Well we've got quite a bit of catching up to do....almost the whole month of august has flown by! Previous to this post Mark has been reporting on our family's adventures, but this time I decided to try my hand at the blogging thing. So if this report lacks the style and flair that you are used to in your perusal of the lisle news, I apologize. 

The last three weeks had two memorable milestones/events for two members of our family. The first was the white coat ceremony for Mark, which marked the beginning of medical school and his professional training. It was pretty cool actually. The event was held in a gorgeous hall in one of the older prettier buildings on campus. After a speech by a notable doctor who I cannot recall the name of, each student came up in alphabetical order to be "coated." Basically, they came up to the podium and had a faculty member or alumni place the white coat on them, afterwhich they announced their name into the microphone. During the ceremony the Dean explained that the white coat is the tangible symbol of the promise each student makes when they take the hippocratic oath. So, after being coated, the student body rose and took the hippocratic oath. I don't know how many of you are familiar with this, and each school has a slightly different emphasis in their oath, but in a nutshell they promise to practice with integrity, using their knowledge to compassionately help the world around them and always do what is in the best interest of their patients. There is a lot more to it than that, but that is the basic idea. So the ceremony was a really neat experience, and we did get some good pictures right after the event. The only downside was that Mark got a little bit attached to his coat, and despite my coaxing, I was unable to get him to take it off for quite a while. He took to sleeping and showering in it, and what can I say, right place at the right time, I was able to catch a couple rare photos of this phenomenon.

The second major event in our lives happened this past week for Juliette...she started giggling! This was pretty much the most exciting experience ever for mark and I, as we suddenly discovered one day that what used to make her smile now makes 

her laugh. (Peek-a-boo was what started it all.) Basically, she has the cutest baby laugh in the whole world. She's not laughing consistently yet, but she definitely had three good giggling episodes in the last week. We're looking forward to lots more of that in the near future.

Aside from that, Mark started classes a week and a half ago, and things are going well with that so far. Juliette and I are having fun during the day, and keeping busy. I hope this week finds all of you well, we love and miss you all!!