All of you kids have the gift of hospitality. In our family that is a given and a gift. People often comment on how blessed they are because we invited them in for a meal or a visit. It is perhaps an art that is being lost in our fast-moving, highly mechanized society! So guard it well, all of you. It is Scriptural, after all!
John, we followed you and Jennie from New York to Florida to Puerto Rico and to Georgia - and now Ohio! - as we returned each time to the States. It was always a delight to visit in your home. Jennie had such an outstanding way of decorating and you made each place you lived in an inviting home.
I think maybe the first place I visited you was in that apartment across the river from Nyack. I had to come to the States for eye surgery and I came alone, leaving Dad behind in Burkina. I flew into Pittsburgh where the Clousers met me and I stayed with them while I got my eye treated by an excellent eye surgeon there. After my couple weeks with Debbi and Steve (who were on home assignment) and getting my eye shocked two hundred and forty times or so, I headed back east and stopped to see you folks before I headed home to Burkina again.
You met me at the airport, John, and took me through the NY traffic back to your apartment. Jennie had stayed at home to fix dinner - a big turkey dinner no less. Knowing Jennie and her usual avoidance of the kitchen, I knew this was a real gift to me
and I appreciated it so much. The only thing she could not manage was the gravy and she had you do that, John, but the whole meal was delicious. I remember her telling me that she had no incentive to cook since you always did such a great job, John! That was a nice little apartment and I enjoyed my short visit there with you. You had just gotten Collage at that point too.
By the time we had come on home assignment a couple years later, you folks were down in Florida and we all lived in Ft. Myers. Your apartment was small but adequate, and when you went to work in the Shell Point kitchen each morning, Jennie would come and sit at our place, talking, watching TV, just chilling out. I got to know her well there and she was good company. We did see your apartment and were there for dinner once, and then you moved over to the house Clousers had bought in Ft. Myers, and Mark went to live with you. We said goodbye to you all there before leaving for Africa again.
When we returned on our final home assignment, you had arranged for us to go to Puerto Rico where you were working in a family hotel. We had a room there and enjoyed the pool and a nice place to stay. We also went down to the beach some days as it was not far away. During that time we visited Jennie's folks and got to know them and learned to love Puerto Rico. I do not remember how long you were there, but eventually the hotel did not work out and you came back here to Toccoa and stayed with us for a little visit. You lived with Mark and Katy for a time and then had that apartment where Daniel Clouser lived with you in a gated community just north of Atlanta. Again we had fun visiting you there.
You finally found and were buying that pretty house near highway 85 which was very pretty - two stories, a roomy downstairs and a sort of sunken family room. We were a gang there at the time of the wedding and had so much fun together. Before the wedding, Dad had his eye surgery and had a fading black eye when he performed the ceremony. Jennie was chief advisor to Katy for her wedding. We were all involved and it was just beautiful. John put on a beautiful buffet spread and there was a crowd there at the church. The preparations were all going on at your home there beforehand and a bunch of MK's came to hang out there too. Grandpa and Grandma were also there for the wedding and staying at your place. In fact, that was the last time I ever saw Grandpa as he died before we came back on another home assignment. I think maybe you left there to go to PR.
You lived in the Buford house for a number of years and that is where we spent the most time with you. You also had a gift of hospitality and could put on the biggest and most wonderful spreads, always with lots of your friends present. Your place was always so beautiful at Christmas time with all of Jennie's lovely manger scenes and the enormous tree you always decorated in the living room. That house was very elegant - like Mark and Katy's - with a balcony on the second floor and a beatuiful layout. Dad would often work with you in the back yard when we were there.
The house of course also has a sadness for us all as it was there that Jennie got so sick and spent so long suffering before she went before us to heaven. Dad and I stayed so many days in that home, helping take care of Jennie when you were away on your business trips, John. Sometimes she could come downstairs but other times she had to just stay upstairs. We fixed little tempting foods for her and took her meals up to her. Sometimes she would be in pain and curl up on the couch in my arms. She wanted me to tell her stories about you growing up and she always wanted me to sing the old hymns to her. I would sit by the hour, with her lying in my arms and singing to her through my tears. Wow - those were hard times.
Some evenings we would just sit and watch TV together. She introduced me to Dancing with the Stars and to Little House on the Prairie and the home decorating channels! We watched for hours - she just needed the company. And I was glad to be there. Once in a while she would be able to come down and play around with her computer. If she had a really good day, she might want to go out. One day we drove over to Macy's where she needed to buy some things. All of these memories are associated with the Buford house.
After Jennie's death, you stored your furniture and left some of your things with us. And after your marriage to Sheryl, you moved all those things up to your beautiful new home in Ohio! We were there for your marriage celebration and again for Christmas last year along with Phenicies. What a beatiful home in a lovely neighborhood. Sheryl and you have decorated it so tastefully. It was fun to visit you there. We remember the wonderful Christmas dinner you cooked that year and the gorgeous table set by Sheryl which looked like a House Beautiful picture! Fun to get to know Carey a bit then too.
Along with the changing seasons of life, we often have a change of houses. But the important thing is that we do all possible to make that empty box full of furniture into a welcoming, caring place where family and friends can enjoy each other. And each of you have done just that!
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