Reflection on the Host Family

By Cate O’Malley

As I currently wait in the airport getting ready to visit my family for Christmas, I can’t help but reflect on my ever-expanding definition of home, most recently experienced through living with my host family over the last four months. 

After a long stretch in college where packing, moving, and living with new roommates was the norm, it has been a special and unique experience to be welcomed into another’s home for almost an entire year. To be candid, at the start of the year, I was hesitant to move in with a family that I did not know and prayed that I might be in a place where I felt safe, known, and able to rest. 

The ways that the Lord has met me in my longing have been clear and tangible. 

One of my favorite things about living with the Coleman’s has been getting to share in some of their fun family traditions! For instance, each week I look forward to Tuesday spaghetti night or Sunday pancakes for dinner. Over these shared meals, conversations range from pickleball & politics to family & faith. As I’ve shared more of my story and have gotten to know theirs better, the Colemans have set an example for me of a life lived out in faithful commitment. Commitment to God, to each other, to their children, to their church, and to the community.

Through hospitality and humility, the Coleman’s house has become a home and they have become my friends. I am so grateful. It is my sincerest hope that I might one day be able to steward the gift of my own space and also share my home in the same generous way that I have experienced these past four months.