Question: How does one get to know the members of one's new church quickly and intimately?

Answer: By inviting yourself to different members' houses and bringing loads of laundry. That's right...it's as easy as dirty laundry!

A little background on this story: The movers unloaded our stuff on December 19th. At that point we moved the washer & dryer into the dining room because our kitchen and laundry room were being re-tiled while we were in VA over Christmas. We came home on the 29th. The tiling project was taking longer than expected...2 weeks longer. Therefore, our washer & dryer became a lovely addition to our normal dining room furniture. Finally, this past Friday (January 11th), the tiling was done and we could move them into their correct home! We hooked them up with excitement...only to find out there was a plumbing issue with the washer. Yesterday, Jan. 14th, the plumber arrived and fixed that problem. We joyfully threw in a load of laundry and commenced washing. Upon drying that first load, we discovered that the dryer is broken - the heating element is not heating and the timing element is not timing. Something must have happened on the move. We're not quite sure what and we're in the process of filing a claim & hopefully getting it repaired.

So...for the past few weeks and now for the foreseeable future....I will continue calling upon various kind church families and showing up on their doorstep with my dirty laundry in tow! You're probably now saying to yourself - "I sure am glad I do not live near those Woods". I promise, it's a fabulous "get to know you" game!