Heart Touchers

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{SFTH} *The Beauty Mark* 6/7/01

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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 us by sending
a blank email to: Thunder27@aol.com

Our book is now available!! For those of you who missed the press release
you can now order Straight From the Heart: "A Celebration of Life." We are
offering to personalize and autograph your copy at no extra charge!
For info on ordering the book via credit card, personal check, or money order,
just visit the following site:

http://www.storiesfrommyheart.com/order_our_book_

So if you are looking for a graduation present, a great gift for Father's Day, or
you just want to treat yourself to a soothing beverage, a warm chair, and
many hours of delightful reading, now is the time! (You have to provide the warm
chair and the soothing beverage!)

We thank all of you for being a part of this list! Your wonderful encouragement
has kept us going and made this book possible. We love ya all!

Michael, Kristi, Caleb, and Connor

P.S. Booklocker.com just let me know that they fixed the problem that Webtv
users were having when they tried to order the book yesterday. If you were one
of them, you can now order it without any problems!!
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It has been a while since I have had the pleasure of sharing one of
Terri McPherson's wonderful stories. Be sure to e-mail her and her visit
her web site after you've read her story!
Michael
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The Beauty Mark

By Terri McPherson

My six-year-old granddaughter, Caitlynd,
discovered a small freckle on her upper left arm
and tried to scratch it off. When I asked her what
she was doing, she burst out crying, "I have a
thing on my arm and I can't get if off."

"Oh sweetheart," I replied, scooping her up in my
arms. "That's a beauty mark. Don't pick at it.
You're making your skin all red and it's going to
be sore."

She stopped crying long enough to take another
look at it. "It's not a beauty mark. It's weird and I
want it off," she replied with a huff and another
outburst of tears.

I dried her tears and rocked her and did what
Grammy's often do, fly by the seat of their pants
and hope they sound wise. "Each of us are born
with special marks. Some of them can be seen
and some of them are invisible."

"What kind of mark is invisible?" she asked.

"Well.... a mark of kindness, a mark of generosity,
even the mark of a loving heart. We can't see
them, but they are all very special marks."

"Why can't mine all be invisible? I don't want one
you can see," she said, sounding very put out.

"I can see many of your special marks. Not just
that one. The color of your eyes, the shape of your
nose, the sound of your laughter. Nobody else in
the whole world has those exact things. Only you.
Special marks, inside and out, are the things that
make each of us different and special people."

She didn't buy my explanation completely, but she
stopped worrying about her 'beauty mark' for the
moment and promised to stop scratching at it.
She jumped of my lap, pulled the book 'Pinnochio'
out of her overnight bag and asked me to read it
to her.

The next morning, Caitlynd came running into the
kitchen. "I LIKE my beauty mark Grammy!" I was
delighted by her change of heart and relished the
feeling of having a 'proud Grammy' moment. She
jumped into my husband's lap. "I have a beauty
mark Papa. Want to see it?"

"I sure do," my husband laughed.

"I didn't like it before, but now I do."

"Grammy told me how sad you were when you
found your beauty mark. What changed your
mind?" my husband asked, giving me a wink.

"I had a dream that I was telling a whole bunch
of lies and every time I told a lie my beauty mark
would grow. And it growed and growed and
growed all the way down to the ground and I
stepped on it by accident and it hurt really bad
and Grammy said, "I told you not to pick at it"."

Ousted by a little wooden puppet!

My puffed-up 'Grammy moment' disappeared
and a kitchen full of laughter took its place.

Send Terri and email and let her know what you thought of her poem!

Terri lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She has two wonderful children, a
six-year-old grandangel and a terrific husband. She works as a Writer / Web
Designer / Production Assistant for a local production company and teaches
advanced clogging classes for the Border City Cloggers. Her writing has
appeared in numerous online publications.

Check out her web site:
WiseHearts...Weaving Small Wisdoms Through The Fabric Of Life
http://www.mnsi.net/~tmcphers/index.htm

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Thought For The Day:

"The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has
nobody to thank." (Dante Gabriel Rossetti)

Verse for the Day:

Only a fool would say to himself, "There is no God." Psalm 53:1

Kid's Thought For The day:

"If a lady has a black thing on her tooth, tell her."

Parent's Thought For The Day

"If you think it's easy to take candy away from a baby -- you should try it."
(Henny Youngman)

Coach's Thought For The Day

"The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm."

Deep Thought For The Day:

"If Mike Brady was supposed to be this groovy architect, why did he force
SIX kids into TWO bedrooms?"
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Request from Michael:

I ask that all of you keep a special young lady in your thoughts and prayers.
God knows who she is and what she is dealing with, but I ask that you pray
that she receive the strength to face what is ahead of her, the reassurrance
to know how special she really is, and the knowledge of how many people love
and care for her. Please keep her parents in mind also as they deal with
this tough situation...
Thank you from the bottom of my toes....
Michael
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_
/_/\/\    MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ /    THUNDER27@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

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The copyrights to the stories that appear in SFTH 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
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Thank you so much for honoring the rights of those writers who
graciously share their stories with us!
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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 pictures or home movies!
Check out the web page for Michael's video production business!
http://members.aol.com/Videoimg/index.html

AOL Users click here: Video Imagery
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Would you like to see your story in Straight From the Heart?
Writer's guidelines can be found on our Web site here:
http://storiesfrommyheart.com/writer_s_guidelines/

AOL Users click here: Writer's Guidelines
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Purchase your copy of Michael T. Powers' new book! For a sneak
preview, visit:

http://www.storiesfrommyheart.com/order_our_book_

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Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you?
http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm

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