When I was 17, I paid a long visit to Iowa to see a college I was thinking of attending. While the _______ was fun for the most part, I was feeling depressed and _______. I was realizing that I wouldn't be seeing my family _______ if I went to school here. I was also _______ the forests in Appalachian mountains of my home. I loved how the leaves turned a thousand _______ of green in spring and then became a sea of colors in autumn. I loved the _______ of the forget-me-nots and countless wild flowers that grew on the hillsides.

Here in Iowa everything was _______. The grass looked brown and _______. All that I could smell was a_______ of corn, mud, and pigs. One day I lay down on the ground. Eyes closed, I ________ being back home over and over again. When I ________ opened them, however, I saw something that ________ my soul: a prairie (草原) sunset. It seemed to fill the whole sky from the________. Gold, red, purple and pink clouds all flowed together and________ an amazing picture. It was so huge that I was________. In comparison with it, our mountain sunsets ________. I was filled with wonder and a sense of ________. I realized too that I had been picky and________. This place too had its own special ________

Over the years to come I learned something else. Each of us has a special beauty too —everyone has their own________talents and abilities to share.

   Several years ago，we planned to move out of the city and buy a country house. The first ___________ was finding a suitable country house that we could afford. We started to ___________ the real estate（房地产）listings online and thought we had found a really ___________ one. My wife Catherine went to look at it. I was expecting a positive result. ___________，my wife told me the house wasn't suitable for us at all. While this was not the ___________ of the world，it prevented us from carrying out our plans as we had expected. So，what did we do？Could we ___________ and decide to stay where we were？No. We decided to ___________ looking.

To make a long story ___________，it took us two years of weekly visits to the real estate listings before we ___________ found three houses that might be suitable. The next ____________ seemed obvious-we had to take some time off work and drive down to ____________ these houses. So，off we went and after 15 hours of steady driving，we ____________.The next three days were tight-looking，then looking again and then finally making an ____________. The final story has a ____________ ending-we found our house，and ____________ several months later.

Sometimes, ____________ show up out of nowhere to destroy the best of plans, and some of these difficulties can be the final play. ____________, if you adopt the philosophy that every obstacle has a solution, then you can find your ____________ through. Obstacles will appear no matter who you are or what you are trying to ____________, but it is only those who know there is a solution and keep digging until they find it that will ____________ one day.

   I am a mom of two young children whom we homeschool. This _____ that they are with me almost all the time. Whenever possible I will _____ random acts of kindness—_____ things like paying for the order behind me in the drive-thru lane, holding doors, etc. So, they are very _____ with the concept and are, of course, also _____ to do "nice" things for others.

Just a few days ago we _____ our local grocery store to pick up a few things which quickly turned into an entire cartload of stuff. We got into one of the two open checkout lanes and waited our _____. While we were waiting, a young man came up behind us with only a few _____ in his basket. I told him to go ahead of us as we were in no _____.

He seemed very pleasantly surprised and ______. As he began putting his items on the belt the cashier began to ______ her till tape（出纳机纸带）so we had a fairly long ______ in line. My kids were very ______ behaved but they were still children；they asked questions, they talked ______, they moved around and they were generally very entertaining.

I could see the young man watching and listening with a smile on his face.

We were putting our groceries on the ______ when the cashier finished with his order. What I didn't know was that he had heard my kids ______ bubble gum. I had agreed they could have some. So he ______ a pack of bubble gum and asked the cashier to ring it through twice ______ putting it back. He then told my kids that he bought their gum because their mom was ______ enough to let him go ahead in the queue.

The experience really showed the ______ that good begets（引发）good to my lovely little kids.

   At 14，my life was filled with school，homework，boy scouts（男童子军），friends，and occasional work for local farmers. I was always_____ ，but I didn’t have much direction. Then，something_____ ：a new master was assigned to our scout. Jerry brought excitement and adventure into my life. Every week I _____ something new. He brought_____ into my life and taught me what was the most important.

A few years later，after_____ home from a two-year service mission，I found myself searching for a_____. I was twenty-one and I had no idea what I wanted to do.

On a spring afternoon，I drove to one of my favorite hiking trails and_____ up to a rock. It was there that I prayed for guidance on what _____ I should take in my life and I knew that everything would turn out _____ .

When I arrived home later that evening，there was a(n)______ by the phone with a message for me to call Jerry；it was______ .I immediately dialed the number and was very delighted to hear Jerry’s familiar______ . Wonderful memories of exciting scout camps______ into my mind.

“Do you know computers?”Jerry asked.

“Yes，I’ve______ one before,”I replied.

“Well，I need you to come to work for me in my new______ company,”he stated.“When can you start?”

I knew this was the answer to my prayer. “I can start tomorrow!”I exclaimed.

The next five years of my life passed so______ . Jerry again took me under his wing， but this time he______ me in business. He taught me how to sell，how to market，how to______ people，and how to grow a business from almost nothing to a nationwide______ .

Jerry’s patience and example ______ a foundation of learning and confidence that I needed in the career that I have now been in for twenty years. Jerry is that person in my life.

   It was a few days before Christmas many years ago and it looked like it would be a hard one for my family. I lost my job so we didn't have much _______ . My wife and I had saved to buy our young children  some toys , _______ an unexpected car repair took most  of our cash. We decided then that we could only _______ to get one small gift for each of our children.

We arrived at the store and walked past people loading gifts into their cars. I _______ them a bit,because it sure didn't feel like Christmas to me. We hurried into the store past the Salvation Army bell ringer with our heads _______ . I had always enjoyed putting something in his _______ before but wasn't _______ if I could afford this time. We _______ all through the store hoping to find one thing each of our small children would like. _______ , we were able to get them each something sweet. We headed for the ________ ，bought the toys, and were amazed that we even had a few dollars ________ . As we walked out of the store, I stopped and ________ those dollars into the bell ringer's kettle. I didn't have a coin left but that didn't matter. ________ , it felt like Christmas.

I think the wonderful actress, Dale Evans ________ it best when she said,“Christmas is love ________ . Every time we love, every time we ________ ，it's Christmas. ” It doesn't ________ have to be a gift of money either. When we give our time, it's Christmas. When we share our ________ ,it's Christmas. When we give others our ________ and compassion , it's Christmas. When we do ________ at any time to help another, it's Christmas.