The Visitors

When you live where or near where you grew up, you're not likely to play host to house guests. Friends who have moved away and come back to visit normally stay with family members who are still living there. So when we lived in Tulsa, we always enjoyed seeing our far-flung friends over holidays and summertime when they were back in Oklahoma, but although we offered, we never had the privilege of opening our home to overnight guests. Even our parents who visited us from Oklahoma City would just come for the day or stay in  a hotel.

We have always made the most of the other side of that scenario--over the years we've planned our vacations to the places our friends live, taking advantage of their generosity to save us some money on lodging and to spend time and fellowship with their lovely families at the same time. We've traveled to and through Boston, Virginia Beach, Dayton, Kansas City, and Denver and made wonderful memories with friends in each place.

With my friend Julie in Boston, Fall 2008

With the Pennington girls in Kansas City, Summer 2010 

With the Bright kids at Virginia Beach, Summer 2012

With Maddie and Callie James at Cedarville, Summer 2012

As we thought about moving to DC, we hoped it would be an opportunity for us to return the favor to our friends, to finally have our own little Sparks Bed and Breakfast. Surely friends would flock to visit us if we lived in a city with such a wealth of sights and attractions! And how could they resist, with the offer of free room and board (even if it happened to be in a cozy home with six other people)? We even considered this possibility as we house-hunted; we hoped to find a home with some extra space for guests. And indeed our home here in DC has a finished basement with a full bath. We use it as our master suite, but it's perfect for guests, and there's room and enough beds for us to move upstairs with the kids temporarily.

So the stage was set, and while no one was banging down our door to come visit and stay with us, we recently persuaded our friends Aaron and Jessica from Ohio to make the trip with their two girls.

When I started to think about preparing for guests, I realized that we really had not hosted anyone overnight in our home (other than family and a single friend here or there) since we lived in Mozambique! I became an expert host there, with volunteer groups of up to eight people staying with us at once. But there are a couple of big differences between now (here) and then (there). In Angoche I had no kids, and I had a house worker who cleaned, did laundry, helped with cooking, and ran errands for me. Now, whenever I plan a meal, I have to start with planning for six and go from there, and if I forget something at the store, I have to go back and get it myself, sometimes with four kids in tow. In Angoche, restaurants weren't really an option, but here I have to figure out which meals we'll eat out with our guests and where we want to take them; for example, I don't want to plan to make pizza if we're going to eat out at We the Pizza (which we did). So I penciled in some meals to prepare at home and a grocery list, knowing that there might be some erasing depending on where we decided to eat out.

In a place like DC, there's also the big question of What to Do. There are just so many options it can be overwhelming. Thankfully, Aaron and Jess didn't have a laundry list of places to go or things to see. They recognized that a lot of what DC has to offer isn't the most interesting to a two- and five-year old and that we would need to plan around naps and bedtime and meals. They had a couple of requests but were flexible.

We came up with a plan, with the understanding that it could change depending on how things went. Things went really smoothly, so we were able to stick to the plan, with a few minor adjustments. They arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we stayed home that night to visit and rest. Sunday morning they took the girls on a boat ride on the Potomac while we went to church. That evening we went to the Museum of Natural History, which we knew the kids would enjoy. It was crowded but still fun for all of us. Monday morning we did the monument tour, seeing all the monuments we had recently visited, plus the Korean War Memorial. Monday evening we went to Harvey's office and walked around his building. Tuesday morning we visited Old Town Alexandria, and after lunch they headed back toward home.

At the Museum of Natural History with the mummies

On the Potomac at the MLK Memorial

At the Lincoln, in Maddie's disappointed words, "Just a big room"

At the park, Old Town Alexandria (photo by Gracie)

Enjoying the water

Old Town Alexandria, carefully navigating the sidewalks together

The sightseeing was fun, but the best part was just catching up and having time for conversation, especially after the kids went to bed at night. Also the kids had so much fun together, and we enjoyed watching them interact with one another and rekindle their friendship. I think I can say the visit was a success all around, and we hope to do it again soon, whether they come back to DC sometime or we pass through Ohio on our trip back to Oklahoma in a couple months.

Thanks, Aaron, Jess, Maddie, and Callie, for making hosting stress-free and fun. Please help us get the word out that our DC B&B is open for business and eager for guests.

Missing you ... until next time!