Practice Makes Imperfect Giveaway (And Announcing an Online Study!)

Special Note: Be sure to join us tomorrow when former Victoria’s Secret supermodel Kylie Bisutti joins me telling her story of giving up modeling immodest clothes because of her faith in Jesus. You will love her story and admire her courage!

Welcome to those of you who have joined after reading my Proverbs 31 Encouragement for Today devotion. If you haven’t peeked at it, click here to get caught up, but be sure to come back for the announcement and giveaway!

Does the phrase “Company’s coming!” send you running for cover? I can sooooo can relate.

I married into a family full of interior decorators, caterers, and Bed and Breakfast owners, while I myself could hardly boil water!

On weekdays beginning Monday, March 19th, we’ll be having ourselves a 15-day online study based on my book A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others. (It will run weekdays for three weeks and end on Good Friday)

With special guests, great giveaways, doable, practical ideas, and YOUR recipes, decorating tips (perhaps even a few hospitality horror stories?), this inter-active online journey will enable you to:

·      Recognize the difference between “entertaining” in today’s culture and biblical hospitality

·      Identify the top excuses for not opening your home and apply simple solutions to overcome them

·      Acquire weekly, quick-cleaning strategies, a proven system for de-cluttering your house and easy, decorate-on-a-shoestring tips

·      Arm yourself with delicious cooking-for-a-crowd recipes, make-ahead meals and kid-friendly favorites

·      Discover “hospitality on the road” ideas for living a life of welcome wherever your daily life takes you

This study will take place here (but also have all of the links to the posts on my Facebook study page.)

Sign up is a simple two-step!

#1–Just click on the little envelope icon in the top of the sidebar here to get my posts delivered to your email box each day. (If you decide you don’t want to keep getting my posts via email after the study, simply click on the “unsubscribe” link in the email) You can do this today or just before the study launches. (You might forget so I suggest you do it now.)

#2–And, get yourself a copy of the book. (Click here to get it from Proverbs 31 Ministries) You’ll need to start reading the book (have chapters 1-4 done before we begin, if you can. PLEASE don’t fret about keeping up with the reading. This will be a relaxed study, full of grace!)) and have it to refer to during the study (for discussion purposes and for crazy giveaways like: “The first person to leave a comment telling me what recipe is on page 176 wins a prize!)

Now, as a little pre-view, check out this hospitality giveaway. It includes:

~ A pair of fancy-pants cleaning gloves. (Won’t you be stylish scrubbing those toilets for company?)

~ A “Greener Clean” Scotch Brite non-scratch sponge

~ A new sage green dish towel

~ A plum spatula (as in plum colored, not one made for plums, although it certainly will work if you need to scrape yourself some mashed plums out of a bowl).

~ A set of collapsible measuring cups

~A Ghirardelli Sea Salt Dark Chocolate bar

~ A triple layered candle (apricot, mandarin-cranberry & tropical twist)

~ A signed copy of A Life That Says Welcome

In order to be entered in the giveaway, leave us a comment telling us the last time you had someone over for supper or a snack. Be honest. If it hasn’t been since 1997, that is okay!

 

ALSO: If you mention this post on Facebook or Twitter today, leave a second comment letting us know to have a double chance to win.  (Here is the short link to the post: http://goo.gl/kMlGu )

 

Oh yeah—and the winners of the 7 Ebooks from Amy Bayliss are:

Carissa, Sylvia, Polly Knehr, Kamya, Beth Cranfrod, Amy S and Ann :-) You’ll be receiving and email from my assistant Kim at the address you left when you commented so be watching for it!

 

Now, be sure to come back tomorrow to meet Kylie. Happy hospitality!

433 Comments

  1. I actually had Thanksgiving & Christmas at my house, but before that I had my in-laws out for birthday dinners and cake & ice cream. Before that, probably October, we had some friends down for dinner. I am not very good at inviting people, because I want my house clean and I worry about whether the food will be good, etc.

  2. My husband and I talk about inviting friends over at least once a month, but it never happens. I can’t wait for this study to start!

  3. I stress out when I think about having people over. I remember when I was a kid, if we came home and my mom was doing a “big” clean, we assumed Aunt Carrie was coming. I feel that way when I think about having company. I have to have a big clean!!!

  4. We host our church small group once a month, however it’s after dinner. It’s been a long time since we’ve invited friends over for dinner. I would love to learn spontaneous hospitality and how to have my house ready for guests any time!

  5. The last people we entertained in our home were my parents a few months ago… And I really don’t want it to be like that. With my husband working full-time at a Christian school and part-time at a secondary job with only a 24 hour advance scheduling notice, it is very difficult to commit to a time slot. I need him home if anything is going to be prepared or ready. We are praying fervently that the Lord will lead us into a place with a bit more freedom to reach out to others!

  6. We hosted a bible study last night at our house, except I was home late from work and arrived after our friends, but my dear hubby had everything ready!

  7. valentine’s day evening, we hosted my in laws for what was supposed to be dessert (ONLY). My mother in law casually mentioned on the phone that day that I needn’t make dinner, that she was bringing everything-this was a. Huge blessing to our family. Love her so much. My dessert was kind of a disaster, but tasted waaaaay better than it looked and we all had a good night of fellowship.

  8. The last time I had guests over was Christmas 2011 and it was my Children and Grandchildren. I definetely need to work on my hospitality skills!!! I am looking forward to e-mails and study times!! : ) Thank you for the time you take to post everything you do!!

  9. We had some family over this past week for dinner, mid week, which is a little unusual, but we recently decided to do more of that, since it seems that weekends are so busy now. It was very low key which was nice.

  10. The last time I did any serious house cleaning for company was when my daughter and her family were coming to visit. I have a friend who comes over and helps me. This was last summer. I’m still tackling the clutter monster (,mainly paper). I can sit and look at the dust on my shelves for days but when someone comes over out comes the dustrag. My mom had the gift of hospitality. Our home was always open to someone in need. As a child I did not like it at all, but as an adult I see how she blessed so many lives with God’s love.
    Thank you for your post. I think it is time to have some friends over for a cup of coffee or tea.
    Grace :)

  11. We had a large group at our house for Christmas dinner. I really need this study, though, as I never seem to get organized enough or have the house clean enough…we normally don’t have anyone over, even though my husband would love it regularly.

  12. I have a heart for hospitality but wish I had more people over more often. Our schedule, the dirty dishes, an unclean home all get in the way. I would love your book to learn more about living a life that says “Welcome”. I had my sister and family over for the SuperBowl last.

  13. we had some good friends over for New Year’s eve (one couple, our house is small) and before that we hosted a small group but I hated having to host at our house. I always found things that I wished were different so I didn’t want to have people over.

  14. honestly, we hardly ever invite guests (except family) into our rental home… often because of my insecurities about it being good enough (that’s another story) but recently God presented us with the opportunity to open our home to a sweet college student who stayed with us for two months while she was student teaching & looking for an apt. it was truly a blessing and good “practice” for me… thank you Karen for the opportunity to share in an online study of your book. i am looking forward to it!

  15. It’s been a while since I’ve had people over because our apartment hasn’t felt as nice as I would like it to be, and I have high expectations of how I want to entertain. However, I do feel like it is important and want to be able to do this more often. I look forward to studying this!

  16. We have people over a few times a month. We love to have a good time …usually eat, visit, laugh a lot and play games. If we waited for our house to be perfect we’d never have anyone over. Learned a long time ago that people come to enjoy your company, not to do a white glove test.

  17. We rarely have company, and when we do, it begins with a frantic rush to get the house clean! (Recently I managed to just get a little weekly cleaning done and my youngest asked if we were having company. :D) However, a few weeks ago my 15 year old was having a tough time. When I got home from running my other kids to activities, there was an unfamiliar car in the driveway. My daughter’s friend from school had stopped by to cheer her up, so I took a deep breath and invited her to join us for dinner – even though I had to throw together “breakfast” since I hadn’t been to the store. :) It was far from perfect, but it felt great to have her with us!

  18. Yeah…a new study! I am super excited….The last time I had anyone over was on Christmas. However, I do not just have people over on a whim…my house is almost never clean and I am some what embarassed to have anyone over if they could see the “bomb” that exploded in the house. I want to be the kind of person who can just say..want to come over tonight for dinner and not worry about anything….

    Looking foward to this study! Thank you for brighting my day. Smiles and Blessings to all…Robin :)

  19. We are having “younger” youth group leaders over every Thursday night to feed them and encourage them. We did it last week. I would love you book for new ideas!

  20. I had my daughters friend over just before Halloween. I made a apple pie (frozen). It tasted better than it looked but I am pretty sure he was only being nice when he ate it.

  21. Having people over, does that include family? Or the friends of my 11 year old? I guess October if I don’t count those others. If I count family – yesterday. My sister should earn frequent flyer miles here some weeks.

  22. The last time my husband and I had people over was just a couple of weeks ago! My brother-in-law, and sis-in-law, and niece were over, I love being hospitable, but it can stress me out!

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