Mom's Simple Hospitality

Whenever a visiting pastor, missionary, evangelist or singing group from college came to my hometown, Mom and Dad would have them come to our house for lunch. My mom was not a great cook but she would share what she had. Some of those lunches had to be very interesting for the visitor. My mom had such a green thumb she could make a stick grow. She loved the outdoors and did not really care for the domestic side of life. She had such a giving spirit that that counteracted her cooking! She would fry potatoes and burn them and then put water on them! I did not know what chili was until I went to Bible college and had to serve it. Our chili was a big pot of water and one bag of beans. The beans kind of floated on top of the water. Then she would put a lot of chili pepper in it. We always had bread served with it so we could dip it in the chili broth!! (remember she had to cook for at least 8 of us) She would sometimes serve hamburgers - again it wasn't until I was older that I realized hamburgers were to be about the size of a bun!! Her hamburgers were about the size of a silver dollar. Her deserts were different. If she made cookies, they were more like biscuits. When surprise guests showed up she could serve saltine crackers along with the coffee or water and be completely comfortable and make guests feel welcome.

I am grateful that Mom taught me that a home doesn't have to sparkle and that a seven course meal doesn't have to be on the table just to have someone come for a visit. As a family we have had hundreds of people in our home over the years. We enjoy hospitality and my mother helped immensely with that. I am so thankful we had people come to our farm as rustic as it was.