A Love For Entertaining

We have always loved having people in our home ever since we were first married. We have had at least 3 or 4 single young adults live us for summers during their college breaks, and one young man live with us for a year or so. The young people rarely knocked when they came over and when we moved I informed the new owners that there might be a few who may not have known we had moved so they might lock their doors in case anyone just walked in. That's just how we are. Come on in and hang out! We enjoy inviting different young adults to our home to watch movies, play games, have dinner, or just hang out. We also on occasion have families over, or couples, though I find that sometimes scheduling those is very difficult. Plus, we're youth pastors so we are always surrounded by young people, and we love that. However we do it, we love having an open home. It has always been a priority to us. As much as I would love to entertain like Sandy or Ree or any number of others out there in bloggyland, or my "in person" friends, I don't, and I think I'm okay with that. See, we each entertain our own way. I can glean ideas from others, and continually do things differently, but only out of a love for entertaining and not from a sense that I'm not doing it good enough, or because I feel the need to be like someone else and not be content with who I am. Trust me, I've been there, and even still sometimes wrestle with it. My girls have picked up on our love for entertaining and our love for being a blessing to others. Our oldest Kat who is 13 has planned a few things on her own. She has two small group leaders who have both recently gotten married in the last few years and one now has a 15 month old and a newborn. In December Kat planned a spa and dinner night for that leader. She and a few other girls saved up their money and pampered their leader with a spa treatment, lunch (that they made) and then sent she and her hubby to a really nice restaurant in downtown Portland, then the girls watched their oldest boy for the night. Their other leader recently celebrated her 2 year wedding anniversary and so the same group of girls planned a fun evening for them complete with food, cake, simple decorations, games and gifts. Nan on the other hand likes to plan bonfires complete with guest list and who's bringing what! They love to entertain, they love to write notes of encouragement to people. They love being a blessing to others. We encourage this in our girls and let them go with it whenever they come up with an idea that will bless someone else. Both leaders were extremely touched by the gestures. My desire is that my girls' love for entertaining and blessing will only increase and one way that is done is by me letting them be themselves and do things the way they want. I might help them think through something, such as cost, or what would be good to have, but other than that, I leave it all up to them. I let them be around others who are hosting things, and they help decorate, clean up, serve, whatever is available for them to do. They learn so much from what others are doing. I encourage you to promote an atmosphere of hospitality and blessing in your home, however it is you want to do it. If it's simply having pizza and popcorn while watching a movie, great! If it's a full course meal complete with a beautifully set table, great! It doesn't matter as long as you and your guests are having a blast. With Joy UNquenchable,