Guests!

I love being a hostess, welcoming people into my home, providing a space for people to relax and enjoy themselves. Even the cleaning and food preparation beforehand is fun for me (cleaning afterwards is not as great, but I am still up for it). If I had it my way, I would have people over all the time. However, some people like their home to be a quiet sanctuary in their otherwise busy lives. Since I happen to have married a boy with this preference, I try not to overload him with requests to have people over.

The last couple weeks have been quite an exception though, as we have had a revolving door of guests, which was perfectly timed with some very unScottish sunny days.

The Key family came to visit us a couple Saturdays ago. (Scott and Dani are originally from SoCal, but now are missionaries in a village in Scotland.) We took their two little boys (2 & 4) to the nearby park to let them run, play and enjoy the sunshine while we enjoyed some adult conversation. After a couple hours, when everyone was hungry and dehydrated, we wandered back to the flat for some food and further play time with new birthday toys. We shoved the coffee table over and all laid out on the rug in the living room to join the boys with their lego pirate ship and hex bugs. Everyone had so much fun that we lost track of time and only realised it was past the boys' bedtime when the meltdowns started. After an argument about shoes (apparently tired four-year-olds and shoes don't mix well after 7pm), we sent them on their way with their exhausted kiddos.

The following day,Sunday, played out much the same, with the Tattons' and their two kids coming for a lunch date after church. Martin and Mattie have just taken over the ministry at Calvary Chapel Glasgow and it was so sweet to hear what God has been doing. After some lasagne and salad, we headed out to the park to enjoy the sunshine, playground and the plethora of blooming daffodils. A few hours later, we sent another tired family on their way and had just enough time to put a few things away before heading back to church for the evening service.

Then on Monday afternoon, these two arrived for their week of Scottish fun:


It was sweet getting to spend time with Anneliese and Nolan, and getting to provide them with a place to sleep in between adventures. They may not have believed us, but they seriously experienced the best weather we've had in Scotland for several months- it was warm, dry and sunny all week! We took advantage of the decent weather and took them out to Ross' favorite place. Just look at all that blue sky!



The minute they left the cold weather and snow returned...