someone from one of the local nursing homes to come to Thanksgiving dinner.
19
At the time, it felt a bit awkward to me as a teen, having a stranger join us, but I
have learned that we should not let that stop us from reaching out. It reminds me
of where Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers; for
by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Maybe an angel was
eating the drumstick—I’ll never know until I get to Heaven.
When I got married, I was very excited to have a home to invite others to enjoy.
We were married when my husband was still in college. Our small duplex was
so tiny it had no eating area, and for a long time, we had no sofa or chair to sit
on. So, when we invited five other couples over for dinner, I had to get “crafty”
and solve my entertaining problem. I had a couple of folding tables and folding
chairs so I would set up tables. There wasn’t much room, but I was very happy to
be able to do that and thoroughly delighted when a good time was had by all—it
was the fellowship, not the floor plan, people remembered. It was March, so in the
St. Patrick’s Day holiday mindset, I made corned beef. I was surprised that about
half my guests had never had it. It was such a fun evening, even though it was so
cramped. I had a tablecloth I had gotten for our wedding and two candlesticks.
We were so young, and I was so thrilled to have friends over and delighted what a
success our evening was.
Soon after Craig graduated, we moved into a 750-square-foot triplex. Woohoo!
I was moving up! By then, I was very much into decorating. Art is my thing, and
color is very important to me. I made many things for that little home that we
lived in for those five years. Our place also had a little backyard and garage! With
such an abundance of space, we entertained even more, often having friends over
20
at least a couple times a week. We had a hide-a-bed so that people could come
from out of town and stay with us in that little place. Three kids later, we decided
a move was in order. We needed more space, Craig had a job transfer, and we
found ourselves in Boise, Idaho.
We looked at about twenty-five homes in Boise over three days. One of the last
homes we saw felt best for us. The price was right, it had a great floor plan, and
it was brand new! I had not grown up with a nice home—certainly not new. I
somehow felt it was wrong. I now know that is not true, but at the time, I was not
sure about it. We were out to breakfast with our pastor, who I knew from growing
up in Washington, and he was encouraging when he said, “Some people use their
homes for others. It’s been given to you. I know you will use it.” God speaks in
different ways; we certainly felt peace about buying that house after that word from
our pastor. If we hadn’t, we certainly would have missed out on all the fun we had
decorating that lovely home inside and out, including many happy hours spent
learning more about landscaping. Having grown up in Washington State where
everything just grows and there is vegetation everywhere, I had no clue that a green
thumb in Idaho was a lot more complicated than in Washington, and had to learn
the hard way about soil amendments and planting everything in the yard. Here in
Idaho, we have hard-as-a-rock clay soil. I had never encountered this before. Why
could I not put my shovel into the dirt? The first day at it, I only got about three
feet dug up. A neighbor came over and explained. He said I would need a tiller and
all sorts of bags of soil amendment. I wanted to have people over, so we worked
hard. We were overrun with morning glory and thistles, but we tried to keep a
handle on it.
21
My new friend Ann came by with her tiller and showed me how to till my flower
beds. She was a selfless person who befriended me early on. She watched my
newborn son for me and worked on art projects with me. It was wonderful to have a
young woman connect with me in that first year when I did not know many people.
Another child and a dog added to our family, and we wanted more space to
run around, so after six years, we looked again to move closer to Craig’s work.
We began looking for land to build on with bigger lots. We found a lot a mile
from Craig’s work. Since it was a new subdivision and they were anxious to
have someone finally live there, we got a deal on it and on building the house.
We remained there for eighteen years. I mention those little family details,
as it’s important to remember that family life goes on as you are decorating,
working, landscaping, and everything else that’s so essential to “living” these
days. Hospitality is a mindset—a “heart-set,” really—and it should be an all the
time thing. Saying hello, holding the door for someone loaded down, petting a
dog, offering a smile
