Cause and Effect

I think I've mentioned here before that I've been hosting a mom's study on Tuesday nights. Well, recently, since the entire country was taking 2-3 weeks off for the biggest holiday of the year, I invited some of those moms over for a morning of baking. Usually I serve them something sweet from my kitchen on Tuesday nights, just because I enjoy baking and enjoy even more when people enjoy my baking, and they always express interest in what I make and how I make it. So I invited 6 ladies over, and 5 of them came, bringing 4 children.

And you know what happens when you invite people over and keep their moms occupied, so that the kids are playing unsupervised? Things like this: [Oh my! They helped themselves to a box of beads, foam pieces, and foam stickers from the cupboard and dumped them all out over the floor. This one thing alone took 45 minutes to resort and clean up!]

But then things like this also happen:

My dear friend and neighbor, she lives right across the hall. And, things like this happen, kids having fun, glad that you invited them to your house:

And there are smiles all around. And everyone loves the oatmeal raisin walnut cookies and pumpkin bread that you make together.

And they enthusiastically eat everything! And have fun in the process!

And then it's all worth it. We live in 502, the lady in blue is in 602, the mom on the left is in 402, and the mom in the middle is in 202. What a wonderful blessing! Father certainly knew what he was doing when He found this apartment for us. I am thankful for these good friends!

It's truly a blessing to have friends to invite over and make a mess together! Recently my girls have complained, because often on Tuesday nights the guests (children) will play really wildly, pull out every toy and throw it around, break things, etc. And we always clean up before bed--living in a small space really doesn't allow us to let the clutter lie. But we often remind the girls, and I remind myself, that cleaning up a few toys is so worth it when we think about building relationships with these moms and families and reaching out to them. If a mess comes along with hospitality, then we want to be thankful for that cause and effect!