COVINGTON, Louisiana, December 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When Anna Krell was about 13 or 14, she started hanging out with who she calls “the wrong type of people.” Daily use of alcohol and drugs put her on a “road to destruction” from which she did not know how to exit. She dropped out of school when she was 17.
Anna’s choices led her to become pregnant soon after dropping out of school. But providing for herself and her newborn son proved too much for the single mother to manage. She was unable to hold down her job and had no choice but to put her 6 month old son up for adoption. Two days after finalizing the adoption papers, Anna discovered that she was with child again.
Anna had finally come to the end of her rope. The father of the baby wanted her to have an abortion. “For a while I considered it, but I do not believe in killing the life that someone else could lead, even if I was not ready to parent again,” she says.
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It was at this time that when all seemed hopeless that she remembered a place called Danielle Inn.
Danielle Inn, located in Covington, Louisiana, is a “home of hope for the unwed expectant mother.” The Inn sees its mission as providing a “Christ-centered home to support and minister to the spiritual, physical, educational and emotional needs of pregnant, single/estranged, young women.”
Abby Shields, Executive Director and mother figure at the Inn, is convinced that most women choose abortion, not because of a lack of love for their unborn child, but because of their lack of hope in their ability to be able to care for their child. “It is my passion to help these girls understand that they made the right choice and that they can choose to follow a path that will give them new opportunities and a new life.”
“Whether they acknowledge it or not, these young women are fulfilling God’s purpose by bringing a new life into the world, a life that has meaning and purpose, that was ordained before the creation of the world,” she said to LifeSiteNews (LSN).
The Inn opened its doors to unwed pregnant women in 2010. So far, the Inn has helped 10 pregnant girls deliver their babies. Abby credits the Inn with saving the lives of at least three babies who otherwise would have been aborted. “Danielle Inn,” she says, “is a place from which one can reach out to a hurting world one heart at a time, bringing hope and healing to the hearts of these women by being the hands and feet of Jesus.”
The staff at the Inn seek to impart to the girls a “sense of family,” which is something that Abby says many of the girls who show up at the door have never experienced.
During their time at the Inn, the mothers-to-be develop a system of support for independent living. They learn how to make responsible choices and to escape self-destructive behaviours. They learn effective parenting and life skills.
Anna believes that her time at the Inn has brought her back to the “very beginning” of her “journey through life.” She now views her life as full of potential.
Not only has the Inn helped Anna achieve her high school General Equivalency Degree (GED), but she is making headway in obtaining a driver’s license.
Abby remembers that when Anna entered the Inn, she was filled with “anger, a critical spirit, and a heart that tried to sabotage the love that we were trying to give her.”
As the baby’s Christmas-time birthday fast approaches, Abby now sees a changed woman, a woman full of hope, with a softer heart. She says she sees a woman with a new perspective on life who is ready to launch into the world, continuing to live the new life she has received from the Lord though Danielle Inn.
“They have given me a chance to change my way of viewing life. When I came in, all I hoped for was a chance to start over. I have got that and so much more,” Anna said during an interview with LSN.
Anna says that as a young girl she received a deep wound of the heart when her parents divorced. As she grew older, she turned to alcohol, drugs, and sex to cover over the pain of the festering wound, a wound that led her to believe that she was a “mistake” as a human being.
To not let her past control her future is the biggest lesson that Anna says she has learned during her stay at the Inn.
“No matter what I have done in my past, it does not have to dictate my future,” she now says with conviction.
With her new set of skills and a newly discovered sense of confidence, Anna plans on parenting her little girl. “My little girl means that I have a second chance to parent, and also that I have a second chance of changing my life.”
Instead of seeing her baby as a inconvenient burden, the young mother through the life-changing help of the Inn now feels “blessed because of this baby.”
Abby says that the girls’ faces show just how much they are being “blessed” as their time at Danielle Inn progresses. “Confidence replaces insecurity; Laughter replaces tears. I see a softening of their hearts that ultimately softens their actions and anger. The receive peace from experiencing agape love and knowing that they are safe and not judged by me and my staff.”
Danielle Inn runs on the good will of people who care to help a vulnerable girl in a crisis pregnancy situation. The staff ask most of all for prayer so that their efforts to reach the hearts of the young mothers will not be futile.
They also have a Christmas wish list of crucial amenities they need to keep Danielle Inn running. These include a commercial-grade washer and dryer, a van to shuttle the girls to their doctor appointments, a 45K generator, a commercial-grade refrigerator and freezer, large pots and pans, baby monitors, and gift cards for maternity clothing and disposable diapers.
Anna’s gratitude towards Danielle Inn and its staff warms the heart.
“For young women out there that are or have been in my situation, my advice is to always remember that God can help you do anything.”
“Never give up, there is always another answer besides abortion. If you don’t believe that you are ready to be a parent, somebody else will surely love to have a little girl or boy. Give your child a chance to grow up and to be loved.”
To wish the girls at the Inn a Merry Christmas:
E-mail: [email protected]
Click here to make a Christmas Financial Gift to the Girls at Danielle Inn.
Abby Shields, Executive Director
Ph: (985) 264-8808
E-Mail: [email protected]
Snail Mail:
Danielle Inn
80431 Ogden Rd.
Covington, LA 70435