. some new friends .

. so i have a really great friend who has been going out to the nursing home once a week for a few years . i won't mention her name because she doesn't like that sort of thing . she's the same friend who got me involved in the ladies bible study at the area prison . she has such a heart to share God's love with others . so i've started going with her to one of the nursing homes in town . i love my time with her, and to be honest that's part of the reason i'm doing it, the other part is these wonderful people i've met, they are so anxious for a friend to talk with them for just a few minutes . i'm, of course, always looking for an excuse to use my camera so i took it out the other night and we had a little fun with everyone . a few thought they'd break my camera, some weren't very excited about getting their picture taken, until i took one of their roommate, others were eager and gave me their biggest smiles . but regardless of how they felt, asking them if they wanted their picture taken was a fun way to start conversation .

. this is fern . she had fallen out of her bed recently so had awful bruises around her eye . she's 102 and fun to visit with .

. lois, she's one that really knows what's going on around there, she roams the halls and so we see her almost the entire time we're there . she wasn't too pleased about getting a picture of herself so i told her since she hadn't looked out the window that day and saw all the beautifully frosted trees i'd bring her a picture of that instead of a picture of herself . she liked that idea .

. and this is gunny, i mentioned a while back that i had met this interesting lady . she was in the military, the rest of her past is a little sketchy . her military photo is so cool though . and that had to be back in the day when women in the military wasn't so popular . she looks like she could tell you a few things, doesn't she ?

. this is simon, this week was my first time to meet him . he seemed like a jolly ole fella .

. josaphine, my first week to meet her too . she was such a happy gal .

. alice, so soft spoken . she communicates more with her eyes .

. and linda, always with a smile, and ready to go home .

. jerry, he's ready to move out of there too...(they probably all have plans to), but a super nice guy with a pretty fancy wheel chair, he likes to impress us .

. marie .

. we're probably not supposed to have favorites, but if i did, she'd be mine . she has the biggest smile and quite the sense of humor . and look at that head of hair, not a grey one on there ! she didn't want us to leave so i told her we'd sing her a song and then we'd go . my friend (who isn't into singing) was not okay with that...so i sang jesus loves me and marie joined right in . i didn't think this completely through because then she wanted another one...so then we did one more, then jerry heard us and wanted me to sing for him too, but then he had to sing along, and he did . the best part is they don't care if you can carry a tune or not .

. i loved it .

. this is mildred, she's the one who gave me the idea to bring my camera . last time i visited she asked me what i did and i told her i was a photographer and took pictures and she asked me where 'it' was (meaning my camera) . then i told her maybe i'd bring it and she said we should hang them up 'there', on the wall . i don't know about that last part but i'm glad she put the idea in my head .

. this is laura . i love her pretty white hair .

. and here's leroy, he's so cute . we asked where his friend was . leroy said he was sleeping . we asked him if his friend wanted to wake up and see us and leroy told us no . then as we visited across the hallway leroy went and woke him .

. i guess he wanted to visit us after all . leroy and pooch are great friends .

. i'm so thankful for my new friends .