Family

The staff at Inspire 21 was extremely pleased to receive this inspirational story about miracles from a remarkable 7th-grader. We hope you enjoy her story as much as we did. ______________ By Marta C., 7th-grader When I was only 18 months old, I was diagnosed with lead poisoning. I was supposed to end up in the hospital in a wheelchair. My parents told me that the day I was brought into the hospital, my face was yellow and I wouldn't stop crying. The doctor said it was permanent. But in just one month, I went back to the doctor, and he said the lead poisoning was completely gone. My parents had prayed for me throughout the whole month, hoping it would go away.

I was a surgeon in the United States Army during the Civil War. After the battle of Gettysburg, there were hundreds of wounded soldiers in my hospital. Many were wounded so severely that a leg or an arm, or sometimes both, needed to be amputated.

One of these was a boy who had been in the service for only 3 months. Since he was too young to be a soldier, he had enlisted as a drummer. When my assistants came to give him chloroform before the amputation, he turned his head and refused it. When they told him that it was the doctor's orders, he said, "Send the doctor to me."

Father was a hardworking man who delivered bread as a living to support his wife and three children. He spent all his evenings after work attending classes, hoping to improve himself so that he could one day find a better paying job. Except for Sundays, Father hardly ate a meal together with his family. He worked and studied very hard because he wanted to provide his family with the best money could buy.

Whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he reasoned that he was doing all this for them. But he often yearned to spend more time with his family.

From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day. Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

by Kay Johnson McCrary

I wasn't paying attention at the time to the good example my father set. He wasn't consciously "setting a good example" -- he was just living life according to his values.

It was the 1950s in a small Middle Georgia farm town. Our family owned a clothing store in the middle of the main business block downtown. Six days a week, 8am until 6pm (9pm on Saturday), my father presided over his business. And sometimes an angel would come to our store.

TOOTHPICK
Reminds us to look for the good qualities in our students.
You may be the only teacher who says something positive to them that day.


RUBBER BAND
Reminds the teacher that they have to be flexible.
Things don't always go the way we plan,
But flexibility will help to work it out.


BAND AID
Reminds the teacher that sometimes we do more than teach,
That we help heal hurt feelings, broken dreams,
And lend an ear to a problem.


PENCIL
Reminds us to be thankful and we should list our blessings daily,
But also encourage our students to list their blessings

Unknown Author Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at …

Man Rescues New Mexico Girl from Suspected Kidnapping

August 15, 2011--When New Mexico resident Antonio Diaz Chacon saw a little girl being snatched from the street and placed into a blue van, he had no doubt about what he needed to do. He jumped into his own car and followed.

The 6-year-old victim had been going to a neighbor's house for a package of tostadas when she was grabbed from the street. Diaz had seen the man cover the girl's mouth and place her into the van. A neighbor screamed in Spanish, "Let her go, she's not yours!"

Martha Diaz said her husband told her he was going to block the way, that he was going to stop him. Martha called 911 as her husband left to follow the van.

By Taylor MaliÔÇ¿

He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests that it's also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.

"I mean, you're a teacher, Taylor," he says. "Be honest. What do you make?"

As I walked home one freezing day, I stumbled on a wallet someone had lost in the street. I picked it up and looked inside to find some identification so I could call the owner. But the wallet contained only three dollars and a crumpled letter that looked as if …