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!