【推荐1】Have you ever noticed how the way you feel about yourself sometimes depends on whether or not you get confirmation of your value from others?

I have______a lot about nurturing a positive identity of love and appreciation from the man who taught me to train dogs.

First, he started out by ______his dogs with love and respect, and by showing them an infinite amount of______as they were learning.

Then, the______thing he did was a true stroke of genius. He would cut a small piece of______for each dog. He would place it in the dog's sleeping area, for him to______each night. He would also take this carpet during the______and set it down in various locations, and sit the dog on the carpet, as he______the dog for being good.

Next, Frank would teach the dog to______the carpet himself, and carry it to_____ they were going. The dog would then set the carpet down when they______, with Frank all of the time praising him. Now Frank said, "The dog begins to feel that he truly______in every place he travels to, and no matter where he goes, he______my love and appreciation. "

If this strategy______so brilliantly with dogs, would it not work just______with human beings?

【推荐2】One morning in early fall, I spotted a pair of wild geese on our pond. The beautiful sight caught me by ________, because we had never seen geese there before. I wondered where they came from and why they’d ________ our pond. As the days passed, I couldn’t ________ getting a closer look and started talking to the geese. They craned their necks and raised their heads ________ but seemed to realize I was a friend and not an enemy. I felt ________ we were bonding.

One day as they were feeding in the grass near the driveway, I discovered the reason for their ________—the male had a broken left wing. He was ________ to fly, and his lifelong mate would not leave him behind. I marveled at the ________ between them.

I asked a wildlife biologist friend what I should do. He explained that sometime a broken wing will heal by itself and suggested letting ________ take its course.

________ the first day of November, I was working in the vicinity (在……附近) of the geese with my tractor. I caught some ________ from the corner of my eye.

Both geese were running toward the pond, wings beating ________. The geese gained enough altitude to clear a neighbor’s house, then ________ back toward me, flying no more than 50 feet over my head as if to say goodbye. Then they were out of sight.

I grew ________ them during their stay at our pond, and I miss them. I’ll never forget their ________ to each other. We could all learn a lesson or two from this pair.

【推荐3】We had our son Wesley checked out because of his indifference to communicate with people. To our ______, he was diagnosed with autism(自闭症).

Out of everything the doctor had said, the only word I could ______ was socialization — key for Wesley to develop ______ skills. The instant we got on the car, we ______ brainstormed ways to make his world more social. It suddenly ______ me that we were in need of a dog. Soon, we brought the dog Josie home. Wesley didn’t seem that ______ her, no matter how adorable she was. But then I began to ______ Wesley petting her when he thought no one was looking.

Four months after we’d gotten Josie, I ______ the two of them out for a long play. By the end, they were both ______. As soon as I put Wesley in his car seat, he fell asleep, with Josie ______ her head on his shoulder. That’s when I knew they had ______ bonded. One of our biggest ______ was that Wesley had no sense of danger and didn’t ______ what a moving car meant. He would dart out in the street. I was ______ he would get hit by a car. Luckily, Josie was able to ______ keep him on the sidewalk with us.

The best thing about having a ______ is that kids come to you. ______ the daily walk to the bus stop provides an opportunity for Wesley to socialize with other children. Kids surround him with ______ about Josie and we practice his answers at home so he is more comfortable talking ______. I finally learned how to make peace with autism while so ______ it.

【推荐1】See Me

The sun prepared to rest for the evening. Saying goodbye to the clan (家族), I headed back to camp. I looked forward to setting my _______ aside for an evening to reflect on my time in Ethiopia.

“Photo, photo”, a voice behind me called. A young Surma boy followed closely at my heels as I breathed a tired sigh. Over the past four days, many in the camp had wanted their photograph _______. I had no energy left after this long day, but the boy kept appealing, “Photo, photo.” He managed to catch my gaze. With eyes full of _______, he asked me once more: “photo?”

As I looked at him, an idea flashed before me. I knelt in the cornfield and instructed the boy how to _______ . Suddenly, he became shy, losing his _______. No matter how I instructed him, I couldn’t capture the shot. Frustrated, I _______. I looked at the boy, who seemed _______.

In an effort to cheer him, I said, “You were great.” Others from his clan gathered around, cheering and clapping. The boy’s face broke into a smile. I intuitively took shots of the moment. That photograph turned out to be better than the arrangement I’d imagined because it was _______.

Reflecting on my experience, I realized I had been caught up in my own ideas and wants. When I agreed to take the shot, I was looking for a particular end _______ for myself. But all the boy had really wanted was to be __________. That was the moment that needed to be captured.

【推荐2】Last year, I received a special present. My children ________ me a stainless steel coffee machine for my birthday. I love drinking coffee every morning and couldn’t ________ to use it. But ________ I poured my first cup, the coffee spilled (洒出) all over the table. Thankfully, no one was around to see my ________ face! I kept trying, but each morning I ________ be seen wiping up the coffee. Then I realized if I poured very ________, there could be no spilling. My normal ________ was to rush through breakfast to get on with my day. But eventually I learned not only to pour but to ________ the experience: the taste and the stillness of a new day.

It promoted me to ________ upon whether I was rushing through in other areas of my life. So I started to appreciate even the most ________ moments. When shop owners apologized for keeping me waiting, I’d say, “Not a problem. I’m not ________.” I even enjoyed sitting in front of my house talking with ________ and sharing our own stories, ________ we had known each other for a long time. It seemed that the world around us slowed to a ________ we could handle.

Stillness not only slows the pace of life, but also ________ the soul, helping us to enjoy the world’s small pleasures and realize the truth of life.

【推荐3】My mother and her family kept information about my father and his family a secret from me for over half a century. In 2010 I began to ______ my father through Ancestry.com. However, I learned he had ______ cancer on August 6, 1999 in a hospital in Dallas, Texas.

When I got my father's death ______， the medical examiner told me because my father had no ______ around the city, they buried him in a body bag in a(n) ______ grave in an old cemetery.

I knew my father ______ in WW2 so I decided to work on getting his remains ______ to my state to be buried in our national cemetery. From 2011 to 2017 I kept working on ______ my debt from a divorce and increasing my ______ score so someday I could get a personal loan.

That certificate of ______ service proved my father served 43 months in WW2   in the USA Army Air Force fighting the Nazi's. I still did not have the money ______. In July of 2018 a bank approved a $10，000 personal loan so I had a funeral director ______ a permit to exhume my father. After 4 months of ______ I asked Senator Brown for help again in November. Six days after he contacted Texas officials a permit was ______.

On July 9, 2019 an airplane will ______ at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport ______ I will be finally ______ with my father and touch his metal casket and the missing piece of my heart will be ______.

On January 10, 2019 the Ohio Patriot Guard Riders will escort my father's hearse through my ______ to be buried with honors in our states National cemetery and one day in January Senator Brown will have an American Flag ______ over our Nation's Capital to honor my father.

If you never give up one day your dream will become a reality.

【推荐1】In Washington DC, there is an entrepreneurial (创业的) teen, who owns and _________ his own bakery business. Young Michael Platt is the owner of Michael’s Desserts.

Born with a (n) _________ love for sweets, he became _________ in baking when he was nine. Since he was diagnosed with severe epilepsy (癫痫) at 10, Michael has been homeschooled by his mother. With his activities _________ by his medical condition, Michael threw himself into _________ However, this is not just a (n) _________ bakery business. It operates on a one for one donation model for every cupcake sold he _________ one to the homeless.

“I knew that I wanted to start a (n) _________, but I knew I didn’t just want to make_________ -I also wanted to ____________ people in need at the same time, “he says. His business ____________ creates new baked goods, which include ____________ cookies and cupcakes, and cupcakes are his biggest seller.

Stephanie Gerstenblith, one of his ____________, comes to buy cupcakes every day. She says that Michael’s cupcakes are not only delicious, but also have ____________her to “provide everyone with sweetness”.

____________ running his bakery, Michael hosts bake sales for the non-profit No Kid Hungry. Jessica Bomberg, a leader of fund-raising for the campaign. says. “Young heroes like Michael prove that everyone can make a difference in society.

It is Michael’s faith that everyone should take the responsibility to take care of others. “When I see people lack foods, I want to give them something.” he says. “It’s my way of telling them that they haven’t been forgotten.”

【推荐2】Last year, I told my family that I didn’t want or need anything for my birthday. Instead, I ________ them to think of a way to share a ________ in their world for me. My husband and my daughter did something different, but ________.

The week of my birthday my husband went to a local cafe and told a waitress that he wanted to ________ pay for the breakfast of a family. The waitress was ________ and said it was her last day at work there and this had never ________. When the family finished eating, the waitress told them their ________ had been paid. The mom started crying and the dad stood up, trying to ________ who might have done it, but my husband was outside ________ the whole thing. He told me he had such a wonderful ________ in his heart and he would like to ________ it a few more times.

My daughter was on a tight budget(手头很紧) so she________ the week smiling more at people, and letting someone go before her at the market. She just took the time during my birthday week to slow down and be ________ and kind to a stranger and her co-workers.

When we finally all got together for Mother’s Day and my birthday, everyone was in tears as each person________ what they had done. As you can see, it was the ________ birthday ever!

【推荐3】A few days before Christmas 2012, I found myself in Walmart. It was the last _______I wanted to be, especially during the chaos of last-minute Christmas shopping. It had been a little more than a month since my husband was laid off.

The school my kids attended asked if we needed help for Christmas, and we _______. If not for them, our kids would not have had Christmas gifts.

My children were with me that day at Walmart. Our cupboards were bare, and I had only eighty dollars to _________   a family of six for a week. It’s not impossible to _______, but certainly not comfortable. It leaves little _______   for anything extra. Yet, it was Christmas, and my kids asked if they could buy a present for their dad. How could I say “no”? I found a gift box of their dad’s favorite cologne and hoped I could _______ it. Lucky for me, my husband doesn’t have expensive_______.

My husband worked very hard to_______ for us, and I stayed home. It wasn’t by _______ . Having two children on the autism spectrum makes it difficult for me to work. Doctors’ appointments, therapy schedules, and school meetings make it near impossible to __________   a regular work schedule. So, when he was laid off, things got very __________ quickly. He wasn’t without a job long, but the __________   of income for a couple of weeks certainly put a stress on our family.

As I chose my groceries, I kept a running total in my head. As my cart (手推车) filled, my __________   rose. The more I thought about it, the less ___________ it was that I would be able to buy a gift for my husband.

When I went to the checkout, I set aside the cologne gift box. My kids____________,       but I didn’t have much of a choice. My heart__________ when the grocery total was indeed too high for us to buy the gift, but an angel was waiting in the wings.

What happened left me speechless, and being the __________ type, speechless is rare for me. A man__________ us, put four twenty-dollar bills into my hand and happily exclaimed, “Merry Christmas!” He left so fast that I didn’t __________ have a chance to say, “Thank you.”

A wave of emotion came over me as I ___________the cologne gift set to the belt. We were thrilled, and my husband had a Christmas present. Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.