Vacation - Memphis, TN...

We have always wanted to be able to stop and visit many of the kids that have been in our care at Happy Hill. While we've seen a few of them, when they've come back to visit, we just aren't able to go visit as often as we'd like. So, we are in Memphis, TN...visiting Sophia!! Sophia graduated this past May and at graduation, her parents extended an open invitation for us to come visit anytime we're coming to or through the Memphis area. We aren't crazy...so we took them up on it! We're on our way through to Gatlinburg, TN...so we left a few days early and we're visiting with them.



It's been so nice! We arrived Wednesday, late afternoon. Of course, if you know anything about my wonderful husband...we stopped at Graceland first! We didn't pay to take the tour, but we walked the shops and just looked at what we could see...it was really interesting. We went into downtown Memphis. We rode the trolley through town. We walked down Beale Street...it was 'Bike Night', very cool!! Just all sorts of sight-seeing. We stopped at this amazing cheesecake place...we all shared a piece of white chocolate caramel cheesecake and a piece of blackberry cheesecake. All I can say is, I'm glad that place is nowhere near my home...it is fabulous!









Yesterday, Thursday, we did a little more sight-seeing. We went back to Beale Street, to browse through all of the shops that were closed the night before. Miss Vicki (Sophia's mom) bought Josh a cool little sign with his name on it that looks like a license plate from Memphis. He loves those kinds of souveniers! Then, we drove through several riverside areas...just looking at the scenery...along the Mississippi River. It is simply beautiful. We returned back to the house and Tony (Sophia's dad) made a traditional Jamaican dish for dinner...peas & rice and jerk chicken. It was delicious! The chicken was spicy and grilled...mmmm! Sophia had her dance crew over for practice. It was fun sitting outside, watching the kids dance in the driveway. Cami joined in for a little bit...that was hilarious! A couple of the kids stayed for several house...awesome kids! Very awesome, in fact, one of them offered to fix my computer...it has had a virus on it and now it is working like a charm...thanks Brandon!



Today has been the relaxing day. We slept in this morning...I woke up at 10:30, and the kids shortly thereafter! We're on vacation time! We had a traditional Jamaican dish for breakfast...a cod fish mixture of some sort with toast and eggs. It was different, but like my husband says "I'll try anything once". We went swimming after breakfast...it was very nice and just what we needed. Vicki decided that we needed to go to the mall, because she wanted to pick up a little something for Cami. So, we stopped by the Pink Palace, just to take a peek...she found a cute litle purse that she got for Cami, as a surprise! Then, at the mall, she let Cami pick out a gift at Claire's...if anyone knows Cami, they've already guessed what she chose. Yep, lipgloss! A lipgloss cellphone...what a girl!


These people are the sweetest. We are so blessed to work right where God wants us to be, we get the unique opportunity to minister to these kids and watch them grown into awesome adults. This is a rare occasion, for a family to thank us and truly understand why we do what we do. It makes it all very worthwhile!

We will be having dinner tonight, at Corky's...BBQ that we've heard lots about!! Then, we're heading out tomorrow, early in the morning...heading onto Gatlinburg to hang out with the Minder crew!! We are very excited...