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One night our dog suddenly began barking almost every night at around 3 a.m.

Irritated and sleepy, my husband, Larry, searched the backyard for what might have disturbed this otherwise peaceful animal.

For three days he found nothing amiss. When the dog woke up the neighborhood a fourth night at 3 a.m. with frantic barking Larry finally snuck around the house through the alley only to discover our quiet neighbor, the last man you'd suspect of wrongdoing, throwing pebbles over the fence at the dog.

My husband demanded to know what he was doing.

"My mother-in-law is visiting," the embarrassed neighbor explained. "If she gets woken up in the middle of the night one more time she says she'll leave."

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Pizza Delivery

"What's the usual tip?" a man growled when, Jason, a college boy delivered his pizza.

"Well," Jason replied, "this is my first delivery, but the other guys said that if I got a quarter out of you, I'd be doing great."

"Is that so?" grunted the man. "In that case, here's five dollars."

"Thanks," Jason said, "I'll put it in my college fund."

"By the way, what are you studying?" inquired the man.

Jason replied, "Applied psychology."


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Destiny

BY: Janis Bonnie

My husband and I tried for about a year and a half to get pregnant. We went through one round of in vitro fertilization and got pregnant, but lost it at about three weeks. We talked about domestic adoption, but feared falling in love with a child and then having the birth parents change their minds.

One day, my father-in-law took me to an agency that specializes in international adoption, and we were shown videos of some children who were up for adoption. The first video I saw was of a little boy from Russia who was 8-10 months old. I fell in love with him!

I took the video, two pictures, and an application home and showed them to my husband. Looking at the little boy in the picture, my husband said, "He's got Grandpa's ears!" He was referring to my grandfather, who had recently passed away. Needless to say, we filled out the application and started our journey toward adopting our son.

As the process went along, there seemed to be so many coincidences, or signs of destiny, as I called them. My son's birth mother's birthday was the same day as my mother's. The information provided about the child was done on my birthday. We kept asking for an update on his weight and height, etc., and finally received it on my mother-in-law's birthday. We went to court in Russia on my husband's birthday. But to me, the biggest confirmation of all occurred on the day before we left for Russia. We finally received the rocking chair we had been waiting for from my grandfather (the one who recently passed away).

I always tell my son he was my destiny. I found a photo album that I use as his scrapbook, and the word DESTINY is written on it, along with the saying, "If I could sit across the porch from God, I'd thank Him for lending me you."

All children are God's gift to us, no matter how they become part of our lives. Three short years later, God blessed us with another gift -- our daughter, also from Russia. Although there weren't as many signs of destiny there, I truly believe she was meant to be our daughter, too.


MY PRAYER

God,
thank you for the gifts
that you bestow on us each day.
Help us to understand that our prayers
are always heard by you,
and answers to them are forthcoming.
Even when we are unsure of the outcome,
please help my faith in you to never waver.

Amen.

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DESIDERATA


"This hung on a plaque in my college room, it still applies."

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble, it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann