It's not about the decorations or the food or what it looks like or how big it is or who's invited.

It is about the why. And it's about the sacrifice and the opening up our home and inviting people in to experience God's grace and God's love.

Part of biblical hospitality is delegate. Dear young married couple,

today's episode is for the couple who loves the idea of opening their home, but hosting somehow

turns into stress, snapping, and silent tension. It's that scramble and pressure and scorekeeping

and you're left thinking, why does this feel so hard? Today, I'm sitting down

with Abby Cookendall. She's a writer, a home cook, and she's the founder of a tabletop affair.

She lives in Northwest Arkansas with her husband, Kyle. And as you'll hear in this conversation,

she is in the thick of real life. She goes an almost two-year-old at home and a baby-do next week. And what Abby brings

is not a Pinterest version of hospitality, but it's grounded and it's a way of thinking about

the table that actually works when you're in a busy season and real life. In this interview,

we talk about the simple reset that you can do right before guests arrive, the pre-decision that prevent that pre-guest fight, and then also that debrief that helps hosting actually strengthen your marriage instead of drain it.

We also step into that sacred context of hospitality, not that entertaining or performing, but actually making room for people

in a way that reflects the heart of God. All right, let's jump in with Abby.

Abby, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for joining us. Yeah, this is going to be a fun conversation.

I'm standing up today. I'm not sitting down. Usually like, if any of listeners or watchers have have seen me, I'm usually like

sitting down, but I'm standing up because being 38, 39 weeks pregnant, it's like,

you can only sit down for so long.

Girl, you go.

Thank you so much for being here when you're like about to pop.

And I'm sure a lot of the mamas listening can relate.

Yeah.

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