Little Friends

This morning I was reading my notes from Bible Study and the thoughts were on helping your children form and cultivate friendships. It's an interesting topic of discussion because it feels like cultivating meaningful relationships is a thing of the past. My mother and father in law used to hang out with a couple sets of friends all the time-they'd even do holidays together sometimes. The result is that years later they still have life-long friendships.

(I love this picture. All three boys after baths last night. Pappa & Nanna gave them the pj's and Grandpa & Grandma gave them the books.)

Last year this thought was on my mind a lot. Shane and I were investing in adult friendships and we left the kids at home with a baby sitter while we went to Bible Study. God put it on our minds to start cultivating friendships with other families. The benefit is that our children are getting the blessing of little friends as well.

We have enjoyed hosting Coffee & Desert nights on Friday nights at our house. It is simple, fast and affordable. We'll invite a family over between 6-6:30pm for coffee & dessert. It's informal, low-key and fun. Usually we get all the kids dressed in pj's before the family leaves so they can go home and go straight to bed.

It takes being intentional to do this though. Some nights you just feel tired and worn out. You think popping in a movie is the best route and sometimes that's the case. We have found a big blessing though in opening our home to new friends. Just last Friday night we had been at the zoo all day with the boys. We came home and were worn out. Spur of the moment we invited a family over at 7:30pm for brownies, milk & coffee. The dads ended up dying Easter eggs with the kids in the kitchen and we just sat around and talked while the kids played.

My house was not perfect or company ready that night. That was hard for me. Really hard. Here's the deal though. I want to choose people over perfection. I am finding something to be true. People are perfectly comfortable to come to a house even if toothpaste is still on your bathroom mirror. Makes them feel more laid back and at home in your home.

So that's my thought for the day. Don't wait for the perfect house or the perfect moment to open your home to friends. It's worth the phone call (or text message ay caramba!). Memories. That's the payoff.

"Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us continue to meet together to encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching" Hebrews 10:24-25 (i think :), going off some old TMS memorization here!!!)