that we would not call him by the original

complete English or Spanish pronunciation of Joel

(are you that surprised since we use the Spanish pronunciation of Samuel?).

In English the name is pronounced: well, you know!

In Spanish the name is pronounced Hoe-L.

So, we combined them.

The first part will be the English pronunciation

and the second part the Spanish pronunciation.

Joe-L.

And then we thought that we could call him

"J.T." for short, should we ever have the desire.

So, we are proud to introduce to you

Joel Thorne Duran

whom God has used (among many other things)

to show us that

He has been willing

to make His grace sufficient for us.

What an incredible gift!