So today's "Memory Monday" is the "Friday Night Dinners" from 2017:
1. Tiffany, Angie, Laura, Kyle, Sarah, & Me
I made stuff for people to fix their own nachos/taco salad, and we had strawberry shortcakes with ice cream for dessert. Kyle prayed for us and helped with the dishes - surprise! We all shared a highlight and low point from our week, then got deeper sharing something we're looking forward to here and something we’re looking forward to in heaven! This was also the first time the girls got a chance to talk to Sarah, and she shared a lot of her story and testimony. Then we played Apples to Apples after dinner. 'Twas fun times and great conversation! =)
2. Jon, Kristin, Jeff, Laura, Kyle, Sarah, Mindi, & Me
I made pasta, meat sauce, alfredo sauce, French bread, and green beans, plus brownies for dessert. JEM led us in prayer, and cleanup was a group effort. The pasta got a little cold because I started it too early, but oh well. We all shared one thing we love about our current job/role, and one thing we would change if we could. No games this time, but fun conversation and reminiscing with Mindi that lasted till around midnight!
I brought pizza, cookiecake, and drinks; Sarah brought salad. We all shared some of the best advice we’ve received or a favorite quote or verse we try to live by. This was a goodbye party for Mindy... and we met at Steve and Sarah’s apartment pool (me, Tiffany, Sarah, Steve, and Eric swam while everyone else stuck their feet in the water). We went around the circle again and everyone shared how we met Mindi and one nice quality about her, then Chet Lee led us in praying over her as she prepared to move to California! All fantastic!
I made crockpot parmesan chicken, asparagus, mac n’ cheese, and cheddar biscuits, plus strawberries & dip for dessert! (Dinner turned out great and I timed things better – yay! - but I failed to get a group pic - sad!) I led us in prayer, then we each shared about one person who’s had a positive influence on our life and what we most admire about them! It was a good talk with the original group (all the singles), catching up on life and everyone sharing their answers. We played Scattergories after dinner, and that was fun! Then Tiffany stayed a while to chat after the others left. =)
I made lasagna, salad, and garlic bread, plus Oreo pie for dessert! It was a smaller group, which ended up being perfect. We discussed our shared love of Oreos for a while, then we all shared two of our favorite vacation memories, then Jon asked if we could put on our floaties and go deeper - lol - so Tiffany shared a lot more of her story with the Fosters. It was fantastic conversation ranging from fun to deep topics! =)
6. Sarah, Tiffany, Laura, & Me
This turned into a girls night, so Sarah brought wine and ice cream, and we grabbed some pizza at Tulsa Hills! We each shared three things we wanted to celebrate about our lives over the past year! We had a great talk about our 3 things + encouraging Sarah as Steve is gone to help with the hurricanes + celebrating Tiffany being hired at the courthouse that morning + watching the awesomeness that is Wonder Woman! #girlsnight #movienight
7. Laura, Jeff, Kelly, Tiffany, Angie, Kyle, & Me
I ordered Dominos and got salad, then made Riced Krispies treats for dessert! I led us in prayer, then we talked about what we were like in high school, and if we could give our high school self one piece of advice, what would it be? This one was fun - we had a really good talk about our high school days – complete with JEM asking lots of entertaining questions and everyone telling their school, mascot, graduating class numbers, extracurricular activities, and how we’ve changed most since then. Laura and Tiffany stayed late and we watched New Girl and looked at pictures of our high school crushes. lol Sadly, no group pic again. =( #epicfail
Not so much a Friday night dinner, but a Saturday morning brunch at First Watch because it worked best with our schedules that weekend! Chettles led us in prayer, then we all shared something God had been teaching us lately. Fun times, good food, and good talk. Tiffany and I went shopping at Woodland Hills afterward. =)
I grabbed a Chick-Fil-A nugget tray and some Texas Roadhouse rolls - lol, and I made Mom's broccoli-cheese casserole and a chocolate sheetcake for dessert! Chet led prayer again, then we shared about how our goals and desires have shifted over the course of our adult lives. I shared some personal stuff and felt more vulnerable/nervous than I expected (maybe because we had someone new then), but it was a solid group and people had good things to share about what has changed and how God has worked and shifted our desires! =)
10. Tiffany, Angie, & Me
This doesn't technically count, but it did happen on a Friday because no one else could make it for dinner. We went to the Tulsa State Fair and enjoyed the cheese curds, chocolate fried pie, cotton candy, corn dogs, etc. =) We listened to fun music, caught up on each other's lives, and came back to my house to watch TV for a while!
This was the night I worked hardest. lol I made regular chili and white chicken chili, "Aunt Carol’s crunchy salad," cornbread muffins, and s’mores brownies for dessert! Tall Kyle led the prayer, then we all shared a time when God brought good out of something bad - redemption out of something difficult or painful. (Romans 8:28 and Genesis 50:20) It was a really good night – fun conversation through dinner, then that question led us into a deeper talk about the timing of how God connected our lives and brought us together. ❤
The Wilsons hosted the next three at the Farmhouse... we had grilled hot dogs, salad, and brownies - yum! Chet led us in prayer, then we focused on one person at a time and shared encouraging things with/about them… it was really great - one of my favorite things! We chatted for a while, then played a few rounds of Nertz after dinner!! =)
I brought boxes with tacos, burritos, chips & dip from Bueno, and we ate some of the chocolate bars Chet bought for dessert! lol (We were expecting more people, so we had WAY too much food.) We never got into a specific question that night, but we had fun laughing and talking, and we watched Date Night after dinner!
One of our biggest groups that felt more like a Friendsgiving - (we naturally divided into smaller groups for conversation, and I didn't wanna force it, so we never got into any group sharing topic). I brought Bueno again, and we had potato salad from the Bradleys because Chet forgot to tell them it wasn’t a potluck. lol We watched parts of Pitch Perfect 2, and the sing-along moments with Chet and Kantrell were definitely entertaining! Sarah, Kantrell, and Chet also serenaded us with Mariah’s Jesus - Oh, What a Wonderful Child! Lol
This also doesn't technically count, but it was a weekend dinner with lots of people I'd been inviting to my dinners that year, so I threw it in... JEM's Pre-Marathon surprise carb-loading dinner party at the Moss Manor before his big race!! Yummy pasta, salad, and garlic bread from Kelly, and fun times with good friends! =)
16. Kyle, Sarah, Tiffany, & Me
This was between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it was getting more and more impossible to get people's schedules to work together. For our last dinner, we met at Andolini’s at the Jenks Riverwalk. Kyle led the prayer and paid for all of our dinners because he's awesome... he was the only guy there for the first and last one, and he wrote me a really kind thank you note after the first dinner, so three cheers for Tall Kyle!! lol Anyway, this last night, we all discussed our favorite Christmas holiday memories, which was more interesting than I'd even expected because Sarah’s childhood Christmas memories were during summertime (she grew up in New Zealand). =) It was another fun night with good friends!
Looking back, I can see that this plan was not the failure I often believed it to be - I put unfair pressure on myself sometimes when I would cook, then I felt too disappointed and frustrated when people backed out or never showed, but none of that really matters now. I am thankful for all these memories - for the groups both small and large, for friends who pray together and help with cleaning up, for getting to practice my cooking and hosting skills, and for all the wonderful talks we had... laughing and sharing and celebrating and encouraging each other, and remembering God's faithfulness to us!!! ❤❤❤
#fridaynightdinners #maystartagain
No comments:
Post a Comment