Metro Moms

Hospitality and the Holidays

Now that the holidays are here, we have instant opportunities to practice what we have been learning over the last few weeks.  Isn't the Lord kind to prepare our hearts and then bring about practical application? :)

Something that has been on my heart lately is being aware of opportunities that may present themselves during the holiday season.  While this can be the happiest time of the year for some people, for others it may be incredibly difficult.  There can be many sources of the struggle - being away from family, experiencing the first Christmas after the passing of a loved one, or just dealing with hurtful memories of holidays past, etc.  These are just a few struggles that people can be experiencing this time of year.  But the Lord has given us a way to reach out to those that are hurting...we can take them into our home, love on them, share our family with them. 

This doesn't have to be elaborate - it can be as simple as inviting them over for hot chocolate and to watch a favorite Christmas movie.  Or even involving them in family events (putting up decorations, trimming the tree, etc.)  It could be the highlight of their season!  Be creative! 

One other thing I have been reminded of is the temptation to either be too busy - or just think I am too busy to reach out (this can be my tendency).  I pray that the Lord will give me His eyes to see those that He would have me reach out to and a heart that is willing to step out and serve in this way.

Lord, as we enter this season of celebrating Your birth, I pray that we will be able to share Your love with those who are hurting.  Help our hearts to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's prompting so that we may minister to those around us.  Please help us to use the gift of hospitality in a way that brings honor and glory to You.  In Your name I pray, Amen.

Posted by Stephanie

CRASH!

No, that's not your best china shattering on the floor ~ it's a  fun, very spontaneous form of hospitality. 

A few years ago at a women's workshop here, someone shared the idea of "Crashing" other people's houses.  Take your hospitality on the road, so to speak. You know what they say, "If you make it they will eat it!"   :) 

O.K.  It works like this.  (The beginnings of this is a little sneaky, but stay with me.)  Have a conversation with your friend kind of feeling out what their week looks like and wait for the words, "I think we are just going to be home Tuesday night."  Then it's time for action!  Make a fun dessert, or even dinner if you are ambitious, bring a movie or game for the kids to play and go knock on their door completely unannounced.  Be prepared for shock, but also be prepared for a lot of laughs and a great memory. It really is fun. Oh, and definitely, definitely be prepared for payback ~ that is the BEST part.

Happy Crashing!  By the way, in case you were wondering, I think we are home tonight.....

Posted by Taraleigh

The Express Lane

DON'T FORGET...OUR MOM'S MEETING IS TODAY!

There is something special about going over to someone's house - especially for the first time.  I love it when we have the opportunity, even if it is nothing more than just stopping by.  I love to see where they live - how they decorate - how their personality comes out in their home.  I always feel like I know people better once I have been to their home. 

My grandmother has described this as "placing someone" in their home.  From that point on when you are on the phone with them or picture them in their home you can "place" them there. I had never thought about it that way before, but it is really true.  (When we moved into our house several years ago, she was so glad to see our new home for this reason.)

Whether it is someone you just met or someone you have known for years, it is amazing what more you can learn about them.  Several months ago we were visiting a family from a related church in the state.  My husband had enjoyed many conversations with Brian, but I had only met the couple once.  After the service we went out to lunch and then to their house for the afternoon.  It was comfortable and relaxed.  Though I had only met them once before that morning, by the end of the afternoon I felt as if I had known them for years.  It was quite amazing!  It was such a reminder to me of the power of hospitality.  (Thanks Brian & Beth!)

So...who do you want to get to know better?  Hospitality seems to be an express lane for building relationships!

Posted by Stephanie

Thank You Dinner Party

I love having a dinner party.  I especially enjoy doing something nice to bless our guests.  So many people each year bless our lives in many ways, so Jon and I wanted to find a special way to thank them for all they have done for us.  Years ago we decided to try and have a special dinner each year for around 8-10 people.  These would be the people who were especially meaningful in our lives that particular year. 

For this dinner, we go all out with the food and decorations.  However, my favorite part is the way we attempt to honor each of our guests.  The table is set with a wrapped gift at each place setting that each person opens after dinner. Many years the party would fall during the holidays, so each gift was a special ornament.  The ornament was picked out not for its beauty but for the representation of the life of the person it was given to.  My husband and I share why we picked that particular gift for the person and how they had affected our lives that year.  It has always been a meaningful time and such a joy to be able to honor and thank those who have blessed us in tangible ways.

You don't have to have a fancy dinner party to do this.  All it takes is some thought and time shared with those special people in your life.  We have even done this with our homegroup.  Sometimes we honor individuals while other times we've drawn names and allowed everyone to participate in the honoring.  If we really look, we can always find evidences of God's grace in each other's lives. 

Now may be the perfect time to share some of those things with the people in your life.

And don't forget, our Mom's Meeting is tomorrow!

Posted by Elyse

P.S.  A note from Sheree:  Jon and Elyse -- thank you for your example of hospitality!  Every time Benny and I have stepped into your home, for a few minutes or for one of the memorable parties you've just described, we have felt welcomed and loved!  How I wish every Metro Moms Blog reader could experience your warm and gracious hospitality! 

Ever Organized a "Progressive Dinner?"

Want to get a group of friends together for a lengthy evening of fun and laughs?  Interested in getting a few friends together to reach out to new singles or couples in the church?  Desire to get to know some people but lack the confidence or finances to hostess a complete dinner party in your home?  Consider hostessing a progressive dinner.

A progressive dinner is a meal that is eaten at several different homes throughout the evening.  It can be broken up into 3 or more courses depending on the size of the groups(s), distance between the houses, and amount of time allotted to the evening.  Here are a list of possible meal options to have at each different home (again, you can just do a few of these or combine some with others):

• Blessing and beverage
• Appetizer
• Salad or soup
• Main course
• "Clear your palate" sherbet (like in the fancy restaurants!)
• Dessert
• Games, worship or other after-dinner fellowship

Over the years we've made wonderful memories at progressive dinners:  Singles in the church planned an evening of progressive dinners with groups of married couples (they did all the cooking and serving!); I've planned progressive dinners for our Jesse's 10th birthday (who thought driving around with friends and eating for hours at different houses was the greatest!) and for our pastors families for a Christmas event a few years ago; others have planned progressive dinners to get to know new people in the church; homegroups have done this for a special evening together; and young married couples have used a progressive meal as a way to enjoy time in each of their homes in the same evening.

At a former church we even did a progressive baby shower for a mom who was expecting her first baby after many years of infertility.  The shower rsvp was too large for one home, so the guests were divided into 3 groups and the shower was held at 3 different homes.  The expectant mom was "showered" for hours as family members and a few friends drove her from house to house with new guests, gifts and food at each!

What a great time of year to have a holiday progressive dinner!  The meal can be anything from simple to elaborate.  (Hey, you could even use Debi's potato meal from yesterday for a simple main dish!)

Here are some tips to consider:

• Decide how many homes you'd like to include in the meal, considering the size of the homes and how many people could be comfortably accommodated at the smallest location.
• After you secure a list of hostesses willing to participate, consider how far apart they live. 
• Decide on a starting and ending time for your event.  Can you reasonably get to your list of homes during this time period if you allot 45 minutes to an hour at each home?
• Will you include children?  Typically, progressive dinners don't work well with young children due to the pace of the evening.  Think about getting those babies and toddlers in and out of carseats all evening.  :-) But older children and teens love them!

A progressive dinner is a cost effective and fun way to spend a festive evening of creative and economical hospitality with people you know well or want to get to know better!

Posted by Sheree

Tater Party

Fall is the perfect time to invite a few friends or neighbors over for a tater party.  Bake enough large potatoes for all who will be attending.  Supply all the typical toppings for the taters like chili, cheese, broccoli, sour cream, bacon, chives and whatever else you like.  Then, everyone comes and tops their potato the way they like. (You can even ask your guests to bring the various toppings to help offset the costs.)

For simple decorations:

• Buy a yard of burlap from the craft store to use as a table cloth
• Take an apple corer or knife and cut out the side of a raw potato large enough to insert a tea light candle. (It helps to cut off one side of the potato to place down on wax paper in order to keep the potato candle from tipping over.)
• Write out as many potato dishes as you can think of and write on little strips of paper.  As your guests arrive tape one strip of paper to their back.  They have to figure out what kind of potato dish they are by asking each person only one "yes" or "no" question.  You'll be surprised how many different potato dishes there are.  Here are a few to get you started:  hash browns, potato pancakes, mashed, garlic mashed, smashed, baked, loaded, tater tots, parsleyed, French fried, etc...
• You can also place a basket on its side in the middle of your table with potatoes cascading out of the basket to look like you just returned from harvesting potatoes from the farm.  Add a few yellow daisies for a splash of color.

This party has been a favorite of ours since we first learned of it from our dear friends, Lester and Dolores Monk.  They were a part of our homegroup for years and continually offered great ideas for simple, yet special ways to make guests feel welcomed and at home.  Although Lester has since gone to be with the Lord, Dolores continues to inspire me with special ways to honor those you invite into your home.  Look for more of their ideas to come!

Posted by Debi

Hospitality with Kids in Mind

Many of our readers are probably too young to remember the Kool Aid Mom.  She was the smiling, perky mom on the commercials who had the sprinkler going in the yard with lots of kids around -- obviously not all hers.  And she was serving red Kool Aid from the pitcher with the smiley face to all the kids.  From my earliest years I specifically remember thinking, "I wanna be the Kool Aid Mom." (And I've always wanted one of those pitchers...)

As I age, it's fascinating to see how many dreams and hopes God put into my young heart without me realizing it.  How do I know He put them there?  Because they happened!!  And many of those desires were way too unselfish to have been birthed in my sinful heart. 

God knew He would heal my infertility and give me 7 children.  He knew I would marry a pastor and that our home would have an open door to others.  Over the years, though, the Kool Aid Mom has stayed alive in my heart.  From the time the kids were young I wanted our yard to be where the neighborhood kids gathered...and then our home to be where teens would want to hang out.  This led to making some choices and purchases:  the big 'ol ping pong table that took up too much room in the basement; having a basketball slab poured in our back yard in Virginia; and then finding a cost-effective way to put a pool in our back yard when we moved to Florida (the kind that's shallow on both ends so they can easily play volleyball and basketball). 

Last Sunday our family came home from Jaime's house (my oldest daughter) to find a group of young people in our family room watching football and munching on snacks.  Over the years I've come to LOVE feeling like The Three Bears coming home from a walk.  We never know who we will find in our house eating our porridge or falling asleep in our recliners.  In those moments I thank the Lord for giving me the longing to be the Kool Aid Mom.  I wish I could say I was always perky and smiling like her.  Ugh.

Here are some tips for making your yard and home a place where your children's friends want to be:

• Greet them warmly and affectionately, starting when they're little toddlers. 
• Pick out a few children you and your husband especially desire for your child to be friends with and get to know the parents.  Communicate encouraging things you notice in their son/daughter and arrange times for the children to spend time together.
• Make memories that involve being at your home, rather than always at a park or other public place.  Plan special things to do sometimes when the friend(s) comes.  Bake cookies, have a doll tea party, drink juice out of bowls like dogs (my daughters and their friends always enjoyed this one!), make green eggs and ham (my daughters DIDN'T like this one...but Josh and his friends loved it!); make s'mores using the gas grill or cook hotdogs in the fireplace. You certainly don't need to do something heroic every time friends are over, but these fun things make them look forward to being at your home.
• As your children get older, keep fun foods around and buy a little extra at the store so they can spontaneously invite friends over.  (The pre-made cookie dough from Costco is always a big hit.  Fresh-tasting cookies, warm from the oven, are ready in minutes!)

Off to get dinner in the oven.  I thawed out a couple of extra chicken breasts in case one of of the kid's friends "happen to be in the area" in time for dinner.

Posted by Sheree

Make the Most of Every Opportunity

Something fun that I have seen some ladies do is have people over for dinner before homegroup.  It is really nice when you live close by to someone who needs to eat anyway before group ~ you may as well eat together, right? What a great opportunity to get to know another couple or some singles in your group. Now you may be thinking, Wednesdays are just super crazy for me - there is no way I could pull that off!  You can; it is possible.  With a few practical plan ahead ideas such as: 

• Make something in your Crockpot or a dish that can be assembled in the morning and put in the refrigerator and just popped in the oven when it's time

• Set the table after lunch, better yet, ask one of your children to set the table for you :)

• Have the kids keep all of their toys in their room in the afternoon, less to pick up later

• Put aside in one place all of the things you need when you walk out the door, Bibles, notes, the diaper bag, etc.

• Relax, this is about living life together, not serving the perfect three course meal

I truly believe a little effort goes a long, long way here!  Making the most of the few hours before homegroup can really benefit and grow your relationships in a wonderful way!  Try it, you may be surprised!!

Posted by Taraleigh

Timed Bake...and Being Spontaneous

Something my mom and grandmother have done for years is use the "Timed Bake" function on their ovens.  Often they would prepare "Sunday Dinner" (as my grandmother calls it), put it in the oven before leaving for service and once we got home, a delicious meal would be ready to eat.  I mainly remember having Roast this way, but I am sure they made other things as well.

I haven't done this very much, but have done it on a couple of occasions.  One weekend, my husband expressed a desire to just go home after the Sunday service and asked if I could have something ready when we got home.  So, I put in a huge lasagna, set the timed bake and off we went. 

Since the meal was such a large one, we decided to spontaneously invite some friends over!  How fun...we were excited to offer hospitality on the spot!  Then we got home...I noticed as I walked in that I didn't smell anything - nothing at all!  Yikes!  Turns out I set everything correctly...except the actual clock.  (Our oven is an older model - no digital clock on this baby! ha, ha!)  So I didn't pay attention to the actual time on the clock, just the start and end times.  Needless to say, it was quite embarrassing as now we not only had NO lunch for us, but none for our spontaneous guests!  :-)  We got quite a laugh over it (it still comes up every once in a while)!  So, Pizza Hut got an order from us and the crisis was averted! 

So, remember 2 things: 

1. Timed Bake is a great tool to use as a way to cook a meal while you are gone.

2.  Make sure your clock is set correctly before you leave!  :-)

Posted by Stephanie

My Little Pink Box

This week we are going to offer practical and fun ideas to help in the application of showing hospitality.  You will hear ideas that we have either been blessed with by others, or that we have had the opportunity to bless others by doing.  All in all our hope is that you will use these simple ideas as a springboard in coming up with your own creative ideas for this important aspect of Biblical Womanhood.  By all means, share your ideas with us; we love hearing from you!

My little pink box is tucked away in its drawer for now.  I use it whenever someone is coming to our house for dinner and/or fellowship.  Cindi McGee's mom, Ellen Uhr, shared this idea with me years ago when I was being mentored by her excellent example of hospitality.  In my little pink box are index cards with the names of my friends on them.  I use these cards to write down how they like their coffee, if they're allergic to any food, what their favorite desserts are, etc.  It's taken some time to discover these things about them, but I've found that if I write it down, then next time they come over I don't have to ask them how they like their coffee.  I can just prepare it for them. 

I'll never forget how warmly cared for I felt when Ellen prepared my tea exactly how I liked it without having to ask me.  It's a simple way to let others know that you have taken notice of them.

So, how do you like your coffee?

Posted by Debi