Livvy and I have been having a lot of fun by taking our new puppy, Teddy, and our adopted dog, Kayla to the nursing home for pet visits. Since Teddy is only about 7 months old, he really doesn't know how to do this very well yet. But as long as Kayla is around, he will stay close by.
The first time we went to the nursing home, Kayla put her head on a lady's lap and pushed her nose under the lady's hand so the lady would pet her. When the lady started petting her, the woman also started telling us all about the dogs her dad used to have and how much she loves dogs. Later, when we were signing out of the nursing home, the activity director told us that this is super unusual for this woman because she has Alzheimer's disease and doesn't usually tell about her memories!
The next time we took the pets, we met a woman named Tessa and her mom, Barbara. They really loved the dogs! They begged us to stop and see Barbara again when we came back.
The third time we went with the pets, we looked for Barbara but we couldn't find her. She was in a wheelchair the first time we met her and was recovering from something. We were pretty sad at first and then we thought she might have already gone home. Just before we were about to leave the nursing home, she came around the corner WALKING with her walker! She is doing so much better just in the two weeks between visits! She was so happy to see us! She kept saying, "I know you! I know these sweet dogs! Let me pet these sweet dogs!"
If any of you that are reading this are thinking you don't have any talents to use to do your 1% and help others, consider going and just visiting the residents! They really get lonely and bored. So far everyone we have visited has been so happy to see us and has even let us pray with them! We love doing this! We really hope you will try it!
