"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.
