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THE BAND OF ANGELS
by Noralee |
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About 6 years ago, I was making my regular school bus
stops early in the morning. One kindergarten child was not
at his stop, so I kept going although I saw the family vehicle
moving very slowly out of the mile long driveway. As I
proceeded along and stopped for a child, I could see the
small Datsun pickup coming up behind me. I had another
pickup about a quarter of a mile away, so I knew the parent
would catch me with their little child.
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I was travelling at about thirty-five miles an hour on a dry,
straight road on a clear sunny day. The mother and child
came up beside me in the left lane of the highway in their
truck. She started honking and waving and I motioned to
her that I would stop just ahead about one hundred yards
where four children stood with their parents sitting across
the road from them.
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All of a sudden, the small pickup turned directly under the
tires of my 26,000 pound bus. Although seat belted, I came
off the seat and literally stood on the brakes. We came to a
smoking, screeching halt, but not before I could see that the
bus penetrated the cab of the small pickup with mother and
child in it. I could see from the driver's seat that the pickup
was under the front end of the bus and that I had surely
killed both occupants.
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Two high school girls right behind me kept saying "don't go
look". We all sat paralyzed for what seemed like a long time.
I looked up in my mirror to make sure all fifteen or so kids
were okay. They were picking their faces out of the seats in
front of them. We all saw how the bus and pickup were
positioned.
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All of a sudden, the small pickup pulled away from the bus
totally untouched! The five year old jumped out of his
mother's pickup and got on the bus. He was completely fine.
I grabbed him and hugged him to make sure.
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That evening, my boss and I took a Spanish speaking bus
driver out to their house to discuss what had happened.
When he translated to the mother that I was positive I had
killed them both, she fainted. We also discovered that the
mother did not know how to drive at all. She had no idea
what she had done and the danger she and her child had
been in.
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The incident was discussed for months among and kids on
the bus and I. They would shake their heads in disbelief and
say: "how did that happen". I told them I knew what I
thought and for them to decide what they thought. It was
universal that the only way mother and child survived was
HIS band of angels surrounded them. We all discussed that
we never felt an impact either although the position of the
vehicles was very plain that we had crashed.
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Never in all my 18 years of driving a school bus have my
nerves totally felt like spaghetti. I know there are angels
watching over us and God watches over us and on that day,
a bus load of school kids are sure of it now too!
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Noralee Hoefer
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REAL CHRISTMAS ANGEL
by Sue |
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My baby was 3 months old. I've been accused on more
occasions than one of being an overprotective mother. (It's
probably true.) My 10 year old was in the play held at the
Rescue Mission. It's a big annual event for all the under
privileged children in the county. We were in no way in
need of their services, but we were attending the services on
Sunday to help it get on their feet. My oldest daughter was a
lovely angel, and even though the place was packed, I
wasn't going to miss seeing her, even if we were
surrounded by tons of germs.
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I found a seat on the front row and was getting the baby
settled in when a man and little girl sat down right behind
me. The pews were scooted very close to accommodate the
crowd. The little girl was lovely but, she was sick! Her
cheeks were bright red with an obvious fever and her nose
was draining a yellow mucous and she was only twelve
inches away from my baby! I was horrified! I certainly didn't
want my brand new baby sick. My "unholy" attitude stunk
but, I was preoccupied with those thoughts through the
whole play.
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At the end of the play, they have the annual gift giving.
Every child there gets a wrapped toy of some sort that
people donate. I was watching all the children open their
presents and keeping an eye on the little beautiful sick
urchin, (the one who was breathing germs on my baby) and
noticed that although she was clean, her clothes and her
fathers' had been sewed and repaired many times over. Her
hair was clean and she had been very well behaved during
the whole play.(probably too sick to be loud).
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Finally, they handed her a gift with her name on it and she
turned to her daddy and asked if she could open it. He told
her that would be the only present she had but, if she
wanted to open it now, it was all right with him! Very
sweetly, this child, probably not five years old, told her
daddy, "I'll wait."
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SHAME overwhelmed me! Although her toy was one that I
could have donated myself, the vision of all the toys under
our tree at home made me feel sick! I wrapped up the baby
and tried to run through the crowd to get to the director of
the mission. I wanted that little girl's name and address.
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(I didn't want to ask her dad for fear of embarrassing him.)
I knew I would make sure that little girl had new clothes and
lots of new toys. By the time I got to Bro. Self, the pastor,
and turned around to show him the little girl they were
gone!
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We ran to the entrances and no one had seen them leave. I
found my husband and told him to go see if they were
walking down the road, because the guy watching the
parking lot said no one had left in a car. I checked the
bathroom and stood on a pew to look for the tall man with
the beautiful little blond haired angel with him. They were
nowhere to be found and no one remembered ever seeing
them.
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Obviously, they were real angels. They were there to show
me my false pride, my overindulgence, and that my
Christian heart was not in the right place. Oh, yes, the shame
stayed and stayed. It shames me again as I relate the story.
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God taught me a valuable lesson that night. Never has
another Christmas gone by that we haven't made a point of
teaching our children that it is indeed "Much better to give
than to receive!" We help other families every Christmas.
And to this day, no one ever remembers seeing the tall man
with the beautiful blond haired sick little girl and the staff
never made out a gift to the little girl named 'Charity'.
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Sue Henley
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THE YEAR OF MY CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
by Dani D'Angelo |
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I had smoked ever since I was twelve and by the time I was
sixteen, I was given permission to smoke in the house. In
those days we had no idea of the dangers of smoking. I am
one of those people who does things all the way and so,
when I smoked, I really smoked and that meant it was about
two packs a day, non-stop, that I was smoking for most of
my life.
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When I was in my late thirties, I got pregnant and had my
two youngest children one right after the other. When I was
in my forties, I got Breast Cancer and had a mastectomy.
The first thing I wanted after my surgery was a cigarette and
during my entire stay in the hospital I spent much of my
time going downstairs and outside for cigarettes. I went
through eight and a half grueling months of chemotherapy
and I still didn't quit smoking. When I was about forty five, I
was learning just how hard it is trying to get by on disability
payments with no child support and yet somehow I still
found the money for my cigarettes.
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Christmas was upon me. I was flat broke and very
depressed. Fortunately, one of the local churches sponsored
families for Christmas and we were picked, so my children
would have a Christmas after all. I was grateful. However, I
was not in a very festive mood so we didn't take part in the
usual Advent preparations that my children were used to
that year.
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On Christmas morning my little boy asked me what I was
giving the Baby Jesus for His birthday and I was crushed
because I had nothing. I hadn't even baked the birthday
cake for baby Jesus and we hadn't saved any good deeds to
fill the manger with straw, like in other years. Yes, I was
crushed but the look on his face told me he was even more
crushed. The next thing out of my mouth was not at all what
was on my mind.
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I said " I know, I am giving the Baby Jesus my smoking
habit. The whole thing: the cigarettes, the lighters, the
cravings, the crabbiness, the ashtrays both dirty and clean,
everything about smoking is what I am giving to the Baby
Jesus".
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He was delighted and ran to tell his sister. They were filled
with such joy and here I was stunned and very worried. I
was obsessed with cigarettes and I had just told my son that
I was giving up smoking as a gift to the baby Jesus. Was I
nuts?? Could I do it?? No, I knew in my heart that I could
not give up smoking and I also knew that this broken
promise to my son, would stay with both of us for years to
come.
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So, I prayed and said " Look Jesus I am sorry for jumping
the gun here but I made this promise to my child and now I
need You to help me keep it". Suddenly I was filled with a
deep sense of peace but I still didn't realize that, because I
had stepped out in faith (led there by grace alone) I was on
my way to a miracle.
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I jumped up and we all had a ball going from room to room
gathering everything to do with cigarettes. There were
packs hidden everywhere and five in the freezer alone. We
took the cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays and either gave or
threw them away. Then I went from room to room taking
down curtains and cleaning them. I washed walls, ceilings,
clothing and everything I could find from Christmas
morning until well into the New Year.
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Each time I would see someone with a cigarette I would
privately Thank God for taking the habit from me and ask
Him to do the same for them. I do that to this day. I have
never once craved a cigarette in seven years. That was one
of the biggest steps I had taken on my spiritual journey
because I learned through it all that we can do nothing on
our own. Only with God is everything possible. I learned
that when we step out in faith and expect a miracle that is
not contrary to the Will of God then we will be given one.
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That year changed my life completely. I saw firsthand what
Jesus meant when He spoke about having faith the size of a
mustard seed. That was the year of my Christmas Miracle.
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Dani D'Angelo
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I am a wife, mother and grandmother. I love my Catholic
faith with its rich traditions, home schooling my two
children and writing. I have my own poetry page on
2TheHeart!
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THE TREE ANGEL
by Stephanie |
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As my daughter Savannah searches for the perfect place on
the Christmas tree for her cherub, I cannot help but
remember the purpose behind our angel tree. After 3 years
of infertility and hormone treatments, we were finally
blessed with our first pregnancy. This precious bundle of joy
was scheduled to arrive December 1- just in time for the
holidays! However, we would never hold our angel.
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In fact, our families were not even told of the pregnancy.
Due to this pregnancy being high risk, I had been waiting to
tell our wonderful news, after I was in the safer second
trimester. After six months of praying, we were once again
blessed with another pregnancy. However, I never forgot
my first pregnancy.
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That year as we were planning to celebrate our daughter
Savannah's first Christmas, December 1 (first baby's due
date) brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat.
Although I realized how lucky I was to have my beautiful
six-month old daughter, I just could not forget my first
baby.
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In the weeks to come, Savannah received many ornaments
as gifts. They all had something in common. They were all
angels! I just could not help but wonder if this was not more
than coincidence. Maybe it was a sign from my angel above?
I decided to use the angels to decorate another Christmas
tree. This tree would be in memory of our Christmas baby.
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As the Christmases come and go, more angels have been
added to this tree. Although Savannah is too young to
understand the purpose of this tree, I cherish the day when I
can explain the reason behind our beautiful tree.
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As Savannah places the last angel on our tree, I hear
something ring. Perhaps it was the angel bell placed high on
the branches, or possibly even my imagination. But maybe,
just maybe, it is my Christmas angel expressing her
approval.
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Stephanie Ray Brown
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MY FRIEND BETTY
by Sue |
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Have you ever met someone and immediately your hearts
started hugging and you knew they were destined to have a
prominent place forever in your spirit? That was Betty.
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I walked into her living room and saw a bald, yellowed and
charming woman lying in the hospital bed in the living
room. She was funny and tried so hard to play the hostess to
her new guest and she was SCARED! She had been given
less than a week to live and I was the home health nurse that
was assigned to take care of her for four hours every day.
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She was paralyzed from the waist down due to the chemo
that was to extend her life. Her finger had nearly rotted off
from the frequent sticks to test her blood sugar. But that
smile; it made you almost forget the stark fear in her eyes.
She was 40 years old and had two children, ages 11 and 6.
They lived in a lovely area in Tennessee in a valley between
two mountains in a very small home that her and her
husband had built with their two hands. I've never seen a
happier family with so little. Their house was to be
foreclosed on at her death.
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I started with giving her a bath and removing the pouch that
hung from her neck with a leather cord. "What is this?" I
asked. She explained it contained saint's names that she
prayed to. I asked her why she just didn't pray to God. I
can't, for the life of me, remember what she said, only the
puzzled expression on her face. I took both her hands and
prayed for her and asked God's will but that our desire was
that she could spend more time on earth teaching her
children and being a helpmate to her husband. The pouch
never again adorned her neck.
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Those five days turned into three weeks. I got her up in the
wheelchair. We went outside and became very innovative in
ways to stop the drainage and heal the raw places. Medicare
stopped my visits and called in hospice. I reminded her that
no one on earth knew her time to die. God decided that. I
wept when I left her for all we'd accomplished and all she
was. I promised to return. I called her often and would pop
in irregularly.
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At Christmas time the bank was getting very antsy but
didn't want to look bad by kicking out a dying woman and
her family. I called on some businesses and friends, family
and my wonderful mother told them of Betty's
circumstances and asked for money. They could write their
checks to the hospice and they would send a money order
anonymously. The family was very proud and I didn't think
they'd accept the money if they knew who it was from.
Betty was very smart! She never mentioned this to anyone.
trying to seek out who had sent the money.
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I went to see her a few days before Christmas and happened
to be there when the UPS truck pulled up and delivered
another anonymous check from "God's angels". She started
weeping and explained that she had received another large
check the week before and had no idea where the money
was coming from. She accepted my explanation that it
obviously was from GOD! I've never received another
present quite like the joy I got that Christmas! (Secret giving
is God's way!)
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She sent cards of inspiration to me keeping me up on all the
news. She called me the day that hospice discharged her. She
was yelling in the phone, "Sue, GOD answers prayers." The
cancer was still there, but it wasn't doing anything, not
growing, not shrinking. just a reminder to her that life is
precious. She asked me to come and see her.
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I drove down that weekend in between patients and looked
in the door and was scared to death! There was no hospital
bed in the living room! Has something happened in four
short days? I knocked and who greeted me walking to the
door with the use of a cane?? Oh yes. Betty. with a grin as
wide as the valley she lived in! I had brought some snacks
and we ate and laughed and praised the Lord.
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Betty lived well past the four to five days that the mortals
forecast. She lived a full four years, happy years with her
family that she loved so much. She didn't die from the
lingering cancer. She died of a heart attack. Her Bible was
filled with prayer requests where she prayed endlessly for
others.
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I miss her prayers for me, but I know that someday our
mansions will be close by and I know that God has given her
a lovely, big mansion! She deserves it! She changed my life
and made me see that each and every day that God grants
me is a gift from him. that was her gift to me.
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Sue Henley
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I continue to nurse on a part time basis. I have been married
for 24 years and have two WONDERFUL girls and a great
son-in-law. I enjoy writing about my many wonderful
patients who have inspired me in different ways.
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MY CHRISTMAS WISH
by Sharon |
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If I could have a Christmas wish, if it could really be
I'd wish for an old fashioned Christmas, the ones my kids have never seen.
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When money wasn't an issue, and gifts were bought from the heart
When the world was a safer place and Jesus played the major part.
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When a knock on the door was welcome, homemade cookies, cakes and such
When those kind of gifts weren't expensive, but the meaning to give meant so much.
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When shoes could bought for $3.00 and fancy ones at that
And you could leave your door unlocked and not have to look behind your back.
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When roasting marshmallows in the fireplace, was traditional this time of year
Hot cocoa and cookies on Christmas Eve, waiting and praying Santa would appear.
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When there was respect for the season, when real happiness was all around When neighbors helped one another and good tidings filled all the towns.
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I know these days are long gone and for many that's really a shame
For we who know the meaning about the true Christmas Holiday.
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As you sit before your families on Christmas Eve this year
If you could just remember a manger and His parents from yesteryear.
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Some are saying remove the Nativity from the schools and leave it to the
church
We may as well remove Christmas and forget the founder of this earth.
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So my wish would be a Christmas like the ones we used to have
When this world knew genuine giving and Jesus' birthday was known
throughout the land.
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No matter who you are this Christmas or no matter where you will be
Remember how it all began with the two from Galilee.
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Sharon J. Bryant
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THE CHRISTMAS HAM
by Sandra |
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Every Christmas for the last several years, my Dad always
presented each of us with the largest ham imaginable. Last
Christmas, our first without him, my sister and I kept the
tradition, and each of us purchased the largest ham we could
find. My sister, always the procrastinator, waited until
Christmas Eve to get her ham.
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She said that as she stood at the counter, sorting through the
hams, she felt Dad's presence, and heard him say to her, not
that one, baby, dig a little deeper. She reached down and
chose a ham, and heard my Dad say, there, baby...that's
your ham! When she got home, she noticed the price on the
ham. It had been marked at $1.21.
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Sandra Smith
Mobile Ala
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