Hosting: a spiritual experience.

Last Friday morning we had an HOAA babysitting swat at my house from 9-noon, then that night our family had committed to host at the Gingerbread display from 6-9 pm. For those not in Omaha, I should explain that each year here in Omaha, the church members design and make gingerbread houses based on a theme and then the houses are displayed at the visitor's center by the temple during the month of December. This years theme was Christmas Around the World. When I first moved here (the first time) I thought it was such a weird thing, but I can tell you that it is quite the holiday tradition here in Omaha, and it draws in hundreds and hundreds of non-Mormon families each year. It it really neat to see that, and hosting gave me a chance to really see it. Of course it was not easy with 4 kids, but we did it.

There was a Scavenger hunt game that we gave to kid when they came in to help them stay engaged. Wes spend the first half of the time (read hour and a half) walking our kids around slowly and doing the game with them. At about 8 pm the boys were at the end of their ropes. I had been standing at the door the whole time (except a few minutes when I took the kids in to watch the Nativity movie and for me to nurse Kindle). At the point of craziness, Wes decided to take the boys to get some (more) food at Taco Bell (mostly to get them out of there). Solace was going to go as well, but she asked if she could stay with the girls. Thank goodness she did-what a big help she was!!!

Right after Wes and the boys left, a group with 2 adults and 13 kids walked in. I was panicked that with so many kids (all under 10 I might add) and so few adults that the kids would touch and break the gingerbread houses. Here is where Solace came in as a shining star. The 2 adults had the younger kids all well in hand, and the older kids started to run about looking for the scavenger hunt items. Solace saw this and rounded up the older running kids and took them in a group around to find the items!!! What a joy to see!

A couple really neat things. First I want to say that in those 3 hours, I counted about 200 people coming in, and of that 200, only about 60 were Mormon, and almost every one of the 140 others thanked me for having this every year or commented on how this has been a holiday tradition for them and they never miss it, or told me how kind they always find the Mormons to be.

Second, I cannot tell you how often I have been in a situation where I think, "Thank you Lord for my aunt Cathy! Thank you for my interactions with her and my love for her! Thank you because she taught me patience! She taught me how to interact with and love people that might otherwise drive me crazy! Thank goodness for her!" This happened as I hosted. For those that knew Cathy you surely understand, for those that didn't get the pleasure, I must note that she talked, she talked a lot! Sometimes to the point of driving a person crazy. She would meet people anywhere and talk and talk to them. I can still hear her voice in my head often saying "Know what I mean?" With a little laugh in her voice. I know some people didn't understand her or have patience for her never-ending chatter. I, myself at times growing up lost my patience. Now, I miss that so very, very much! But do not despair! At the very moment I sat there at the Trail center thinking how I miss Cathy's conversation, the Lord provided me with someone a lot like my aunt (as far as the chatter).

He was in the Trail center from about 7:30 on with his young daughter. She was 4 and wanted her mommy. When he walked in he asked where Santa was and I told him we did not have Santa here, but we just had the little playhouse and the gingerbread as well as a couple movies we could start if he was interested. He walked away and walked around for a while. At about 8, after Wes left, he came and sat down with his daughter next to me on the host(ess) chairs. He started to talk, and talk. I started to feel a bit annoyed because I was trying to keep track of 2 girls and welcome people. But he kept talking and he said "Know what I mean?" I stopped dead in my tracks and suddenly felt regret at my initial reaction of annoyance. I listened better and talked more to him (as I still did my job). I learned that he had been baptised in Lincoln not long ago. I learned that his daughter's mom had been baptised a bit over a year ago and he was here with his daughter waiting for the mom to come out of the temple where she was going through for the first time. I learned that he thought Mormons were the nicest people he'd ever met, and at the end when mom finally came out, he thanked me for talking to him and said it was the best conversation he'd had in years.

Thank you Aunt Cathy for teaching me patience! Thank you for helping me to help make his experience at the Trail Center a positive! Cathy surely had a hand in this and if I did any good, I owe it all to her!

Here are a few pictures we took right before we left when it was all empty!

I have an almost identical picture to this last one from the first year we lived here (before Ender was born) of Solace and her friend Austin. Ah...memories!