Party. It's a Good Thing.

Here are the promised pics from the last 9th & 10th grade girls' Bible study that met at my house on Monday evenings. At our last meeting, we grilled dogs and ate fruit (a staple each Monday night, esp. fresh pineapple) and then finished with a Sundae bar! Please check out the cute cups in the photo below because all of that color is really "wild" for me. It was a zany party because -- Woo--colored cups! Click on that sundae pic, and you will notice (please) Reese's Pieces, M & M's, crushed Andes, crushed Oreos, cherries, nuts ... Did I ever tell you I'm bilingual? I speak dessert.

Point of interest: Every single person in this group came wearing at least one item of green except for the blonde standing behind the sofa who is holding a green shirt because she wanted to fit in. There was no "green day" memo. All of these people wore green of their own volition and without consultation. I did not, but that's Ok because I'm the photographer! My kid is next to the one in green stripes. She and the blonde have been friends since preschool or before, if you count church nursery.

Funny story: when they were preschoolers, Blondie was playing at our house, but it was time to go home. I noticed she had money in her hands and asked where she found it, and she said that my daughter gave it to her as a gift. It was a $20 dollar bill! I cracked up. At that age, girls are always giving each other gifts, coloring pictures for each other, etc., so Kristin just decided she'd bless Blondie with $20, with no clue about the value or that doling out cash is tacky--unless you're the mom of a teenager who's just heading out the door, in which case it's the height of coolness.

We still laugh about it with them, joking that Kristin had to pay Blondie to be her friend. What's really weirding me out is that this girl is driving now. How is it possible that she is pulling into our driveway by herself? She's only about 6 months older than my girl. How are they growing up so fast? When will this growing up and away stuff end??

I Bet You Thought I Was Fresh Out of Stressful Stories

Not so.

It just so happens that a couple of months ago, my husband told a young man whom he sort of mentors that we would be happy to provide a place for his visiting new girlfriend to stay while they spent a few days together.

Now, let's just stop right here and review once again what I have emphatically reported to you as the two most dreaded situations that I can personally face in life: 1) air travel and 2) entertaining, or hostessing. I bet you already knew that, didn't you? So tell me, if you knew that, why didn't my husband???

Back to the story. Jorge told me, "The end of June," but because I was just trying to get to She Speaks even as far back as February, the end of June seemed decades away. My thinking was not logical, but then, well, you know.

So as I told you, I've been running from the minute I get up in the morning until I drop at night all of this week working on our church's service week called "SERVE." It's like the word "serve," only in ALL CAPS because we are all cutting-edge like that.

Anyway.

It finally dawned on Jorge and me that "Ruth" is coming into town tonight, and we have nowhere to lodge her, except maybe in the attic with our high school varsity jackets or perhaps next to Zoe on her pink princess cushion-bed.

Therefore, we have been painting and scrambling to fix up College Daughter's old room to make it into a guest room the last few evenings. I've had a bedspread and accoutrements for quite some time. I've just been too busy with the conference and all, to get it done.

So I have to check out of SERVE today, go to the grocery store, check back in, check back out, go home and clean, check back in and then check out before Ruth arrives.

Here is what I can't wrap my mind around. When I was stuck that three hours on the plane, I read a book in its entirety which was given to me at the conference by Karen Ehman called, A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others.

Oh, brother.

Is God messing with me? I mean, air travel, appointments with editors, SERVE week and a house guest within two weeks? Am I on LOST? Am I in purgatory?

I don't know whether I'm coming or going, but I know where I'd like to be. On Anna Maria Island with my pink toenails planted in white sand.

I'll catch you up later on my house guest event so that I can confirm my inadequacy one more time with you, just for kicks. Ta-ta for now.

*PS: I have met the house guest, and she is a lovely person! Very gracious. Which is good.