Fishes and loaves

Awhile back my sister blogged about how she had helped plan for a church supper event and didn't really know how many people to expect (although there had been a sign up sheet). As word got out that more people were coming, more food came in, but still the numbers of people arriving were great.

Turns out they had plenty--just enough, in fact, as I recall.

Well, last night I planned a little gathering for Terry's birthday. I invited his parents and Tim's parents, and of course our family of five came (including Christina's boyfriend and Luke's girlfriend). I called Terry to see how many of his friends were coming. He said probably it would be three of them.

So, I planned an intimate gathering for a dozen or so--certainly less than 20. Late in the morning Terry called and said another friend, his kids, his girlfriend and her daughter were coming as well. Okay, I'll get another pound of hamburger for the taco mix, I decided. Just to be safe, I'll make my chicken cashew salad in addition to the jello.

Well, the appointed hour arrived. People started streaming in the door. "Hi, I'm John--I just moved into Serenity Village today." Hi I'm Don. I live at house 4." (There are 4 other "wholeway" houses like the one where Terry lives). "Hi, I'm Bob." "Hi, I'm Sam." "Hi, I just saw there was a crowd of people here and decided to see if food was being served." (Well, no one actually said the last comment!)

I cooked up another pound of hamburger. Terry's mom and one of the guys' girlfriends were a big help to me in the kitchen. Turns out this girlfriend, Monica, has Ecuadorian parents (she was born in Chicago). She returned to Ecuador a few years ago to live for a couple of years. We exchanged stories and really hit it off.

As people left, their stomachs were full and hearts were light. Terry seemed to enjoy himself too. And there was even food left over (but not too much).

Now I'm feeling more confident about tomorrow's party. The basement was off limits last night, so we have to tackle that today. Cub Foods called at 10 pm last night because they had lost part of our order for our food (it's all been taken care of now). Today we pick up the balloons and the cake. Tomorrow the meat tray, buns and sandwiches.

I'll let you know if I run out of food or not.

Till next time,


Suzi