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*The Easter Miracle* 3/30/02 ______________________________________ If you enjoy this free daily email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of many! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, join the thousands of HeartTouchers.com readers around the world by sending an e-mail with the word "Subscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@aol.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past stories in our archives at: http://www.HeartTouchers.com ____________________________________________ Can't get enough inspirational stories in your life? Would you like to send a unique gift to your friends and family? Then order a personalized autographed copy of the inspirational book: Straight From the Heart "A Celebration of Life" by Michael T. Powers for only $13.95. And best of all, we'll pay the shipping! Michael is an award winning writer whose stories have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines around the world and in the following books: Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Grandparent's Soul, Stories For the Extreme Teen's Heart, Stories For the Extreme Teen's Heart 2, Stories for the Teen's Heart 2, Heartwarmers, God Allows U-Turns Volumes 1, 3, and 4, The Miracle of Boys, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and Creating Emotionally Safe Schools. He has signed several contracts for future Chicken Soup and other inspirational books. Still not convinced? You can preview his book by visiting: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/michael_powers AOL Users click here! To order your autographed copy have a check or money order for $13.95 for each book made out to Michael T. Powers, and then send it to: Michael T. Powers 1918 Liberty Lane Janesville, WI 53545 (Please allow about 2 weeks for delivery.) _________________________________________ Normally we don't send out e-mails over the weekend but we wanted to share a few more Easter stories with you. And starting Monday we will have Grandparents week here on HeartTouchers.com! Get ready for a week filled with stories that will honor grandparents! From my family to yours, Michael _________________________________________ The Easter Miracle By Debbie Orrico Grandma Lily was a very special woman with a fierce streak of independence that showed itself at an early age. When she was just 16 years old, she eloped with a 28 year old man. Although her family placed bets that this union would not last, she proved herself by becoming a loving wife, and a mother to 8 children. That is, until her world was turned upside down. Grandpa John passed away right before the depression, leaving Grandma Lily alone with 8 young children to raise. It was a tremendous struggle. The family was dirt poor. The children had to sleep 3 to a bed. The good clothes were worn by the first ones up in the morning. The rest had to make due with the patched hand-me downs that were left behind. Some clothing was even made from flour sacks. During the cold Connecticut winters, none of the children had boots, so if the ground was wet or snow-covered, Grandma Lily would line her children's shoes with newspapers and canvas to keep their feet warm and dry. Meals were meager, with meat served only once or twice a month. Throughout the years, Grandma Lily longed for Grandpa John, often spending hours at the cemetery, planting flowers at his graveside and remembering their good times together. Some fifty odd years after Grandpa John passed away, as Grandma Lily returned from the cemetery, she noticed that her wedding band was missing. She was frantic! It was the only tangible thing she had left to remember her husband. It was a symbol of their eternal love. She quickly went back to the cemetery, but the ring was no where to be found. Her children also made several of the searches of the area in vain. The ring was gone -- vanished into thin air! Grandma Lily was absolutely heartbroken. The next Mother's Day, her children gifted her with a new wedding band. Although Grandma Lily was touched by the thought that went into the gift, it made her sad to realize her original wedding band was gone forever. The following Easter, Grandma Lily went to the cemetery accompanied by her daughter Grace. They stood side by side, silently saying their prayers for Grandpa John. They admired the flowers, especially the Easter Lilies that were standing tall and proud, sending their fragrance out for all to enjoy. Out of the corner of her eye, Grace noticed a glint of something shiny, and pointed it out to Grandma Lily. Since she was the closest to the plant, Grandma Lily bent over, and examined the leaves of the lily plant. She could not believe her eyes when she saw what it was. There, brilliantly glowing in the sunlight was her original wedding band! The one that she had lost the previous year...the symbol of eternal love...the one that her husband had given her more that fifty years before! The Easter season is known as a time of miracles, and of resurrection. For Grandma Lily, the miracle WAS a resurrection...her wedding band, resurrected on a lily plant. The fact that my Grandma's name was Lily makes this story even more special! Grandma Lily passed away a few years later. We made sure that we buried her with her original wedding band, and kept her second wedding band as a family keepsake. Debbie Orrico dorrico@greenwichlibrary.org Write Debbie and let her know your thoughts on her story! Copyright © 2001 by Debbie Orrico, All rights reserved ___________________________________ Debbie resides in Connecticut where she enjoys spending time with Tom, her boyfriend of six years, her family. She is kept busy with her job at a library, and her many hobbies include reading, needlecrafts, and golf. Writing is her newest hobby. _________________________________________ Hero Feedback! Michael, I wonder how many of our teachers and coaches are unnamed and unhonored heroes? One of mine was Mrs. Morris who I had in the 5th, 6th, and 7th grades and who encouraged me as well as taught me how to reach my students many years later. I struggles with grammer, and one day she came over and when she realized that I was not understanding present, past, and future tense, she sit down in the bolted down desk with me and drew a little crutch and showed it as a helper. Then she wrote have gone putting the word have inside of the crutch and said that I had to use a crutch with gone. It clicked in my mind and many years later I used her method of drawing things we understand to use with getting a lesson across. My greatest pleasure was getting the opportunity about forty years later of getting to visit her in the hospital and telling her I became a teacher and used the things she had used to help other students! I have received many letters from students that I taught and one of the dearest was from a dear little third grade boy who wrote me as a junior in college and told me that he had hated school until I taught him how to have fun learning and he was still having fun learning and would be graduating from college the next year. What a blessing. I hope more students to get to tell the teachers that touched them and made a difference in their lives get to tell that teacher as I did my heroe, Mrs. Morris. Sarah Jackson jacksd2127@earthlink.net P.S. At 74 I am still having fun teaching. I retired in 1989 and have been teaching five days a week helping students who struggle in creative writing and reading. I must be helping some enjoy learning as they get very unhappy if I have to have a meeting and miss their class time. Have some neat stories to write sometime about the joy of seeing children find out the fun of learning! _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "The man who sings his own praises always gets the wrong pitch." Verse for the Day: "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips." --Proverbs 27:2 Kid's Thought For The Day: "Squeeze the tube slowly, because once the toothpaste is out it's hard to get it back in." Parent's Thought For The Day "No need to worry about your teenagers when they're not at home. A national survey revealed that they all go to the same place --'out'-- and they all do the same thing -'nothing'." --Bruce Lansky Coach's Thought For The Day Too often we forget it is the players who do the competing. You never heard the word "I" so much as when coaches get together. Our challenge is to keep the focus off ourselves and work towards developing a cohesive team. We're all important to the overall effort, but none of us is irreplaceable. --Denny Raarup Writer's Thought For The Day: "Forget the room of one's own -- write in the kitchen, lock yourself up in the bathroom. Write on the bus or the welfare line, on the job or during meals, between sleeping or waking. While you wash the floor or clothes listen to the words chanting in your body." --Gloria Anzaldua Deep Thought For The Day: If it's such a "beautiful day in the neighborhood," then why is Mr. Rogers always wearing a sweater? ___________________________________________ _ /_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS \_\ / HeartTouchers@aol.com /_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no \_\/\ \ longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I \_\/ live in the body I live for the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 ___________________________________________ The copyrights to the stories that appear in HeartTouchers.com are owned by the authors and are used with their permission. We refuse to run stories without the author's permission and contact info listed after the story. We also refuse to publish stories listed as "author unknown." (All of which violates Copyright Law and the rights of the authors.) This e-mail may be forwarded in its entirety, but please do not cut and paste the stories to be used elsewhere unless you have contacted and been given permission by the individual writer. Thank you so much for honoring the rights of those writers who graciously share their stories with us! __________________________________________ Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business "I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video we gave them. They loved it, to say the least! Within thirty seconds my mom was crying and my dad did too. They said it was the best Christmas gift we could have given them!! You did such a beautiful job! They were so surprised and so touched--they really, really, really loved it. Thanks for helping to make it so special to us all. My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for the video too! Thanks again!" Kelli-- College Station, TX Let me make you a video from your photos! Check out my video production business by visiting: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery/ AOL Users click here: Video Imagery ___________________________________________ Would you like to see your story in HeartTouchers.com? Writer's guidelines can be found on our Web site here: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/guidelines/ AOL Users click here: Writer's Guidelines ___________________________________________ SUBSCRIBE: "I need a daily source of inspiration and encouragement in my life!" To become a HeartTouchers.com Member send an e-mail with "Subscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@AOL.COM Then get ready to laugh, cry, and be deeply touched by some of the best stories on the Internet! __________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: All you have to do is send an e-mail with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@aol.com Give it a day or two to be processed... __________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm AOL Users click here: The Four Spiritual Laws __________________________________________ |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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