new young adult study

We started this study last week. There are 27 young adults signed up for the class and they are all between the ages of 23 and 29 (more or less) and they are all single. I would really recommend this book - the first week was about Orthodox Christians and last night was about Catholicism. Adam Hamilton looks at our similarities and differences and encourages each of us to grow in our faith walk. Each week, Mark and I have dinner for the group at 6:30 and I usually try to have homemade stuff. What you see below is not homemade . . .6 pounds - yes, 6 pounds of chicken fingers and they ate all but two very small ones. This is a good thing - that means they liked what we served.

Lots of sweet tea and water is served each week.

This is the homemade part. Those are two giant pans - a quadruple recipe of homemade mac and cheese. The pan on the bottom shelf on the left is green bean casserole. I guess you could say it was homemade - even though all those ingredients come out of a can :-) You see that pan with 27 biscuits on it? I burned them all. They had to go into the trash. How sad!!! In reality, no one missed them.

A giant bowl of salad with all the toppings is yummy!! My mother-in-law gave me that giant bowl. She and Mark's daddy brought it home from one of their travels. It has been long ago because he has been dead for 22 years. Those are not beers lined up behind the salad. Those are our fancy salt and pepper shakers.

Here is a pan of mac & cheese and the green bean casserole. I had the pan too full and lots of green bean goodness spilled into the bottom of my oven. I'm glad the food tasted good because I had several "burn" mishaps that night.

This week, I was in a conference all day on Tuesday so I pre-ordered Taziki's chicken and rice and Greek salad and had it delivered to the house. Oh, I forgot to say thank you to all of my friends who have baked homemade desserts for us. We've had cookies and brownies and almond skillet cake and pies.

I know that I have talked a lot about the food for the body but this group is so much more than just dinner. These young adults are bright and smart and funny. They want to learn more about God and their relationship with him and with others. They have keen insight. They sometimes have opinions different than mine and possibly different from each other. Mark and I stand back in awe and wonder as we watch God at work and we give him thanks that we can be a tiny part of this ministry.