God keeps blessing us...

This morning we went to the RMH kitchen to eat our breakfast. There is a fridge for us in the kitchen where we are keeping yogurt, milk and such. In one section of the kitchen there were about 5 teenage girls and 5 adults baking cookies and cupcakes. I couldn't help watching them work... they seemed to be having so much fun together. I wondered who they were - I couldn't help admiring them. I assumed they were volunteers. I was wishing I knew more about them.

After about 15-20 mins, one of the men in the group came over and introduced himself to us. His name is Steve. His daughter and some of her classmates had come to RMH to bake cookies and cupcakes for the RMH residents as a service project with her class. Steve was intently focused on Paul Daniel...well, it turns out, Steve was born with a cleft lip and palate himself. He had all his surgeries done at Nationwide and he was so excited that Paul was having his surgery there. Steve has been on missions with Operation Smile to assist in surgeries in the Honduras and Peru. It is no wonder my eyes were drawn to this group. Steve just blew us away with his kindness. He gave us all his contact information and insisted that we call him if we needed anything. He even offered to let us borrow a car if we needed one. He asked us if it would be okay if he visited Paul in the hospital. And THEN...he asked us if we would like to come home with him for the afternoon!! We were amazed. We said, sure! So we rushed to the room to get Paul out of his pajamas into regular clothes and then we followed Steve to his BEAUTIFUL house in a beautiful neighborhood. He called a neighbor and asked if he could borrow a stroller for us. I visited with his wife Mary while he and Carl threw a football. Then Steve's sister, Wendy, came by. We got to visit with her a little bit. Then we took the stroller out for a walk through their neighborhood. Paul had a blast. He loved being outside...there is NO place he likes better. Paul couldn't be happier. Steve and Mary had another daughter, Grace, that we got to meet. And Paul loved their two Golden Doodles or whatever you call that mix. Anyway, we were there for 3 hours or so...and then it was about 2pm, and we were all getting hungry. So Mary told us about the restaurants close by. We ate at a place they recommended - The Rusty Bucket. Then we drove around Bexley and German Village as Paul slept. (Bernie, we drove by your old house. sniff. sniff.) We stopped by Kroger and then came back to RMH. I did our assigned chore - vacuumed the west hall and then did laundry. Now it is approaching bedtime.

In short, we had an absolutely wonderful day. Paul was so happy all day long. And we attribute that to God - and Steve, Mary, Claire and Grace. What a beautiful example of the compassion Jesus had towards others. We were so moved by their kindness towards us and we have been challenged now to be more hospitable ourselves.

We are so thankful.