1 . Hope in my arms

Last year I was invited to participate in a carnival for Tuesday’s Child – an organization that helps children with AIDS.

All the children that had ______ in one particular room could paint a square on a piece of cloth. Later the squares would be sewn(缝) together to ____   a quilt. The quilt would be ____ to a man who had devoted his life to the   ____   and would soon be retiring .

The kids were given paints in bright colors and asked to paint something that would make the quilt _____. As I looked around at all the ______ , I saw pink hearts, blue clouds, orange sunrises and red flowers. The pictures were all bright and ______ . All except one.

One boy was painting a heart, ______ it was dark and lifeless. It _______   the bright colors that his fellow artists had used.

I asked why. He told me he was very sick and that his ______ was not ever going to get better. He looked straight into my eyes and said. “There is no _____   in my life.” I told him I was _____ and I could understand why he had made his heart a dark color. I told him that even though we couldn’t make him better, we can give ______ , which can really help when he is feeling _____ . I told him that if he would like, I would be happy to give him one. He crawled onto my lap. I thought my own heart would ____   for this sweet little boy. He sat there for a long time. Finally he _____   down to finish his coloring. As I was getting ready to   ____   home, I felt a tug (猛拽) on my jacket. Standing there was the little boy,     _____ . He said, “My heart is changing   ______ . It is getting brighter, I think those hugs really do   ______ .” On my way home I felt my own heart. It too had changed to a brighter color.