mamagaea: (Calvin and Hobbes huggs)
You are My Sunshine, My only Sunshine" (Be prepared to get watery eyes!)

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, an active member of the

Panther Creek United Methodist Church in Morristown , Tennessee !



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 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, seemed 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
mamagaea: (Calvin changes the world!)
Transcribed from the March issue of O magazine. This is my mantra, and I hope it touches others as well.

You Can Work Miracles - part V of Martha Beck's 5 best pieces of advice

Recently, while paging through an old journal, I rediscovered a daydream I'd written down years ago. It described my fantasy backyard, a desert oasis with natural plants, a rock garden, areas paved with natural stone. A surge of amazement and gratitude overwhelmed me. The description matched the backyard I actually have right now. I'd connected with my heart's desire, and the desire was fulfilled. Miraculous!

Then I remembered something else. My backyard was once a stretch of grit sparsely inhabited by what I call Lady Mac-beth plants (the kind that stab people). I couldn't afford to have landscapers transform it, but I could afford to have them deposit 38,000 pounds of clean rocks and gravel near my back gate. Do you know how long it takes to shovel that much gravel into a wheelbarrow, trundle it to every corner of a fairly large lot, and rake it level? Almost as long as it takes to read a book on stonemasonry, install several hundred slabs of natural slate, and clean the mortar out from under your fingernails. (Hint: The fingernail cleaning alone takes about six months.)

In other words, while I absolutely believe in miracles, I think there's a good reason we say they must be "worked." A client once told me, "If God wants me to achieve big dreams, he'll make it easy and comfortable." I wondered which religion taught her that. Was she thinking about the Children of Israel, who endured 40 "easy and comfortable" years in the wilderness en route to the Promised Land? Or maybe the Buddha, who sought enlightenment through asceticism? Or perhaps Jesus—I mean, that whole thing with the cross was such a warm fuzzy, right?

Einstein supposedly said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." He also said, "If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut." If you're hoping for a miracle, stop gabbing and start working. When you're completely exhausted, stop and play. Then go back to work. Persist, and miracles will start happening, all the more wondrous because you worked them yourself.

August 2008

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