A Full House

We used to be dormparents for nine years, to 9th and 10th grade boys. Our house was never quiet. But there was also never a dull moment.We have since moved out of the dorm and have been living in a "single dwelling" for one and a half years. The first few months out of the dorm were so quiet and it felt strange to not have kids hanging out in our house all the time. I found that I had to be purposeful in my interactions with students. Those moments didn't just happen naturally like they had in the dorm. There are things I really miss about the dorm....and things I don't. But one thing I do know is that when I was a dormparent, I REALLY appreciated a night off, or some down time, in the midst of all the crazy-ness.

So that is why we open our home to kids. To be purposeful in our relationships with the students. To give the dormparents a night off. To have kids hanging all over our furniture again. We find that we don't have to plan a million things in order to bring the kids in. They just love to have a place to hang out. A place to call home. So whenever there is a random weekend with out much going on, we put the word out that our house is open for hang-out time and it usually fills up.

Our own kids really love these nights too. Ian will drag out his Bible man costume and light saber and challenge the big kids to a fight on the lawn. The girls love to sit by the bonfire with the big kids or jump in on a game of Scrabble or Apples to Apples.

We love our job! Where else can you hang out with kids and play games and call it work? :)