JOy's space

>A Special Story

> 

>Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another

>baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her

>3-year-old son. Michael, prepare for a new sibling. They

>found out that the new baby was going be a girl, and day

>after day, night after night, Michael sang to his sister in

>Mommy's tummy. He was building a bond of love with his

>little sister before he even met her.

> 

>The pregnancy progressed normally for Karen. In time, the

>labor pains came. Soon it was every five minutes, every

>three, every minute. But serious complications arose during

>delivery and Karen found herself in hours of labor. Would a

>C-section be required?

> 

>Finally, after a long struggle, Michael's little sister was

>born. But she was in very serious condition. With a siren

>howling in the night, the ambulance rushed the infant to

>the neonatal intensive care unit at St.Mary's Hospital,

>Knoxville, Tennessee.  The days inched by. The little girl

>got worse. The pediatrician had to tell the parents there

>is very little hope. Be prepared for the worst. Karen and

>her husband contacted a local cemetery about a burial plot.

> 

>They had fixed up a special room in their house for their

>new baby but now they found themselves having to plan for a

>funeral. Michael, however, kept begging his parents to let

>him see his sister. I want to sing to her, he kept saying.

> 

>Week two in intensive care looked as if a funeral would

>come before the week was over. Michael kept nagging about

>singing to his sister, but kids are never allowed in

>Intensive Care.

> 

>Karen decided to take Michael whether they liked it or not.

>If he didn't see his sister right then, he may never see

>her alive. She dressed him in an oversized scrub suit and

>marched him into ICU.  He looked like a walking laundry

>basket. The head nurse recognized him as a child and

>bellowed, "Get that kid out of here now. No children are

>allowed."

> 

>The mother rose up strong in Karen, and the usually

>mild-mannered lady glared steel-eyed right into the head

>nurse's face, her lips a firm line.  "He is not leaving

>until he sings to his sister" she stated. Then Karen towed

>Michael to his sister's bedside. He gazed at the tiny

>infant losing the battle to live. After a moment, he began

>to sing.

> 

>In the pure-hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sang:

>"You are my sunshine,my only sunshine, you make me happy

>when skies are gray."

> 

>Instantly the baby girl seemed to respond. The pulse rate

>began to calm down and become steady. "Keep on singing,

>Michael," encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes. "You

>never know, dear, how much I love you, please don't take my

>sunshine away."  As Michael sang to his sister, the baby's

>ragged, strained breathing became as smooth as a kitten's

>purr.  "Keep on singing, sweetheart."  "The other night,

>dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms".

>Michael's little sister began to relax as rest, healing

>rest to sweep over her. "Keep on singing, Michael." Tears

>had now conquered the face of the bossy head nurse. Karen

>glowed. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please

>don't take my sunshine away..."

> 

>The next, day...the very next day...the little girl was

>well enough to go home.

> 

>Woman's Day Magazine called it The Miracle of a Brother's

>Song. The medical staff just called it a miracle. Karen

>called it a miracle of God's love.

> 

>NEVER GIVE UP ON THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE.  LOVE IS SO

>INCREDIBLY POWERFUL. Life is good. Have a Wonderful Day!

>Just send this to (4) people and see what happens on the

>fourth day. Do not break this, please. There is no cost,

>but lots of rewards.

> >*****

> >If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100

> >people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would

> >look something like the following:

> >

> >There would be:

> >57 Asians

> >21 Europeans

> >14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south

> >8 Africans

> >

> >52 would be female

> >48 would be male

> >

> >70 would be non-white

> >30 would be white

> >

> >70 would be non-Christian

> >30 would be Christian

> >

> >89 would be heterosexual

> >11 would be homosexual

> >

> >6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would

> >be from the United States.

> >

> >80 would live in substandard housing

> >70 would be unable to read

> >50 would suffer from malnutrition

> >1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth

> >1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education

> >1 would own a computer

> >

> >When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the

> >need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly

> >apparent.

> >

> >*****

> >

> >The following is also something to ponder...

> >

> >If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more

> >blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

> >

> >If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of

> >imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ...you

> >are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

> >

> >If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest,

> >torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in

> >the world.

> >

> >If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof

> >overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

> >

> >If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a

> >dish someplace ... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

> >

> >If your parents are still alive and still married ... you are very rare,

> >even in the United States and Canada.

> >

> >If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in

> >that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed

> >than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

> >

> >*****

> >

> >His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while

> >trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming

> >from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

> >

> >There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy,

> >screaming and struggling to free himself.

> >

> >Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and

> >terrifying death.

> >

> >The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse

> >surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced

> >himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

> >

> >"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."

> >"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer

> >replied, waving off the offer.

> >

> >At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family

> >hovel.

> >

> >"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

> >"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

> >"I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my

> >son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt

> >grow to be a man we both will be proud of."

> >

> >And that he did.

> >

> >Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, he

> >graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on

> >to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander

> >Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

> >

> >Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was

> >stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time?

> >

> >Penicillin.

> >

> >The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.

> >His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.

> >

> >Someone once said: What goes around comes around.

> >

> >*****

> >

> >Work like you don't need the money.

> >Love like you've never been hurt.

> >Dance like nobody's watching.

> >Sing like nobody's listening.

> >Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

This is a good one, and timely.  Please read this all the way to the

end

I have a friend who lives by a three-word philosophy: Seize the moment. Just

possibly,

she may be the wisest woman on this planet. Too many people put off

something that brings

them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their

schedule, didn't know it was

coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one

day about all those women

on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an

effort to cut back.

From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible. How many women out

there will eat at home

because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after

something had been thawed? Does the

word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped

in to talk and

sat in silence while you watched Jeopardy! on television? I cannot count the

times I called my sister and

said, "How about going to lunch in a half hour?" She would gasp and stammer,

"I can't. I have clothes on

the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late

breakfast, It looks like rain.

And my personal favorite: -"It's Monday". She died a few years ago. We never

did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our

headaches. We live on a sparse

diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect:

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet-trained.

We'll entertain-when we

replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get

two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and

the list of promises to

ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all  we have to show for

our lives is a litany of

"I'm going to," "I plan on" and "Someday, when things are settled down a

bit." When anyone calls my

'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips.

She keeps an open mind on new ideas.

Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes,

and you're ready to trade

your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee

cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just

that I might as well apply

it directly to my hips with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process.

The other day, I stopped

the car and bought a triple-Decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way

home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to ......not

Something on your SHOULD DO list.

If you were going to die soon and had only  one phone call you could make,

who would you call and

what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to

you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round

Or listened to the rain lapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down

Don't dance so fast

Time is short

The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?

When you ask "How are you?"

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done,

Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

Running through your head?

You'd better slow down

Don't dance so fast

Time is short

The music won't last.

Ever told your child,

We'll do it tomorrow

And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, Let a good friendship die

'Cause you never had time to call and say "Hi"?

You'd better slow down

Don't dance so fast

Time is short

The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift....Thrown away...

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

PLEASE pass this mail on to everybody you know. It is the request of a

little girl who will

soon leave this world, as she has been a victim of a serious and fatal form

of cancer. Please send this to

everyone you know. This little girl has 6 months left to live, and as her

dying wish, she wanted to send a

chain letter telling everyone to live his or her life to the fullest, since

she never will.

She'll never make it to  her prom, graduate from high school, or get married

and have a family of her own.

By you sending this to as many people as possible, you can give her and her

family a little

hope, because with every name that this is sent to, The American Cancer

Society will donate 3 cents per

name to her treatment and recovery  plan. One guy sent this to 500 people!

Take a  minute and send it

to at least 5 or 6.

*******PLEASE PASS ALONG

A GLASS OF MILK

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to

pay his  way through school, found he had only one thin dime left,

and he was hungry.

He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However,

he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal he  asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked

hungry so brought him a large glass of milk.

He drank it slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything," she replied."Mother has taught us

never to accept pay for a kindness."  He said..... "Then I thank

you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only

felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also.

He had been ready to give up and quit.

Year's later that young woman became critically ill. The local

doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city,

where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he

heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light

filled his eyes.

Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to

her room. Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He

recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room

determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special

attention to the case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won.  Dr. Kelly requested

the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval.

He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill

was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it

would  take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she

looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill.

She read these words..... "Paid in full with one glass of milk"

(Signed)

Dr.  Howard Kelly.

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed: "Thank

You, God, that Your love has spread abroad through human hearts

and hands."