claire layla caldwell

claire layla caldwell was born

on december 7th at 4:22 pm
in amman, jordan

7 lb. and 20 inches long

i love her big eyes and sweet chubby cheeks....i could kiss them ALL day long. my favorite thing is when i get to wake her up to eat...she is so warm and snuggly and i love watching her streeetch and open her eyes...it really is the best thing ever.


watching drew with her...he LOVES to burp her, change her diaper and do anything to take care of her. she is mesmorized by her daddy...his voice soothes her every time.


she loves her hands. she hates being swaddled and she likes having her hands by her face. she is so sweet. snuggling her is the best!


this pic is hilarious. since she was born, one of her ears flops over. the doctor said she probably was laying weird on her ear in the womb and that if we flatten it, it would lay right. but we discovered how her ear really got this way.... she loves to grab her ear! she was sleeping like this the other day! and she had her arms just like this in her 4-D ultra sound pic...so funny!


i have LOVED being an aunt. i love claire so much and i am so excited to get to see her grow up and become all the things the Lord has dreamed over her!

MUCH LOVE FROM JORDAN :)

adventures in jordan...

here are some more highlights from my time in jordan...claire definitely took her sweet time coming into this world, so we had some time on our hands!

one day my brother took my mom and me to explore downtown amman. we had been sitting around doing NOTHING for about a week waiting for claire everyday so it was so refreshing to get out and have an adventure!

downtown is filled with tons of small shops and little markets up alleyways. a pic of me and drew in a fruits and veggies market...everyone just yells as loud as they can...we bought kiwis, my new fav.

we ate at one of jordan's most well known restaurants. sitting outside eating falafel and hummas and egyptian tea...mmmm!

we also went to some roman ruins (who knew) and got to enter for free because the guy loved that drew spoke arabic like a native. (his arabic is unbelievable...sometimes people ask if he is arab because he doesn't have an accent...dang!)

here is a pic of our camel friend. this sweet camel lived a few blocks away from drew and mary's house in a neighbor's backyard!...really. this camel was bought for one the big holidays in jordan called the feast of slaughter (it was the day after thanksgiving). this holiday is celebrated to remember abraham's sacrifice of isaac. to celebrate families will slaughter an animal. (yikes! lots of blood in the streets ah). most will slaughter a sheep, however, this family went big and bought a camel to slaughter :( thus, our camel friend is no more! (also for this holiday there are feasts, and everyone goes and visits their families and they give eachother money and gifts...family is such a big deal here..i am learning so much about the culture which i love.

as i sit here writing this blog you can hear an array of noises flooding the streets of jabal hussein (the team's neighborhood). street vendors drive around selling things...they each have their own noise to let people know what they sell. so the fruits and veggies guy has a recording of him yelling in an incredibly obnoxious voice "fruits and vegetables" in arabic. some have songs, some just yell. the cotton candy vendor has a nice, whimsical sounding whistle that he blows as he walks by. and five times a day the call to prayer is blasted from nearby a mosque. never a quiet moment around here...especially now that we have the sounds of a sweet newborn to add to the mix :)

i will be back in the states on wednesday...so sad to be leaving family here :(
but i am excited for the holidays with family and friends in oklahoma!

PEACE AND JOY to you all!

life in jordan!

greetings from amman, jordan!

it has been really fun being here with my brother and mary. i love amman. i love the city, the culture, the people we have met. there is nothing better than being in a place i have never been...i love the nations! being here has been so stirring...reminded me of the desires of my heart to let go of comforts of home for the Kingdom. its so amazing to listen to drew and mary and the team speaking the language so well, laughing, joking with arab friends...i love it! my heart is bursting to learn a language and give myself to a people! someday. here are just a few pics of our time here so far...

setting up for baby claire....she has so much stuff! we are ready for her to come!

mary's baby shower! tons of amazing food, presents and DANCING! the last pic is of us laughing so hard because of how NOT good we are at arab dancing :)

we love jordan but its always nice to have a touch of home. we went to starbucks the other night...i thought of my cute barista roommate and my sister amanda. some other american things we have done: dinner at chilis, mcdonalds at the big mall, and seeing NEW MOON!

well thats all the pics i have right now...will upload some more tomorrow maybe. there is so much more to tell! well we are still waiting for baby claire! we are praying she comes soon because we can not wait to meet her!

i miss you all. SO MUCH!

LOVE LOVE LOVE to all!

oh baby baby!

today i went shopping with my mom and nanny for my niece, baby claire! it was quite the adventure. we seriously shopped for NINE hours ah. we were freaking out, really. we bought an obscene amount of stuff. BUT it was sooo fun. my favorite thing i bought for her is a light pink tutu with a princess onesie...oh man i can't wait to love on the little princess. so excited to meet her.

i leave in three days. i will post pics the instant she is born! i am headed back to norman tomorrow for my last day in my apartment...i will miss living in norman SO much...oh how i have been abundantly blessed by the people i get to live life with in norm norm.



LOVE YOU ALL.

well...here is my blog!

hello friends,

i figured it was time to start a blog! would love to be able to keep in touch well and share all that is happening in my life. i will be leaving in a week and a day for amman, jordan to visit drew and mary and my niece, so i thought this would be a perfect time to start blogging! that is all for now...LOVE and JOY and BLESSINGS to all!