Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

"Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.  His love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

Season’s greetings dear friends and family!  2014 was year of change and celebration for us as we added our second miracle girl, Miss McKinley Jane, to our family through embryo adoption.  Lena has loved being a big sister and Dan and I are so grateful to be parents to these two precious girls.  It still boggles my mind how God has unfolded his plan for our family over the past eleven years.  

 Dan started a new assignment with the CHP as sergeant at the Santa Ana office this year.  It keeps him busy and he always has great “war” stories to tell.  He is such a fun daddy and is Lena’s favorite playmate.  I (Elizabeth) have continued to enjoy teaching a third grade homeschool co-op this year and I am the resident travel agent for our family! 

Lena Joyce – Three Years Old
Above all Lena loves “friends”, animals, Grandma, Chick-fil-a, and milk!  She is full of energy (a morning person), is imaginative (she can make a song out of anything!) and is extremely talkative with a good sense of humor.  She is definitely an outgoing people person and is instant friends with any willing soul.  I love how friendly, caring, inclusive, and affectionate she is towards others.  She definitely has a gift for making others feel loved and we are just loving getting to know our little girl as she grows up.
McKinley Jane – Three Months Old
McKinley is named after her Great Grandpa Caldwell on Dan’s mom’s side of the family.  She is the happiest most smiley baby you will ever meet.  She is very attentive and loves to be interactive with us.  She even converses with us in “coos” and “ahhhs”.  We can tell already she is going to be a people person like her big sister.  She has serious baby strength with a really strong grip which doesn’t surprise us one bit considering all she had to survive to be born!


Family Travels – 2014
The Shackletons LOVE to travel!  But this year with Shack Baby #2 on the way we stayed pretty close to home.  We did start the year out by taking my Mom with us on a fun trip to Maui.  Seeing the whales, enjoying the Old Lahaina Luau, taking a beautiful road trip to the North Shore, celebrating the Seahawks Super Bowl win, and just relaxing at our resorts was a great way to start 2015.  We also did a fun camping trip at Crystal Cove, took the train for an overnight trip in Oceanside, celebrated Easter with my extended family at our timeshare in Newport Coast, enjoyed a week in Palm Desert with friends, and took a few overnight trips in San Diego to take Lena to Sea World and The Safari Park before McKinley was born. We are getting really excited to take our next big vacation as a family of four in the late spring when we head to Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, and Hilton Head Island!  It will be a fun mix of beach time and enjoying the historical richness of the south east. 

2 comments:

Diane said...

McKinley looks so little sitting in her daddy's lap in that last photo! So precious!

Pat Orr said...

I can't believe I have such cute people in my family. :) Love these pictures. Looking at them makes me so very happy.

Our journey through weight loss, infertility, embryo adoption, parenthood, world travels and everyday life adventures!

Our Most Popular Posts

La Dolce Vida (Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Turkey 2010)

Elizabeth's Weightloss Journey

Body Fat Loss Goal

Start: 38.7% Body Fat at 207.0 lbs = 80.1 lbs of fat
Goal: 33.0% Body Fat by September 1, 2013
----------------------
Wk1: 38.5% at 204.0 = 78.54 lbs of fat (-1.56 lb)
Wk2: 37.8% at 205.5 = 77.68 lbs of fat (-.86 lb)
Wk3: 36.9% at 203.5 = 75.09 lbs of fat (-2.59 lb)
Wk4: 37.3% at 204.0= 76.09 lbs of fat (+1.00 lb)
Wk5: 37.4% at 201.5 =75.36 lbs of fat (-.73 lb)
Wk 6: 37.1% at 199.5 =74.01 lbs of fat (-1.35 lb)
Vacation
Wk 7: 36.2% at 198.0 = 71.6 lbs of fat
Wk 8: 36.7 at 196.0 = 71.9 lbs of fat
Wk 10: 35.9 at 198 = 71.0 lbs of fat
Took a break for FET#4....
Wk 11: 36.2% at 194.5 = 70.4lbs of fat
Wk 12 (September 1st):

Our Adoption Journey

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Waiting to Adopt tickers

background