Wonderfully Made

Taken from Melissa Ohden’s blog at www.melissaohden.com.


"I was aborted by a saline infusion abortion in 1977.

However, that attempt failed at ending my life, and instead of being born dead, I was born alive on the 5th day of the abortion procedure (yes, this is an absolutely true story…feel free to visit my website to see pieces of my medical records).

Although I was initially left for dead, the nurses and doctors quickly realized that I was alive, and they provided me with the medical care needed to sustain my life. Although I struggled with respiratory distress, seizures, jaundice, and required multiple blood transfusions and feeding through an intravenous line in my head, I was wanted.

My adoptive parents opened their hearts and their home to me, knowing full well that they were taking a chance on adopting a little girl who would probably not live for very long, and if I did survive, would more than likely be disabled. Knowing this did not deter them. They loved me, unconditionally, and it was their love, and the love of the doctors annd nurses who cared for me that helped me to not only survive after that failed abortion attempt, but thrive.

I may have been an “accident” (given name) to my biological parents, who were young college students at the time, but by the grace of God, my life took on new meaning.

It wasn’t until I was 14 years old that I found out the truth about my life, that I wasn’t simply given the beautiful gift of an adoption plan by my biological parents, but I had been aborted first. Certainly, it was God’s plan for my life that I am who I am, but I struggled with it for many years.

All of the given names of “aborted child,” “unwanted,” “unloved,” “accident,” “just a blob of tissue,” “choice,” “replaceable,” all took a toll on me from age 14 on. As much as I loved God, and knew He loved me and saved me for great purposes, I was burdened by the given names and fell silent to the world around me. I tried hard to excel in every other part of my life, in order to avoid facing the one true thing that the Lord saved me to do–share the Gospel of truth about abortion and about Him with the world.

It wasn’t until I wrestled with God over those years and finally accepted who I am and who He truly is to me that I was able to fully received my Secret Name, embrace it, and live it out fully in the world through Him.

I am now an international pro-life and Christian speaker, a Christian counselor, and most importantly, a mother. I am so grateful to the Lord for not only saving my life, but allowing me to wrestle with Him long enough to learn my name and be prepared for the fights that I fight in the world today.

I am no longer an “accident,” I am WONDERFULLY MADE!"


Want to hear more about Melissa's story? Go to www.focusonthefamily.com to hear a podcast where Melissa talks more about her incredible life.

Blessings Through Transportation

At the annual meeting in April, I shared about a working client that had been walking to her factory job every night ( 3rd shift). I was a little hesitant about sharing the story but I am so thankful I did. One of the people present was touched by the story and helped make plans for the girl to get a vehicle. That client was given a minivan from a lady in New Castle. Several wonderful Christian people were involved making arrangements and getting the van to the girl. She was absolutely thrilled, and she had enough money saved to pay the tax and insurance she needed to license the van. The client was able to drive to work in the rain instead of walking. She told a friend that the car was a gift from God. So we are praying that when she comes back in she will be ready to hear more about God's wonderful grace.



Jane Bevers, Jennings County Center Manager

Decatur County Center Gets A Facelift

The United Methodist Church of Greensburg volunteered their time and energy last month to paint and freshen up the offices and waiting room of the Decatur County Center. Greensburg Church of God also came into the center to do some cleaning as well as purchased needed items for the center. Darla Goodman, Decatur County Center Manager, said “It looks great and we are really excited.” We always want to make sure our centers are clean and inviting and we greatly appreciate the help and support of our local churches to make this possible.

The Miracle of Embryo Adoption

This is a letter Pregnancy Care Center Development Director Teresa Russell and her husband Chad sent to their family and friends regarding their embryo adoption and subsequent pregnancy. They wanted to share their story with their PCC family to bring awareness to the miracle of embryo adoption.

Dear Friends:

We hope this letter finds you well. We’re sending this letter today to share a struggle we have been facing for the last five years. When we married on March 16, 2002, we had planned to start our family after about three years, once we had “mastered” so to speak how to be a good husband and a good wife. However, this wasn’t God’s plan for us.

After a couple years of trying on our own and running several different fertility tests, we learned we only had a 1% chance of conceiving on our own. We then began considering what our options were to start our family. There were many choices when it came to fertility treatments, adoption and foster parenting.

We are so excited to share with you what God has been doing in our lives regarding the choice we have prayed about and decided to pursue; embryo adoption.

We know this is a very new concept and you may have never even heard the term before. Let us explain. Many couples facing infertility choose to try in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to become pregnant. When a family has been successful in having a child through IVF, remaining embryos are often cryopreserved (frozen). If after a successful round of IVF (which often results in twins...or more!) many couples choose not to have any more children and then struggle with what to do with the remaining embryos. Some choose to destroy the embryos and others donate them for research—which also destroys the embryos. Embryo adoption resolves this difficult issue in a God-honoring, life affirming way.

The great thing about embryo adoption is that it can be an answer to prayer for everyone involved. For the couple who donates the embryos, it is a positive, pro-life way to resolve an ethical dilemma. For the adopting couple, it can be a beautiful opportunity to experience pregnancy and become parents. And for the embryos themselves, a way is provided for them to grow, enter this world, and live a full life. Currently, it is estimated that there are more than 500,000 frozen embryos in the United States. These are pre-born children waiting for a chance at a full life.

At times, our journey through infertility has been terribly painful, but God has done amazing things in our lives and marriage through it. Deciding to pursue embryo adoption has not been an easy decision, but after much prayer, we were confident this is the path God was leading us down.

Some of our best friends put us in contact with their good friends who had six embryos they wanted to place for adoption. In December, we went through a “Frozen Embryo Transfer” (two embryos were thawed and transferred into Teresa---see picture above of these little lives!).

We are beyond blessed to tell you that the transfer was successful and we are expecting the arrival of our first child (no worries, only ONE!) at the end of August. As you could guess, we couldn’t be more excited, and we can’t wait to celebrate this blessing with you soon. Please keep us in your prayers as we enter this new phase of life.

All our love,

Chad and Teresa

Update: We found out on Good Friday that we're having a little girl!

For more information about embryo adoption, visit Bethany Christian Services or Nightlife Christian Adoptions.