Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: ENTERTAIN (04/27/17)
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TITLE: Entertaining Is Not Dead | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jennifer Liang
05/04/17 -
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“Hello, Mary? This is Rachel Thomas. Yes, my husband Pete was friends with your brother. Thank you for your condolences. Abby and I are adjusting. In fact, we are contemplating moving to Seattle. Do you have time to host the two of us for two nights next week? You do? That’s great. See you Tuesday! Thank you!”
“Hello, Ruth? This is Peggy’s granddaughter Rachel. Abby and I would love to meet you if you have time next week. Life has been hard without Pete and we are looking for a change. We want to see what Denver is like. Saturday? Yeah. That would work for us. See you then. Thank you!”
“Hello, Cecilia? I know you don’t know her well but my sister Becca told me that you live in Boston. My daughter Abby and I might move there soon. Do you have space for a visit? Abby is two and well behaved for a toddler. You do? Is next week Monday ok? I promise we won’t make a nuisance of ourselves. Thank you so much. See you then!”
Rachel hung up the phone and turned to her friend Jon. “See? Wasn’t that easy? Now I have reservations with four ladies. Abby and I will enjoy ourselves and get back to you soon on how well they tested. See you in two weeks!”
Jon reached out to give her a reassuring hug. “Good luck Rachel. You’re going to need it.” He took a sip of his coffee and abruptly turned back to his conversation with Stephen.
Pretending to leave the coffee shop Rachel took a step back and heard Stephen whisper to Jon, “Now why did you say that? She’s on an important mission and you make it sound like it’s the most difficult thing in the world. Entertaining children is not as hard as it seems and you know it.”
“Yes, but do Marsha, Mary, Ruth and Cecilia know it? What about entertaining their grieving mamas?” was the reply.
“She’s not really grieving.”
“Right. But they don’t know that.”
“Let’s just wait and see how they do.”
Stephen and Jon rose from the table together and jostled each other to pay the bill. Rachel took that as her cue to leave the coffee shop before they realized she overheard their private conversation. She would do her best to play the grieving mama on her mission. She so wanted all four women to pass. Oh, how she desperately needed them to pass the test. Praying for strength she pushed ahead with her preparations and began her new journey.
Two weeks later a grinning Rachel shoved the stroller through the crack in the door and waved down Stephen and Jon. Slobbering Abby glanced up enough from her toy to give a pudgy little wave to the two men. Triumphantly, Rachel arrived at the chosen table and plopped herself down on the edge of the cushioned booth.
“See, what did I tell you boys? Entertaining is not dead like you wanted us to believe. We all knew that the long-term Christian grandmother, Ruth, would have no problems but even Cecilia, the seeker, warmed up to the idea and learned to get past her selfishness. I left her a changed woman. Marsha and her husband are ready for the adoption they have been pondering for two years. And finally, Mary learned how to be hospitable in every circumstance, not just with adults. The next family placed with her will fare much better. She is learning to dig deeper with the God she just recently came to know and follow."
The waitress arrived with her order of a strawberry milkshake. Rachel put some on a spoon to share with Abby and continued, "Taking a small child was the best idea ever. I don’t understand why you had no confidence in it. No one ever suspected they were entertaining angels like the Bible says.”
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