Sometimes I Feel Like I've Fed the 5,000

We feed the college kids from the church and anyone they want to bring with them on Wednesday nights. Normally we feed 15 to 17. But last night we fed 24. I know that doesn't seem like a it would make much difference, but it acutally does.

We try to make a home cooked type meal. Last night was breakfast. Jennifer does all the work of deciding what to have and getting it together and hauling it to the church kitchen. She's a stay at home mom with two girls who are in school. Since I work, I just show up and help get everything ready for serving. They go through the line buffet style and we get their drinks for them.

The thing we like to do for them is to make it as much like home as possible since so many of them live in dorms or apartments. One of the ways we like to do that is to use real plates, glasses and tableware. So when they are finished, all the plates and glasses go into a commercial dishwasher which takes about 5 minutes to actually wash the dishes. We hand wash the tableware and any pots and pans or bowls we use.

They are usually very hungry, and make it through the line quickly. They get to eat at one or two big tables and have fellowship. Once they finish eating they don't linger too long since the first ones to go to class get to sit on the sofa's in their classroom. And they bring their dishes to the sink(don't know if they do that at home, but we're trying to train them as best we can). My job is to spray the dishes and load them into trays and put them in the dishwasher. This is where the most of the work is. We run each load twice. While I do that, Jennifer is putting away what is left of the food, and I start washing the tableware and the pots and pans.

We try to get this all finished before class starts. She teaches 4 year olds, and I attend a ladies bible class. Last night we were a bit behind schedule. The casseroles didn't want to get finished, and since eggs were involved in one of them, we had to wait. This pushed us cleaning up. Needless to say the perspiration was dripping off the back of my hair.

Normally we get everything finished before the 7:00 bell, but not last night. After class while everyone was in the auditorium for devotional, I finished cleaning up. I know Jennifer was surprised. She had to leave about 10 to 7 since she was teaching, so she didn't know how much I got finished before hand.

By the time I get home on Wednesday night, this old woman is ready to hit the sack. But I enjoy the kids. It's good to hear the laughter and see the friendship they have for each other. Some of them only see each other at church, so they are all eager to catch up on the week.

Tonight is Conasta. I'm anxious to see everyone. I don't see all these gals through the month, and we always have a lot of catching up to do. I'll report what we ate and if I won in my post tomorrow.

Talking about not seeing people regularly. Are there people you only see occasionally who are important to you--people you wish you saw more often? How do you keep in touch with those people? Tell me about those people in your life you'd like to see more often.

Have a great beautiful fall Thursday. Pray for our country, more than ever right now. Love one another.