1 . Zacharish Fike has an unusual hobby.He finds many old military(军队的)medals for_________ in antique(古董) stores and on the Internet. But unlike most _________, Zac tracks down the medal’s rightful owners, and _________ them.

His effort to reunite families with lost medals began with a Christmas gift from his mother, a Purple Heart with the name Corrado A. G. Piccoli, _________ in an antique shop. Zac knows the meaning of a Purple Heart—he _________ one himself in a war as a soldier. So when his mother gave him the medal, he knew _________ what he had to do.

Through the Internet, Zac tracked down Corrado’s sister Adeline Rockko. But when he finally reached her, the woman _________ him with questions _________: “Who are you? What antique shop? ” _________, when she __________, she regretted the way she had __________ the call. So she called Zac back and __________. Soon she drove to meet Zac in Watertown, N. Y. “At that point, I knew she __________ business”, Zac says, “To drive eight hours to come to see me. ”

The Piccolis were Italian immigrants and raised the children in Watertown. Corrado, a translator for the Army during WWII, was __________ in action in Europe.

Before hearing from Zac, Adeline hadn’t realized the medal was __________. Like many military medals, the one Zac’s mother had found was a family __________. “This medal was very__________ to my parents. Only on special occasions(场合) would they take it out and let us hold it in our hands, ” Adeline says.

As a child, Adeline couldn’t understand why the medal was so __________. “But as I grew older,” Adeline says, “and missed my brother more and more, I realized that was the only thing we had left.” Corrado Piccoli’s Purple Heart medal now __________ at the Italian American Civic Association in Watertown.

Zac recently returned another lost medal to a family in Alabama. Since he first __________Corrado’s medal, Zac says his record is now 5 for 5.

2 . When my wife, Jane, and I were 16, we were in the same class. About a week before Thanksgiving Day, we found out that our teacher Edward was having some__________challenges. We wanted to do something to help, so as a class we__________to gather food, clothing and gifts to__________his family had a good Thanksgiving Day.

When Jane told her family about our plan, her mother was__________. Together they searched their house for things they could__________. Her mother went to the kitchen,__________a big turkey and saying, “Thanksgiving Day won’t be__________without a turkey dinner.” To this day, Jane remembers how moved she was by her mother's__________.

Before making our__________, we said a prayer of appreciation for the wonderful__________to help others. I will never forget the surprised__________of our teacher and his wife when they__________the door; their four children gathered around them as we handed out the gifts. It was a cold night; we all felt warm inside,__________.

Last month while I was in a meeting, my secretary informed me, “Your high school teacher Mr. Edward is wondering if you could__________him a few minutes. He’s sitting in your office right now!”

I left my meeting and went to my office__________. My teacher and I hugged and began to_________ the last years. He told me he__________remembered that cold winter night when we brought the__________of Thanksgiving Day to his family. The food and gifts were certainly____________, but what warmed his heart that night was to see a group of teenagers who understood the__________of Thanksgiving Day.

3 . When 48-year-old Lamont Thomas became an empty-nester(空巢者), it was the end of aparenting legend temporarily. Back in 2001, this divorced dad of two ______ a foster(代养的)kid named Michael Perez.

“He was a good young man and I just hated to   ______him in the welfare system,” Lamont said. He ______ adopted Michael, who now works as a doctor.

“I don’t believe that I would be the person that I am today without the ______ that he instilled(灌输)in me,” Michael said.

It turned out that Michael was just the ______. Over the next 15 years, Lamont fosteredmore than 30 kids in Buffalo, New York, and adopted five of them. He did this all on his own and with all of his ______.

“Every child I have had, it was my ______ to make a difference in their lives,” said Lamont.

At one time he retired from raising children to spend time fishing and travelling, but that didn’t last for long.

“It really was a shock. I didn’t ______him to restart and to do it all over again. It’s just ______,” Michael said.

Today, Lamont is ______ in the game(行当), in a big way. Not long ago, he promised to be ______ five siblings(兄弟姐妹), all under the age of six. Lamont, who works as a truckdriver, said he did have other ______ for these years. But those plans have now been ______. Lamont decided to foster all five—Zendaya, Jamel, Nakia, Major and Macaela—after he found that they were going to be split up. To guarantee they would stay as a(n) ______, lastmonth he adopted them.

“I had to help them. They deserved to be ______ together,” Lamont said.

______, he has a great ______ system with churches and friends. He is not opposed to ______ a wife to the mix if he is able to find such a good ______. But if not, he is also fine to be ______ for as long as it takes to make a difference.