by laura beth

Since Willis is only about an hour from where James and Kim live, we invited them to come visit us. James' daughter Ashley is spending a month with him for the summer, so they brought all 4 kids up.

After they pulled into town, we headed to Huntsville and the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church...and BBQ. This is sooooo great. I mean, the BBQ was just good, but the whole idea of it is absolutely hilarious. Right next to the church is a smoked stained shack serving up ribs, brisket, sausage and chicken (along with the fixin's and homemade pies). You pass the smoker as you walk into the tiny place, there are several picnic tables crammed in, and the kitchen is very much a run-of-the-mill small church kitchen, serving the BBQ out of stainless steel buffet pans and sweet tea out of cooler jugs. It was an experience to say the least.

After filling our bellies, we took the Tavs to visit all of the animals. Jason's camel, Butter, really likes kids a lot, so he and Ephram got along great. Later, Sammi Jo took us on cart drives with Charlie. Apparently Ashley loves zebras, so she was thrilled to be able to hang out with them. Nick is really into genealogy, which fascinated Cal and DJ. Also, it was Kim's birthday, and I had saved some cupcakes in anticipation of their visit. I think everyone had a really great time, and it was so good to see the Tavs again.