Never thought I'd vacation in Arkansas.....

And actually enjoy it!?!?! We've had so much going on lately with getting settled and maximizing our memberships to the zoo and Children's Museum. But some friends of ours from Christ Community invited us to go to Greer's Ferry Lake with them over the weekend and we jumped on the chance for a vacation before starting school this week and the start of fall activities that will tie us down through out the year. The Oliphant's also have three precious kids and Charlie has become a fast friend to B. So off to AK we went. We stayed at "Puddin' Ridge" which also had a farm that we utilized and went to the "beach" on the lake one day. The weather was FABULOUS. It seemed almost like fall which was a welcome from the sweltering Memphis heat and humidity. We spent our time making smores, playing at the farm and splashing in Lake Greer's Ferry. Here are some pics to show our last summer hoo-ra....

Liddy with her new BF, Katelyn. Unfortunately Kate is a lot less excited about the prospect of a BFF. It's written all over their faces!

B enjoying her 'smore

The Oliphant/Patrick clan in their PJ's and the older two can't wait to go to bed to sleep on the bunk beds! The simple joys of childhood...

Starting the day at the farm with a new doggie friend. Monty was on vacation with us but we didn't trust him to come on the farm with all those ponies wondering around, oh and hogs too!

Paddle-boating with the younger ones. Lyds was trying to dive out of the boat at this point to get the very unshy ducks....

Liddy posing for me in one of her moods. See it? The mood?

JP running around with his shirt off . He's that kid.

That donkey isn't really as close to Lyd's head as it looks...

Looks like such a sweet father/son pic but he's actually in time-out. A regular part of our daily routine these days. But they are a handsome pair:)

B with her new fishing pole. No fish on this trip

Liddy enjoying the beach

Bethany now refuses to wear any safety device... she's doing really well but it scares a Momma. JP spent much of his time drinking the lake water despite my best efforts

Earlier in the month we had our first out of town visitors! Linny and Elba came to Orange Mound with a long list of to-do's to work on! Thanks Elba for all your hard work!

We spent time playing at the Children's Museum and hitting up some of the Memphis shopping we hadn't gotten to yet. Linny was the perfect partner to scout out the shops with.

The Crawfords were also in town visiting Callie and JD. Next time we need to work to coordinate these parent visits so I get them in between each other. Helps with the homesickness.

Love this picture. Who knew Joey and Callie would end up in Memphis together? These two have grown up together and Callie's become a dear friend of mine. So glad to have "family" here with us:)

On the Memphis side of things, it's been going really well. I'll have to spend a whole post just updating on our thoughts thus far. But it's nice to have that peacefulness that comes with being in God's will. A sweet serenity that can't be explained.

Thank you Lord for your Providence in all things despite the weakness in my faith and the sin that so easily entangles me. Your Grace is enough for me.....