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Prepared to Be Amazed: Sampson Is the Smartest Donkey You’ll Ever See
When the young donkey Daisy May came to us through a foster home that rescued her from neglect, even her hooves were curled up. By the looks of her growing belly, I thought she might be pregnant. With...
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This Father Gave His Whole Family Handmade Guitars for Christmas
Christmas Eve 2007 was an unforgettable day for our family. It was the day my dad, Leon Royal of Evening Shade, Arkansas, gave each of us one of his handmade acoustic guitars—14 in all for his three...
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When Money Was Tight on Christmas, God Sent Them the Tree They Couldn’t Afford
By the end of this year, I will have had 75 Christmas trees in the various homes I’ve lived in. Only one stands out in my mind. In the late 1940s we were living in a little country town called Monta...
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This Special Ed Teacher Invited Students to Join Her Bridal Party. The Photos...
In her first year with a class of her own, Kinsey French, a special ed teacher in Louisville, Kentucky, developed a special bond with her students. That’s why when it came to her wedding day, she...
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She Broke the Oldest Christmas Ornament—and Found a Heartwarming Surprise
Just before Christmas, my daughter Katie and I went over to my dad’s place to decorate. While we worked on the tree, grandbabies Decie and Johnny entertained their great-grandfather Papa Cox. Their...
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This Family Would Spend 5 Months Prepping for Thanksgiving. Here’s What...
Preparations for Thanksgiving began early on my family’s sheep ranch in Northern California’s Anderson Valley. While my cousin and I were riding our ponies over the dry, grassy hills and swimming in...
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This Man Left His Credit Card Number to Pay for a Food Pantry Order—Without...
Our congregation, Springhill Baptist Church, started a food pantry ministry to help out members of the community. As part of that ministry, we buy the food that will be distributed and build boxes for...
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Warning: You Will Want to Steal This Family’s Adorable “Yule Chicken” Tradition
After our family lost my father 22 years ago, we endured, in large part, by doing something special for one another that honors his devotion to his family: a traditional holiday gathering. For more...
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This Sales Clerk’s Story Will Make You Long for a Small-Town Christmas
I worked lots of extra hours my first Christmas season as a clerk for Dancer’s, the department store in my small hometown of Wayland, Michigan. I’d started the job, which paid 85 cents an hour, that...
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Social Media Strangers Help Return Military Doll to Son of Deployed Soldier
Kim Lane was working behind the counter at a truck stop in Farina, Illinois, when a customer brought her a lost doll that had been left at one of the station’s gas pumps. One look at the toy—a plush...
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“This Is No Drill”: A Powerful Firsthand Account of What Really Happened at...
It has been said that when an old person dies, it is like a library burning down. For the past 75 years, I have tried to share what I remember of World War II, but a day will come when I can no longer...
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This Family Lived in a Tent All Summer While Dad Built Cabin from Scratch....
The moving truck rolled to a stop on a rocky road. “We’re here,” Dad called out the window. My stepmom, Polly, and I had been riding in a pickup truck following Dad and my sisters, Ruth and Sue, for...
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She Didn’t Want to Give Away Her Grandma’s Purple Apron, But Wait Until You...
Just as I covered our sleepy dog with my pink blanket, the phone rang. It seemed fitting that the blanket my grandmother had soothed me with when I was a child also could warm dear old Hopeydog. Still...
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Thanksgiving Miracle: This Family’s 500 Turkeys Froze to Death. Their...
The early winter storm was much worse than the forecast. In the 1950s, weather was frequently a best-guess science. “Sweetheart,” Dad whispered to Mom, “I’ve got to get out of bed and go check on the...
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A Heartwarming Lesson in Devotion, Courtesy of the Geese in My Front Yard
One morning in early fall, I spotted a pair of wild geese on our pond. The beautiful sight caught me by surprise, because we’d never seen geese there before. I assumed they would soon be on their way,...
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This Bugler Decided to Honor Fallen Veterans in a Different Way
As I waited in the VFW cantina, the phone rang. It was time. The honor guard grabbed their rifles while I grabbed my case and went to the cemetery. It was a bitterly cold day, so I sat in the car...
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Here’s Why My Dad Sold Mismatched Shoes Out of an Old School Bus—and Became a...
When I was a kid in the 1960s, my parents, Clifford and Arlene Woodman, had a country store in the small town of Frankfort, Maine. No neighboring houses could be seen from our place, and new salesmen...
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This Barber Cuts Kids’ Hair for Free, But There’s a Catch
“Hey, how you doin’? I’m Courtney. What grade are you in? Third? What’s your favorite book? Elephant and Piggy? Yeah, I got it.” If you thought you’d walked into a library with a greeting like that,...
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When Their Baby Chickens Were Stuck in a Snow Storm, This Mom Came to the...
Claudette ventured into a blizzard to rescue her family’s beloved hens. The saving of Miss Penni, our beloved hen, took place many years ago, but sometimes it seems like yesterday. It was a cold...
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This Mother Went into Cardiac Arrest While in Labor. Her Recovery Was a True...
At lunchtime on Christmas Eve, 2009, Dr. Stephanie Martin was conferring with a patient in her office at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. Lithe, with fine bones and long limbs, Martin, 42,...
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