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!