Today Pam and I welcomed three houseguests whom we know through Anchor: Allen, Carolyn, and their infant son Conner. We have a spare bedroom, and now it's theirs. As with Iraq, we are entering this arrangement without an exit plan.

During our 17 years of marriage, Pam and I have lived pretty much a life unto ourselves. Not a selfish life, but a life in which our house is truly a sanctuary. When we're here, it's just us and the cats (the "kids"). We have the place to ourselves. We can kick back and do whatever we want.

But not anymore. Now we have to share our lives. And that's really the point. We can, potentially, make a difference in these three lives. It'll also be interesting to see how Pam and I handle being jerked out of the intensely comfortable, us-and-only-us patterns we've enjoyed for 17 years.