Hospitality

For anyone that lives close by to this Hand Clan . . . you know that we have a "swinging door" . . . with rarely a week going by that we haven't hosted a group of family or friends. This week was no exception. Wednesday night was Dad Hand's birthday, and there were 12 of us around our 2 dining room tables. (The second one is usually stored on the porch, just off the dining room).

Even though Brian and I have busy schedules, hosting people is almost therapuetic for us both. Granted it takes time and planning, but we both love cooking . . . and we love family and friends coming together. Being together . . . with family and the body of believers . . . really bears so much fullness: beauty of other people's perspectives and life experiences, wisdom from those who have more wisdom :), encouragement and refining of your faith, support in day-to-day life stuff (i.e. knowing how they can help you with the smallest or biggest part of life's details), bounce ideas around of new things we're learning, sharing bargains that we found, talking about our quirks and particularities, and simply laughing together . . .
a favorite appetizer
We've enjoyed lots of fun times in our first home. It will be hard to leave, but we anticipate many more times like these in our new home. Oddly enough, our new home will have even more room for hosting. That excites us! And, we can't wait to share it!