Silas

Since Maggie joined our family, we remained
open to what God wanted to do in our family,
and we grew and learned so much from having
her with us. As our eyes were opened to the
thousands of children who were already living
in the world, and needing a loving home and
family, we began to realize that to have the
resources to do something about it, and to not
do it, was simply selfishness. With Maggie,
the issue had been bringing another child into
our family. But through our travel to China, and
going through the whole adoption process, we
were now keenly aware of all the precious
children in the world who did not have a loving
family and home. Now the question we had to
face was not why to adopt, but why not to. The
Scriptures plainly state that to know something
good to do, and to not do it, is a sin.

Meeting Silas at last.

James 4:17 “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

James 2:15-17 “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep
warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself,
if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Matthew 25:40 "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.'"

To see someone in need, and to turn your head and walk away, cannot be excused. Jesus said, when you did something for the least of
these, you have done it onto me. So it was not a hard decision to make to begin our paperwork for our second adopted child. This time we
requested a baby boy, and signed with a different agency. Our paperwork arrived in China in December of 2004.

God was working in my heart in another way at that time as
well. For the first time, I looked over a Waiting Child list with
our agency. The list came out in November, but by mid
January, there was a little boy who still did not have a
family. I was drawn to his photo more and more over the
weeks, and I studied his little crying face. If no family came
forward, his file would be returned, to maybe have another
chance with another agency, some year in the future, or
maybe not at all. His special need was intimidating in that it
was very vague. A large “cyst” protruded from his side, and
there was no diagnosis. There was very little information
about him beyond this. But from our adoption of Maggie, we
had begun to learn to not be quite so afraid of the unknown,
and to trust God. This little boy needed a family, but there
were so many possibilities of what this cyst could be.

Our first view of Silas

Perhaps he would never walk. Perhaps he would come
home, only to die. As I tentatively brought up his little photo to
my husband, that January in2005, I voiced my concerns.
Without hesitation he answered, “What, are we buying a car
here? You don’t pick and choose your options.” And he told
me that even if he came home with us to die, wouldn’t that be
better than dying alone in an orphanage with nobody who
loved you? And he told me, “You bring ‘em home, and I’ll love
‘em up; same as it’s always been.” But I had my own
reservations to deal with too. I had logically decided upon a
baby boy, as young as possible. This baby was almost two
years old! I asked God, that if this was His idea, that all my
reservations would melt away, which is exactly what
happened. On January 31st we sent our letter to China
committing to waiting child Dang Jian Zhan, and removing
our papers from the regular process.

Silas Joseph Zahn Baker
Silas: asked for
Joseph: Genesis 30:24 "She named him Joseph and said,
'May the Lord add to me another son.'"
Zahn: the grace and mercy of the Lord

In June of 2005, we traveled with
Canaan to go and pick up Silas
Joseph Zahn Baker. He was 26
months old, and could not walk;
it was not until the second day
that we discovered that he could
stand. He was 19 pounds, frail,
quiet, and ready to be loved up.

The big girls stayed home with
Maggie. Looking back, we
would not do it this way again. I
had optimistically expected
those in our church and friends
to support the girls while we
were away. One family, our
close friends, went above and
beyond to help in every way
possible, and we are so
thankful to God for them. But
beyond this family, I was
shocked and bewildered at how
difficult others made it for them.
I will not make that mistake
again. And even upon arriving
home, exhausted, with a toddler
who was adjusting to an entirely
new environment, with many
physical and emotional needs, it
was very disappointing to find
no help from others at all,
except, again, this one family.

Medical exam in Guangzhou

Maggie meets Silas;
Silas meets Maggie

Our beginnings with Silas were
not easy. There was much
adjustment, and Maggie’s
strong personality and long
reign as the princess of the
house, did not easily give way to
this newcomer sharing her
kingdom. It took time for them to
both feel secure in their
positions in the family, their
relationship with us and with
each other, but after about six or
seven months, we were truly
over the hump, and began to
utterly enjoy the dynamics of
these delightful and precious
children. They play together,
fight together, read books
together, huddle under the table,
run and scream and dance and
sing through the house. They
commiserate and scheme
together. They are three months
apart in age, and although he
knew not a word of English
when we met him, only months
later he was carrying on full
conversations with his sister,
and chattering away to us.

As for Silas’s health, I sometimes almost forget to
mention it, because we don't think of him in terms of his
disabilities. It turned out that his “cyst” was his liver
herniated out of his abdomen through weak muscles and
accentuated by the fact that on that side he has four
missing ribs and two deformed ribs. A couple months
before we came to get him, he had surgery in China to
repair this hernia.
Silas's main health issue turned out to be scoliosis. The
first surgeon who saw him was at Miami Children's
Hospital. He had Silas fitted for a solid brace that covered
his entire torso 24 hours a day. He was to wear this brace
until he is old enough to have surgery in ten to twelve
years. This was difficult for everyone to get used to, but
before long he was doing everything and anything in his
brace, and was determined to keep up with Maggie, who
is probably the best thing that ever happened to him. He
soon was doing many things that at one time we feared he
might never do, let alone do at three years old. His back
seemed to improve as well and we thanked God for all of
this.

Upon moving to North Carolina we began seeing a new
orthopedic surgeon who advocated a completely different
course of action for Silas's back, which included getting rid
of the brace. He showed us that although his back
seemed to be improved from being in the brace, the
improvements were not permanent, and indeed, two years
later we find that his curve is what it originally was, and the
brace was not making any permanent repairs to his back,
but just temporarily straightening it. This was not worth
having a little boy in a solid plastic body brace for 23 hours
a day. We are now considering the next step in Silas's
scoliosis treatment.