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<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\u201cThe first thing I\u2019d think of about what my mom did for anyone who stayed there and for our family in general is that she was always willing to make food for anyone who came in,\u201d recalls Chris Silveus, the second of their three children. \u201cNo matter who it was, she never said no.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Their father was equally generous, incorporating the guests into the rhythm of their family.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always had board game nights,\u201d notes Joshua, their oldest. \u201cMy dad loves playing games, creating new rules for games, coming up with new ways to play games,\u201d he says. Every time someone would come over, Scott would include them in all of the family games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would just try to make them feel welcome,\u201d says Madeline, their youngest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\u201cThe Silveus house was a lot of fun a lot of laughs. Scott is just a goofy guy, to put it into simplest terms.Cindy is very loving and comforting – she just takes care of everybody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Max Miller<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Max Miller grew up in a small town in Ohio\u2013\u201cthe kind with one stoplight,\u201d he laughs. Active in sports, his high school coach had ties to Grace College and suggested that he try out for the basketball team. He met Scott and Cindy in 2013 as a freshman on the Grace College basketball team after becoming close friends with their son Josh. After he graduated, Max and Josh both got a job at a CrossFit gym, and the couple offered to let Max stay with them for the summer\u2013rent-free. Max was astonished at the generous offer, but accepted.<\/p>\n Miller recalls a family life in the Silveus household that was rich and inviting, full of traditions and hilarity alike.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Silveus house was a lot of fun, a lot of laughs,\u201d he says. \u201cScott is just a goofy guy, to put it into simplest terms. Cindy is very loving and comforting\u2013she just takes care of everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n He has fond memories of the outings spent with the family during those summers, like inner tubing trips, cookouts, and Fourth of July fireworks. But perhaps the biggest impact that the family had on him was a rooted view of what a thriving, godly family could look like, in all of its creativity and uniqueness. Recently Max got married to his wife, Celia, and the Silveus family invested deeply into their relationship as well, giving him a template for what a godly marriage could look like.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore I met the Silveuses, my view of family was not what it is now,\u201d he explains. \u201cI didn\u2019t really have that example. Living with Scott and Cindy, getting to see a marriage that was focused on bringing honor to God, was eye-opening. And I am very thankful for the Silveus family being that example to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div> Cameron Silveus, Scott\u2019s younger brother, met his wife Misty in Lubbock, Texas seventeen years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cCameron and I had become really good friends,\u201d Misty recalls. \u201cHe was about to move home to Indiana, and his brother Tyler had come to help him move. I got a phone call in the middle of the night, and Cameron professed his love to me. So, at 2 o\u2019clock in the morning, we decided to get married.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then we decided to date,\u201d Cameron laughs.<\/p>\n They talked all night, and three days later, Cameron moved home to Indiana, but this time with a very different game plan: one with Misty in his future\u2013and his state.<\/p>\n \u201cI left [Misty] in Texas by her lonesome,\u201d Cameron reminisces. After flying back and forth for over a month to see one another, it quickly became apparent that a different plan was needed. Immediately, the offer came from Scott and Cindy for Misty to live with them until the wedding.<\/p>\n \u201cThey let a total stranger, the girl that Cameron drug back from Texas, move into their house,\u201d Misty laughs. Of course, it didn\u2019t stay that way for long. As Misty adjusted to Midwestern life, studied for her real estate license, and planned the upcoming wedding, she quickly grew close with the Silveus family.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> “They let a total stranger \u2013 the girl that Cameron drug back from Texas, move into their house. Cindy took me under her wing and supported me and just showed me love.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Misty Silveus<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Misty moved to Indiana in October of 2002 and got married the following April. She asked Cindy to be one of her bridesmaids. But she also took a lot of what she had experienced into her new marriage.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of fellowship in their home,\u201d notes Misty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI picked up a lot of things just being able to see their family life\u2013board games, eating meals together, a lot of laughter. It was a really healthy, wholesome atmosphere.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we built our home, we kept in mind the idea of being able to do what they do and serve others and be under one roof and open up our home to others and how that changes lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Cameron agrees. \u00a0\u201cIf your home is built for just you and yours, it ends up being a big waste. We want our home to be about other people, and that was modeled to us by Scott and Cindy and what they did with their home over the years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> Brad Westrate first experienced Silveus hospitality about 15 years ago, in 2003 when he started dating Scott\u2019s sister, Erin.<\/p>\n \u201cI have known [The Silveus family] for almost as long as I\u2019ve known Erin,\u201d he notes. Like Misty, he lived with the family for over a year while preparing to get married and settle in Warsaw.<\/p>\n \u201cLike so many people, I ended up in their basement,\u201d Brad jokes.\u00a0 \u201cErin and I were not yet married but on the path to getting married. We had decided that we were going to make Warsaw, Indiana our home base. I started asking myself, do I rent? Look at some homes?\u201d<\/p>\n Right away, the Silveus family offered to let Brad live in their furnished basement while he prepared for marriage and established himself in Indiana.\u00a0 He stayed there almost a year. During his time in the household, Brad especially recalls how Scott interacted with his wife and the intentionality with which Scott interacted with his family.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> \u201cWhile you\u2019re there, Scott and Cindy consider you a part of the family. You\u2019re not just ‘secluded to the dungeon.’ Every meal they make, you are welcome. It was a great place for me to have a home base.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Brad Westrate<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> \u201cWhile you\u2019re there, Scott and Cindy consider you a part of the family,\u201d he concludes. \u201cYou\u2019re not just secluded to the dungeon. Every meal they make, you are welcome. \u00a0It was a great place for me to have a home base.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> So what inspired such remarkable generosity from two people who already had plenty of demands from life\u2013from running a company to raising a family?<\/p>\n The generosity and open-heart, open-house policy that Scott and Cindy held impacted dozens of people over the years. But perhaps\u2013and no surprise\u2013their own children were the ones impacted the most.<\/p>\n Christopher recalls a conversation with his father that has stuck with him over the years:<\/p>\n \u201cWe sat down and were talking about how we\u2019re to give,\u201d he recalls. \u201cHe was talking specifically about money, but also about time. He talked about how God has given us a lot and he thinks the reason God did that is so we could give it away, and how that actually ends up being the most fulfilling.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously they taught us to be generous, but it spoke much more loudly through how they treated other people, and I think, even now, that\u2019s helped me understand how I need to be giving and hospitable to other people. It\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n He admits that sharing his parents with so many others was difficult at times.\u201cBut in the long run, it was worth it. My parents invested in many peoples\u2019 lives, but they invested into ours, too. Living with different people gave us different perspectives on life. I think we\u2019d all say that we are glad they did.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>![\"image](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/silveuscropins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-12-12-at-1.11.53-PM.png?resize=911%2C406&ssl=1\" "\\"Screen-Shot-2017-12-12-at-1.11.53-PM\\"")
<\/span><\/div>Their Generosity Didn’t Stop There.<\/h2><\/div>
And Still Their Generosity Continued.<\/h2><\/div>
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