I was so caught up with looking at their smiles that I forgot to count.

Hello Nancy,

I wanted to update you on our service today at the Tamarac Rehab Center.

The residents and patients were all excited to see us and the smiles we received for being there was incredible and uncountable. The group today from the church were all new to serving at this center and as with anything new getting started was a little slow; however after a few encounters with the residents and patients it became easier to enter rooms and begin conversations.

We met some new people today like Max who can’t walk more than 5 feet at a time; however he never stopped smiling. We met Angelina who was bed ridden and cried and smiled when we enter the room. We held her hands and listened as she thanked us for being there and for taking time to talk with her. She never stopped smiling. We talked with people that we have met on our other visits here and they welcomed us with open arms and nothing but smiles. The best smile came when we talked to Ray Hayden and his wife as well. He and his wife both reside here and I have spoken with him on many occasions. His love for his wife is amazing and is an incredible site. He thanked us for being there and asked his wife to “Smile” for us. It wasn’t prompted and we hadn’t mentioned anything to him. He told her she was “Beautiful” and that he “Loved” her; she looked up and smiled at us.

The only time the entire group stopped smiling is when I had to inform them that the therapy dogs were not here today. No one smiled and one lady was so upset I thought she might cry. We calmed them down and talked about the dogs and previous visits with them; they began to smile over the memory of them.

It was a great visit and we are so blessed to be able to spend a few hours with them and bring smiles to their faces and ours. I know the task today was to count the smiles and I tried to count; however the count got tough to keep up with. I was so caught up with looking at their smiles that I forgot to count.

Last time you told us to look for things we hadn’t seen before and noticed; it opened my eyes to so many new things. This time the “Smile” message took on new meaning and allowed us to see the effect we have on people when we smile.

As always Nancy, thank you.

Mike, Cara, Brittany, & Heather Avery