Good News!

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land. Proverbs 25:25

Couldn't sleep last night, so excited and anxious for Gavin's court date. I checked the email all throughout the night, each time I would check, Brennan would lay up in bed and ask, did we get anything? Lyndlee also decided not to sleep so it was a long long night. But about 8am, we got an email from Ted saying all went well at court! The judge even told Ted he would hurry the case along and get our first court paper here quickly. So Ted thinks we will be there in Taiwan soon, maybe in a couple of weeks but at least by Jan 18th! We are so excited and can't believe it is right around the corner. We are so very blessed and grateful to God for all the great things He has done for us! Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement and love through our journey to our sweet Gavin Pan. We will keep you posted!

Praise the Lord!

Received this email from Bev this morning!

Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed. Pro. 16:3 Dr. visit went great. He was so pleased with how he has gained weight and looks so good. We will wean him off of lasix this week and by his next visit if all is well he should be off of all heart medicine. PTL. He is eating solids well. He is a great traveler. I am going to bed for my one hour nap before my long night. God bless. Have a blessed Christmas. We celebrated last weekend. Have l7 infants at the moment. Lots of tiny ones. Love, Shr Mama

Now on to court date! Please keep praying that the judge will rule in our favor, that our first court paper will come quickly so we can travel soon, at God's timing of course! Keep Gavin's birth mom and family in your prayers as well.
Dec 28th 1:45am is court time, be praying!!

Visa approval

Good news, we got our visa approval for Gavin in the mail today!! Now we are just waiting for them to mail it to Taipei! One more thing done. Gavin is doing good, his next doctor appointment is set for our Dec 21st so hopefully they will find some answers to why he hasn't been eating well lately. We had some more paperwork to do today that came in the mail from Taiwan, but with God's help we got it all taken care of. He put the right people in our path so that we could mail it right back to Ted this evening. God is good. These last few weeks have been so busy and it just will continue. We will be traveling a lot next week seeing family and our good friends from Haiti. And Gavin's court date is Dec 28th so if you are up around 1:45 am, be praying!!
Thanks again for all your support and love through our journey to our precious boy. Hope to update later next week about Gavin's doctor appointment.
Thanks for praying!!

Update & Prayer Requests

Called the orphanage this morning and got to speak to both Ted and Bev.
Please keep praying as our court date is Dec 29th 1:45 pm Taiwan so it will be our Dec 28th, 1:45 am. Be praying for all to go well, for the judge to rule in our favor and also for Gavin's birth mother and grandmother as it will be a hard day for them.
Be praying for our sweet Gavin, he hasn't been eating well these last 2 days, so Bev is a little concerned and his next appt with the cardiologist is Dec 21st. He is still on his heart medicine and also is given a powder mix in each bottle to try to make him gain weight. There are a few sweet babies at the home that are sick right now, so be praying for them and that little Gavin can fight the germs. Bev is now taking the night shift, they have 15 babies with one going home to his family this weekend! And there is a sweet Chinese worker Show Wha who works day shift. Saturday they loose 2 of their workers as they are coming back to the states so it is a really stressful time for them.
Thanks for all the prayers, love & encouragement you have given us along our journey. We appreciate you and can't wait to introduce you all to our sweet baby boy in Jan!

Just thrilled!

We are just beyond excited and so thankful to our Jesus to be at this point with our adoption. We have been praying that we be able to be with Gavin in Jan and it looks like God is going to make that happen for us. God is good.
Lyndlee is getting excited for her baby brother.
Lately she says, "Daddy, Mommy, Lyndlee, Gavin" over and over again. It is so sweet!
She is doing great and learning new things everyday. We have a neighbor that comes to play sometime, his name is Maddy and I believe she has a crush on him. There is a show she likes to watch called "Handy Manny" and I think she believes they are the same person!
Wanted to include some pictures of how Lyndlee plays! Everything has to have order, all the colors and animals have to match! Some of you already believe that Lyndlee does these things because of my disease but I do have to say not true! Yes, I love things clean and I love order, it is so much fun. But it is not like I sit & do that to Lyndlee's toys! One day she lined all the animals up, made sure all the animals were paired, if there wasn't a correct match than she paired them together by color. Wow.
We love her so much and can't wait till Gavin is here with us!!

Court Date!

Woke up to this email from Ted! Praise the Lord, keep the prayers coming!

Dear Brennan, Janna & Lyndlee,
“Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.” Proverbs 25:25

We just got notice of Gavin’s court date. It is for December 29th at 2:45 P.M. Our experience in the past is that it takes about a month from the court date to the time you can take him home. Lord willing, he should be ready by the end for January. Have you applied for the I-600 A yet? Hopefully that is already in the proper offices and being perused for granting him a U.S. visa. Let’s keep praying!

Gavin is such a fine young man with a smile that will win your souls. He is already up to 13 ½ lbs. That’s a gain of 2 pounds since surgery. Praise the Lord!

In Christ’s Love,
Ted for Bev, Gavin and all in
The Home of God's Love

We love our monthly updates & pictures from Taiwan!

Hello,

This is Rebecca writing the December update.

Gavin is doing very well! I’m sure you’ve heard all about it but he’s is so much better since his surgery! He’s eating extremely well everyday! It’s been amazing to watch him actually cry because he is hungry and then drink the entire bottle down without a fight! He is on a 4 hr eating schedule right now I believe and sometimes at night right before bed he won’t finish his bottle if he’s eaten just a little earlier. Last night Bev fed him and when I asked how much he’d eaten she said, “Oh he only ate about 70 or 80 so he’ll probably eat again soon”. It was funny to me that before surgery, 70 or 80 would have been a good amount in one feeding like that! And now we’re already used to him drinking 150 cc’s so 80 is nothing! God is good!

He’s a very happy smiley baby still. He’s started “talking” a lot as well. I think he just feels so much better and has so much more energy to do all of the normal baby things! It’s been exciting to watch this process with him!

He sends hugs and kisses and can’t wait to meet you!

God Bless,
Rebecca Gibson

Ted and Bev Skiles

Email from Mama Bev

Pro. 16:3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.
Our Mr. Pan, Gavin is growing like a weed. Yesterday he ate l050 cc of milk. Wow! He is kicking and playing so much now. He seems to have so much more energy. Today he weighed 6.4 kg. He is making giant strides. His lips are pinker. Now he cries when he is hungry. He does well with a 4 hour schedule. We are excited. God is good. He has to go back to see the doctor in Taipei in a month and he will be checking him each month until he leaves.
Better hurry.
Love,
Shr Mama

Sweet Gavin is always Smiling!

Got this email from Papa Ted this morning and also got to chat with Mama Bev this morning. Gavin is doing great, so happy. His color is great and he is eating great! Bev says he is so happy to be moving since he couldn't move for almost 2 weeks at the hospital with all the monitors and things on him. As I was talking to her, everyone was coming to talk to him to welcome him home. He is home with his family in Taiwan, praise the Lord! Keep praying about our court date, we should know when it is in about 2 weeks or so.

Dear Brennan, Janna and Lyndlee Jya-Ying,
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Phil. 4:4

We got your paperwork just fine and applied at the court yesterday. PTL!

We also brought Gavin home today. He is looking great! He has such a great smile and attitude about it all. It’s a pleasure to be around him!

Our 60 + guests have begun arriving, so I need to close.

In Christ’s Love,
Ted for Bev, Gavin and all in
The Home of God's Love

Praise the Lord!

Hello everyone, I will write more later tonight, but just wanted to say that Gavin is in Bev's arms as we speak! He ended up staying at the hospital in Taipei for the whole time. Ted & Bev are spending the night with him there at the hospital and will be taking him home soon! So by our tonight, he will be back home with Mama Bev, all the sweet interns, workers & children that love him. Will write more later after we call for updates tonight, keep praying!!

Way to go Gavin!

Just got an email from Bev, Gavin ate 25 ounces in one day at the hospital, that is more than what he has ever eaten.
Good job baby boy and praise the Lord!!

We made it!

We drove to Springfield this morning to take our papers to Fed-Ex. I love the conversations that God lets us have even at these offices. How awesome that we get to talk about adoption with complete strangers! Our papers should be arriving in Taiwan Monday morning Lord willing. Please be praying they make it safely, that everything is correct, and that Ted can apply for our court date soon. No new update on Gavin, just waiting to hear when he gets moved to the other hospital.
I was very worried about not getting a lot of pictures of Gavin with all of his hospital stays, so I was praying that God would help me through it. It has been amazing sitting back & watching God take care of even this worry for me. We have received photos from Ted & Bev that they took of Gavin at the hospital. And we have also received pictures from a fellow missionary in Taiwan who has been visiting Gavin. God is good!
So here are a few pictures that we woke up to this morning, what a wonderful thing to wake up too!
We love you Gavin & will be with you soon! Keep smiling, eating & growing!!

Good News!

Just got a call from Mama Bev this morning. They visited Gavin twice today & said he is doing great and eating better! Bev said he got so excited when they would come visit, they would sing with him & pray with him. The doctors are still giving him medicine for his heart and he is still on all the monitors. Keep praying there is no infection & that he continues to heal & to eat on his own. Lord willing Ted & Bev will be able to check him out later this week & move him to a hospital closer to the orphanage. Keep praying our paperwork is all correct & that we can get it from the Taiwan Economic office soon.
Thanks for everything, we appreciate you all so much!

Gavin at hospital with his Mama Bev & Papa Ted

Gavin is doing great!

Talked with Papa Ted this am. He has been visiting Gavin as often as he can. Gavin is doing great, still has tubes in his nose & mouth. They took them out today & Gavin ate 3 ounces by himself! Good job baby boy! They hope to be able to take those out maybe in the next day or so. Ted hopes to go back on Monday to visit Gavin.
Thanks for all your prayers for our sweet Gavin. We appreciate & love you all!

Would you like flies with that?

It all started off with biscuits and gravy from a hotel, and yes we said biscuits and gravy from a hotel which you should never eat. This should have been a sign for the day that would follow. We made it to all our appointments. Some were quite stressful but God placed many people in our path that helped it all come together. Special shout out to Pat, Melissa and Fran who saved the day and because of you all, our paperwork is completed! After meetings, we went to Chili's for lunch where they ran out of clean salad bowls and where my potato soup looked like chicken tortilla. After that we took Lyndlee to the zoo for some family fun. We had a good time although KC zoo equals lots of walking, few animals, and no open concessions. Dinner we stopped at a restaurant in Springfield that we love. We will refrain from naming it but as a warning it starts with a M and ends with Calisters; so if you are there you should probably check your food for flies. I do have to say that Janna ate most of her food, even after she saw the dead fly that fell out of her sandwich!
All in all we made it home, paperwork is completed, we had fun & had safe travels. Food might have been not the best but that is small in the big picture. We are one step closer sweet Gavin, keep smiling baby boy!

God's timing is Perfect

We got our paperwork from Ted in the mail this morning. Wow, God is amazing! We didn't even know it was coming. So now we are going to try to do all our appointments since we were already heading to KC tomorrow! Thanks for all the prayers!! Lord willing we can get all our paperwork done & mail back to Ted next week or so and than he can apply for our court date. We are one step closer sweet Gavin!

Out of Surgery!

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name! Psalm 103:1

Mama Bev just called us, she apologized calling at 5am, Ted suggested she wait but she knew we would be up & would want an update! She knows me a little too well! Gavin is out of surgery now, surgery time was about 2 1/2 hours. The hole in his heart was 1.2 cm which was larger than Dr. John expected. Gavin's heart was also larger than normal too due to all the stress from working so hard these last few months. But Dr. John expects in 6 months that it will go back to its normal size. Ted & Bev were just with Gavin, talking to him, praying & singing with him. Although he still hasn't woken up from surgery, they said he is doing well. There were no complications during surgery praise the Lord! Thank you all you prayer warriors! Thank you for all your encouraging words & prayers through email, letters, phone calls, etc. You have been such a blessing to us & have lifted us up in so many ways. Thank you for praying for our sweet boy & for loving him so deeply. We ask that you keep praying there are no complications so that he will be able to be transfered to a closer hospital to the orphanage in about a week. Ted plans to go visit Gavin again tomorrow, what a blessing. Ted & Bev agree that visiting Gavin so he can hear their voices is so important so they will go as often as they can! What great people they are! We are so blessed to have met them, and both Lyndlee & Gavin are so blessed to have been in Mama Bev & Papa Ted's care!
Be praying as we head to Kansas City tonight. Tomorrow we have our fingerprinting appointment. This is one step in all the paperwork that lets us travel to go to Taiwan & bring Gavin home. Pray our paperwork can come soon from Taiwan so we can get our steps done here & that Ted can apply for our court date soon. Pray with us as we are praying to be able to be able to travel in January but also know God's timing is more perfect than our own. Also keep praying for Gavin's sweet birth mother & grandmother as this is a very hard time for them as well.
Hoping to be sending out another update tomorrow or later this weekend.
Thank you family, enjoy the sweet pictures of our baby boy!
Brennan, Janna, Lyndlee Jya-Ying & Gavin Pan

God is Good!

Mama Bev called this morning. They took Gavin to the hospital today to check him in. They stayed with him while the doctor performed a MRI & took blood. Bev said drawing blood was very dramatic as they had trouble, both Gavin & her were crying by the end! Dr. John did fit Gavin's surgery into his schedule so he is hoping to do surgery our tonight at 11pm but it may not be the exact time. Mama Bev will call us again as soon as they hear any news. I love how much I can hear even on the phone all her love for Gavin & I love how much Gavin loves them too. They were giggling, praying, smiling, laughing and singing together! I know our Gavin was hearing the sweet song "Jesus Loves Me". Ted & Bev plan to go back to pray with him & be with him before surgery. Gavin already is getting spoiled by the nurses because after his testings, he was getting fussy so one of the nurses took him for a stroller ride around the hospital!
Be praying for our little boy, for the nurses & Dr. John performing the surgery. God is good all the time, all the time God is good!!

Gavin's Surgery Date

I woke up this morning to an email from Bev, asking us to please call as soon as we can. We didn't know what to think, hoping & praying that our Gavin was okay we called the international number. But she just wanted to give us the update over the phone to make sure we got all the details, bless her sweet heart. She is such a Godly, caring woman.
Gavin's surgery will be next Thursday 12pm in Taiwan. Since they are 13 hours ahead, he will be having surgery our Wednesday 11pm. It will be a 5 hour surgery & we will hear something as soon as Dr. John is finished. The plan is that Gavin will spend one week in Taipei hospital, than Ted & Bev will go pick him up to transfer him to the hospital in Lo-Tung for one week. This is the hospital he spent the month of September in and all the nurses love him there! Dr. John said this will be a one time surgery, that Gavin won't need it again. They won't know if a patch or mending the heart will be required until he can see how big the hole is. We are all very pleased how quick the surgery date is set. Gavin needs it done as soon as possible as he is not eating very much. Bev mentioned that Gavin was exhausted even with going to the appointment yesterday.
Please be praying for our sweet little boy during this surgery. Please be praying for Dr. John & the nurses involved with the surgery, that God would guide their hands & give them wisdom. Be praying for Ted & Bev who take such good care of all the children there, and who love Gavin dearly. Gavin is their baby too! Be praying for our family as it will be hard to be away from Gavin during this time. We know Gavin is God's baby, that is something that has been heavy on my heart. And Bev left me with that very phrase, that Gavin belongs to the Lord & He will be there with him when we cannot. I know God had Bev say those exact words to encourage us & lift us up. Praise the Lord!
Thank you all, we will post an update as soon as we hear next Thursday. Thank you Jesus for loving & taking care of our Gavin.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

News on Gavin

Hey everyone, just got an email from the orphanage this morning. Ted & Bev (missionaries & owners) are planning on taking Gavin to Taipei hospital tomorrow for his examination. The doctor will be there & hopefully will set his surgery date. They took Gavin who is almost 5 months old & 3 other babies who are 6 weeks old to the doctor for shots. All the babies have now outgrown sweet Gavin on his weight, but he is up to 12 pounds now. So he is underweight and still not eating enough each day. So keep praying for him. Also please pray we can get our paperwork soon. We are waiting on translations of our home study. Once they get that, they can mail all our paperwork to us. Than we have to travel to Springfield to get all our papers notorized by the state. Than we mail our paperwork to Kansas City to a Taiwan office there. Once they mail that back, we are done with papers on our end & can mail everything over to Taiwan. Than Ted will apply for our court date & we wait & pray! Gavin's birth mother did sign papers over already so that should move our court procedure along. Pray for his sweet birth mother & grandmother as this is a very hard time for them. I have always struggled with that, being so happy about our precious baby, but knowing that the birth mother is heart broken & missing her baby. The grandmother has been calling the orphanage to check on how Gavin has been feeling & says she is praying for him. They love him dearly.
Thanks for all your prayers, love, & encouragement. We can't wait for our Gavin to meet you all!

Gavin drank his whole bottle the other night, so the sweet intern Jessica took a picture of it for us. Hoping to hear this week when his surgery will be scheduled. Keep praying for our Gavin Pan! Thank you all for everything!

Mei Mei

Many of you have met her. Many of you have spent time trying to find her. She is Mei Mei and she is Lyndlee's love, her baby doll. We bought her this cute doll when we got back from Taiwan Aug 2007. She was so beautiful, pretty black straight hair & a sweet Chinese face that looks like our precious Lyndlee. Lyndlee has to sleep with her every night & take naps with her. She carries her around during the day, plays with her, takes her in the car, and even feeds her. Mei Mei never has the cute clothes on that it came with, Lyndlee doesn't seem to like those anymore. Mei Mei lived with us in Haiti & went everywhere there too. This doll used to be so pretty, and now it is so ugly. However we call it well loved. It gets washed once a week & still looks so dirty. It now has afro hair. It has been lost 2 times since we moved to Branson in June, once at Silver Dollar City & once at a grocery store. Each time someone picks it up & puts it aside, probably not wanting to touch it. So for fun, here is a picture of the beautiful Mei Mei and Mei Mei now. I wonder if our Gavin will have a favorite monkey or animal, I can't wait to see what it will be & how much love he too will show.

November Update from the Home

Jessica is an intern at the home. She sent us this message & picture today. God is good!

Good Afternoon Conklins!

This is Jessica. Gavin’s picture is going to make you guys melt. He has the cutest smile! He is the sweetest little guy. He barely takes naps during the day but he is always happy and I never hear him cry! He makes the cutest baby noises out of everyone here. He loves his new outfits. His polka dot blanket and stuffed animal are in his bed with him every night. The other day, I went through his picture book with him. I read it to him and showed him the pictures. He gave the biggest smile when he saw the picture of the three of you and I think he knows exactly who you are!

He has more facial expressions than any other baby I’ve seen. He really cares about the other babies and is aware of them. Yesterday, Bev had a crying baby on her lap. Gavin was in his bouncy sit on the floor in front of her. His face had a truly concerned look on it as he looked up at the crying baby. I wish you guys could have seen it. It was incredible. I know he is going to be a very kind and God loving guy!

Gavin can not wait to meet his mommy, daddy and sister!

God bless you guys!

Love,
Jessica

Update & Prayers

We set our alarm for 2am this morning & made our call to the orphanage to see how Gavin's doctor appointment went.
Both Bev (missionary wife) and the doctor agree that Gavin needs the heart surgery. The surgeon believes it won't be an intense surgery but says that Gavin won't gain weight & grow without it. Bev said Gavin has started to cry more this week which means he is showing more feelings which is a good thing but also means he is showing he is hungry. They will contact us next week once they hear from the doctor when the surgery will be. The plan is than they will take Gavin to the University of Taipei, Taiwan where he will have the surgery. He will stay there for about 3-4 days. Than they will move him to the local hospital in Lo-Tung, Taiwan where the orphanage is located. He most likely will have to stay there for 2-3 weeks. They tell us all the doctors love him to pieces. The heart surgeon is an American man from Keokuk, Iowa. The pediatrician normally doesn't hug the babies or show affection but to Gavin they say he just hugs & loves on him, and Gavin in return just lights up. We thank God for putting these men & the nurses into Gavin's life to take care of him & love him. We thank God for Ted, Bev, and all the workers at the Home who love Gavin so much & want what is best for him. We thank God for bringing our little boy into our lives. We lay all this down at His feet and we covet your prayers during this time. We trust in our Mighty God who holds our sweet Gavin in His hands. This verse gave me strength this morning as I was praying. So do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God! I will strengthen you and will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
And here is the verse that Ted (missionary) left with us this morning:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Phil. 4:4
Keep praying!
In Christ’s Love,
Ted for Bev, Gavin and all in
The Home of God's Love

Thankful For Sundays

I am so thankful for Sundays, for our church family. What a great morning! I got the honor of helping in our praise band with my two brothers & husband. What a great morning of worship to our Father. And I am so excited about all the community outreach programs our church will be starting soon. What great ways to show love & spread His word. As we worship & come together each Sunday with our church family, I always rejoice knowing our son Gavin got to attend church in Taiwan the night before. Ted & Bev who run the orphanage have a church service there at the home! All the older kids at the orphanage hold all the babies during church!
Sweet Little Gavin, oh how we love you, oh how Jesus loves you.
Just got an email from ShrMama Bev. She is very concerned about Gavin as he has been eating very poorly & struggling keeping his food/medicine down. I had to ask another mom adopting from the home what the amounts meant that Bev told me since they don't use ounces there. Yesterday he only would eat 8oz. His energy level is great, Mama Bev says he just smiles & is so happy but just won't eat. So we rejoice that he is happy but ache that he isn't eating & gaining weight.
So we have so much to pray about & so many decisions to make. We just ask you keep praying faithfully as we know you are. Thursday 2am we will be calling to see how his Friday appointment went, since they are 13 hours ahead of us.
We trust Ted & Bev completely & know they love Gavin so much too. So if they along with the doctors decides he needs surgery than we will be supporting their decision 100%.
We will keep you updated as we know, we appreciate all your prayers & love. We are so thankful for you all.

Below is our first picture of our Gavin Pan. His Chinese name is Ding-Dung Pan. So my family gave us a box of ding dongs to be silly! This was the very day we got the call about our son, October 10th, 2009!

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. Psalm 46:1-2a

Here is our new blog, just changed a few things with scripture verses that have lifted me up & new blog name.
Update on our sweet Gavin. He is back at the home, what an answered prayer! But the month long hospital stay did not help him as the doctors thought it would. He still is so little & struggles to eat. So he is taken to the doctor by the missionary wife each week. Next week's appointment may be the final decision. If things remain the same way, that Gavin is still struggling to eat & gain weight, they may decide heart surgery needs to be done there in Taipei, Taiwan.
We are praying constantly for our sweet Gavin, for all the doctors & for wisdom, for all the workers at the home.
We are so incredibly blessed to have Gavin in our lives, we thank God for him everyday. We are heart broken that he is sick & struggling. But we know God is our creator, that he loves Gavin & is right there with him, holding his hand when we can't.
And we know He is in control.
I love how Gavin is so loved/prayed for by so many already, even though we only heard he was our son just 15 short days ago. He is so loved by his Jesus, his daddy, mommy, big sister Lyndlee, family, friends, Papa Ted, Mama Bev, and all the people taking care of him right now at the orphanage. He has such a sweet smile & such big sparkling eyes. We can't wait until God brings our family together, as a family of four!

Our Baby Boy Gavin Pan

Hello family & friends,

We have news! Many of you know that we went on the waiting list again for our second adoption back in April 2008. We just emailed our home-study last Friday to Ted (the orphanage owner) in Taiwan. This is the same orphanage that Lyndlee is from. We got called Saturday morning, saying they had a baby boy for us! His Chinese name is Ding-Dong Pan. Yes you read that right. Many of the workers at the orphanage call him "hostess" Janna's mom & dad even bought us some ding dongs as a silly congrats gift!
So we are calling him Gavin Pan Conklin. He was born June 9th, just turned 4 months old.

We are so overjoyed & are experiencing all the same emotions as we went through for Lyndlee's adoption. We melt at every picture the orphanage sends us, we didn't know you could stare at a photo for so long. Lyndlee thinks he is cute although we know she doesn't understand everything! And we check our email all the time & can't wait to call international for updates about our baby boy!
Please be keeping our family in your prayers as we begin to make our appointments for our adoption process. Also please be keeping our baby boy in your prayers, as some of know he has a heart condition. He has a small hole in his heart, we know it can heal on its own but also are aware surgery may be needed. Currently he is in the hospital for pneumonia & is on a feeding tube but we are praying he can be back at the orphanage with his sweet Mama Bev, she misses him! Also they are trying to fatten him up as he only weighs 11 pounds right now.
We know our God is a faithful God & we trust in Him. We know our baby boy is safe in the arms of Mama Bev & the arms of our Heavenly Father. He is getting so loved & taken care of & we find so much peace in that while we are apart.
So enjoy the pictures.
We love you all!

Janna, Brennan & Lyndlee Jya-Ying

Painting Pumpkins & Final Homestudy!

Busy weekend we had! Brennan went to a men's retreat so Lyndlee & I took a very short trip to Joplin to stay with my family & to also pick up our homestudy papers. My mom is always so cute with party ideas/games when all the grandkids are over. So it was time for painting pumpkins & bonfire. The kids all had a blast. Lyndlee was super funny as she decided to paint her pumpkin blue & would not finish until it was all blue.

Than I was able to meet with our social worker & get our final copy of our homestudy. We are very excited & emailed it to Ted in Taiwan. We know that waiting & praying is what we do now until we get that phone call. After the phone call, all the appointments & stress start and I can't wait! So please keep praying for us as we wait for our precious child. We are anxious to see all that the Lord has in store for our family.

We are staying busy with youth/church events.

I love it how our calendar fills up so quickly & we are really loving being in Branson.

We sure do miss Haiti, our students & fellow teachers.

We pray for them daily & keep them on our hearts & minds.

Until next time, enjoy the pictures!

Branson, Life, Adoption

Well I realize it has been awhile since I posted. Seems like we have been so busy since we have moved. The Lord provided a job, at just the perfect time. Brennan is the student minister at Tri-Lakes Christian Church in Branson, Mo. I never thought I would live in Branson, vacation here yes of course! But we love it here. We love our church family, our youth kids, and our new home.

Lyndlee is doing great, talking a lot more each day. She really enjoys being at church & seeing her new friends. Although I know she misses her dear friend Naiyah in Haiti so much. But we talk about Naiyah & her family all the time & pray for them each night. They are wonderful people & wonderful friends.

Sept 3rd we had our first homestudy for our second adoption! Of course I was super nervous, cleaned the house all day but everything went great. We are hoping to email our homestudy 1st of Oct to Ted in Taiwan. We went on the waiting list April 2008 but realized nothing could happen while we were living in Haiti. So now we are back in the states & ready! We realize that more waiting is ahead of us, but we are excited for God's plans!

My heart sometimes just aches to have/hold a newborn baby. I have been praying about it & the Lord has taken care of my heart ache, He is such a wonderful provider! So I have started watching babies to help pay for our adoption. So Lyndlee & I play with 4 babies, all under the age of 1! One baby was just born this Monday. I watch them part time & they come on different days but we are still busy. Lyndlee had a hard time at first learning to share toys & share her mommy. But now is doing great & is such a little helper. I am excited to watch her with these precious babies & can't wait to watch her with her baby sister or brother one day.

Enjoy the pictures!

America

We are back in America now, has been 10 days now.  It has been such a blessing seeing all our friends & family.  We sure did miss them while we were in Haiti.  We have been busy with some traveling & also some ministry job hunting.  We have made it to St. Louis, Columbia, Joplin, Dallas & will be headed to Branson in a few days.  So it has been crazy.  

Please be keeping us in your prayers as we will have some church interviews this week.  Also keep praying as we adjust to being back. Lyndlee is doing great, although has had some trouble adjusting to sleeping at night with all the changes.  But we are confident she will be fine with it soon.  She sure has loved being with all her family & friends here & acts like she has never been away from them!  We had her birthday party celebration last week, scooby doo theme so that was fun!  But we also received some sad news regarding her birth mother.  We find out she passed away last week from heart failure so please pray for Lyndlee's older sister & family back in Taiwan.  Bev from the orphanage did write to tell us they were able to give a Bible to the family, give them pictures of Lyndlee & take pictures for Lyndlee to have.  So we are praising God for putting Bev & Ted into their lives & praying they come to know Jesus!  

We are doing well, but sure do miss our students. Somedays it feels like we are just on break & will be back soon.  Today at Hobby Lobby it really hit me as I was looking at these statues, it was reminding me of our friends in Haiti & I just lost it in the store.  I just missed Haiti so much at that moment & am so thankful the Lord let us be there.

God bless you!

Tomorrow is the Day

What a great month we have had here at our home in Haiti.  What a busy time it has been!

These last few weeks have consisted of cleaning our classrooms, closing down our homes, graduations, saying lots of goodbyes, packing, etc!

Sonlight Academy's graduation was on Sunday & went so well.  We have gotten very close to the senior class so it was hard to say goodbye to them.  Brennan was asked to speak at the ceremony which was a great honor for him.  Wednesday night was the first graduation for the Bible College & that went great as well!

Yesterday we had class parties in our room, they were so much fun!  It was hard to say goodbye to my students but I know we will be back to visit!  We spent all afternoon packing our classrooms up, covering everything & putting things away.  Then we had a goodbye lunch with all our teacher aides.  Yesterday afternoon we had to say goodbye to our good friend Elose, but we are hoping she can come visit us in December to spend a few weeks with us & to look at possible colleges she wants to attend.  And tonight we have our last staff dinner to say goodbye, like I said earlier, lots of goodbyes.

But tomorrow is the day.  We will start our journey back to the states early morning, hoping to arrive in St. Louis late evening.  Please be praying for us & all the families here as we begin our journeys.  Pray for safe travel & that Lyndlee does well.

We want to say thank you for all that you have done for us while we have been ministering here in Haiti.  What a great, challenging & yet rewarding year it has been for our family.  We are honored to be apart of the Lord's ministry & work here.  We thank for all your support, love, & prayers.  We can't wait to see you soon!

God bless!

Last Month

We can't believe we are in our last month here in Haiti.  We have 18 more days of teaching & being with our students.  Please keep keeping all the students & teachers in your prayers as we are coming close to the end of the school year.  

We wanted to include some photos of the past few weeks.  This past Friday was a sad one as we said goodbye to Amanda & Naiyah.  We are glad they are back in the states now & can get some rest before their next baby comes! Lyndlee sure does miss her Naiyah!  Good thing we will be close to each other over the summer & can get the girls together!  

We have really enjoyed having the senior class over for movie day on Saturdays.  Lyndlee too loves having them over & usually is laughing with them, playing with their cell phones or in their laps!

Lyndlee loves taxi rides so Miss Emily took this picture for us the other day.  Either Lyndlee falls asleep on the ride, or she will point to the ocean, animals, you name it!  She makes the rides really fun.  The last picture is taken at a restaurant at a hotel.  It was great food & fellowship with other teachers.

We thank you for all you do for us & we can't wait to see some of you all soon. God bless.