July & August- Wet and Wild!

July and August have been wet and wild as we've enjoyed the pool, the beach, and the sun. Caleb is continuing to grow and change everyday and amaze us! He has recently memorized his first scripture- Psalms 139:14- "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." I always feel but have felt more so this summer for some reason so very blessed to be able to stay at home with Caleb. To play on the floor, to read him book after book, to place him up on the edge of the pool for the 100th time so that he can jump off once again into my arms, to help him memorize scripture and to experience the everyday discoveries in life is the most fulfilling job I could ever have! I love it! -- Caleb has another MRI on Sept. 9th. We'll keep you updated!

My life-long friend Meghan came in from London to visit us for a brief two days. We only get to see her about twice a year. Meghan and I danced for 7 out of my 12 years side by side and stayed very close all growing up. She has been a good good friend to me, and I love her tons!

Here we are grilling out with my family for the 4th of July except for my youngest brother WillT. We played a fun game called Bocce Ball, and I won!!

This was a night with the Kramers I will never forget. Karen has been craving fried chicken since she became pregnant, and I promised her I'd fix my mother's famous fried chicken. So, when she was 8 1/2 months pregnant I finally did! Here we are about to eat friend chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, buttery rolls, and a side of broccoli of course!! Ha! It was hilarious to see us devour this food- as many of you know the Kramers and the Hendersons don't eat much of these foods anymore!! Also, I was very proud to say that I truly made my mother's fried chicken!! I called her the next day and told her she'd passed on the tradition successfully! Yea!

Here we are at our "Italian Cafe" (our back yard) with a few dear friends to celebrate Derek and Karen's soon-to-be baby boy (who doesn't have a name!). Alicia had a fabulous idea of doing a Tuscan theme shower! It was so much fun recreating a corner of our yard! We ate yummy Italian food, chatted over Italian music, watched the Kramers open lovely gifts, and ended with a beautiful time of prayer and blessing over their precious son. It was a wonderful night! See more pictures in the photo gallery under "June-July."

Here we are in Panama City on our first family vacation! We joined Jonathan, Mandi and the kidos in one of Jonathan's family member's condo. We had a blast! Caleb enjoyed the sand and the ocean- we were so glad! And, thanks to many of you who prayed for good weather for us. God really answered that prayer in our favor, and we felt very blessed. (the week before there was a hurricane in the Gulf, so we were worried we'd get torrential rains)

Caleb's 1st sandcastle! Yea! Little Austin and Caleb had a good time together on our trip. They shared a room and had lots of laughs over the course of the week. One of our favorite laughs occurred one night after we put the kids to bed. We heard Caleb over the monitor ask Austin to get up, go in the den, and get his purple car. He told Austin where it was exactly- in the farm silo! He kept asking him over and over! We thought it was hilarious that Caleb was too scared to get out of bed and get in trouble, so he tried to pawn it off on Austin... who of course declined. Ha!

This is my favorite picture! I love the sunsets at the beach! We enjoyed several on this trip.

Here we are at a hibachi grill in Panama City, and Caleb is eating with chopsticks! He has recently been determined to eat rice with chopsticks- he's pretty good too! We are amazed at his determination. If you know Caleb then you know that he LOVES food, and he eats it real fast- too fast!! We are always trying to get him to slow down and chew his food. So, we are all about the chopsticks!! -- And, check out all of our other fun beach pictures here.

This is a funny video of Caleb getting some attitude with the movie Cars. There is a scene with some hot rods playing some funky music that gets him jamming. The end of the video is pretty cute.

The Moore's came to visit us from California!! Yea!! We miss them so much and were so very glad we were able to catch up face to face. Here we are after church with a few of the friends that ate lunch and visited with the Moore's. We love you Kevin and Virgina!!

And lastly we have not only been wet and wild at the pool and the beach, but also at home as we've been potty training this last week!! ;) Yes, I mean literally-- It's been a wild week of Caleb and I both getting drenched in what I kept telling myself was virtually water considering Caleb drinks a lot of water!! ;) Overall Caleb has done well, and we've been very proud of him.

Just to keep you updated, our adoption process is still moving ahead. We are getting ready to start our home study with a local adoption agency. If you haven't heard, we chose a small agency based out of California that has a program in the Phillippeans; however, they will use a local adoption agency to do our home study. We are excited and are praying regulary for our little girl!

Grace and peace to you all... we love you!

Nicole, Austin & Caleb