Offering kindness when needed can change not only someone’s day, but many times, their world as well.
Kayla Cooper is a nursing student who is working two part-time jobs in order to be able to pay for her studies. She doesn’t have it easy, but she’s doing her best.
It was in February of 2019 when this young lady decided to visit an auto dealership in order to get herself a car. Knowing just how busy she was working and studying she really was in need of a vehicle.
However, once there, she learned that the shop required a down payment. Sadly, it meant that Kayla was about to leave the place without the car she chose and liked very much.
At the time, there was another man at the auto dealership. His name was Dan Laguardia and he was there to trade in his Toyota. He happened to overhear the conversation between Kayla and the seller and decided to do something for the hardworking lady. He knew that trading his old car wouldn’t mean a lot to him, but it would certainly mean the world to the nursing student. So, he decided to simply give it to her for free.
“When I was doing my transaction, she was like at the table next to me talking to the salesperson, and I could kind of tell she wasn’t getting what she was there for,” Dan said.
When he offered his Toyota to Kayla, she was shocked. She just couldn’t believe there were still people like Dan out there who would go above and beyond for a complete stranger.
So this happened tonight…. there was a gentleman buying a BMW trading in an older Scion XB. About the same time young…
“I was shaking, because it’s something so unreal. It’s a whole car — how can someone be so generous to give their car away? When you think everything is really gonna come to an end, just wait and be patient because anything is possible,” Kayla said.
If you want to learn more of this incredibly uplifting story, check out the video below.
Life is unpredictable, one moment you are at the top, and then, all of a sudden everything falls apart. And if you believe that things like these only happen to the ordinary people, you are wrong.
Does any of you remember the empire that Tammy Faye Bakker and her husband Jim Bakker built back in the day? This is their story.
Tammy was always a devoted evangelist who put her faith in God before everything. During her studies at the North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, she met her future husband Jim. It was said that they got engaged on their first date and soon tied the knot. However, both their love and life story would end in a manner no one really expected.
Youtube/Tammyfayetribute
In 1974, the Bakkers founded the Praise the Lord TV network, based out of North Carolina, which would soon turn into something very huge.
“What Bakker really wanted to do was create a Christian version of ‘The Tonight Show’,” John Wigger, author of PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire, told ABC. “Which was really the first of Bakker’s big innovations, the Christian talk show.”
The truth is that they reached everything they put their mind to and became loved nationwide. Soon after, the couple started asking for donations from fans and gifts and money started pouring. In fact, they said this was the same as they would run commercials or sell products on their show which was gaining more and more popularity with each passing day. “‘All of your favorite shows are asking you to give them money by buying their products. It’s no different,’” said former PTL security chief Don Hardister.
Youtube/ABC
The show became the highest rated religious show with many guest celebrities who spoke of their religion and faith in God. It included preaching and some bits of comedy too.
But then, scandals came along the way and the empire of the Bakker family crushed.
It was in 1987 that the whole nation was shocked by the news that Jim was having an affair with then 21-year-old Jessica Hahn. In fact, Hahn accused the televangelist of raping her while she worked as a secretary at the church. Rumors were he offered her $250,000 to keep her silent. This affair was the start of the fall of the Bakker’s empire.
Hahn on the other hand became a celebrity almost overnight and launched her modeling career. Throughout the late 1980s and into the 2000s, she was a frequent guest at The Howard Stern Show.
Youtube/ABC
Hahn also accused Jim of mismanaging the finances of Praise the Lord Network after which an investigation was launched. Jim was accused of 24 counts of fraud and was found guilty thus given 45 years in prison, a sentence later reduced to eight years. While he was serving his time behind bars, Tammy divorced him and re-married.
In 1988, after stepping down from PTL, Tammy, who was known for wearing heavy make-up wherever she appeared, started an acting career and got a role in the famous show Roseanne.
People often teased her for her make-up but she didn’t seem to care. In 1998, Tammy said during an interview, ”I just laugh at them, it’s just a face. I think everyone deserves to be who they want to be. Everyone should wear the face that they’re comfortable with. If you look good then you feel good about yourself. I think I feel ugly without it. I think that’s it, I don’t do it for you, I do it for me. And I feel prettier with it, then we all act pretty. How you look does have a lot to do with who you are and what you become.”
Youtube/Larrysadler
In 1996, Tammy was diagnosed with colon cancer. She died in 2004, at the age of 65 in her home in Loch Lloyd, Missouri. The last time Tammy went public was during her last interview with Larry King. Asked if she had any regrets she said, “I believe when I leave this earth, because I love the Lord, I’m going straight to heaven. I don’t think about it, Larry, because it’s a waste of good brain space.”
She was looking unrecognizable and visibly skinny. Despite that, she still had her trademark make-up on. The last image of Tammy shook her fans and people from over the country.
Bravery knows no age, and five-year-old Lexi Shymanski is the perfect proof of that.
One day, her mother, Angela, was driving Lexi and her baby brother Peter through the Canadian Rockies in Alberta. However, the mom was very tired and sleepy, and we all know that driving in such a condition could be a recipe for disaster.
Unfortunately, Angela fell asleep at the wheel and their car ended crashing down a 40-foot-deep embankment on the side of the road. Baby Peter hurt his head and experienced brain bleeding while Angela broke her back. Lexi was the only one who didn’t sustain life-threatening injuries.
Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition
Although she’s just five, quick-thinking Lexi knew her mother’s and brother’s lives were in her hands. She quickly unbuckled herself from the child seat and started trekking up the steep embankment to look for help. Going through rocks barefoot, Lexi managed to climb the steep terrain and get to the street. Once there, she started waving at the cars, and luckily, one of them pulled over.
Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition
It was Lonnie and Jeremiah Jurek who decided to stop and see what was going on. They knew something wasn’t right when they saw Lexi on the side of the road all by herself.
“Seeing her come out from a real, large embankment,” Lonnie said in an interview with Inside Edition, “I’m like, ‘Jeremiah, we have to stop!”
“She was standing on the edge of the road and just trying to get traffic to stop,” Jeremiah added, “she was screaming and motioning to traffic to stop.”
Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition
Not wanting to lose much time, the couple got down to the embankment and saw Lexi’s family. They called the paramedics, and soon after, Angela and Peter were airlifted to the hospital. They both needed surgeries. Luckily, they are now recovering.
Speaking of her daughter’s bravery, Angela, who used a wheelchair for some time and is now walking using a cane, told Inside Edition: “This little girl is the reason that I am alive, and that my baby’s alive and that my family’s together.” Lexi’s father added: “I just started bawling pretty much. I couldn’t believe what she’d done.”
Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition
The Edmonton police department rewarded Lexi with a bronze medal for her bravery. If it wasn’t for her action, her mother and brother would have died.
Every mom-to-be is overly excited to be expecting a little creature that will make her life better and happier. Amanda Eckstein, from Indiana, isn’t an exception.
As she was looking forward to welcoming her bundle of joy, she and her husband decided to have a maternity photoshoot and make the beautiful memories live forever. They hired Cincinnati photographer Kristen Zaffiro to take the pictures.
However, both Amanda and her husband believed the photos would turn even more beautiful if they included their horses in them. And boy, they a did great job doing that, because if they hadn’t, their photos wouldn’t gather so much attention by people from all over the country.
As they were trying to get the magnificent creatures to pose for the camera, one of them did something cute beyond words. “We finally got them turned around the correct way and I said, ‘At least you could smile,’” Kristen recalled. Little did she know that the horse named Buckshot would listen to her. Just as she snapped the photo, Buckshoot gave her a huge smile. “When I laughed, he smiled more,” Kristen said of the smiling animal.
Of course, looking at Buckshoot smiling and posing made everyone laugh.
Along with the photos Kristen shared on her Facebook page, she wrote: “I laughed so hard! Best maternity session ever.”
For some of the photos, the animals got into a “serious” mood. And in one of them, one of the horses nuzzled its nose into Amanda’s pregnant belly, and we have to agree, it looks totally beautiful.
It is obvious that this family loves their horses unconditionally.
Being a mom means having a lot on your plate. But moms won’t be dubbed real-life superheroes if they don’t balance between all of their commitments. No matter how tired they are, their children’ needs will always be above their own, and that’s what makes them the most special creatures on Earth.
However, no matter how ready they are to always answer to every task that comes along their way, moms do need a helping hand every now and then.
Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX Carolina News
Jessica Donnahoo is a mom of 3-year-old boy named Sailor whom she adopted shortly after he was born. Sweet Sailor was diagnosed with optic nerve hypoplasia and Chairi malformation of the brain at birth. Sadly, it means he’s blind.
One day, as Jessica was doing chores around the house while taking care of Sailor at the same time, Robert Kinney, a technician from Spectrum, came to their place to set up their TV for streaming.
Speaking to Good Morning America, Jessica explained that her son sensed someone was there, so he reached his arms towards Robert. Besides being busy fixing the TV, the kind technician took Sailor in his arms and continued working like that for the next 45 minutes. He only put him down when he needed to grab some of his equipment from the van.
That left Jessica with enough time to take care of the “chaos” in the house, and that included her laundry and a bunch of other things she pushed back before.
Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX Carolina News
Sharing the heart-melting encounter between her son and the internet technician, Jessica told Good Morning America: “He would bounce Sailor using one arm to hold him and make internet adjustments with the other. As a momma, I was incredibly grateful for his kindness.”
She also posted a photo of Robert and Sailor on her Facebook page, and sent a letter to Robert’s company, Spectrum, writing: “He snuggled him close while I folded laundry. It was a huge relief to this tired momma. Robert could have walked in, rushed, and left but instead, he saw a need greater than internet and met it. That’s beyond customer service- it’s humanity at its best.”
Needless to say, Jessica’s post has been seen, shared, and commented on hundreds of times.
Source: Flickr – Will Buckner
“I think the reason that this act of kindness has resonated with so many people is that we can all relate — as parents, grandparents or just anyone who has been overwhelmed. In a world of mass shootings, political scandals, and drugs, we all need to be reassured that humanity and kindness still exist. Rob and my post did just that,” she shared with Good Morning America.
Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX Carolina News
Robert, who is a single father of a 4-year-old, said he only did what everyone else would when a child approaches them. However, he had no idea how much his act meant to Jessica.
“For them to adopt him and take care of him on a daily basis is much more than what I did for a short period of time,” he shared with Good Morning America, “God really has blessed that family and will continue to do so because of the kind and gentle spirit they have. They deserve more recognition than anyone.”
Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX Carolina News
What a beautiful story. For more check out the video below.
The moment Maxine and Jake Young from Pennsylvania started dating, they knew they were each other’s soulmate. And yes, they knew they wanted a big family and a lot of kids. But did they ever believe they will end up being a mom and a dad of nine? Well, not exactly.
They married in 2016 and in early 2017, they attended a foster training. After successfully completing it, the the Youngs became foster parents of three children aged 2, 4, and 11 months. Shortly after, they opened the doors to their home and hearts to another baby, the sibling of the kids they fostered already.
Having four kids felt amazing. According to what Jacob’s mom wrote on GoFundMe, “Jacob was completely on board and loved the idea of having a house filled with lots of love and laughter, maybe a little bit of chaos too!”
Despite having their hands full already, both Maxine and Jacob wanted to have a biological child. This wasn’t really easy because before they welcomed their son Henry into the world in October, 2018, she had to undergo a number of treatments, including IVF and IUI.
Maxine started feeling strange and her heart was telling her she was pregnant again. She wasn’t sure, however, because she didn’t believe she could conceive naturally, knowing she had her son through an IVF, but her intuition didn’t fail her.
During the first doctor’s appointment, things got interesting. “As soon as she (the doctor) started the scan I could see she had a surprised look on her face. It was very clear when you looked at the screen that there were three pregnancy sacs, all about the same size, you could also see yolk sacs and even fetal poles. She looked at me and said “welp, it looks like there are three babies growing in there!” I started nervously laughing and was in complete shock and I asked her if everything looked normal and if the babies were measuring on track, they were, 6 weeks on the dot. I had another scan scheduled for the following week”, Maxine wrote on Instagram.
But, there were no three babies, but four, and they came into the world just weeks after the adoption of Youngs’ foster children was finalized.
“Meeting the babies was an indescribable moment. All of the struggles from the past few months were immediately forgotten, the pain and stress didn’t matter, in that moment, everything we have been through was worth it,” the happy and proud mom shared on Facebook.
“Luckily, they’re all doing really well, and we’re really grateful,” says a happy Maxine.
What one young boy did for his siblings melted thousands of hearts. Now the entire community considers him a hero, but he says that he only did what anyone else would if found in his situation.
Deacon Ashmore, a six-grader, was out with his two little sisters, his brother, and some of their friends when two dogs started running towards them. The creatures started barking angrily and attacked the little ones. It was then when Deacon decided to fight the dogs with his bare hands. He told the kids to run to safety as he continued struggling to defeat the dogs who at that point started biting him.
Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX 2 Detroit
Although he got scared himself, he cared more for his siblings’ well-being than his own. Sadly, one of the dogs sank its teeth into Deacon’s leg and tore through his muscle. There was blood everywhere, but Deacon didn’t stop trying to release himself. Luckily, shortly after, the dogs ran away.
His father, Peter, told Detroit Press that Deacon was rushed into the hospital after the accident where he was given medical help. Doctors needed to fix his tendons, ligaments, and muscles. Even during his surgery, Deacon didn’t stop asking if his little brother was okay.
Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX 2 Detroit
Deacon was adopted from Ethiopia when he was very young, but he loves his family to the moon and back. He never felt like he was not his parents’ biological son.
Speaking of her son’s bravery, mom Elizabeth said: “For him, it wasn’t a second thought, that’s the kind of big brother he is.”
Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX 2 Detroit
Although the surgery went well, Deacon’s path to full recovery would be long, and that means huge medical expenses. That is why a member of their church, Clete Bontrager, set up a GoFundMe to help the family.
“Many of you know Deacon Ashmore as a great young man! Deacon proved that Monday evening. His leg was mauled by a dog while playing outside with his siblings. Deacon stepped between the two dogs and his siblings so they could run to the house, but in doing so had his leg badly mangled,” the page said.
Detroit boy, 12, mauled by dog hailed as hero for saving his three younger siblings https://t.co/GG7A7aQ7co
Major media outlets and magazines have reported that the legendary group ABBA is together again for a new album after 40 years. And as we are all looking forward to new pieces of music, let’s see what one of the group members, Frida Lyngstad, was doing ever since the group split.
Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad was born in Norway, but she moved to Sweden when she was just 18 months old. Her father disappeared during the World War II and her mother died when Frida was just 2 years old. She only learned her dad didn’t die years later, when the two reunited.
Wikipedia Commons
Her first public performance was for a Red Cross Charity Event when she was 11. It was a moment of revelation for young Frida who knew that music and singing were her calling. “I never had any other plans. As a 7-year-old I knew that it was a singer I was going to be,” she said in a 1973 interview. She was part of several bands throughout her young years and even signed for EMI records, but didn’t really achieve major commercial success at the time.
Frida married her first husband, Ragnar Fredricsson, in 1964. The two had two children together, but called it quits after only six years together.
Youtube/ABBA
In 1969, Frida met Benny Andersson, a very talented musicians who was working together with Björn Ulveaus, who was at the time dating Agnetha Faltskog. Frida fell for Benny and the two started dating. The idea behind forming a group started after Frida and Agneta featured as background singers on the 1970 Bjorn and Benny album Lycka [Happiness].
The group first started performing under the name Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. ABBA was only born after the four members experienced huge success in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish qualification competition for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Their song Waterloo took the world by storm and helped their careers skyrocket. Well, the rest is history. Other hits followed and soon after, the ABBA mania spread all over the world.
Fernando, Dancing Queen, Money, Money, Money, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Chiquitita, The Winner Takes It All, Super Trouper, Take A Chance On Me, and Lay All Your Love On Me, are just some of the evergreens this group has under their belts.
Frida and Benny got married in 1978. It was the year the group experienced troubles. They divorced in 1981, and continued working together for some time, but they all felt they should pursue careers on their own.
After the divorce, Frida tried to reinvent her image. “I changed my whole style. I cut my hair very short, you know, very spiky and I became another woman in a way. So it manifested itself mostly like that,” she told The Guardian.
“We felt like we had something so valuable in the group that, even though it was difficult, we didn’t want to break that up,” Benny Andersson said. “And to prove it, we did some of our best stuff after that.”
After ABBA, Frida released solo albums, including Something’s Going On, Shine, and Deep Breaths, after which she decided to step out of the spotlight.
In 2016, the members reunited in order to mark 50 years since Benny and Björn first met. Frida and Agneta performed together after so many years and fans went wild. Their performance brought back all the memories of the time the group was stealing the hearts of people from every corner of Earth. It brought nostalgia and many felt as though magic was taking place on that stage.
In 1992, Frida married her third husband, Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss, Count of Plauen. Sadly, he passed away in 1999. Besides losing her husband, Frida experienced another heartbreak. Her daughter Ann tragically died at the age of 30 after a car accident in New York.
“It was an indescribable sorrow,” she said. “You feel like you barely can survive it. When my daughter and husband passed, I felt like I was forced into believing in something else. Otherwise, it would’ve been very hard to get through it.
“It took many many years of indescribable sorrow. I haven’t spoken about it for a long time, it was a tough journey.”
Youtube/Guskoldaba
Today, Frida lives in Switzerland with her British boyfriend Henry Smith. “Henry is my supporter, my friend and my love. I hope it will remain that way,” the singer says.
At the time, except for being busy working with her ABBA co-workers, she’s also writing. “It might be a book, a musical, a movie, I don’t know yet,” she told Swedish news outlet Damernas Varld. “I’ve written plenty throughout my live but never a book. It was easy at first, but right now, I’m at a dead end.”
Youtube/Skavlan
Frida will always be considered one of the best female singers in the history of music.
