A week in the McL household...

Here are some recent shots of life at home lately. Time with daddy, time at the piano with little buddies, and the day that Soren and I picked 256 tomatoes from our garden (yes, I said 256 and those were just the good ones!!!).

On Mondays, I take Soren to the "Busy Babies" class at the library. She certainly fits the bill. :) She is such a little explorer. While all of the other babies sit in their mamas laps or on the floor looking at books and toys, Soren roams the room, pulls things off of the teacher's bulletin board, pins the teacher's doll (prop baby) to the floor giving her kisses. AND she is SO very loud. Every class and when we go to pals' houses, everyone comments on how vocal and animated she is. She likes to sing and squeal. She is such a happy baby and it just cracks me up!

The point of this blog is twofold…

(1) to document Soren’s life and to capture our feelings and experiences in one place

(2) that Soren would someday be able to read these pages and know about herself, know how we feel about her, and know about the love within her family

So, Soren, this one is for you that one day you will know the love that your daddy and I share...

Soren, your daddy and I celebrated our anniversary last weekend – 7 years! There is something called the 7-year itch. Thankfully, I would say that has not been the case. (Unless, you’re referring to that mosquito-bite-kinda-itch that feels pretty good and keeps scratching you but somehow something about it feels enjoyable. Does anyone know what I’m talking about?) I’m crazy about your father and my love has grown for him exponentially. He has been such an amazing husband and, now, daddy. To watch him with you makes me love him more. It makes me love you even more too. The way you light up when he comes home is amazing. The way he lights up is also extraordinary. I hope that someday you find someone that is selfless and grateful and cares for you the way he has for me. At about this point when he will read this blog, he will point out times where he’s not been selfless and grateful and all the while prove, ironically, that he is. And then he’ll be embarrassed that I put this stuff on here. And I love that about him too. One time when I was working at Grace, someone was telling us at a staff meeting about a couple who was annoying in a conversation because they complimented each other in front of one another. That was awfully confusing to me and I guess I hope I’m super annoying then. One of the pastors leaned over and whispered "it doesn’t have to be that way". I grinned because I like to think that Jeff hung the moon. What’s bad about someone knowing that?
Your daddy is so fun. He’s got voices he does with you and he is silly. He’s witty and dry and goofy and those that know him best love that sense of humor he's got. We lay in bed and stay up late laughing sometimes.

For our anniversary, he planned 7 destinations for me with 7 letter clues to commemorate our 7 years. We stayed downtown at the Indpls Hyatt, went to the Eagles Nest, swam, went to the IMA gardens, and danced to our first song - your daddy had brought the i-pod, speakers, and cables just to make memories a part of our special night. Soren, it is a gift to parent alongside your papa.

Life in the McL household...

Here is a shot of Soren today in her crib. She is a happy girl! Below are a few pics of the globes and animals in her nursery.





















Soren loves her some sweet 'taters! I started making our own baby food a couple of weeks ago. I always considered the people that did that to be tree-hugging nuts! Either I was wrong about it or I'm nuts now. At any rate, it's super easy (just process what you have!) and really really cheap and, most importantly, it's the best Soren has taken to baby food yet!




















Here is a pic of Palmer, our new little friend. He is 5 lbs 10 oz - wow! Soren was never even close to that little by the way. But, regardless, I sure enjoyed holding a newborn again! How precious, how miraculous!





















Here's Soren flying through the air with Uncle Jon.
We were matching this day while we were in Ohio. :)


















Soren's first trip to the zoo - she kept trying to catch the fish. It was SO fun and so hilarious!


















Grammymac takes Soren around the pool. Who is having more fun here?




















We recently celebrated Father's Day and took a day to the Wilbur Wright Aviation Museum... looks like this father is enamored with his precious girl!


















Aunt Zan and Soren grinning up a storm...


















Cousin Maria with Soren on our trip to Detroit. Soren gave her first kiss to Maria that week!
























Here is my new PR rep. We got our new CDs shipped back to us today. We will be releasing it very soon; don't you think that Soren would make it easy to sell them now?

Playtime...

I've enjoyed making a little play area for Soren. It's the land of "YES". In other words, it's the place where she can get into anything, crawl around and pull up anywhere, browse through (and bite) books, play with empty boxes (um, tell me again why the toys even need to come with their boxes???), bite on fabric baskets, and explore everything without getting any "no, you can't get into that" sayings. It's been amazing to see her explore the world. As she figures out the beautiful intricacies of life, I do too.

I had an amazing opportunity just a few weeks ago to go to Guatemala with an organization called Orphan Outreach (http://www.orphanoutreach.org/). There were 30 mother/daughter teams from all over the U.S. that met in Dallas and then headed to Guatemala City from there. I was privileged to go and lead worship with my friend Carmen D'Arcy from Grace Community Church. We shared music both with those women and at each orphanage with the children. The point of the trip was to take school supplies to various orphanages around the city and to enjoy time together playing and hanging out. It was both amazing and heartbreaking. See in the pics the following shots: Soren wearing a handmade necklace I brought back, Carmen and me at the hotel, the way that the cribs were arranged at the orphanage for babies (yes, they were lined along walls and stacked on top of one another), giving each other manicures, and 2 beautiful girls who are orphaned and living at Los Angelitos.
It seems an impossibility that Soren will ever be orphaned. I know this will sound terribly morbid, but I have to admit that if something were to happen to me, then to Jeff, then to our parents, all of our family, all of our friends, etc., I still know that Soren would be taken care of. We are fortunate and grateful that Soren has so many caring hearts that love her as if she was their own. This is not the case with many many many children in Guatemala City. There are cribs lining the walls... who's bed will the little one crawl into when he has a bad dream? And when she wants to tell someone a secret from the depths of her heart, who will listen? And when they want to snuggle, who will be there with open arms?
While I'm grateful, I wonder how my gratitude directly helps those children. There are beautiful people there making huge strides in raising up a new generation of Guatemalans - helping to educate and provide for the children. How do I live with respect for the poor and orphaned? I'm processing again. My prayer is that I would be changed as a wife and mother and that I would pray to leave a legacy with my precious Soren... that she would see those Guatemalan children as her sisters and brothers. Pray for those children and pray that I may be changed.

The Soren Mobile

Ok, Soren's mobile! Pardon the pun and check this out... watch the eyes at the very end especially!

We had a fantastic trip to Texas to visit Jeff's family. Soren first met Memie & Papa and aunts, uncles, and cousins in January. We enjoyed flying this time - it was about 2 hours instead of 30 to get there! Soren made friends with everyone on the plane it seemed - here is a shot with our flight attendant. Some other shots of our trip... there are also some pics of our trip to Monticello, IN for a vacation with Jeff's fam. It was great to be together. Soren has found a good new sleeping position on GrammyMac's lap! :0