Zoo, Changs & Hotel Life

This weekend we went to St. Charles because Brennan was speaking at the Missouri Christian Convention.
It was our first trip with as a family of 4! It went great but we were all ready to be back home.
We went to the Zoo and PF Changs on Friday. It was perfect weather outside and Lyndlee loved looking at all the animals. She was really only interested in the tigers though. And Lyndlee thought the hotel was our new home. I have told her that maybe we will be getting a new house, so I think I confused her a bit! Gavin of course was happy the whole time, greeting people at the convention and winning them over with his smile! Brennan really enjoyed speaking and I think is excited for the next opportunity.
Enjoy the pictures.

Life

Well, sweet Gavin has already been introduced to a double ear infection and a really bad cold. He has gained 1 pound every week since we have been home, he is up to 17 pounds and will shortly out weigh his little 23 pound sister!
Because of his heart, the doctors have told us we have to keep a close eye on him, even with a simple cold. So, I worry a lot even if he gets a runny nose, but than he just smiles and laughs all day long! So many of you know Lyndlee, she is so much fun, loud, sweet and crazy. She was well known at the home in Taiwan because she was such a loud baby! I still remember waking up each morning in Taiwan, hearing her cry downstairs, knowing "thats my sweet loud girl" Gavin is well known as the baby who could get everyone to smile, the baby named Ding-Dung. He has gone through so much in his sweet life already and he just smiles and laughs. Even when he is sick, you wouldn't know. Oh my sweet children, dear Jesus I am so blessed, thank you! I love them so much. They are so different from each other and yet so alike! I treasure the moments I get with them each and every day. I am blessed to be their mommy.
Recently I have met another adoptive momma here in Branson and am looking forward to joining the adoptive group that meets in Springfield. I have been praying for some connection like this and I feel God opening those doors.
We did not make an offer on that house, wow, house hunting here in Branson is strange. There is an awesome house, great neighborhood, close to friends, and neighborhood park even. Please be praying that if this is where God wants us to move, that all the pieces come together. We have to wait about 2 weeks until we can look at it, until it goes to foreclosure. The deadline of being in a house contract by April 30th is slowly creeping up!
Glorious night tonight as we will be heading to Springfield airport to greet baby Jude and baby Hudson and welcome them home! I can't wait for Gavin to see his baby brothers again! Praise the Lord!

Has it really been months?

So I just looked tonight and realized I haven't blogged since Jan, since before we left for Taiwan!
Things are well here at the Conklin house. Our trip to Taiwan was great! We so enjoyed meeting and getting to know our baby boy! What a happy boy he is! We enjoyed time with Ted, Bev and all at the home and miss them all greatly.
We have been home now for over a month and everything is so great. Lyndlee has adjusted well to her baby brother and loves him dearly. We have taken him to the doctor and his heart looks and sounds great! He is eating, gaining weight, sitting up and moving all over the place. I think crawling will be soon or he will just keep rolling to get to places!
We feel so blessed having Lyndlee and Gavin in our lives. They are such sweet kids and not a day goes by where we don't thank Jesus for them, for Ted and Bev as well!
We are loving our ministry here in Branson and our church family. We have been house hunting and are making an offer on a house come Monday. We will see what God has in store and if this will be our new home!

Haiti,

Haiti, we love you and are praying for you. We miss our students and friends and can't believe this is happening to a country already so lost and broken. Our prayers are with you and we love you.

Hyper

Can't believe we are leaving in just 8 days and we will be with Gavin in 9 days!
Most of you have been along our journey since we got called Oct 10th, 2009, that special phone call from Ted saying they had a beautiful 4 month old baby boy for us. They told us than that Gavin had a heart condition and that he most likely would need surgery. The month passed with news of emails and phone calls of Gavin not eating well, not gaining weight, not moving a lot because he just didn't have the energy. He spent weeks in the hospital to see if that could help him gain weight, he was loved by all the nurses! It was a hard few months being so far away from him, but we trusted Ted and Bev completely and knew the Lord was in control. They, along with Gavin's surgeon decided that surgery was needed so Nov 14th Gavin had heart surgery to repair the whole in his precious heart. It was hard again being away from him but we kept praying and knew that Jesus was with him, holding his hand when we could not. And I can't tell you how many pictures I have of Gavin with his Mama Bev and Papa Ted at the hospital. He is their baby boy too!
Since surgery, Gavin has been doing wonderful, eating well and gaining weight! And the word that was described this morning by sweet Allisyn Skiles was HYPER! My son was hyper today and I love to hear it, he was jumping up and down, giggling and smiling! It brings us so much joy and I cannot wait to see my hyper baby boy!
Thanks for all your prayers, keep them coming as we will be leaving our sweet Lyndlee next Monday afternoon, she gets to spend special time with grandparents. Tuesday morning we fly out of Springfield, arrive in Taipei Wed night to finally meet our sweet Gavin Pan.
Much love to you all.

Plane tickets bought!

We bought our plane tickets today. We will be flying out of Springfield Jan 19th 9am, spending a few days at the orphanage in Lo-Tung, spending a few days in Taipei for our AIT adoption meeting and hopefully meeting Gavin's surgeon. We will be flying back into Springfield Jan 26th 7pm.
And more amazing news is that we might get the chance to meet Lyndlee's sister. She stops by the orphanage and helps so Mama Bev suggested we bring a framed picture of Lyndlee for her and mentioned the possibility of even getting to meet her. This is huge because ever since the passing of Lyndlee's birth mother in June 2009, we have been praying for the Lord to open the doors so that we can communicate and send things to Lyndlee's sister. God is good and faithful.
We are so excited and can't believe we will be with our son in just 15 days.
Thanks for everything, all the love, prayers, support and encouragement.
We can't wait to share Gavin with all of you.
The Lord bless you all.

We are going to Taiwan!

Just got an email today and we will be going to Taiwan in about 17 days to be with Gavin!
We have our appointment in Taipei on Jan 22nd, this will be our last thing we have to do before we can take Gavin home with us. Lord willing all our court papers will have come by that time, so please keep that in your prayers as we cannot have our appointment or leave with Gavin without these important papers.
Tentative plan is to fly to Taipei Jan 18th or 19th and fly back Tuesday night Jan 26th!
We are very excited and ready to meet our sweet Gavin. I am having a hard time thinking of leaving Lyndlee that long but know she will be just fine with all her grandparents!
Keep praying all our court papers arrive soon!