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*Listen to your Home*  11/7/01

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If you enjoy this free daily email service, I encourage
you to spread the word to family and friends that we
may bring inspiration into the lives of many!  If you
are not on the list and this has been passed along
to you, join the thousands of Heart Touchers readers
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Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past
stories in our archives at:
http://www.HeartTouchers.com
____________________________________________

Michael's long awaited book Straight From the Heart:
"A Celebration of Life," is finally here!  Close to 200
pages of true short stories filled with love and laughter
await you!  Visit our web site to order the EBook, or
to order by credit card! You can also read some
sample stories from the book here!

http://HeartTouchers.com/michael_t__powers/

AOL Users Click below:
Straight From the Heart: A Celebration of Life

To order your autographed copy at no extra charge,
send a check or money order for $18 ($14.95 for
the book and $3.05 for shipping and handling) made
out to Michael T. Powers, and then send to:

Michael T. Powers
1918 Liberty Lane
Janesville, WI 53545

For two books add $4 for shipping and handling and
for three books add $5 for shipping and handling.  If
you want four or more autographed copies of our
book you only pay $5 for shipping and handling.

Be sure to let us know who you would like it
autographed for and then allow about two weeks
for us to sign it and send it on its way to you.

_________________________________________


All of us can do a better job of listening: listening to
our spouse, listening to our children, and listening to
our friends.  But have you ever taken the time to listen
to your home?  Heart Touchers regular contributor
Jennifer Oliver shows us how...

From my family to yours,
Michael

_________________________________________


LISTEN TO YOUR HOME

By Jennifer Oliver


Walking into their home was like entering a
time capsule from the 1960s.

Particle-board walls were smothered with
generations of family photos and plaques paying
tribute to God.  An array of gold and orange
chairs and couches crowded the small living
room.  Fake potted plants and flowers cheered
corners.  Kitchen cupboards harbored sets of
mismatched dishes and silverware, cartoon glasses,
and time-worn pots, pans, and bakeware. Hairline
cracks in the walls and yellowed paint bespoke
of settling in the home's arthritic joints.

All four children had flown the coop long ago, and
Aunt Jan worked a minimum-wage job to support
her disabled husband and herself.  She'd been
doing that for over 30 years now.  Scraping by with
enough to keep up a tidy home and care for her
husband.  For a while, they used the old house
next door to sell used clothing and other goods as
a means to keep their heads above water, but her
husband's health took a turn for the worse.
The "garage-sale house" was closed for now.

I knew of someone whose entire home was straight
out of an interior decorator's blueprint.  The
lampshades and furniture were covered in clear
plastic, stiff hand-embroidered pillows were
fluffed up just so, the designer drapes hung
crisply from rods, and throw rugs protected
every thoroughfare imaginable to protect the
white carpet underneath.  Much to my embarrassment,
sitting on the couch made crinkling sounds that alerted
everyone to how often I shifted my position.  I had
finally settled for a rocking chair next to the
fireplace.  A misnomer, considering it had never
known the warmth of a blaze on a winter's night
even though a gleaming set of brass fireplace utensils
stood on alert nearby.

It was a nice place to admire from say, the
pages of a catalog.  I could imagine the chilled look
on my hostess' face had I brought my children on
that particular day.  She fluttered around me,
making sure my drink was properly situated on
a coaster and the magazines on the glass-topped
coffee table fanned out in a tasteful manner.  I was
afraid to use her hand towel in the bathroom, it's
lacy fringe a clear signal that meant "hands off!"
So I used a tissue to wipe my hands, but then
where was the trash can?

On a hunch, I opened the cupboard beneath her
sink.  There it was.  Trash, in my friend's opinion,
should be out of sight.

Her home spoke to me that day.  It said, "We
value the longevity of furniture over friendship."

One day, while Stephen was working out in the
yard, my friend drove for the first time out to our
fixer-upper, which stood prominently at the end
of our street.  Not seeing Stephen, a look of
disgust registered on her face before she changed
her mind and turned her car around.

I never saw nor heard from her again.

"Make yourself at home!" Aunt Jan said brightly.

And I did.  I sank into one of the orange chairs.  No
one would know how often I shifted my position in
this chair, I thought with a sigh.  I imagined the
look on my friend's face had she strode into a
home like this.  I think I would've had to call 911.

Other relatives who drove in for this family reunion
streamed into the living room, and soon the house
was filled with animated chatter, hugs,
and easy laughter.  Plenty of chairs, couches,
pillows to go around.  Some sat at the dining
room table or on high stools.  Some sat
cross-legged on the floor, beckoning my
one-year-old to crawl to them.  Our boys
giggled, playing with toys amongst the tangle of legs.

Cody, our six-year-old, summed it up out of the
blue, "Mom, I wish we lived here!"

Aunt Jan's house spoke volumes to me that day.
It said simply, "Feel the love!"

I pictured God's throne.  It was orange and cushy
and threadbare in all the right places.  Just like the
one I was sitting in.

Take a moment and listen to your home.  What
do you hear?


Jennifer Oliver
fourears@hotmail.com

Write Jennifer and let her know what you thought of her story!

Copyright  © 2001 by Jennifer Oliver.  All rights reserved.
________________________________

Heartwarmers Gem Jennifer resides in the heart
of Texas with her househubby, Stephen, and four
kids, ages 1 to 6 years.  Check out her website at:
http://www.geocities.com/jenniferioliver2001

_________________________________________


Reader Feedback!

Hi Michael...I had been a Heart Touchers addict when I was back home in Kenya (E. Africa) struggling so hard with my finances to get into University.  I can still remember dreary heart wrenching hopeless days when I thought I would never make it, but a warm dose of Heart Touchers stories would always lift my spirits up and show me that if others before me have gone through worse and come out alive, I can do the same! It still sounds so unbelievable to me, even now, but after all the agony of waiting and days of despair, that I am now finally in the United States and living out my dream. I am now in a position to reach out to goals and ambitions and dreams that seemed so hazy and far off at the beginning…

Now that I am settled in, I would like to start subscribing again to your daily inspirational stories...I can't wait to go back to your website and check out all those stories I missed while I was unsubscribed. Please subscribe me to your list again and please also send me your website address... hope you're still doing the marvelous job you were doing when I got off the list.
Warm wishes,
Smruti (Andrews University, Michigan)
smruti_damania@hotmail.com

_________________________________________

Thought For The Day:

"Death is not a period, but a comma
in the story of life."--Amos J. Farver

Verse for the Day:

"Jesus said unto her (Martha), I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that believeth
in me, though her were dead, yet shall he live:
And whosover liveth and believeth in me shall
never die." --John 11:25, 26a

Kid's Thought For The Day:

A little girl who was late coming home for
supper. Her mother made the expected irate
parent's demand to know where she had been.

The little girl replied that she had stopped to help
Janie, whose bicycle was broken in a fall.

"But you don't know anything about fixing bicycles,"
her mother responded.

"I know that," the girl said. "I just stopped to help
her cry."


Parent's Thought For The Day:

"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom."
-- Henry Ward Beecher 


Coach's Thought For The Day:

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear --
not absence of fear." --Mark Twain


Deep Thought For The Day:

"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them."

___________________________________________

  _
/_/\/\    MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\  /    HeartTouchers@aol.com  
/_/  \    "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no
\_\/\ \   longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I
  \_\/   live in the body I live for the Son of God, who    
          
loved me and gave Himself for me."
          
Galatians 2:20
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The copyrights to the stories that appear in Heart
Touchers are owned by the authors and are used with
their permission. We refuse to run stories without
the author's permission and contact info listed after
the story. We also refuse to publish stories listed
as "author unknown."  (All of which violates Copyright
Law and the rights of the authors.) This e-mail may
be forwarded in its entirety, but please do not cut
and paste the stories to be used elsewhere unless
you have contacted and been given permission by
the individual writer.  Thank you so much for
honoring the rights of those writers who graciously
share their stories with us!

__________________________________________

Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business

"
I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch
the video we gave them. They loved it, to say the
least!  Within thirty seconds my mom was crying
and my dad did too. They said it was the best
Christmas gift we could have given them!!  You
did such a beautiful job!  They were so surprised
and so touched--they really, really, really loved it.
Thanks for helping to make it so special to us all.
My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect
for the video too! Thanks again!"
K
elli-- College Station, TX

Let me make you a video from your pictures or
home movies! Check out the web page for Michael's
video production business!  Visit:

http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery/

AOL Users click here:   Video Imagery
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Would you like to see your story in Heart Touchers?
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http://www.HeartTouchers.com/guidelines/

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Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you?
http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm

AOL Users click here:  The Four Spiritual Laws
__________________________________________
Transfer your photographs or old home videos over to DVD or MP4 files! Give the gift that will touch your family's heart and soul.

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