We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by having two couples from our church over for a traditional St. Patty’s Day dinner of corned beef, potatoes, and carrots (no cabbage). Stephen & Kristen (top right panel in photo to left) moved to TX from Greenville, SC, last summer. Mike & Connie (top left panel) began attending our church this past year when they moved into the Bedford area. We enjoyed getting to know both couples more. I’m finding that one of the best ways for us to have people in our home is to invite two families at once (this is all we can manage in our apartment). Having two families over together helps with scheduling (our list of people we want to have over keeps growing and our schedule is limited) and meal budgeting (since usually one family brings the salad and the other the dessert). It’s also been a nice way for different families to get to know each other.

Like our Valentine’s meal, we had conversation questions for our dinner: Tell of one interesting injury you’ve had, Share a quality you value in your spouse, How did you meet your spouse?, How did you come to know Christ?, Share one way you’ve “learned of Christ” within the past year, and List a random act of kindness a non-family member has shown you. We had a great evening and learned several interesting things about our guests. (Pictures surrounding this paragraph are from Becca helping prepare Saturday night’s dinner.)

Photo Story: Becca’s Bedtime Routine: Now that Becca is a toddler with a very active imagination, her bedtime routine has expended. We’re going to have to stop reading books, since they seem to be contributing to Becca’s “ideas.” At this point it sometimes takes an hour to get Becca in bed. As long as I’ve had a nap, it’s a pretty enjoyable routine . . . we’re treasuring the little years.