We hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Here are some photos from our recent Christmas Party!

We took the time to say thanks to all the moms at Abba this weekend, and celebrated along with their families.  Families showed up bringing Mom’s favorite dessert and we had a phenomenal dessert contest!  To top things off, Dennis shows up fully dressed in a Grizabella from the Broadways show, Cats!  He did his own rendition of the song, Memories.  We had a fantastic day with our moms this Mother’s Day!

We had a fantastic Easter. We invited several of the young ones to go on an Easter Egg hunt, while the rest of us watched. Thankfully we had more than enough eggs for all the kids! For a snack we had cookies and punch, while we relaxed on a perfect Saturday afternoon.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150180199627528.327164.236094272527

Today has been somewhat of an anomaly here in Dallas, Texas… 4 inches of snow!  It’s been some time since we’ve seen anything like this locally.  Thank fully all the workers made it to here safely, and our residents are quietly resting in their rooms, for the most part unaffected by the recent flurry.

We did grab some pictures and post them online.

We celebrated a great Christmas this year with all our family and friends.  Everyone was able to get together, and rejoice in the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Some of our residents stayed for our Special Christmas party, while others went home to visit with close loved ones.  Even better some decided to do both!

It was great seeing family and friends visit Abba for the holidays!  We’re very thankful for the year that has passed, and looking forward to the New Year!

We kicked off Hawaiian week with big party!  We had grilled kabobs, pineapple rice, and grass skirts! (at least a little doll dressed in one)

Check out the pictures from day 1 here :

Pastor Bruce, Brother Ed, and friends came to Abba to play some of our Old Gospel Favorites.  With Brother Ed on the guitar, Pastor Bruce on the mandolin, we all had a great time.  There was a large turnout of our residents and some staff who came out to listen to the music.  We always enjoy when our friends come over to visit.  Here are some pictures from the event:

“A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.”

I came by the assisted living a little more casually the other day, with some friends, and my buddy looks over at me and says, that the girl we’re hanging out with is actually “scared” of old people. Well, not “scared”, doesn’t “like” old people.

This is really unusual to me. But this is because I’ve been working with old people for the last three years. I see them almost everyday, so yeah, nothing really “scary” at all or not to “like”.

So I had to stop and think about this. Why would she think old people are scary or unlikeable? I think it has everything to do with our culture’s current view of the elderly. An unfortunate view, where they seem viewed as docile, sterile, done, and washed up.

Well the truth is, to a degree, this is a farce.

As I’ve worked with the elderly, there is still so much life in them. At times it is difficult to get them to see the potential that’s still in them, but there is plenty! Just because someone is 80 does not mean they no longer think like a human! They still know what is beautiful, and how to appreciate what is noble, right, or good. They still like to have fun, though their body limits what they can do. Although it is true, many of them can be gripy or whiners, more of them are the warmest, kindest people I know.

Older cultures commanded that we honor the elderly because they had paid their dues. They were hailed as the chiefs and the wise of society because of all they had seen. I think growing old is not something to be scared of. In it is experience, and therefore, if you direct the course of your life properly, wisdom and authority. Some of these folks have lived a whole century! The wealth of knowledge and life experience there far surpasses mine or anyone I know. True, it is not always easy to access, but it is there though dormant, alive.

Growing old isn’t something to be afraid of. It is something that is inevitable that we should be aware of. Granted, unavoidable life occurrences happen, but if we know that growing old is something to embrace than to run from, we’ll make better life decisions today to direct the course of our lives towards the older person we’d like to be.