On another note, something else that has occupied most of our summer has been house hunting! We have absolutely loved our home for the past 8 years and have felt very blessed to have the best neighbors in the world. However, we really want to move forward with adoption and bring another child into our home.  In light of that, we feel that moving is the next step toward that goal before we begin a sea of paperwork.  We began in May and ended up with a contract on a home that fell through in July due to appraisal issues. We were really sad because we had fallen in love with it; however, since then we found a home that a contractor friend from church has bought and is redoing. We are really excited to have a contract on this new house! What a blessing! So, we should be moving in sometime at the beginning of October!! We will keep you posted!  

To wrap up our summer, we decided to take the kids to Gatlinburg to the indoor water park. It was a blast! Annelise's favorite part was "staying in a hotel." -and Caleb's was riding all the fun, thrill seeking water slides!! We had a sweet weekend together before school starts back.  

Annelise drove her 1st go-cart!! She was so proud of herself!!!

look at that serious face! He was determined to not let the person behind him get ahead!
And, a note on Caleb...we just had his Endocrinologist appointment this week (hormone specialist). Clinically, he once again shows no signs of puberty and we are elated. He is on the fast side of growing but not in the puberty range- what a blessing...we also just received his blood results. His growth hormone levels are still elevated. So they will continue to follow him fairly closely. His puberty hormone levels however are down. This is really great news!

And these two pictures are some of my favorites right now. Annelise is just growing up and we are trying to cherish every moment. She is helping sort and fold clothes (Yes!), snapping fresh green beans, and her favorite thing to wear are her jeans!! 

And yes, Annelise is wearing a new winter hat in the dead of summer that I bought her at a consignment sale...she is such a silly goose!
Much love to each of you!