Little House in the Woods: August was Heavy Duty.

Heaven gained our fearless co-leader this month, and we lost him. I loved Jim and I miss him dearly. We all do. I walked past his office today half expecting him to be in there on a phone call. We are in shock and grieving , but there is great excitement knowing we'll see him again soon. At the viewing I made sure to tell him I'd see him soon. Goodbye means forever, and this isn't forever. Pray for his wife Barb, and kids Joel and Crystal. They've lost so much more than we can begin to understand.

See ya soon Jim....

We had guests, a boat load of guests! My mom came for a week, and 2 friends came. Then we had all the guests here for the funeral. Even though the circumstances were tragic, having everyone here was the greatest comfort. Since I've lived here for a few years, I'm friends with a lot of Jim+Barbs family....and they've begun to feel like family to me too. We were bursting at the seams and I loved it.

My mom got to be here for Ella-Jeans birthday as well as her own. We visited the Alma Water Park, Wild Wilderness Drive Through Safari, Silver Dollar City, The Wilderness Cabins, and the Ozark Beach, as well as the La Quinta Inn in Little Rock which was absolutely putrid. We had a lot of fun.

Highlight of the week was definitely our beach bonfire on my moms birthday.....walking around barefoot on the sand collecting wood for the fire with nothing but the twilight of the moon to guide our path, then stripping down to our skimpies and swimming in the filthy luke warm Arkansas River. I'm hoping those memories will remain stained in my head forever.

Here's a few photos from some of the festivities...

Trying on some gifts at her birthday brunch