While we waited the many months to bring the girls home, I wrote a couple of blog posts introducing our girls.  Rick and I realized today that we had not yet done that for Silas.  So, it is with great delight that we introduce you to our Son.  🙂

Meet Silas James!

Silas was born on April 15th, 2013, in Zhengzhou City, China, in the Henan province.  He was abandoned in a local park, found by the police, and brought to the orphanage on the same day.  He was preliminarily diagnosed with brain damage, and has since been found to have a heart murmur.  He was in the orphanage for approximately seven months before being transferred to a loving, foster family, where he remains to this day.  His birth name, Zheng Fu Lin, means “blessing” and “forest or woods”.  He is indeed, our little “blessing in the woods”!

His hand movements are nimble.  He can play with toys on his own, look through books, and will hit building blocks together.  My favorite thing that the nannies seem to often report is that he can, “tear paper”.  That’s not exactly something that I’m desirous of him doing once home, but it seems to be a big developmental milestone to meet in China!  🙂

He is said to be an active and energetic child, who loves to smile and is quite charming.  He gets along well with others and likes to play with other children.  He loves to play with toys and is especially interested in sounds.  He initiates hugs.  He likes to listen to music, and my particular favorite (not really), watch TV.  When he wants to watch TV, he goes to get the remote and hands it to the foster mom or dad, so that they can turn it on for him.

We’ve been most encouraged with how loved he is in his foster family.  I can’t help but think he will grieve much, but adapt quickly, once we meet him in China.  How I would love to maintain contact with these beautiful families that cared so well for our children before we could get to them!  But, although some are granted this unique privilege, it is not a practice that our agency generally encourages.  And though, at times, we are tempted to seek out our childrens’ beginnings, we resist giving in to that temptation.  We would never want to do anything that would endanger other families being able to bring their children home through international adoption.

A U.S. medical team visited many of the kids at the Zhengzhou orphanage in July 2014 and our Silas was one of the lucky ones to be evaluated.  The doctor that looked him over, himself an adoptive father, had this to say about Silas: “Our impression is that he is very small, but happy and interactive.  The neurological exam is normal, and developmentally, he falls within the normal range.  He still has the heart murmur upon exam.  In general, he looks good with the exception of being small.  And he will need an opthalmology evaluation for his estropia.”  Wow!!  That is really wonderful news!

We will never know why Silas was abandoned.  Because the birth of sons is so highly valued in China, we must believe that it was something that seemed insurmountable to his birth parents.  Perhaps it was his umbilical hernia and the high medical cost of correcting it.  Maybe it was the economic status of his family…if they were poor, it could have been that they struggled to provide for his needs of nourishment and sustenance.  It hurts this Momma’s heart to think of Silas’s birth Mom, who I’m sure loved him very much, having to leave him somewhere where he would be found, so that he could receive the basic necessities and medical care that he needed.  I think too of the orphanage, who saved his life, when he was critically ill in the Winter of 2013, due to severe malnutrition.  His file states that “the child was critically ill and the medical expense very high”.  It also states that “the guarantee showed understanding” and consented to the medical intervention needed.  How heavy are those words!  But I’m grateful that God placed the right people in Silas’s life…dear ones that cared for him and loved him back to health, until such a time that we could lay claim to him and bring him home.

That, friends, is a snap shot of our precious boy.  He is fearfully and wonderfully made.  He is loved by us, and more importantly by the One that made him.  We can’t wait for this precious gift who will, Lord willing, arrive Winter 2015.  We thank God that once again, we get to experience the miracle and wonder of Adoption. We praise God for this indescribable gift!  🙂