Seeking our Father's Direction.

As you all can imagine, we have been going through some major transitions. Silas is at home with us now and we are learning how to take care of this little guy. We are also living in a different city with different people who speak a different language. The transitions have been challenging. It looks like we will be facing some more of these changes in our future. After carefully considering our Father's direction for us, we have decided to not go back to South Asia. We have received permission from our superiors to seek a transfer. We will still be working overseas, but we will not be returning to South Asia. We are currently seeking our Father's direction for our lives. We are yarperfully considering our options as there are several places around the world where we could work.

Please yarp for us as we make some very important decisions. Yarp that our Father would lead and guide our steps.

We will send out more updates as things develop.

Silas' Homecoming

Hello everyone. It has been quite some time since our last update. We are trying to become more efficient at updating you all on the events in our lives. We know that you all care for us and like to yarp for us. We are desperate for your yarpers. We would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of love you have shown our way as we went through the terrible experience of Necrotising Entrocolities with Silas. The support has been truly overwhelming. As you all know, when Lena was pregnant she developed Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. The doctors in South Asia (SA) performed an emergency c-section on February 3, 2011. Silas Luther was born 10 weeks premature. Silas seemed to be doing well at first, but then he developed Necrotising Entrocolities (NEC) a few days after birth. We had never even heard of NEC before. I am not sure we understood the severity of his condition until a few days after he developed it. The doctors in SA were not very forthcoming about his condition. It is cultural in SA to tell people what they want to hear rather than the reality of the situation. While we knew nothing about NEC, we had to learn about it really fast. NEC is a disease that has a 50% mortality rate. It has no known cause and no known cure. Most cases of NEC develops in premature babies. NEC attacks the intestines and gangrene develops. Some children become so infected by it that there is nothing that can be done to save the child's life. Silas had to undergo surgery to have 1/3 of his intestines removed. Silas was also given an ileostomy during the surgery. Our DADDY placed some friends in our lives that really helped us to make good decisions regarding Silas' healthcare. The doctors in SA have a completely different protocol for treating NEC than doctors in the United States. The SA hospitals also did not have access to high quality Total Parental Nutrition (TPN) for Silas. TPN is nutrition that is given through IV therapy. Silas could not eat food by mouth. If Silas would have been fed by mouth before he was ready for it he could have developed more gangrene. Because he could not be fed by mouth, the TPN was Silas' only source of nutrition. We had to end up having Silas air evacuated out of SA to South East Asia for better medical care. It was not an easy decision to have Silas evacuated. We had several people telling us that we should not do it. The air transport was dangerous because Silas was so young. The altitude could have caused his lungs to burst like a balloon. We also had to fight the SA government to get their permission to take Silas to South East Asia. It was a nightmare. There was a team brought in from Luxembourg who transported Silas on a private medical jet to South East Asia. Silas made the trip with no problems. After the transport, Lena and I felt like a million pounds had been lifted off our shoulders. The healthcare here in South East Asia has been outstanding. The doctors have been great and the nurses are some of the best in the world. Upon arriving in South East Asia, Silas immediately began to grow and flourish. His ileostomy was reversed several weeks ago and he has been tolerating his food well. Silas has been home with us for almost three weeks now. It has been great having him home. His doctor check ups have been going well. During his last appointment he was weighed at 9.34 pounds. We are so thankful for how this whole ordeal turned out. We have nothing but praise for our DADDY. We know that many of you have remained diligent in yarping for Silas. We will be eternally grateful to those of you who cried out on our behalf. It has been awesome to see how our DADDY uses his chur[h to meet the needs of those who are going through trials.

The majority of our time over the past few months has been spent processing through everything that has happened. The post traumatic stress has been heavy. We were having a difficult time sleeping at night. I had to be taken to the ER one night because I was suffering from vertigo. I have been to several doctors getting check ups on problems that I was having even when I was in SA. We have been able to attend counseling sessions. We have had friends and family come and visit us from the United States. We have been able to spend a great deal of time in yarper and in His Word. Through these things and our DAD's help, we have been able to return to a place of normalcy once again.

Various Pictures of Silas

He is one handsome little feller, just like his daddy. But he sure is a momma's boy.