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*Mother of Three* _____________________ If you enjoy this free 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 HeartTouchers.com readers around the world by sending a blank e-mail to: HeartTouchers-subscribe@myinjesus.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past stories in our archives at: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/Archives Be sure to check out our brand new inspirational list just for teenagers! Heart4Teens.com To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-subscribe@myinjesus.com or visit: http://www.Heart4Teens.com ____________________________________________ Good afternoon HeartTouchers.com readers! Today it is my privilege to share a story with you by one of our favorite people in the whole world: Trisha LaCoste. I had the honor of coaching Trisha in basketball when she was a freshman about ten years ago and saw how God worked in her young life. My wife and I would be hard pressed to think of a more Godly, well adjusted, gifted, and compassionate young lady than Trisha. Be sure to write and encourage her after you read today's story... From my family to yours, Michael _________________________________________ Mother of Three By Trisha K. LaCoste "What do you do all day?" I couldn't help but laugh as I recalled the question someone asked me a few months ago. When she discovered I was a stay-at-home mother, my acquaintance thought this was an obvious question. "What do I do?" My mind wandered to the previous day-the day my three children had checkups with our doctor. Waking from my sleep, I yawned and stretched. I stopped suddenly as I realized that the house was still quiet. "If I'm quiet I can get a shower before the kids wake up," I thought excitedly. Being careful not to disturb my two-month-old daughter sleeping beside me, I rolled out of bed while holding my breath. With the stealth of an Indian, I tiptoed to the bathroom being careful to avoid the creaky spot in the hallway near my toddler boys' room. I cringed as I turned on the shower that sounded like Niagara Falls with the house so quiet. Miraculously, I showered in peace and was even able to apply my make-up before hearing the first cry. I ran to my room and quickly nursed infant Kyla so that her whimpers wouldn't wake the boys. If we were going to make it to the doctor's office on time, I knew I would have to be ready to walk out the door before waking my toddler boys. With Kyla dressed and fed, I decided it was time to get the boys ready. I threw Mason in the bathtub while I ran to the laundry room to find clothes for the boys to wear. (In our house that's the first place we look for clean clothes as they rarely make it back into the drawers.) After both boys were clean and dressed, I was ready to load them into the van. "I want some toast, Mom!" Hunter, my three-year-old, reminded me that growing boys DO need to eat. I threw four pieces of bread in the toaster, then buttered and jellied them as quickly as possible. Looking at the clock, I realized we needed to leave immediately if we were going to be on time. "Bring it with you!" I huffed as I ran downstairs to put Kyla in her car seat. As Hunter and Mason appeared at the bottom of the stairs, I grabbed Mason and told Hunter to follow me to the van. Climbing in the back-seat, I buckled the boys in their car seats. As I ran back into the house to get Kyla, I noticed I was breathing as if I was running a marathon. "I might as well be running a marathon," I thought to myself. As I pulled into the doctor's parking lot, my mind raced. Just getting all three kids in the door would be a huge task. Having successfully corralled the boys while carrying Kyla's car seat into the office, I sank into one of those not-so-comfy waiting room chairs after signing us in. When our name was called, I switched into Super-Mom mode. "Follow me, Boys." I said firmly as I threw my purse and diaper bag over my shoulder. I picked up Kyla's car seat and we followed the nurse down the hall to get Hunter's weight. As I took off Hunter's shoes, Mason decided to explore. "Come back here, Mason," I scolded just as Hunter yelled, "I don't want my shoes off!" Fortunately, Kyla was content in her car seat, but my head was already beginning to ache and we'd only been in the office for ten minutes. After putting his shoes back on, Hunter finally decided to cooperate and stand on the scale. Heading down another hallway to get Hunter's height, the nurse noticed my diaper bag slamming against the wall as I struggled to carry Kyla's car seat and drag Mason by the arm. "You can put your things in this room," she said kindly. I dropped my load, left Kyla in the exam room and took Hunter to get measured. "Put your feet against the wall, Hunter," I said sweetly, hoping he wouldn't embarrass me and throw a fit. As Hunter whimpered, Mason came running toward me yelling, "CANDY!" which he had spotted on the counter. My head felt like a top spinning out of control. Somehow, the nurse and I managed to get Hunter to stand still and then I ran for the exam room. "These people will be so glad to see us go," I thought. Mason and Kyla were a bit more cooperative as the nurse got their weight and height. Then we sat in the room waiting for the doctor. Having a minute to myself, I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. I only had a few minutes to rejuvenate and bounce back into Super-Mom mode. "I don't want my clothes off!" Hunter yelled as I tried to undress him. I knew the entire office could hear his screams. "The doctor's just going to listen to your heart and check your ears," I explained. I knew my desperate attempt to make this sound fun was failing. In the meantime, Mason was tearing books out of a basket and throwing them on the floor. Kyla was upset because her nap had been interrupted, so I had three little monsters on my hands. I calmed Kyla with a bottle and told Mason to look at one book. Hunter finally decided he could handle sitting in his underwear for a few minutes. The doctor came in and asked me questions about each child. I could barely hear her over the noises and distractions my children were providing. With a brave smile I answered each question. When the time came for them to be examined, I could only pray. "Please, just don't let them all get mad at the same time, Lord!" I can handle one crying child-maybe even two. But three screaming kids would send anyone to the asylum! We made it through the exams and I even managed to get all three kids dressed again. I chased Mason down the hall and out the door with Hunter trailing behind us while Kyla's car seat swung recklessly on my arm. After buckling them all back into their seats I sank into the driver's seat and let out a huge sigh. We did it. Back at home, I put Mason and Kyla down for naps and let Hunter watch some cartoons. I needed just a few minutes to myself to recover from the experiences of the day. The next time someone dares ask me what I do all day, I think I'll start with this story. Trisha K. LaCoste trishakay@verizon.net Write Trisha and let her know your thoughts on her story! Copyright © 2004 by Trisha K. LaCoste, All Rights Reserved Trisha lives in Roanoke, VA with her husband, Anthony. They are proud parents of Hunter (3), Mason (2), and Kyla (2 months). Trisha is an aspiring writer who has learned to see the humor in situations that would otherwise be considered stressful. She enjoys writing short stories and poems based on real-life situations. _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute." --Josh Billings Verse for the Day: "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. " --Proverbs 21:23 Kid's Thought For The Day: "When it is your shovel, you're in charge of the sand castle." Parent's Thought For The Day "Children are a great comfort in your old age - and they help you reach it faster, too." --Lionel Kauffman Coach's Thought For The Day "The really big men in America have won their spurs by doing what they didn't want to do when they didn't want to do it." --Roger Babson Writer's Thought For The Day "Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts." --William Strunk, Jr. Deep Thought For The Day: "I'm a writer. I write checks. They're not very good." __________________________________________ Have you been to the HeartTouchers.com website lately? If you like what you see and would like to have your own professional looking website, visit the link below. Bizstudio has been a wonderful service for HeartTouchers.com and with 365,000 visitors in the past three years, the website has been a tremendous tool in helping us to "Touch Lives, One Email at a Time." Although I had no prior experience building a website, I was able to create and build the HeartTouchers.com site easily utilizing Bizstudio's online editor. It includes an Online Site Editor, Unlimited Updates, Unlimited Pages, Professional Themes, Pre-Programmed Features, E-mail Accounts, and free Search Engine Submission. If I could do it with no prior experience you can too! Check it out at this link: http://www.bizstudio.com/main/home.htm?bpn=A16435 _________________________________________ MICHAEL T. POWERS www.HeartTouchers.com "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 by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 __________________________________________ Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business Dear Michael, I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for the beautiful video you made for me! It was so special to see both of my parents in tears as they watched their children grow up in pictures before their eyes! I loved the way you made Estania's part set aside from the rest--that was the part that really got them! The music was beautiful. My mom kept blubbering, "What song is that?" I don't know how you did such a beautiful job with the video in such a short time. I really appreciate your doing it so quickly. You have a wonderful gift, and I thank God that you are using it to create such sentimental memories. I hope that I can find my niche like that in an area that I love. Your video gave us one of our most lasting Christmas memories! I hope yours was filled with moments to be treasured forever! Love, Trisha Silverhill, AL Let me make you a video from your photos! Check out my video production business by visiting: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery ___________________________________________ Would you like to see your story in HeartTouchers.com? Writer's guidelines can be found on our Web site here: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/guidelines/ __________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm _________________________________________ The copyrights to the stories that appear in HeartTouchers.com 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! ___________________________________________ Reading Books, Changing Lives! For those of you who would like to purchase the books from the HeartTouchers.com bookstore via your credit card, you can now do so! You can now order a number of different autographed best-selling inspirational books for the same price you would get them in the store, the shipping to you is paid for, and you are helping change the lives of teenagers and those they come in contact with! And best of all, every penny from the book sales are going to youth ministry! http://www.HeartTouchers.com/books |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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