Update from Charlotte

I just noticed it has been over a month since we've posted anything to our blog!

We'll likely have to wait for Caroline to get any pictures up, which is the best part of reading blogs, I know.

It's been a busy summer already.  Here's a rundown of some nuggets of interest.

Caroline already posted about our trip to Western Kansas.  Unfortunately, on the way back, the Town Car had a ball joint fail on I-70 in Salina, which caused a small fire in the ditch (since it was basically front suspension on asphalt for 50 yards or so) and meant the car got to stay in Salina for a few weeks being repaired.  Never fear - the Town Car is back and better than ever.  Holly's brother and sister in law got us from Salina to Manhattan, Holly took us from Manhattan to Topeka and Jack - Caroline's dad got us back to KC.  Jack even let me borrow his truck to drive while the Town Car was being repaired - which was super nice of him.

My mom has been staying with us this summer (minus her sweet trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada), which has been great.  She has been great with Vera and has really helped around our house - not that Caroline needs any help, but still nice.  We went back to Mayo clinic last week and she is doing much better and her doctors are very encouraged.

We went to visit Holly and Bryan in Manhattan for the 4th of July.  They are great hosts and always have good food as well.  Vera doesn't know how to show her appreciation for hospitality as she had a bad night sleeping in her test drive of Baby Elsey's crib.  Hopefully Holly and Bryan's son will make better use of that crib!

The Royals have been largely disappointing this year - as you are probably aware.  I really thought this was the season they would break through, but I should have known better with a patchwork (at best) starting rotation.  The MLB All Star game was here in KC this week, and Caroline and I got a chance to go to the Futures (top minor league players) game on Sunday.  The K looked great and we had a great time.  Billy Hamilton - in the Reds minor league system is amazingly fast and fun to watch and Wil Myers - the next great Royals prospect played well as well.  On Tuesday, we went to Crown Center (for a disappointing 1 inning) to the community watch party.  KC really did it up right for the All Star Game.  I guess when your baseball team is historically bad, your last Final Four game ever was in 1988 and your NFL team hasn't won a playoff game since I was in Middle School, you can get super excited for the MLB all star game as a community.

Jesse is still with us and is having a good summer.  She has enjoyed 2 weeks of art camp and a couple weeks of service camp.  She continues to be sweet to Vera.

And speaking of Vera - she can no longer be accurately described as Baby Vera.  She is quite the big girl these days.  She has really enjoyed her water table and the swimming pool.  We've been about 4 weekends in a row because of the nasty heat here in KC.  She has really had her personality come out, which is good and, well, not so good.  Her 3rd favorite word right now is "no".  (1st is uh-oh, and 2nd is momma).  She's also learning to share, which has been interesting.  You never know and don't have ultimate control, but we are hoping and praying she grows up to be a sweet girl who loves Jesus.

That's probably all for now.  Sorry we don't have pictures to share right now.  We'll post some soon!