How we welcome people

Yesterday brought two new families to our church, each with two kids.  (This is practically a population boom).  I enjoyed showing the kids to their classrooms, introducing everyone, and then sitting down and chatting with the parents.  They were both lovely couples.  One couple stuck around longer waiting for their kids to be finished with class.

I, being a gracious hostess, offered to get them some coffee.  The father affirmed that he would like a cup, so I ran upstairs (to the kitchen) and poured him a cup.  I brought it back, and asked if he wanted cream or sugar.  He did, so I got him one of those nice little dishes we have filled with packets of creamer, sugar, sweetener, and stirring sticks.  We then picked up our conversation where we had left off.

Until he said, "Hmmm....This creamer isn't dissolving...Oh."

Oh?  Oh, what?

He said, "Well, I didn't think that I needed to read the packets. I thought this was creamer, but it is Parmesan cheese!"

We laughed and laughed, and I of course went and got him a new cup. (I will refrain from telling you what hot coffee and parmesan smelled like as I poured it down the drain.)

I guess this is what happens when the two largest functions held in your church kitchen are Coffee and Donuts and Spaghetti Suppers.  The two apparently should not mix.  Welcome to our church!