The next day—the very next day—the little girl is well enough to go home!
Woman’s Day magazine called it “the miracle of a brother’s song.” The medical staff just called it a miracle. Karen called it a miracle of God’s love！
NEVER GIVE UP ON THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE. LOVE IS SO INCREDIBLY POWERFUL. LIFE IS GOOD.
像其他的好妈妈一样，当卡伦发现自己又怀孕了时，她就尽力帮她三岁的儿子，迈克尔，做好准备迎接这个新生儿的到来。他们知道了这是个女孩，于是，日复一日，一夜又一夜，迈克尔趴在妈妈肚子上为他的小妹妹唱歌。
作为田纳西州莫里森市Panther Creek United卫理公会教堂很活跃的一员，卡伦的怀孕期进展正常。接着产前阵痛就来临了。每5分钟一次……每分钟一次。但在分娩过程中出现了并发症，阵痛持续了几个小时。是不是需要剖腹产？终于，迈克尔的小妹妹降生了。但她的情况很严重。伴着晚上警报器的鸣叫声，救护车把婴儿送到田纳西州诺克斯维尔市的圣玛丽医院，新生儿重病特护区。
日子一天天过去了。女婴的情况愈来愈糟。小儿科专家告诉这对父母：“希望非常渺茫，请做好最坏的打算吧。”卡伦和她的丈夫联系了当地一家公墓，安排了葬礼的计划。他们在家里布置好了一间特别的婴儿房——现在却要计划一个葬礼。
迈克尔一直乞求父母让他进去看看小妹妹：“我想唱歌给她听，”他说。这是重病特护的第二周了，看来好像到不了这周结束葬礼就要来临了。迈克尔不断地缠着要给小妹妹唱歌听，然而重病特护区不允许儿童入内。不过卡伦下定了决心，不管他们愿不愿意，她都要带迈克尔进去。
如果现在他看不到他的小妹妹，就再也没机会见到她了。她为儿子穿了一身特大型的洗刷服，带他走进重点护理组。他看起来就像一个行走的洗衣篮，不过护士长认出这是一个孩子，她吼道：“马上带那个孩子离开这儿！禁止小孩入内。”卡伦的母性变得坚强起来，这位平日里温柔的女士用坚毅的目光盯着护士长的脸，坚定地说：“他不会离开的，除非给他妹妹唱首歌。”卡伦拉着迈克尔走到他小妹妹的床前。他盯着这个不再为生存而挣扎的小婴儿，开始唱歌。用三岁孩子单纯的心声，迈克尔唱道：
“你是我的阳光，惟一的阳光，当天空灰暗你能使我快乐……”
女婴立刻有了反应，脉搏跳动变得平静而稳定。
迈克尔一直在唱着：“亲爱的，你从来不知道我有多么爱你。请不要带走我的阳光……”不规则的、紧张的呼吸变得如小猫的呼噜声那般安稳。
迈克尔继续唱着：“亲爱的，那天晚上当我睡着，我梦到我把你抱在怀中……”他的小妹妹仿佛在休息般地放松下来了，复原般的休息，似乎在她身上扩展开来。
迈克尔还在唱着，泪水在护士长的脸上肆意流着。卡伦变得容光焕发。“你使我的阳光，惟一的阳光，请别带走我的阳光。”
葬礼计划取消了。第二天——就在第二天——女婴就好起来，可以回家了！
《妇女日》杂志称之为“哥哥歌唱的奇迹。医护人员说这就是一个奇迹，卡伦说它是上帝之爱的奇迹。
决不要放弃你所爱的人，爱的力量其大无比，生命是美好的。
Marty Had a Little Lamb马蒂有了一只小羊羔
It was lambing1 season. The neighbors’ phone call brought my dad and me rushing to their barn to help with a difficult delivery. We found a lamb whose mother had died while giving birth. The orphan was weak, cold, still shrouded with the placenta, and walking impossibly on tall and wobbly legs. I bundled him up in my coat and put him in the pickup truck for the short ride back to our small family farm in rural Idaho.
We drove through our barnyard, passing cows, pigs, chickens, dogs and cats, but Dad headed straight for the house. I didn’t know it yet, but that lamb was destined to become more than an ordinary sheep, just as I was destined to be more than an ordinary seven-year-old boy—I was about to become a mommy!
Cradling the lamb in my arms, I brought him into the kitchen. While Mom and I wiped the lamb down with dry towels, Dad stoked the furnace with coal so that the newborn would have warming heat to drive away the cold. As I petted his curly little head, the tiny creature tried sucking on my fingers. He was hungry! We slipped a nipple over a pop bottle full of warm milk and stuck it into his mouth. He latched on, and instantly his jaws pumped like a machine, sending the nourishing milk to his stomach.
As soon as he started eating, his tail started wagging furiously. Then suddenly his eyes popped open for the first time, and he looked me right in the eye. He gave me that miraculous moment-of-birth look that every mother knows. The look that says, unmistakably, “Hello Mommy! I’m yours, you’re mine, ain’t life fine!”
A young boy with tousled blond hair and thick black glasses doesn’t look much like a sheep. But this little lamb didn’t care in the least. The important thing was that he had a mom—me!
I named him Henry and, just like the nursery rhyme, everywhere that Marty went, the lamb was sure to go. The instant bond we shared that first day turned into the same deep kind of connection that develops between mother and child. We were always together. I’d feed, exercise and bathe Henry. I’d scold him sternly when he got out in the road. Imagine the amazement and delight of my classmates when I had a couple of dogs and a sheep run to meet me at the school bus! Every day after school, Henry and I played games together until we both fell asleep, side by side, in the tall cool grass of the pasture.
As I grew up, Henry grew older. Never once, however, did he forget that I was his mom. Even as a full grown ram, he nuzzled me fondly, rubbing his big woolly head against my leg whenever he saw me. Functioning as a four-legged lawn mower and wool-covered dog at the Becker farm, Henry had a happy, healthy, full life for the rest of his days.
People sometimes ask me why I became a veterinarian. The answer is: Henry. At seven years old, my love for animals was still just a spark. But it ignited into a flame at that magical moment when I became a mother to a hungry little lamb.
那是母羊产仔的季节。邻居打电话说有只羊难产，我跟爸爸便匆忙赶往他们家谷仓。待我们赶到时，羊妈妈已在生产时死掉了，剩下这只孤零零的小羊羔又冷又弱，还裹着胎盘，靠那细长孱弱的四肢简直无法走动。我用上衣裹起它，放在小卡车里，我们走捷径驶回我们在爱达荷州乡下的小农场。
我们开过场院，撇下牛、猪、鸡、狗和猫，爸爸照直朝我们的房子开去。我当时还不知道，命运安排那小羊羔要成为一只不寻常的羊；而我也不只是个寻常的7岁孩童——我注定要当它的妈妈！
我抱着小羊走进厨房。我和妈妈用干毛巾擦拭着它，爸爸往炉子里添煤，让炉火给新生的小东西驱寒。我轻轻拍它一头卷毛的小脑袋时，小家伙竟试着嘬我的手指。它饿极了！我们赶忙在装满温牛奶的汽水瓶上塞上奶嘴，送进它嘴里。它一口咬往，叭嗒着嘴吸吮起来，滋养的奶汁流进了体内。
它一开始吃奶，尾巴就使劲地晃动。突然间它第一次睁开了眼睛，盯着我看。每个妈妈都知道生命诞生那一刻奇迹般的目光。没错，那目光是“你好，妈妈！我是你的，你属于我，生活真美好，不是吗？”
一个长着乱蓬蓬的亚麻色头发、带着黑框深度眼镜的小男孩不会像只绵羊，可是那小羊羔一点也不在乎。重要的是它有了个妈妈——那就是我！
我管它叫亨利。就像儿歌唱的那样，马蒂走到哪儿，羊羔就跟到哪儿。见面第一天我们之间形成的亲密关系就像母子那般，我们俩总是形影不离。我喂它吃饭，带它活动，给它洗澡。它要是跑到路上去，我就严厉地斥责它。当我的同学们看见几只狗和一头羊跑到校车处迎接我，你们可以想像他们的惊讶和喜悦！每天放学以后，我和亨利都一起戏耍，直玩到我们俩累得并排躺在牧场上阴凉茂盛的草地里睡着为止。
我长大了，亨利也越来越老了，可他从未忘记我是它妈妈。即使已经是头大公羊，只要一见到我，它还是亲热地用鼻子拱我，用它那毛茸茸的大脑袋蹭我的腿。亨利在我们家农场上既是只四条腿的割草机，又是个长着羊毛的看家狗。亨利的余生过得幸福、健康和充实。
有时人们问我为什么当上了兽医。我的回答是：因为亨利。7岁时，我对动物的爱还只是个火花，但在我成为一只饥饿的小羊羔的妈妈那一魔术般的时刻，那火花霎时燃成一团火焰。