Out Of The Box: Stepping Out of “Only Child Normal” As I Know It for a Weekend

Hello, hello!

We just had a very busy, truly amazing, and really fun weekend.

We have never considered ourselves hospitality experts, and I have personally never experienced a great influx of people in our home. (Or a little one, for that matter) So it’s always kind of an event to host someone, and it always gets me really pumped.

Well, knowing that back story, can you guess what we did this weekend to step out of our box?

We hosted someone from the A Candle In The Window Hospitality Network over the weekend.

But we didn’t start small by any means.

We started with a family of ten.

Yes, we may have started big. But it was an awesome experience to say the least.

This eight-kid family arrived last night (it feels like last week by the amount of activity that’s happened since then!) at around 6. We all had spaghetti and garlic bread and tea as we got to know each other.

I’ll confess it: I was a bit intimidated when their big van rolled up. I wasn’t quite sure what it would be like. So my mom went out to greet them while my dad and I watched from inside. We finally decided the coast was clear and crept out, and introduced ourselves.

Soon after, the troops (ages 8-23 plus parents) began to unload the tents and set them up in the backyard before they came in to eat spaghetti. We talked, and began to get to know each other a little more. After a good dinner, the kids that were 14 and up (Jayden, Markelle, Ezekiel, Tareah, and Abner from top down) talked with my mom at the table. Meanwhile, Ezra, Shiloh, and Lincoln (12, 9, and 8 respectively) joined me with a big board of Monopoly.

After an enjoyable night with our new Canadian family, they settled into their tents, and we settled into our rooms.

In the morning around 6, I was awakened by the sound of steps outside my window. I peeked out, and there was the dad, Arthur, with his three oldest sons (Ezekiel, Abner, and Ezra) loading their van up. So I decided to go ahead and get up.

We all had a very varied breakfast in the morning. I spent most of my breakfast with the oldest six kids chatting about mountain bikes and skateboards, soggy cornflakes, homeschooling athletics (and the lack thereof) and other very exciting subjects.

When the family had to leave in the morning (after two drawn checkers games played by Lincoln and I, a big family picture, and some goodbyes), we rested before going out to church.

The weekend was quite an interesting one. At times, I felt I must be at camp. Others, it was like a giant family reunion. And when the kids said goodbye from the van, I thought I must be hearing a church choir there were so many voices.

Overall, I would not have traded this weekend for an ordinary one and I count it a blessing to have met this family.