Dec 30, 2013

Police Armed With Sandwich Talk Man Off Ledge

   GTY sandwich 90852822 jt 131229 copy 16x9 608 Police Armed With Sandwich Talk Man Off Ledge
Portland, Ore., police found an unlikely way to diffuse a tense situation — order a sandwich.
Officers were able to talk an “agitated” man down from a ledge after they ordered him a turkey and bacon sandwich.
Police responded to reports of a naked man, possibly armed with a knife, sitting on the ledge of a parking structure on Saturday, Portland Police Department spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said. The man appeared to be suffering from a “behavioral health crisis” and was acting as though he was going to jump, the spokesman said.
“He was sitting the ledge when the [officers] came up cutting himself  with a knife,” said Sgt. Greg Stewart of the Portland Police Bureau Crime Analysis Unit.
Sergeant Drake Hull responded to the call and said the man was occasionally tripping and barely coherent as he walked on a 24-inch ledge.
When officers from the Enhanced Crisis Intervention team started to talk to the man, they found out he was hungry, so Hull ordered an officer to get a sandwich with French fries from a nearby luxury hotel. The officer came back with a turkey and bacon sandwich, which they put down in the parking structure to bring the man in off the ledge.
“I think at one point he said he wanted a cheeseburger, but beggars can’t be choosers,” said Hull, who said officers were worried about low temperatures leading to hypothermia.
When the man was safely off the ledge, officers rushed up behind him and took him into custody without incident.
The man was taken to a hospital for evaluation and may face vandalism charges for severely damaging a car in the parking lot, police said.
The police let the man finish his sandwich on the way to the hospital.

Dec 27, 2013

2 Teachers Save Bus After Driver Thrown From Seat

Two quick-thinking teachers in South Carolina are being credited with saving the lives of a school bus full of children after the driver fell out of his seat.
Students from Pinckney Elementary School in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., were returning from a field trip on Dec. 4 when the bus driver approached a stop sign at an intersection going too fast.
"Somebody said, 'Stop sign, stop!,'" said fourth-grade teacher Amy Ryan. "You could tell the bus driver was going too fast to stop."
The driver, who was not identified, was not wearing a seat belt. As he attempted to make a left-hand turn at the intersection, he was thrown from his seat.
"The bus driver kind of overturned. It felt like we were going to tip," Ryan said.
As the driver lay on the floor of the bus, another teacher, Lee Morris, stepped up to grab the steering wheel.
"Because of the curve [and] turn of the wheels, we came back out of the ditch, but that's when I jumped up and grabbed the wheel to keep going down the road straight," said Morris.
Surveillance video from aboard the bus shows Morris at the wheel of the bus while Ryan comes forward to slam on the brakes, bringing the bus to a stop.
"I asked Mr. Morris if he could reach the brake. He said, 'No,'" Morris recalled. "So I jumped in and stopped the bus."
"The experience was terrifying," she said.
No one was injured in the accident.
Charleston County School District officials say the driver was cited for speeding and for not wearing a seat belt. He is also no longer employed by the school district, according to local ABC affiliate WCIV.
Source: news.yahoo.com

Dec 25, 2013

Calif. woman who tries to rent family via Craigslist gets so much more

HartmanGrab4.jpg
At William Jessup University near Sacramento, there's a junior who seems to have it all. Jackie Turner has straight As, good friends and a big heart. She works part-time as a tutor and eventually wants a career helping troubled kids.
Her future is definitely bright, but the clouds still roll in every December.
"This time of year is hard," Jackie said. "Everyone is talking about their cousins, their families, all the things that make up Christmas."
Jackie says she doesn't have any of that -- and never did.
Asked to recall some of the pleasant memories of her childhood, Jackie said, "I remember getting locked up and locked in rooms. And I remember getting beatings for stealing food."
 Born to a mother she never met and dad she wished she hadn't, Jackie said she was abused, neglected, and starved.
She's been able to move on -- for 11 months out of every year, at least. But that 12th has always posed a problem, which is why this year she decided to take action.
Jackie said, "This hurting, you're tired of it, what are you going to do? And I was like, 'Craigslist.'"
That's right, she said Craigslist -- where most people go to find a new apartment or used car, Jackie went looking for a happier holiday. Specifically, her classified said, "I want to rent a mom and dad."
"Maybe for like a couple hours -- just be like the light of their life for that moment," Jackie said.
She was even willing to pay, she said, "Eight bucks, just to sit, which for a college student is affordable."
She got dozens of responses -- about half from parents who wanted to help, for free of course -- and about half from other young people who felt the same way she did.
"People are hurting and broken and we need each other," Jackie said. "We need to be loving people. And I think that's what tonight's about. 
HartmanGrab8.jpg
 CBS NEWS
 Jackie held a meeting for all the people who contacted her. The purpose: to pair up the needy with the needed to make sure no one in the room feels alone this holiday season.
Jackie made about a half-a-dozen matches that night including one for herself -- a woman from university student services named Anita Hermsmeier. Jackie went into this thinking she wanted to rent a family; now she's creating them. December is looking brighter already.
Source: CBSnews.com

Dec 23, 2013

After lung transplant that changed the rules, Sarah is doing fine

Sarah Murnaghan, the 11-year-old Pennsylvania girl whose parents forced changes in the US lung allocation system to get their daughter two lung transp...
Courtesy Janet Murnaghan
Sarah Murnaghan, the 11-year-old Pennsylvania girl whose parents forced changes to the nation's lung allocatioin system, is doing fine six months after two transplants.



Six months after a life-saving double lung transplant, the Pennsylvania girl whose parents changed the way the organs are allocated in the U.S. is growing healthy and strong — and she wants a Furby Boom for Christmas.

Sarah Murnaghan, 11, can breathe on her own and walk by herself for short distances. She speaks in a clear, calm voice, even on a day with a slight scare over too much congestion in her chest.

“The morning was a bit rough, but I’m feeling a bit better,” she told NBC News by phone Friday.

That simple sentence is priceless to Sarah’s mom, Janet Murnaghan, who, with her husband, went to federal court to force the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, or OPTN, to alter its rules and allow the child to be considered for transplant based on how sick she was, instead of her age.

“When we started, we thought we were going to lose Sarah,” the Newtown Square, Pa., mother told NBC News. “People have criticized me for going to court, but what other choice did I have?”

Sarah’s quest for a transplant was among the top health stories of 2013, raising questions ofwhether it’s ethical to change the way the nation’s scarce supply of organs is allocated based on the case of just one child.

At the time, officials — including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius — argued that such a request jeopardized the fairness of the overall system.

“I would suggest, sir, that, again, this is an incredibly agonizing situation where someone lives and someone dies,” Sebelius told Rep. Lou Barletta during a Congressional hearing.

Murnaghan said she’s still angry at that comment — and at Sebelius, who denied her daughter’s appeal.

“When she made the statement that somebody has to die, she stepped over a line in me as a mother,” said Murnaghan, 39. “There was a lack of compassion, a lack of awareness that one life does matter.”

Since June, at least nine other children have requested exemption to the existing rules, which prevent kids younger than 12 from being considered for adolescent or adult lungs until those organs have been offered to the over-12 groups first. The Murnaghans successfully argued that the severity of a child's illness, not age, should be the key factor in being considered for the adult transplant list.

Two of those 10 children received transplants under the OPTN exception, including Sarah, who got two sets of lungs because one failed. Three children received transplants from the original waiting list registration and four are still waiting, according to records from the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS. 

There’s been no word on Javier Acosta, 11, who, like Sarah, had severe cystic fibrosis and was awaiting a lung transplant. Javier’s mother, Milagros Martinez, also sought a court order, but she has not responded to requests for comment from NBC News. Murnaghan said that the family is very private and doesn’t want to discuss Javier’s condition publicly. She wouldn't say whether he'd received a transplant, but she did say Javier is doing well. 

Still, one child who sought the exemption died while waiting, UNOS records showed.

“All I can think is we didn’t do it fast enough,” Murnaghan said. “That child still died.”

As of Friday, 1,650 people were waiting for lung transplants in the U.S., according to OPTN data. That includes 21 patients under age 10 and 39 ages 11 to 17.

The OPTN exception, which is set to expire in June, has inspired new research — and renewed debate — within the pediatric lung transplant community.

paper published this month in the American Journal of Transplantation concluded that there was little difference in death rates or transplant rates for children ages 6 to 11 compared with teens or adults, based on an analysis of data from 1999 through 2011. 

Further, researchers found that the data submitted in the Murnaghans’ court documents used bad math to figure that death rates for children were far higher than those for adults.

“These death rates were calculated incorrectly . . .” Dr. Bertram L. Kasiske of the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis wrote. Similarly, the transplant “success” rates were miscalculated, too, they said.

In addition, the figures included deaths of children ages newborn to 5, who have much higher mortality because of the severity of birth defects and other problems, Kasiske said. 

But Murnaghan dismissed the findings as an attempt to “twist the data.”

“This is a group feeling defensive,” she said. “This is a group feeling attacked by me.”

Other pediatric lung transplant experts say that statistics alone can’t allay the concerns that Sarah’s case raised.

“I think that this issue raised awareness that there may be circumstances where children like Sarah ought to be able to request an exception,” said Dr. Stuart Sweet, director of the pediatric lung transplant program at Washington University in St. Louis, who helped write OPTN’s original lung transplant guidelines. He wrote an editorial accompanying Kasiske's article. 

Indeed, the UNOS pediatric lung transplant committee has voted in favor of making the exception permanent and will present a policy statement for public comment this spring, with a final vote set for June, an agency spokeswoman said.

Sarah’s case raises an even larger issue — the question of whether all lungs donated by children and teens ought to go to the youngest recipients first, Sweet said. As it stands now, more than 90 percent of lungs from adolescent donors, those ages 12 to 17, go to adults.

Instead of putting more kids on a list to receive lobes from adult lungs, which have to be cut down to fit children, the entire system should change, Sweet said. "The best thing to come out of this hasn't happened yet," he said. "Maybe we should give all children access to pediatric organs before they're offered to adults." 

If that were to happen, Sweet said he and others would owe Sarah and her family a debt of gratitude.

For her part, Janet Murnaghan plans to watch the process closely and to push for more changes in the organ allocation system. "I promise you, I'm not going away," she said. 

She says she knows she has been a lightning rod both for people who regarded her as a courageous mom and for those who think she was just trying to bend the rules for her own kid.

“For me, I feel very certain that I was doing what was right,” she said. “I’m at a place in my life where I don’t really need everybody else’s validation. I just need, between me and God, to know that I’m a good person.”

Source: NBCNews.com

Dec 20, 2013

Real-life Santa brings special surprise across America

Every year, about this time of year, the man in the red coat walks into shelters, food pantries, thrift stores and storerooms.
He generates excitement as only a man in a red coat can.
"I've heard about him. Never thought I'd ever see him," said one emotional woman.  
There is little known about this anonymous Secret Santa.
He is a wealthy businessman from Kansas City who goes around to different towns across America -- in this case Albany, Ga. -- and gives away more than $100,000 worth of $100 bills.
Yes, real ones. 
SecretSantaMoney.jpg
 "These are brand new $100 bills. And this is to make your Christmas just a little bit brighter," said Secret Santa to some surprised shoppers.
He says it never gets old, and looks forward to it every Christmas.
First thing one mother and daughter did with their money was buy some Cottonelle tissue for their tears of joy.  
Apparently, receiving a random act of kindness can be pretty overwhelming. It's a lot of money for a lot of these folks. 
Kids at the local Boys and Girls Club could barely contain their happiness when Secret Santa gave them each $10.
Residents' reactions could not match getting any toy or even fruitcake this holiday season.
It's amazing, really. Give a random stranger a $100 bill and they start hugging random strangers. 
SecretSantaHuggs.jpg
 Still, not all this excitement is because of the money.
"No, it's not the money. It's not the money," said Lilly Thomas after receiving Secret Santa's gift. 
Thomas says around the ,a lot of gifts are given out of obligation, so when a total stranger comes up and hands you $100 just to be nice, it makes you believe again.
"He's real. Santa is real," said one joyful worker.
"My hope is that by doing this, millions of people see it and millions of people act on it. You don't have to have any money. It can be a kind word, a good deed -- anybody can be a Secret Santa," said the main in the red coat.
Source: cbsnews.com

Dec 18, 2013

For Newtown families, Dec. 14 is 'just another day'


While the nation stops to remember the lives of the 20 children and six adults gunned down a year ago Saturday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the families still grieving for their lost loved ones say Dec. 14 will be no different for them.

“In all honesty, it's just another day. It's just another day without Dylan. There's no need to mark it because every day we miss him,” said Nicole Hockley of her 6-year-old son. “I think the rest of the country and people feel that the one-year mark has some significance. But it's another passage of time. It doesn't change anything.”

Hockley sat down several weeks ago with NBC’s Kate Snow along with two other families to discuss how they have coped with their loss in the past year. They also talked about efforts to direct their grief and anger into various advocacy efforts in honor of the Newtown, Conn., victims who were killed by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who took his own life at the school.
Dylan Hockley, who was killed in the Newtown, Conn. shootings, has inspired Dylan's Wings of Change, to help kids with special needs.
TODAY
Dylan Hockley, who was killed in the Newtown, Conn. shootings, has inspired Dylan's Wings of Change, to help kids with special needs.
For these families, time has become elastic. Some days stretch for an eternity. Others pass by in a blink.

“Time doesn't really seem to follow one day after another at the moment,” said Hockley, who takes time to talk to her son every day. “It feels so many times like he's still just there around the corner. You know, and I can see him where he should be in the house. And so to think that it's almost a year since I've held him, it's no time at all.”
Mark and Jackie Barden said they'll miss Daniel's cuddles.
TODAY
Mark and Jackie Barden said they'll miss Daniel's cuddles.
For Mark and Jackie Barden, every day of healing also reminds them of how long ago they lost their 7-year-old son. Thanksgiving and especially Halloween were difficult for them.
“With every minute that passes, we're a minute farther away from our life with our little Daniel. That's hard to deal with,” Mark Barden said.

He recalled how Daniel got up early the morning of the shooting to send off his older brother to school with a hug and kiss. Instead of going back to bed afterward, he told his dad he would rather cuddle. Jackie Barden said that’s what her son was known for.

“I really miss his cuddles. He was really affectionate,” she said, recalling how he especially liked to lay in bed with his books. “He would just wrap his whole body around you. I miss reading to him. I haven't read a book out loud since.”
Mark Barden, pictured with Daniel, said every day of healing reminds them of how long ago they lost their son.
TODAY
Mark Barden, pictured with Daniel, said every day of healing reminds them of how long ago they lost their son.
The past year has been an emotional roller coaster for Erica Lafferty, whose mother was Dawn Hochsprung. The Sandy Hook Elementary School principal died while trying to stop the gunman.

“Honestly, it has been probably the worst and best year of my entire life,” she said.
In July, she got married in a beautifully orchestrated wedding her mother had helped plan. Everything went off without a hitch, she said.

“(It was) exactly how she would want it. We got married at the house that she had just built on the land that my whole family grew up on,” she said. “I wore the dress that we picked out. I wore the shoes that she would've made fun of me for wearing, to no end. I had my hair how she wanted it. And it was a perfect day. She would have loved it.”
Erica Lafferty at mother's gravesite.
Permission granted for web use within TODAY context.
Sarah M. Beck Photography
Erica Lafferty, in her wedding gown, visited her mother's gravesite. She wed in July.
Lafferty said she is certain she felt her mother’s presence at the ceremony.
“She gave me a beautiful gust of wind on a very hot day,” she said with a laugh. “She was absolutely there.”

Gilles Rousseau lost his 30-year-old daughter in the shooting. Lauren Rousseau was a first-grade substitute at Sandy Hook on that day. She died along with 15 of the 16 children in her classroom.

"It does feel good to talk about her. It’s my therapy practically. To talk about Lauren makes my day. I think of her all the time and she’s with me in spirit all the time," he said Friday on TODAY. 

Rousseau said his daughter loved the school where she taught and loved her principal, whom the family knew because the elder Rousseau had photographed her wedding. He and his wife, Joyce, have started a scholarship fund for students at her former high school who are interested in studying elementary education.

"Lauren, although new to the game, she was very determined to do absolutely the best she could do," said Joyce Rousseau, her stepmother. "She was so determined to become a teacher."

In the months following the shooting, most of the families became advocates for changes in gun control law. They hope to change the tenor of the conversation on gun violence through the organization, Sandy Hook Promise. They also honored their loves ones through the creation of charitable organizations, like the one for Lauren Rousseau. All of the charities can be found on MySandyHookFamily.org.

Hockley and her husband created Dylan’s Wings of Change to help children with special needs, like their son, who had autism.

“He was a flapper. When he would get excited, he would flap really strenuously. And it was just his way of showing happiness and excitement," she said. "And I asked him once, 'Why do you flap?' And he said, ‘Cause I'm a beautiful butterfly.’ And that just stuck with me and my husband.”
Erica Lafferty, who wed this summer, lost her mom Dawn Hochsprung when she was shot trying to stop the gunman.
TODAY
Erica Lafferty, who wed this summer, lost her mom Dawn Hochsprung when she was shot trying to stop the gunman.
While more than a dozen states have passed tougher gun laws since the Newtown shootings, Congress has not. That frustrates Hockley, who, among other things, lobbied for lower capacity magazine clips.

“There have been so many mass shooting and individual shootings. That is completely unacceptable. It's a public health epidemic,” she said. “It saddens to me to know that this still going on and that other parents are having to go through what I'm going through. And that another mass shooting is bound to happen.”

The Bardens took action after their other two children, James and Natalie, kept asking them questions about why and how such violence could occur.

"We didn't have any answer," Mark Barden said. “And James said, ‘I just hope this never happens to any other family ever again.’ We had the option to do nothing, or to do something. And then when you think of it like that, we didn't have any options.”

Lafferty, who began working with Mayors Against Illegal Guns last April, calls the organization her therapy. Before she began helping the group, she lacked purpose.

“Now I have something to fight for. I have something that gives me meaning back. And I need that. I need meaning. I need something to drive me because I don't have my mom's force, literally, in my ear every single day saying, "OK, kid, it's time to, you know, do this or try this,” she said.

Lafferty said what she misses about her mom varies upon the day.

“Well, today it would probably be how warm her hands always were. Yesterday probably would've been how tiny she always felt when I hugged her. On really sad days probably her contagious laugh,” she said.
Video: Gilles and Joyce Rousseau talk about how the community is coming together to honor Lauren Rousseau, who was killed one year ago in the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., with a scholarship in her name.
Many families of the victims will observe the one-year mark of the Sandy Hook shooting out of town, even though most news outlets have agreed to respect the wishes of Newtown residents and stay away on the anniversary. 

Lafferty suggested supporters wanting to note the day instead mark it with 26 acts of random kindness.

“Just be nice to each other, you know?” she said. “If everyone just did one nice thing for one person every single day, how much more good would there be? How much less bad?”

“It's hard to feel like we're healing or healed. I still feel like we're still trying to come to terms with that this really happened,” said Mark Barden. “I still find myself trying to will this all into a dream, trying to wish it was not real.”

Source:  Today.com

Dec 16, 2013

Florida Orphan Davion Only Spending Christmas With Prospective Family

Just months ago, orphan Davion Only made an impassioned plea for a family that spawned more than 10,000 offers from around the world.
This Christmas, the Florida teen's dream will come true.
Only, 15, recently moved in with a prospective family with whom he will spend the holidays, Terri Durdaller, a spokesperson for Eckerd, the Florida adoption agency handling Davion's case, told ABC News.
"He is enjoying getting to know the family," Durdaller said.
She said identifying a "forever family" for the teen is a "step by step progression."
"Our first priority is ensuring that Davion builds a strong relationship and has a successful adoption with his forever family," she said.
While Eckerd knows there is interest in the teen's happily ever after story, Durdaller said no other information would be released for the time being as Davion and his new family get to know each other.
Teen Wants Family 'To Love Me Forever'
Only has been in foster care his whole life, but has never had a family. In October, he stood in front of St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, Fla., and made a public plea for a familythat captured hearts around the world.
"I'll take anyone," Only said. "Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don't care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be."
The plea has garnered national attention and Eckerd told ABCNews.com in October that it had fielded over 10,000 requests from people asking to adopt the teen.
The requests poured in from across the country and around the world, including calls from Canada, India, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain and Iran.
The agency said it told people in the U.S. outside of Florida to contact their local foster care services because "there are Davions in every city in America."

Dec 13, 2013

Pet dog takes the rap for fire that displaces Arizona family

A fire that severely damaged an apartment Tuesday in Tucson, Ariz., was blamed on the family dog.
It took nine fire units to put out the blaze, which left the family of three at least temporarily homeless, fire officials said.
The family wasn't home Tuesday morning, but the dog was, Tucson fire Capt. Barrett Baker told NBC station KVOA of Tucson.
Some time before 9 a.m., the dog — whose breed and name weren't disclosed — got curious and began trying to jump up on the kitchen counter, fire officials said. Its paw hit a knob on the family's gas stove, lighting one of the burners. That, in turn, ignited flammable materials on the stove, which family members told investigators they rarely used.

There was no immediate damage assessment, and no one — including the dog or any of the 23 firefighters who put out the fire in less than 15 minutes — was injured. The Red Cross was trying to find a new home for the family.
It's not the first time a dog has been fingered as a firebug. In October, a Labrador trying to get at some snacks on the stove ignited a kitchen fire exactly the same way in Wenatchee, Wash., causing $10,000 in damage.
Source: NBC News

Dec 12, 2013

Man Trapped in Empty Dark Plane Cabin at Houston Airport

Airline investigators are looking into how a man got left behind and locked onboard a United Airlines jet when everyone else left during a layover in Houston from Louisiana.
Tom Wagner says he fell asleep on the plane and woke up in the pitch black cabin that had landed at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport, the nation's fifth largest airport.
"I woke up and the lights were out. I was like, what's going on?" Wagner told ABC station KTRK-TV in Houston. "I thought maybe it was a layover, still on the same plane."
Wagner says somehow everyone had deplaned and not noticed he was still snoozing in his seat. He said cabin crew locked the doors leaving him trapped inside.
"I called my girlfriend, and she thought I was crazy. I said, 'Debbie I'm locked on the plane.' I said, 'I'm telling you the truth; you better go somewhere and get me off this plane.'"
Wagner's girlfriend then called the airline, which sent crew to the plane after more than half an hour. Wagner says he told workers who came on board, "'Don't put the blame on me. I didn't do anything wrong here.' And then they were, like, try to hush-hush, keep it quiet."
The airline gave Wagner a free Amenities package, which included items like a toothbrush and toothpaste, and put him up in a motel room for the night.
ExpressJet issued a statement on Saturday afternoon: "An ExpressJet passenger remained on board flight 4245, operating as United Express from Lafayette, La. to Houston on Friday, Dec. 6, after all passengers had deplaned. ExpressJet is investigating to determine how this occurred. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this caused for the passenger."
The airline said it had no idea how cabin crew missed Wagner, even after a routine post-flight walk-through.
Wagner said United did not refund his flight, but gave him a $250 voucher to help him reach his final destination in California.
"What if I had a medical condition or something? What if I had a heart attack and I was dead? You just shut the plane and leave someone on there? It's the way I look at it," Wagner said.

Source: ABC News

Dec 10, 2013

Inspiration

     I Hope This Will Be Our Walk (Beautiful)..... this has been around before, but is still worth reading again. 


                                                                                THANKS TO GOD 

                                                I pray that this will bless you as it blessed me. 

Hello God,
I called tonight
To talk a little while
I need a friend who'll listen
To my anxiety and trial.
You see, I can't quite make it
Through a day just on my own...
I need your love to guide me,
So I'll never feel alone.
I want to ask you please to keep
My family safe and sound.
Come and fill their lives with confidence
For whatever fate they're bound.
Give me faith, dear God, to face
Each hour throughout the day,
And not to worry over things
I can't change in any way.
I thank you God for being home
And listening to my call,
For giving me such good advice
When I stumble and fall.
Your number, God, is the only one
That answers every time.
I never get a busy signal,
Never had to pay a dime.
So thank you, God, for listening
To my troubles and my sorrow.
Good night, God, I love You too,
And I'll call again tomorrow

The man whispered, "God, speak to me" 

 and a meadowlark sang. 


But, the man did not hear. So the man yelled,
 "God, speak to me" 

and the thunder rolled across the sky. 


But, the man did not listen. The man looked around and said, 
"God let me see you." 
And a star shined brightly. 


But the man did not see. And, the man shouted, 

"God show me a miracle."
 And, a life was born. 



But, the man did not notice. So, the man cried out in despair, 
"Touch me God, and let me know you are here."
 Whereupon, God reached down and touched the man.  But, the man brushed the butterfly away  


and walked on.  

I found this to be a great reminder that God is always around us in the little and simple things that we take for granted ... even in our electronic age . so I would like to add one more: 

The man cried,

"God, I need your help!" 
And an e-mail arrived reaching out
 
with good news and encouragement.
 


But, the man deleted it and continued crying .  

Don't miss out on a blessing because it isn't packaged the way that you expect. 

My instructions were to send this to people that I wanted God to bless and I picked you. 

Please pass this to people you want to be blessed. 

Expect the unexpected..... 

Have A Happy Day! 

God is there for us always even when everyone else has betrayed you and left you.