Party Central

Life has been busy. Postponed party after postponed party. :)

Sickness has been running rampant throughout the valley. If we weren't sick, the people supposed to be coming to our house were. BUT Friday night, we were actually able to make it to someone's house for dinner! AND then last night one of OUR parties actually happened. Pleasant surprise, I assure you. ;)

Grant it, six people had to back-out last minute due to illness or being on-call at the hospital. But we had a grand ol' time. And an almost-full house of 20 laughing women. All women from my large church...from varying ages and friendship circles. It. was. a. blast.

I'd love to do more parties like that. Really soon. In fact, I WILL do more like that. What's that you say? You want to know why? Well, allow me to "rewind" life five years...

In 2003, the Lord called Jet and I to Texas. Simply put, to break us. Now we weren't privy to that small bit of information while happily obeying his random instruction to up and move our family. Nope. Nary a clue. I mean, what fun would that be, right? *Forgive me a slight roll of the eyes and a wink towards Heaven*

So we moved...and suddenly found ourselves fully emerged in waters we'd never crossed before. The raging rapids known as Church-hopping. And while embarking on the venture of finding a church family, we got to experience, on a painfully intimate level, what other people may experience when walking into the doors of my church for the first time. The feeling of not quite fitting. Of being looked over in a crowded room of fellow Believers. Of trying to find their niche in a group of people that really don't need any new niches, thank-you-very-much.

Honestly, my hub and I are extremely outgoing. Neither of us are afraid to start up a conversation with a perfect stranger. To engage ourselves fully in the unfamiliar. Yet time and time again we were denied access to the one thing that we wanted. Friendships. Inclusion. Circles of fellowship. In fact, there were MANY times when the most anyone would say to us was "Are these seats taken?"

Now there's more to this story. But that will have to be for another time. For now I'll just jump ahead 16 months when the Lord released us to return "home".

Our hometown. Our home church. Our old friends.

Ahh, sounds good, right? You'd think. Yet quite frankly, the return home was anything but smooth sailing. In a lot of ways, it felt like we hit a brick wall. One that had been erected smack dab in the middle of What Used To Be.

Things had changed. WE had changed. Not one relationship remained the same. For not one area of our lives remained the same. Nor the lives of the ones that we had been close with before.

And so...the rather lonely feeling of our early Texas days seemed to resurrect itself. We felt like we were having to start over. A-gain. Finding our niche. Identifying the place where the "new us" could fit...

We remained in this "identifying state" for a while. Not by choice. But, looking back, I'd say by Design.

For then the Lord spoke. We weren't to wait for an invitation to some one's house. We weren't to wait around for someone else to include us. We were to set our hearts to include others. He went on to say that we were entering into a season of giving parties...

And thus, we have invited tons and tons of people to our home. For game nights. Meet Random People nights. For dinner. For No Reason at all. Some people that we've never even spoken to before inviting them over. People we knew by name...but had no relationship with.

Until they walked through our doors.

Our heart is to create a place of inclusion. To open our doors to fellowship with all types of people. And to create the atmosphere where other people can fellowship outside of their immediate circle of friends as well.

During this stage of life we're unable to be involved in our church's options of weekly homegroups. With Jet in school and our girls' bedtime of 7pm, it simply just doesn't work.

And so we give parties. Dozens and dozens and dozens of them. We open our arms...our doors...our hearts to the people that God has put right in front of us. With the hopes of including and connecting with them. Of forging new friendships. Of strengthening the Body by way of food, fun, and fellowship.

And you know what? In the process of taking our eyes off of ourselves and our own needs, we found our niche. I guess you could say we're bridge builders. The heart-to-heart kind.

So *lifting my glass of champagne* Here's to another Year of Parties, Lord. May those who enter these doors feel cherished. included. energized. And to include my newest prayer request... May those who enter these doors experience instantaneous physical healings. ;)

Party On! ;)