My wife Anita and I have been married for 45+ years. We have 3 sons, (with 3 amazing daughters-in-law) and a daughter (married to a great son-in-law). These amazing kids and their spouses have been blessed with 11 children!
Collectively, we are the #AdamsFamilyExperience!
My passion is creating hospitality culture lifestyles where ordinary people demonstrate extraordinary love.
Three years ago my wife and I, as empty nesters, made the decision to stay in our long-time home (30+ years) where our kids grew up – even as they moved away to establish homes of their own from one end of the country (New Mexico) to the other (New York).
What that means IRL:
- With 11 grandchildren, our family numbers 21 when we all gather together. We don’t get to do that as often as we would like, but we want to be prepared when we do! Thus,…
- We’ve completed a 2+ year renovation of our house, with the primary intention of creating more gathering space. Functionally, that meant keeping bedrooms useable, but with a different purpose: each of three bedrooms formerly used by our kids became (respectively) an office for my wife, an office for myself, and a Disney room for the grandchildren. Each of those rooms can sleep two or more.
- Our biggest renovation, aka “The Project” was completed and involved adding square footage to our house footprint, totally renovating the kitchen, removing a wall between the kitchen and dining room, and adding a full-width deck across the back of our house.
- Finally, some work on our backyard, freshening up outdoor play space for the younger four of our grandkids who are 4 and younger!
Even when our family can’t visit as often as we would love to have them, our home is dedicated to hospitality for friends, neighbors, and those we haven’t met yet.
Here’s the dedication pledge my wife and I made:
When we understand God’s welcome to us, we can better pass it on to someone else.
(Special thanks to the writings of Bob Goff and Len Sweet)
When we use our lives exactly as they are, desiring only to create a sacred space for our guests, we turn entertaining upside down and it becomes radical hospitality.
We don’t need to be who we used to be; God sees who we’re becoming – and we’re becoming love.
We can’t love people we don’t know. Saying we love our neighbors is simple. But guess what? Doing it is too. We think Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor” means we’re actually supposed to love our neighbors. Engage them. Delight in them. Throw a party for them.
Jesus wants us to show people who He is by what we do, not just tell them what we think.
It’s time to bring back the table to our homes.
If we really want to learn someone’s story, sitting down at the table and breaking bread together is the best way to start. The table is the place where our identity is born – the place were the story of our lives is retold, reminded, and relived.
The solution is to get back to the basics of what Jesus commanded: Love God and love your neighbors.
Think of it as First Place Hospitality – building bridges to your neighbors in your “First Place,” your home.
Look at the most recent posts for BookNotes, Deeper Dives, Tools, or Home Hospitality Network features – new every Monday!
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