Intertribal Life Newspaper -

I love statistics. Here are a few I came up with myself:

Somewhere out there a woman will give birth to a baby every quarter of a second. I say we need to find that woman and stop her. I'm kidding! God bless you, moms. You're awesome.

Here are a few more statistics based loosely on actual facts: For every bank that gets robbed today, 2,872 puppies will be born and 32 hedgehogs will find new homes. For every plane that crashes, more than a million will land safely, with about 48 percent of the passengers smiling and in good spirits. The rest will have lost their luggage.

Now for the truth: Jude Ryder is the proud owner of Mrs. T, a 90-year-old Tortoise. Mrs. T is a shell-ebrity now. But she was facing a grim future after losing her two front legs in an accident. So Jude turned to her mechanical engineer son for help. His solution? Wheels.

"She took to them straight away," Ryder recalls. "She can get a good speed up, much faster than before."

Mrs. T is still young in tortoise years. She could go on for another 50 years-but will likely need a new set of tires and a wheel alignment now and then. Says Jude, "She has the run of the garden again and we can always find her because she leaves very strange tracks behind wherever she goes."

And that, you might say, is how you avert a turtle disaster.

In other good news, Jean Abbott was a child when she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. But after three decades of suffering, this 38-year-old mother of three learned that she actually has dopa-responsive dystonia, a rare, yet treatable disorder. After a few pills she stood up without assistance for the very first time. Four months later, Jean and her husband celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary at Lake Superior where they spent their honeymoon. Jean walked where she previously had to be carried and even completed a 10-mile hike.

Despite the misdiagnosis, she feels no resentment. Instead, she chooses to focus on gratitude. Jean writes, "Even though I went untreated for three decades, I was able to make friends, go to college, marry and have children. I maintained a positive attitude and remained a joyful person."

She credits her trials for helping her realize how wonderful the gift of mobility is.

iStockphoto/ colematt

If Mrs. T could talk, I think she'd wheel on over here and say the same thing.

What an attitude! Reminds me of the California family whose house burned to the ground. They erected a hand-made sign in the ashes. It said, "Finally! No termites!"

What are you grateful for today?

Craig Barnes said, "Gratitude is our ability to see the grace of God, morning by morning, no matter what else greets us in the course of a day."

Here's my prayer today: "Lord, you've given me so much. Give me one more thing today-a grateful heart."

Phil Callaway is author of Laugh Like a Kid Again, and host of Laugh Again radio. Visit him at philcallaway.com.