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We’ve all experienced it �� you lose a loved one and find yourself constantly looking for a connection with them, searching for reassurances that they are still “okay.��

The writers who have shared their stories in our book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Messages from Heaven and Other Miracles , have lost parents, friends, siblings, even children, and have been comforted by messages and signs from their loved ones. They opened their hearts�� and so can you�� here’s how:

Expect the impossible.
Linda Kinnamon, a nurse, loved her patient Julie, a young mother dying from lung cancer. She was so sad when she had to call her family one night to come and say goodbye. When Linda returned to work two days later she was astounded to find that Julie was being discharged. Julie explained that she had found herself in heaven that night, but had asked for a little more time because she needed to do something for her two young daughters. “I’m not going to be here for any of their special moments, so I’m going to write letters. Sixteenth birthdays, graduations, weddings, whatever—I need to write down what I would say to them.�� Julie got her wish. She went home and wrote her letters, and then she said goodbye for real.

Look for special signs that only you would understand.
Julie Rine Holderbaum’s husband Mike had worked in a job where he encountered hundreds of rubber bands every day. He used to bring home piles of rubber bands every day, and Julie got tired of the bagfuls he stashed in their closets. Unfortunately, Mike died very young, of cancer, when their daughter was just a toddler. Julie started finding rubber bands everywhere—the unusual big, thick kind that he used to bring home. Those rubber bands started showing up in the strangest places: in the middle of Times Square, on Julie’s mother’s dining-room table, on the deck of a cruise ship. Now, Julie loves those rubber bands. She says, “To me, rubber bands are beautiful. They are magical. They held the pieces of my broken heart together until it was healed enough to love again. And now, rubber bands remind me that even though people die, love never does.��

Ask for the reassurance that you need.
Connie Kaseweter Pullen had met Nancy when they were nine years old. Little did they know they would remain great friends for five decades after that. When Nancy’s mother called Connie with the news that her friend had terminal cancer, Connie rushed to her side. They spent the next two weeks together, and Nancy promised that she would do everything possible to reach out and let Connie know that she was still there for her. At the funeral, Connie whispered through her tears, “Nancy, I really need a hug from you!�� Minutes later, the kind, elderly priest made his way over to Connie, wrapped his arms around her, and whispered, “Here’s a hug from Nancy.��

Amy Newmark

Have you ever experienced that weird, completely unexplainable situation, or the unexpected answered prayer, or how about that feeling a guardian angel must be watching over you?

If you enjoy hearing about stories like this you are going to love our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels All Around.

The 101 miraculous stories will amaze you as you read about divine intervention, serendipitous encounters and curious coincidences.

Here are two of my favorite stories that show how our writers experienced their own miracles!

The life-saving guidance from a stranger.
In her story, "Go and Get It," Francine L. Billingslea had two things left on her to-do list after a two-week vacation: paint a wall in the family room or go for her routine mammogram. As she was telling her mother she wasn’t going to the mammogram she heard a voice telling her to go. Still ignoring it, Francine was in a gift shop next to the paint store when a stranger commented on an angel figurine Francine had picked up. She told her it was a breast-cancer angel, and then advised, “Honey, get the angel and your mammogram. You’ll be fine.�� How had the stranger known Francine was supposed to have her mammogram that day? And why did her voice sound like the same voice Francine had heard earlier that morning telling her to go? Francine went off to her mammogram and learned she had breast cancer. She went through treatment and was declared cancer-free nine years ago. And she says, “Had I not heard that voice or met that woman, I probably wouldn’t have gotten my mammogram in time.��

The helpful spirits who couldn’t have been there.
In the story, "The Pennsylvania Turnpike," Anita Stone and her husband Joe were taking their new baby to a family gathering when they got stuck in a terrible snowstorm. Cars and trucks were strewn across the snowy Pennsylvania Turnpike after numerous accidents. Joe managed to find a way off the highway and they stopped in a bar to find a place to spend the night. A man named David who was seated at the bar offered to let them stay with him and his wife at their small cabin up the road. The next day Anita and Joe found a hot breakfast waiting for them in the cabin, but their hosts were gone and they never returned during the 24 hours that Joe and Anita were stuck there waiting for the storm to end. When they finally left the cabin and drove back to the bar to learn more about their gracious hosts, the bartender told them the cabin hadn’t been occupied for three years—because the man who lived there, David, had died with his family in an accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike three years ago.


Amy Newmark

Miracles happen every day �� you just have to look around to see them!

In our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Believe in Miracles, we have 101 powerful stories that prove miracles are all around us... in answered prayers, coincidences, divine intervention, angels, and messages from heaven.

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book that show you how to find the miracles in your life:

Listen to that little voice inside you.
In Nancy MacDonald’s story "Dad's Umbrella" Nancy's father gave her a few items to remember him by shortly before he passed away. The most special gift was his umbrella, which he told her was expensive and not to be given away. Nancy knew that was her dad’s way of saying that he would always be there to protect her, through that umbrella.

Her dad knew she had a collection of inexpensive umbrellas in her car that she would give away on rainy days. Whenever it rained, Nancy would pray to God to be directed to someone who needed one of her umbrellas. Then, one rainy day, when Nancy was all out of umbrellas, she heard a voice telling her to give her dad’s umbrella to a young man she had just driven past. She couldn’t believe it. She was so good about giving away umbrellas, but why did she have to give away this one? The voice persisted so Nancy turned the car around and gave away the special umbrella from her father. She then resumed her drive home, only to find that right after the spot where she had turned around there had been a multi-car accident, one in which she might have found herself if she hadn’t been forced to turn back.

Her dad’s umbrella had taken care of her after all.

Watch for those life-changing “coincidences.��
In her story "My Angel Had Feathers" Dorann Weber was having a lovely, lazy day at home and was sitting outside reading a book on her deck. She listened to the birds and the squirrels, and was just starting to doze off when she realized it had grown very quiet. She looked around and discovered a hawk right above her perched on a large tree limb. The hawk started screeching and flapping her wings frantically while looking directly at Dorann.

A professional photographer, Dorann saw an opportunity for a great shot, so she went into the house to get her camera. She wasn’t even inside for a minute when she heard a loud crashing sound outside. The tree limb that the hawk had been sitting on had broken off and fallen, crushing the deck and the chair in which Dorann had been seated only a minute before.

Dorann ran outside and looked up to find the hawk on a different branch. The hawk made eye contact with Dorann and then flew away, as if her work was done.



Amy Newmark

Miracles happen every day to people from all walks of life. From medical miracles to answered prayers, to divine intervention, these stories will deepen your faith and give you hope �� that good things do happen to good people.

In our book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Believe in Miracles , we have 101 true stories from ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences, their lives forever changed by a miracle.

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book that show you how to find the miracles in your life:

Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need.
In her story "The Rosary in Mom's Purse" Gloria Caviglia was trying to get her two children back to college, prepare her eighth-grade classroom for another year of teaching, and take care of her terminally ill mother. Hospice assured them that she was receiving the correct doses of medication but her mom was in terrible pain.

Gloria couldn’t understand why God would let her mother suffer this way. Nevertheless, she and her husband needed to leave to take one of their children to college, so off they went in her mother’s car. Her son had pointed out that her mother’s purse was in the car before they left, but for some reason Gloria decided to leave it there.

As they drove home after the drop-off, Gloria asked her husband to stop at the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY. There she found a shrub covered with rosaries in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Gloria wished she had a rosary with her, so that she could pray for her mother and leave it with the other ones. Then she remembered her mother’s purse in the trunk of the car. Her mother always kept religious items in there. Maybe there was a rosary.

Sure enough, there was a rosary and Gloria prayed with it, asking for her mother’s pain to be taken away so that she could die in peace. Gloria’s mom died three months later, to the surprise of the medical professionals never having needed pain meds again.

Look for signs from the people you’ve lost.
In Jan Bono's story "I Asked for a Sign" she and her fiancé were sitting on a rock at the beach, watching the sea turtles, and discussing a very difficult topic—his terminal disease. He asked Jan to make sure she brought some of his ashes to this spot on this beautiful tropical island. Jan promised but said she needed something from him too; she needed him to send her a sign from the other side, something so big and amazing and specific that she couldn’t miss it.

Two years later, Jan was back on that island with a small pouch of his ashes. “I’m here,�� she said. “Now bring me some turtles.�� Then she read him a long love letter and when she looked up there were two turtles right in front of her. They rolled on their sides, their fins lifting clear of the water as if they were saluting.

Moments later, a yellow butterfly came and circled just above Jan’s head before disappearing into the trees. Jan thought all she needed to make her day complete was a hummingbird even though hummingbirds were not indigenous to that island. Instead, seconds later, a red-crested cardinal fluttered to the sand at the end of her beach towel and paraded back and forth in front of her. Then the signs kept coming. On the way out of the parking lot, a car came out of nowhere and cut in front of her with a license plate that read “LCB.�� That was the nickname her fiancé had called her—LCB for Little Cuddle Bear. Back at the hotel, she found four pennies in the parking lot between the car and the room.

The ultimate sign came when Jan visited one of the many art galleries near the hotel. They had a wall with an enormous photograph from the area. When Jan sat down to look at it, she couldn’t help but squeal, because it was a photo of the very rock she had sat on earlier that day when she released the ashes into the water. Jan had fulfilled her promise by bringing her love’s ashes back to this island, and he had come through for her—with numerous definitive signs.


Amy Newmark

I'm not sure who first said it but it's so true... every day holds the possibility of a miracle.

Miracles are all around us. You just have to find them. In our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles & Divine Intervention, we have 101 stories from people who shared the experience of finding a miracle.

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book that show every day does hold the possibility of a miracle:

Persistence can pay off, with even bigger benefits than expected.
In her story "Drugstore Dreams" Anne Oliver was obsessed with the huge old-fashioned apothecary cabinet she saw at a store when she toured the town she and her family had just moved to. The cabinet was about sixteen feet by eight feet; the upper section had shelves covered by glass doors, and the lower section had something like a hundred small drawers.

But it wasn’t for sale. The bulk of the store’s inventory was kept in there. Anne visited that cabinet for the next six years, checking to see if the cabinet would ever be available. She kept dreaming about that cabinet, too. She knew she was meant to own it although she couldn’t figure out why she was so obsessed with it.

Finally, she received an e-mail. The store was remodeling, and the cabinet was for sale. She rushed over to seal the deal, and the store owner kindly showed her the one issue with the cabinet: a handle was missing from one drawer. Suddenly, everything became clear. Anne had seen a cabinet just like that when she was a child. It was at a drugstore where she had grown up, several hundred miles and several states away. After the owner told her about the handle she said, “I know. If you open that drawer over there and look way in the back, you will find the handle. I broke it off accidentally when I was four years old and I hid it in there more than fifty years ago.��

Happy coincidences happen to all of us.
In Sheila Petnuch Fields' story "Dream on my Doorstep" she was a young, single mom raising three little boys on a preschool teacher’s salary, and was always short on cash. There was no money for extras, but she dreamed of redecorating her dining room. The family celebrated all their milestones and holidays in there and the room was a drab beige, from the carpeting to the walls.

Sheila finally saved enough money to buy a gallon of pale green paint for the walls and some solid green fabric for the chair seats, but what she really wanted was the beautiful green, cream and rose fabric she’d seen at a local store. If she had that fabric, she could sew window treatments, too, but it was completely unattainable on her budget.

Then one day Sheila’s elderly neighbor sent her grandson over with a bag. Every so often, she’d go through a closet and find craft items and leftover art supplies that she thought Sheila might be able to use. When Sheila opened the bag, she couldn’t believe it, because inside were yards and yards of green and cream and rose fabric almost identical to the one that Sheila had fallen in love with at the store. There was enough for the windows, a table runner, and even several pillows for the adjacent living room.


Amy Newmark

When you make gratitude a habit, every day comes bearing gifts. And boy do we get a lot of stories from people who have shifted their perspective by actively counting their blessings and focusing on the good instead of the bad. It just made sense that we dedicate an entire book to stories about gratitude. And that’s just what we did with our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Attitude of Gratitude.

Oh sure, some days are easier then others in practicing gratitude, but just like everything we do in life, a little practice goes a long way!

Here’s a preview of two of my favorite stories from the book about how to practice gratitude:

Remember the good luck you’ve had.
In Marv Stone’s story, "We Have Jalapeños," Marv plants a garden with his young son who was most excited about the jalapeños. But as spring turned into summer, all they were getting were tomatoes, squash, and bell peppers. No jalapeños. Marv’s son was disappointed.

Later that summer, Marv was on a business trip making a presentation to a very difficult client. A morning of venting had turned into an afternoon of yelling. His wife called him twice in a row during the meeting, a sign that it was an emergency. He excused himself and called her back, but his son answered on the first ring, exclaiming, “We have jalapeños!��

Marv says, “Billy is in seminary now and grows his own jalapeños on the balcony of his apartment. My wife and I don’t eat them, but I grow one plant each year, just to remind me to keep everything in perspective. And should my wife or I ever lose that perspective and allow the troubles of life to begin sapping our joy, we just look the other in the eye and state, ‘We have jalapeños!’��

Focus only on your thankfulness and don’t ask for a thing.
In her story, "Prayers of Thanksgiving," Jane McBride says that her daily prayers were less about thanksgiving than about what God could do for her. She realized that she was issuing instructions in her prayers but not expressing any appreciation for what she already had.

She asked herself what she could do to change that, and she decided to challenge herself: for one week, her prayers would just be about gratitude. She started small, thanking God for a sunny day and the flowers outside her window. As she continued this practice, something changed. Jane says she became more aware of all the blessings in her life�� and she became happier.

Thank you!



Amy Newmark

I must admit, coincidences have always held a special fascination for me. I'm not sure why as I am a rational and analytical person. Perhaps it's just the idea of something wonderful and strange happening without an explanation. I'm so intrigued with coincidences that the first chapter of our newest book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels and the Miraculous, is all about Divine Coincidences.

I guess it could also explain why I love this Deepak Chopra quote so much: "When you live your life with an appreciation of coincidences and their meanings, you connect with the underlying world of infinite possibilities."

Here is a sneak peek of two of my favorite coincidence stories from the first chapter in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels and the Miraculous:

In Patricia Senkiw-Rudowsky's story, "A Date with Destiny," Patricia tells us about an amazing coincidence that happened to her friend Carla when she was having dinner with her toddler daughter at Friendly’s one Friday night. Carla found herself watching two young girls who looked to be around twelve. Patricia says, “It appeared that it might be their first time dining out without parents. The newness of their experience was evident. They beamed with pride at their adult behavior.��

Something about the friends intrigued Carla. They were nicely behaved—ordering politely, waiting patiently for their food, thanking the server. It reminded her of a time when she was young and was sitting with her best friend, showing her the ring that her first boyfriend had bought her. His name was Joey and he had moved away in ninth grade so she had no idea where he was now.

So much had happened in the intervening thirty years—she’d gone to college, gotten married, had two children, and moved away from her hometown. She had always wondered what had happened to Joey.
Patricia writes, “Carla was trying to focus on her daughter, but her attention kept drifting to the two girls across the way. She had no explanation for her fascination.��

Then the girls get their check and it was obvious from their panicked faces that they didn’t have enough money. Carla offered to help them with the bill, but they turned her down, saying that the father of one of them was picking them up. Carla decided to stay to make sure the girls were okay.

Eventually, the father arrived and one of the girls ran out to the car to get the money they needed. Carla was leaving then, so she was passing by the car. And then she heard a man saying, “Carla, Carla, is that you?�� It was Joey, who she hadn’t seen in decades. He was the father of one of the lovely girls. And he told Carla that he had been talking about her recently because his daughter had just turned twelve and he was telling her about the girlfriend he had at that age.

Now remember, they were not in their own hometown. They had both moved away from there. But somehow they had met up again, and all because Carla had been fascinated by those two girls, one of whom was the offspring of her first love.

In his story, "The Little Library," Dave Bachmann tells us about a heartwarming experience that unfolded right in his own neighborhood when a little free library popped up. His eight-year-old daughter Ayla was fascinated by it and the fact that she could donate a book and then take a used book home with her.

Dave explained that the book she picked out to take home would be one that used to belong to another little girl or boy. Dave was surprised when Ayla picked her favorite book to give away, but so be it, she donated that book and she chose a new one to take home. She explained that she was giving her favorite book and expected that the one she chose to bring home would have been someone else’s favorite, too.

They went back home and Ayla started reading her new book. She announced to Dave that she had a new friend named Clara, the name that was inscribed in the book she had picked out. Dave commented that Clara was his grandmother’s name. She had passed away before Ayla was born.
Dave says, “Ayla handed me her book, opening it to the first page, and I began to read the inscription written in flowery cursive.

Dear Little Girl,
This was my book when I was a little girl. Now, it’s yours. Even though we’ll never meet, we will know each other through these stories. Think of me when you read them.
Your friend,
Clara
Newton, Kansas��

All of a sudden, Dave said that he had to show the book to his wife. Why? Because his grandmother Clara had lived in Newton, Kansas. She had donated many of her possessions to a rummage sale that her church in Newton was sponsoring before she moved to Wichita.

Now Dave lived more than a thousand miles away from Kansas. But could it be? Did they really have his grandmother’s childhood book in their hands? Dave’s wife suggested they check the handwriting by looking in his mom’s recipe book, which contained recipes handwritten by her mother—Clara. Sure enough, the handwriting was a perfect match. And how many Claras would there have been in Newton, Kansas anyway?

Ayla reclaimed her book and ran off to read it some more. And Dave said to his wife, “Grandma Clara just reached across the years and a thousand miles to connect with her great-granddaughter for the first time.��

Enjoy!



Amy Newmark

As you know from previous blogs, I love this time of year! Sharing the love and wonder of the holidays with family and friends is what Christmas is all about for me.

It's also a great time for our Chicken Soup for the Soul team... they started choosing stories for this year's Christmas book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Time for Christmas in early summer, and are especially thrilled that it's finally time for Christmas!

We can't wait to share these heartwarming and inspirational Christmas stories. They'll leave you glowing in the Christmas spirit!

Here's a sneak peek of one of our favorite stories... spoiler alert, there is a Christmas miracle!

In her story, "Gramma's Gift," Jamie Cahill talks about her grandmother, who loved Christmas and shared many traditions with her grandchildren and then her great-grandchildren, Jamie’s three kids. The kids would snuggle in their great-grandmother’s lap as she read them the same Christmas stories she had read to Jamie.

Then, Jamie’s grandmother had a stroke at age ninety-seven. Jamie and her oldest child drove from Connecticut to Pennsylvania to see her and say their goodbyes. During the drive they talked about life and death, and Jamie shared some of the Chicken Soup for the Soul stories that she’d read from people who believe that our spirits carry on and are still present after death.

Although Gramma couldn’t speak, Jamie’s daughter Lucie talked to her and said, “Send us a sign when you’re gone, Gramma, a sign that you’re with us.��
Jamie says, “Months went by, and one day Lucie asked me if I’d seen any signs from Gramma. No, I hadn’t seen any signs. I wondered if I should have told her those angel stories and created those expectations. Now she was waiting for a sign, in the literal way that a teenager would.��

Ten months after Gramma died, the next Christmas season arrived. It felt different without Gramma there. But Jamie still had a good time and on Christmas Eve, she hosted 30 people for dinner. Christmas morning, she was exhausted. After all the gifts were unwrapped, her husband took the kids to his parents nearby to see their cousins and open more gifts. Jamie took a quiet walk and thought about her missing grandmother, and then brought in the mail from the day before.

The top piece of mail on a big stack of cards was an envelope addressed in her grandmother’s distinctive script. Jamie ripped open the card. She says, “It was Gramma’s hand-painted Christmas card, a lovely watercolor she did every year:

Dearest Jamie, Tom, Lucie, Emmett and Clara,
To all 5 of you��
What a precious family! It will be so nice to see you on Christmas. Save a few hugs for me.
Love you,
Gramma

It was her grandmother’s Christmas card from the prior year that had never gotten to them. It had a postmark from a year earlier but Jamie’s grandmother had made a slight mistake in the address. Somehow, it arrived on Christmas Eve a year later, ten months after Gramma’s death, right when Jamie and her family really needed a little Christmas miracle—a holiday hello from Gramma!


Warm wishes for a happy holiday season!


Amy Newmark