A House Full of People

Happy Monday, loyal readers. It's a better late than never post today, I suppose. For whatever reason I'm having a difficult time getting back into a regular blogging routine. Perhaps by the end of the month things will be back to normal.

So, I promised at the end of last week that I would let you know how things went when I hosted my Sunday school class over for Bible study and that is precisely what I intend to tell you about today. First, a little background information - I'm now attending Mayfair Church of Christ, having left pretty much the only congregation I've ever known back in the fall. The class I attend, as well as Jackie and my cousins Alexandra and Anna (when she's in town) is the Young Professionals class and although I'm one of the oldest people in the class, it has been a nice change of events in my life. This group is involved in a lot of activities and they do a lot of things together so there is never a want for something to do. Justin has also been involved with the group on occasion and I think it has been a real encouragement to him as well, which has been nice to see.

On Thursdays, the group gets together for a Bible study and dinner and they call it Link - why, you may ask. Well, I have no idea. At any rate, back in the fall, I signed up to host on January 10. Justin and I went to the Link on January 3 to see how it was and there were around 20-15 people there and I began to get a little concerned. My house is right at 1,000 square feet and the rooms are small. I've had around 50 or so people at my house before, but it was my open house and people were inside, outside, milling about and not sitting down eating dinner; so, I was anxious to see who all would show up and where in the heck we would put everyone.

Justin came over around 5:00 to help me finish getting set up and then we waited on everyone to arrive. I made a double batch of taco soup and two chocolate cakes and prayed it would be enough food. Link started at 7:00 and my cousin Anna was the first to arrive about 10 minutes before 7:00. The three of us chatted while we waited on everyone else to show up and once everyone arrived, there were a total of 19 people (including me and Justin). Thankfully there was enough food for everyone and some people even had seconds. One girl thanked me for having enough food because apparently there has not been enough in times past. Only 3/4 of one cake was eaten so I took one and a fourth cake in to work the next day where it was quickly devoured.

Justin delivered the message for us and even used his "preacher voice" which gave me a good chuckle. I think everyone had a good time, despite the fact that we had to get up close and personal with each other. We made it through the night with only one accident when a stack of Bibles toppled over and knocked a coffee off the bookcase. Justin helped the damsel in distress and in his haste to be a rescuer, attempted to hand me a framed Bible verse that my aunt and uncle gave me for my house warming; but, instead of making sure there was a hand securely underneath, he let it just drop to the floor and it broke.

Some folks left when Justin was finished with his message of the night, but others stuck around for a while and the last people left around 10:00. I mopped the hardwoods in the den twice before going to bed and probably could have mopped them twice more; because it was raining the floors ended up quite dirty - and sticky thanks to the spilled coffee.

So, it was a good night - we were packed tight but there were no complaints and I think everyone enjoyed themselves; well, everyone but The Tide who was none to happy about being holed up in the spare bedroom. . I hope to host again with the weather warms up; that way we can grill hot dogs and hamburgers and everyone can bring a lawn chair and we won't be so cramped. The house survived, I survived, and most importantly, The Tide survived.