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*Listen to your Home* 11/7/01 __________________________ 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 Heart Touchers 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 ____________________________________________ Michael's long awaited book Straight From the Heart: "A Celebration of Life," is finally here! Close to 200 pages of true short stories filled with love and laughter await you! Visit our web site to order the EBook, or to order by credit card! You can also read some sample stories from the book here! http://HeartTouchers.com/michael_t__powers/ AOL Users Click below: Straight From the Heart: A Celebration of Life To order your autographed copy at no extra charge, send a check or money order for $18 ($14.95 for the book and $3.05 for shipping and handling) made out to Michael T. Powers, and then send to: Michael T. Powers 1918 Liberty Lane Janesville, WI 53545 For two books add $4 for shipping and handling and for three books add $5 for shipping and handling. If you want four or more autographed copies of our book you only pay $5 for shipping and handling. Be sure to let us know who you would like it autographed for and then allow about two weeks for us to sign it and send it on its way to you. _________________________________________ All of us can do a better job of listening: listening to our spouse, listening to our children, and listening to our friends. But have you ever taken the time to listen to your home? Heart Touchers regular contributor Jennifer Oliver shows us how... From my family to yours, Michael _________________________________________ LISTEN TO YOUR HOME By Jennifer Oliver Walking into their home was like entering a time capsule from the 1960s. Particle-board walls were smothered with generations of family photos and plaques paying tribute to God. An array of gold and orange chairs and couches crowded the small living room. Fake potted plants and flowers cheered corners. Kitchen cupboards harbored sets of mismatched dishes and silverware, cartoon glasses, and time-worn pots, pans, and bakeware. Hairline cracks in the walls and yellowed paint bespoke of settling in the home's arthritic joints. All four children had flown the coop long ago, and Aunt Jan worked a minimum-wage job to support her disabled husband and herself. She'd been doing that for over 30 years now. Scraping by with enough to keep up a tidy home and care for her husband. For a while, they used the old house next door to sell used clothing and other goods as a means to keep their heads above water, but her husband's health took a turn for the worse. The "garage-sale house" was closed for now. I knew of someone whose entire home was straight out of an interior decorator's blueprint. The lampshades and furniture were covered in clear plastic, stiff hand-embroidered pillows were fluffed up just so, the designer drapes hung crisply from rods, and throw rugs protected every thoroughfare imaginable to protect the white carpet underneath. Much to my embarrassment, sitting on the couch made crinkling sounds that alerted everyone to how often I shifted my position. I had finally settled for a rocking chair next to the fireplace. A misnomer, considering it had never known the warmth of a blaze on a winter's night even though a gleaming set of brass fireplace utensils stood on alert nearby. It was a nice place to admire from say, the pages of a catalog. I could imagine the chilled look on my hostess' face had I brought my children on that particular day. She fluttered around me, making sure my drink was properly situated on a coaster and the magazines on the glass-topped coffee table fanned out in a tasteful manner. I was afraid to use her hand towel in the bathroom, it's lacy fringe a clear signal that meant "hands off!" So I used a tissue to wipe my hands, but then where was the trash can? On a hunch, I opened the cupboard beneath her sink. There it was. Trash, in my friend's opinion, should be out of sight. Her home spoke to me that day. It said, "We value the longevity of furniture over friendship." One day, while Stephen was working out in the yard, my friend drove for the first time out to our fixer-upper, which stood prominently at the end of our street. Not seeing Stephen, a look of disgust registered on her face before she changed her mind and turned her car around. I never saw nor heard from her again. "Make yourself at home!" Aunt Jan said brightly. And I did. I sank into one of the orange chairs. No one would know how often I shifted my position in this chair, I thought with a sigh. I imagined the look on my friend's face had she strode into a home like this. I think I would've had to call 911. Other relatives who drove in for this family reunion streamed into the living room, and soon the house was filled with animated chatter, hugs, and easy laughter. Plenty of chairs, couches, pillows to go around. Some sat at the dining room table or on high stools. Some sat cross-legged on the floor, beckoning my one-year-old to crawl to them. Our boys giggled, playing with toys amongst the tangle of legs. Cody, our six-year-old, summed it up out of the blue, "Mom, I wish we lived here!" Aunt Jan's house spoke volumes to me that day. It said simply, "Feel the love!" I pictured God's throne. It was orange and cushy and threadbare in all the right places. Just like the one I was sitting in. Take a moment and listen to your home. What do you hear? Jennifer Oliver fourears@hotmail.com Write Jennifer and let her know what you thought of her story! Copyright © 2001 by Jennifer Oliver. All rights reserved. ________________________________ Heartwarmers Gem Jennifer resides in the heart of Texas with her househubby, Stephen, and four kids, ages 1 to 6 years. Check out her website at: http://www.geocities.com/jenniferioliver2001 _________________________________________ Reader Feedback! Hi Michael...I had been a Heart Touchers addict when I was back home in Kenya (E. Africa) struggling so hard with my finances to get into University. I can still remember dreary heart wrenching hopeless days when I thought I would never make it, but a warm dose of Heart Touchers stories would always lift my spirits up and show me that if others before me have gone through worse and come out alive, I can do the same! It still sounds so unbelievable to me, even now, but after all the agony of waiting and days of despair, that I am now finally in the United States and living out my dream. I am now in a position to reach out to goals and ambitions and dreams that seemed so hazy and far off at the beginning Now that I am settled in, I would like to start subscribing again to your daily inspirational stories...I can't wait to go back to your website and check out all those stories I missed while I was unsubscribed. Please subscribe me to your list again and please also send me your website address... hope you're still doing the marvelous job you were doing when I got off the list. Warm wishes, Smruti (Andrews University, Michigan) smruti_damania@hotmail.com _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "Death is not a period, but a comma in the story of life."--Amos J. Farver Verse for the Day: "Jesus said unto her (Martha), I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though her were dead, yet shall he live: And whosover liveth and believeth in me shall never die." --John 11:25, 26a Kid's Thought For The Day: A little girl who was late coming home for supper. Her mother made the expected irate parent's demand to know where she had been. The little girl replied that she had stopped to help Janie, whose bicycle was broken in a fall. "But you don't know anything about fixing bicycles," her mother responded. "I know that," the girl said. "I just stopped to help her cry." Parent's Thought For The Day: "The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom." -- Henry Ward Beecher Coach's Thought For The Day: "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear -- not absence of fear." --Mark Twain Deep Thought For The Day: "Everyone seems normal until you get to know them." ___________________________________________ _ /_/\/\ 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 Heart Touchers 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 pictures or home movies! Check out the web page for Michael's video production business! Visit: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery/ AOL Users click here: Video Imagery ___________________________________________ Would you like to see your story in Heart Touchers? 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 Heart Touchers 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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