When John asked his daughters which sculptures they like best, they shouted excitedly, “The Story birds!”. These birds are the _______ of Robin and John. Robin explains, “Made from plain clay (黏土), the colorful ceramic birds stand on metal legs. There is a little _______ in it. Together, we make something better.”

At John’s house, art is a family _______. Robin brings style to their ceramics. John crafts the metal elements of the sculptures, Their daughters, Ruby, Eliza and Carmella, help too. “The girls _______ into bodies,” says John, “Everyone contributes to the works, so every sculpture is a symbol of our _______ effort.”

There are lots of _______ to turn a clay into a bird. First, John breaks the clay and _______ it until about one-quarter inch thick. He covers it so that it won’t dry out and _______. Then, Robin _______. She thins the clay here and there, pushing in and out to make the bird’s body. John adds fresh clay on the drier clay and Robin ________ the body with bright colors. Then it is Ruby’s turn. She sculpts it. Eventually, the bird will go into an oven for firing-baking and ________. Robin programs the oven so that the temperature ________ bit by bit. Total oven time can be 20 hours. “That may be a long time.but the ________ you heat the clay, the more likely it is to crack.” Robin says.

Soon, the bird stands ________ on its feet, John shows it to his families. “I did the carving!” Ruby says excitedly. The girls gather for a closer look. The________expressions on their faces tell a story — they love making art together.

It was a busy morning, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s, came to the hospital. I heard him saying to the nurse that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.

The nurse had him take a _________in the waiting area, _________ him it would be at least 40 minutes before someone could see him. I saw him _________ his watch and decided, since I was not busy — my patient didn’t _________ at point hours, I would exam his wound. While taking care of him, I asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment.

The gentleman told me no and told me that he _________to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his _________. He told me she has special disease. I asked if she would be _________ if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not been able to _________ him in five years now. I was _________, “And you __________ go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”

He smiled as he patted my hand and said, “She doesn’t know me, but I know who she is.” I had to hold back __________ as he left.

Now I realized that in marriages, true love is __________of all that is. The happiest people don’t __________ have the best of everything; they just __________the best of everything they have. __________ isn’t about how to live through the storm, but how to dance in the rain.

It was two weeks before the holidays, and I decided to have the family picture taken by a ________ photographer. I called the local photographer and made the ________ . The photographer told me since there wasn’t much time before the holidays, he would come first thing Sunday morning and told me to have the whole family in ________ shirts. It sounded perfect.

Now, not only did I have my usual five million things to do — carpooling, buying last-minute presents, grocery shopping, cooking and ________ my family was happy — but I also had to find ________ whites tops for my entire family.

I was not sure where the rest of the hours ________ , but when I went to tuck in my younger son on Saturday night, I ________ his hair was a complete mess. OMG! He needed a ________ . With all my running around, I hadn’t noticed how ________ he needed one. It was 8:00 at night, and the barber’s was closed. The ________ was coming the next morning.

I got out the ________ . My younger son is very easygoing and cooperative. I wet his hair, ________ it and started cutting. When I was done, we looked at each other and both knew that the haircut was a ________ !

When he saw my son, my shocked husband told me to go downstairs and have a cup of tea while he ________ the situation. Ten minutes later, my son with his older brother and their dad, all came downstairs with buzz cuts(寸头)! My beautiful family picture was ________ on time — just with a little less hair!