Son’s ‘sad’ dad tweet helps drum up business for Texas doughnut shop

Starting up a new business can be challenging. Looking at your business plan and taking all those things such as the perfect location and your expertise into consideration, it looks like a picture perfect idea, but then things don’t really turn out as expected and you are left wondering what your next step should be.

Billy By’s dad opened a doughnut shop in Missouri City and couldn’t wait for people to try all those delicious products he made. But his excitement died down when only a few customers showed up at the grand opening that took place on Sunday.

Looking at his dad’s disappointment, Billy twitted how his father was “sad” because of the lack of people and added a few photos of the empty place. And then boom! His tweet went viral and everyone learned of the new shop in town.

Amazingly, the Texas community stepped in and all those mouth-watering doughnuts and pastry were sold in no time. And what’s most, everyone loved them and promised to come back.

The tweet was retweeted more than 264,000 times and liked double that number. Around 60,000 people started following Billy Donuts Instagram page too.

Some celebrities got involved in the mission of making this owner happy. Actor James Woods asked his 2 million followers to make Billy’s dad dream come true writing: “Come on, everybody. Let’s do this.”

All this resulted in many satisfied customers, and now the owner says he’s filling a bunch of orders. The photo KPRC took on Sunday shows long queue at the business.

The photo Billy posted this time shows the proud father and a son posing behind the counter with huge smiles on their faces.

“Just wanted to update y’all! We completely sold out of donuts and kolaches! You are all amazing. I can’t thank everyone enough for coming out and supporting local businesses. This means too much to my family,” By wrote.

We are glad this business story turned into a successful one and we hope they’ll have their hands full all year round. It’s just amazing what the social networking sites can do.

Alex Trebek receives open letter from woman who survived stage 4 pancreatic cancer

Another story, another fighter. The incredible and very intense life of Elise Roth Tedeschi is woven with pain, fight and positive thinking. She managed to beat the odds and still fight for her life.

The peaceful harmony of her life was destroyed the moment she found out she has pancreatic cancer. In 2012 the doctors informed her that her disease evolved into stage four, leaving her little chance of survival. When most people learn that they have several months to live they usually prepare for the worst, but Elise was different.

The terrible news did not depress Elise. She decided to fight. She started a long and difficult battle with the disease and her willingness to keep on going and enjoy the life paid off. Besides the strong will and her family and friends, Elise took targeted genetic treatment. All these thing combined resulted with Elise being still in great condition and among the people she loves.

About the beginnings of the disease Elise says:


“I felt that, no matter what, I was gonna beat it. I didn’t care what the doctors said.”

Furthermore, Elise explains the genetic code that helps her fight the cancer. The doctors explained her that the genes that caused the cancer to affect her organ also help her fight the disease. This made her believe that they are somehow more effective than the chemotherapy that she has to go through.

Since she was born fighter, she still does not give up. She is happy that she is able to live through every new day. Elise also adds that even in the worst periods since her disease affected her pancreas, she was still feeling joyful and happy. That even amazed her own family members.

What’s even more amazing, her fight with her own health problems is not the only battle she is involved in. She joined the PCAN, or the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Elise and the other volunteers, survivors of the pancreatic cancer, join the forces in defeating the deadly disease. Their actions support, motivate and help thousands of cancer patients. In addition with their motivational approach they try to level up people’s awareness about the pancreatic cancer. Elise explains:

“Our stories are so important. They give hope.”

Elise’s unconditional support is evident through her work as PCAN activist. She goes public and provides support and tries to help other patients with their fight against this illness. Just recently, Alex Trebek, the host of ‘Jeopardy’, has publicly announced that he is suffering from the same disease as Elise.

In his public announcement, Alex said:

“Under the terms of my contract, I have to host ‘Jeopardy’ for 3 more years. So, help me! Keep the faith. And we’ll win.”

Upon seeing this, Elise contacted Alex via mail sent to The Daily Mail. Among the other things, she expressed her unconditional support, she shared her experience and encouraged Alex not to give up. She reminded him that it is worth fighting the battle.

Elise concludes:

“You may wonder how I stayed positive. My answer was always the same: ‘I didn’t choose to get cancer and I didn’t choose to go through this, but I do get to choose my attitude. So I choose to be happy and live my life!’”

Elise’s motivational speech is so powerful. Her positive energy and hopes are just wonderful. What a great person with wonderful spirit. We hope there are many other people just like Elise – people with positive attitude towards the life.

Mom writes this letter about her ex’s girlfriend

When two people decide to call it quits, things between them may get ugly, especially if there is a child involved. Fighting for the custody of the kids, feeling resentment towards one another, and even saying things you may later regret saying, splitting up is never easy.

And if the exes aren’t really on good terms, just imagine what happens when a new partner enters the life of one of them. Many times, the relationship between one and their ex’s partner are superficial, unnatural, and full of bitterness. It might be because of the fact that now another person is involved in the process of bringing up their child.

The kids, however, may simply find their parent’s new relationship strange and refuse to bond with their mom’s or dad’s new partner, but it may also happen for them to accept them. I personally believe this depends on how the other parent feels about their ex’s new person.

Audrey Loving and Corey Henry first met whey they were just 18. The two loved each other so much and had a daughter. But as time passed by, they struggled keeping their long-distance relationship on track and eventually broke up. Audrey got full custody of their daughter Riley, but her now ex partner is still part of the girl’s life.

After spending some time being single, Henry got involved into an emotional relationship with another woman. And if you think this is where the real trouble started, you can’t be more wrong. After learning how her ex moved on and met someone, Audrey was determined to teach her daughter to love this new person who was now part of their life.

Audrey was brought up in such a family herself and knows how hard it was for her to keep balance between what she had with her mom and her step-mom and didn’t want her daughter to experience the same thing.

It turned out sweet Riley listened to her mom and gave her dad’s girlfriend a chance and now the two are very close. Audrey is proud of her daughter and at the same time she is grateful this woman loves her little kid so much.

This is the thank you letter Audrey shared on her Facebook page:

“This is my daughter’s father’s girlfriend. The sweetest thing ever! I’m super thankful for her because when she visits her dad she feeds her, takes care of her, buys her gifts, and basically takes care of her like her own. Why do all these moms act so spiteful and jealous towards the other women? NOONE said it was easy trying to be a mother to a kid you didn’t have. So when there is someone trying, don’t push them away! Because they DON’T need the drama they WILL leave and then you’re stuck with someone who is the evil step mom. Yes they exist! I see them everywhere! A kid can have two moms because in my eyes the more people that love her I’m happy! I would never make her feel like an outsider; I’m extremely thankful for this girl.

Ladies, grow up and focus on being a good mom. Love more hate less!”

People who found themselves in a similar situation believe Audrey is a great parent who’d do anything to see her child happy. We hope this could serve as an example for others struggling to come to terms with the relationship between their kids and their ex’s new partners.

Modelling agency, Oldushka, only hires mature models

For too long the modelling agencies have been extremely selective when their models are concerned. The market was looking for models, men and women, that have the perfect shape. Young body, fit and zero fat, with sharp lines and body posture that is more than perfect. The marketing managers were not even considering hiring models that do not meet all of those rigid criteria. People’s view of these ideas for ‘perfect body’  were mixed, some appreciated it, but many others considered that kind of imagery as unrealistic and ‘photoshopped’.

Nevertheless, today we can see something is changing. The drastic changes that are quite commonly seen these days were not even imagined back then. The inclusion of plus size models and models with physical or mental disabilities is not a taboo any more. People have been fed up with seeing models that have ‘the perfect bodies’ and therefore these new models and changes are more than welcome.

Oldushka, a model agency from Russia founded in 2016, may be the best example in the process of refreshing the fashion industry. Led by the notion of establishing model agency different from the already existing – they have decided to offer modelling services with mature models. These professional models tend to show the beauty of life and human nature as it is and they are dedicated to prove that older models have valuable qualities as well. The founder of the agency, Ivan Gavar, for Vogue says:

“Beauty—it’s a quality that becomes more valued with years. I met some very interesting faces, and I wanted to do a separate project with them. A modeling agency became that sort of project.”

In addition to all of these, these models and the agency itself hopes that this project will be an additional motivation for older people to improve the quality of their lives.

We present you some of the gorgeous models

Tatyana Lukjanova

Lyudmila Masaleva

Sergey Arctic

Marta Jersey

Sofia Alexandrova

Julia Boyarina

Viktor Afanasyevich

Larisa Mikhaltsova

Yuriy

Valentina Yasen

Lyudmila Marmur

Valentina Yasen

Olga Kondrasheva

Lyudmila

Victor Stolyarenko

Aren’t they great? All of these models remind us that people are beautiful no matter the age or race. The values we all have emit the positive energy that we need.

Blind girl brings judge to tears with her beautiful voice

Just think about how our music idols from ‘80s and ‘90s, and even earlier, have been pursuing their music career. It must have been very difficult, a task that involves pushing a lot of boundaries and hoping that one day you will meet the right person who will help you conquer the stage.

Nowadays, with the technology and the TV shows, showing to the world what kind of skills you have is simpler. The TV shows like ‘American Idol’ give us a chance to express ourselves and to show to the audience what vocal potential we have. These shows produced even some very popular contemporary singers and performers. The opportunity ‘American Idol’ is offering is priceless.

‘American Idol’ has not only entertained the audience with excellent music and performances. It gave people chance to take a closer look at candidates’ lives. Very often the show briefly talks about candidate’s problems, successes and failures and even some personal things. This is the case with the talented candidate Shyy.

When Shyy stepped on the stage, in front of jury, it looked like every candidate that passed through the process. Her beautiful face, casual look and modest appearance did not make her different from the most of the candidates of the show. However, she had something quite unique that differentiated her from the rest – a wonderful voice and just the perfect singing skills. Her performance of Andra Day’s ‘Rise Up’ was so emotional and she gave a performance that will last in the judges’memories. We are sure Lionel Richie will remember Shyy for a very long time. She moved him with her singing to that degree that his tears could not be stopped.

However, that is not the only thing that Shyy stunned the audience with. She made everyone so emotional and teary with her personal life and the problems she is facing with. Just one year before the competition, Shyy started having problems with her vision. After several complaints at home, she and her mother decided to see the doctor. After careful analysis done by the medical team, Shyy got the worst piece of news in her life. She was diagnosed with brain tumor. As a result of the terrible illness, Shyy lost her vision completely. Nevertheless, she did not lose her hopes and dreams. She decided to show the world what kind of potential she has. She sure wrecked all of us who watched the girl in front of the TVs.

Shyy showed that she is a fighter. Bad health and physical disabilities do not stop her dreaming and fighting for the life she was craving for. Bravo Shyy!

We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this incredible performance! Are you a fan of Shayy? Do you think she will go far on American Idol? Who is your favorite contestant from this season so far?

FedEx driver quietly shovels snow from widow’s porch after learning her husband died recently

Leigh Anne, a resident of Nebraska, is a mother of three kids. Life has not been so  kind to her and her children. The 42-year-old lady lost her husband just two months prior the harsh winder hit the country. Leigh’s husband lost the battle with the cancer, leaving Leigh widow. She lost the happiness of the marriage in a very short time.

Being a single mother with three kids is not an easy thing. It’s very difficult and there are lots of responsibilities and duties. The snowstorms and the freezing winter made this family’s life even more difficult. However, there was one thing that put smile on Leigh’s face.

One morning, as the duties call, Leigh needed the car to drive off and finish what she had to finish. However, she noticed that the there was a need of putting some air in tires. With all of that snow, blocked pathway, she got frustrated. The blocked cap of the tire just added some fuel to her frustration.

Luckily, she called Brian, delivery man from FedEx. He was usually delivering packages in the neighbourhood and therefore Leigh recognized him and called him for help. Brian did not hesitate helping her. After a short conversation, Brian learnt about Leigh’s tragedy.

Brian was touched and felt sorry for Leigh. Therefore, he felt a need to do something good to her and he actually did. Brian shovelled the snow in front of the house. Brian’s help seems nothing to us, but for Leigh that’s a tremendous help. Having in mind the fact that everything in the household was up to her, a little help is more than welcome.

Brian did not know that there is a camera on the front door. The camera caught this kind action on tape. Well done Brian!

18 Heart-Melting Moments That Perfectly Describe Family Love

Having someone you love and sharing precious moments with the dearest ones cannot be replaced with any gold or money in the world. Very often our dearest organize special surprises that melt our hearth. Love and attention can be expressed in various different ways. Some do small things with great meaning, while others prepare big surprises with tremendous amount of significance attach to them.

Small or big, they are wonderful. Take a look at all of these selected 18 special moments of these amazing people.

 

“Every morning my father places bird food in the yard for my mom to wake up to this view.”

“Every time my fiancé hears a song at his work that he thinks I will like, he writes it down on a scrap of paper to give to me when he gets home.”

“This is my great grandma on her 98th birthday. My family brings her change all the time because she absolutely loves putting it in her piggy bank. Well, this year she got cash for her piggy bank — look at that face. She’s adorable.”

“My dad was a police officer who worked in the major crash unit. I was three years old in this photo taken on Christmas Day. He had spent the day at a fatal car crash where two children had died. I only found this out today.”

“I’m just glad they all get along.”

“As a newly single mother, I thought we could use a third member of the family. The first ride home, I knew she was the perfect addition.”

“That’s my favorite family photo yet since bringing our little Chewy home.”

“For Christmas, my wife got a recording from Christmas 1973, the last year her grandmother was alive before breast cancer took her. My wife was not born until 1976. This is the first time she has ever heard her grandmother’s voice.”

“One of my six-month-old twin girls learned how to wave… Now it’s all she does.”

“My son was excited to find Daddy in his new Lego kit.”

She said to her mommy, “Thank you for adopting these kitties! They are the best!”

“Here’s my wife thinking she is surprising me, scraping snow off my car, after a twelve-hour night shift at the hospital. I’m a lucky fella.”

“My grandmother recently passed away, and my mother found this card in her house. I apparently gave her ten cents on her birthday when I was two, and she taped it to a card and kept it her whole life.”

“My grandpa passed away a few months ago. I visited his house today for the first time since and his wife has their wedding outfits hanging like this in their house. That’s true love.”

His baby has to wear a head-shaping helmet, so he has the whole family wearing helmets now.

“My Grandpa and his old friend Wynton braving the cold.”

“My dad and I recreated a tender moment 34 years later.”ting a 34-year-old moment. Father-son relationship.

“My mother baked me cakes for 44 years on my birthdays. Two months ago she passed away, so my father did his best and made this.”

I’m gay. She’s straight. Here’s what happened when we decided to have a kid together.

David Arrick, Nate and Heidi at Nate’s karate class exposition in New York City in 2017.

David Arrick, a former New York attorney and a baker, learned his father was a gay when he was just 11. After a couple of years, he also came out of the closet. Now he was being gay but also wanted to have offspring one day. Would coming to terms with his sexuality prevent him from becoming a father one day? Certainly not. The first thing he learned from his role model, his Dad, was that being gay doesn’t mean being childless.

He is now sharing the story of how he and a straight woman are co-parents of their son. His writing was first published in the Huffington Post, and later shared throughout the social media, thus dividing people’s opinions of whether these types of relationships meet the ‘society’s standards.’

You can take a look at what David had to say in his essay below.

“When I was 11, I found out that my dad was gay. As shocking as this revelation was, I was relieved his sexuality was the reason my parents divorced and that my dad hadn’t left my mom to start another family that he loved more than ours. Still, I was confused. This was 1978, and there were no healthy representations of gay people in the media, and I had absolutely no idea what having a gay dad would mean for me. 

Then, just when I was starting to accept my father’s sexuality, I began to question my own, and by the time I turned 16, I came out as gay too. Despite the emotional turbulence my dad and I had been through, I counted myself lucky. Not only did I have a role model in my own family, but thanks to my Dad, I had already learned something so many other gay people at my age hadn’t: Being gay didn’t have to equal being childless.  

That message stuck with me throughout my life, and 25 years after I came out, when my friend Heidi, who I met at college, and I began discussing having a child together, I did not feel the same apprehension that plagues some other gay men. Heidi was essentially family to me, and we viewed having a child as a natural extension of our close friendship. We were both single, our families knew and liked each other, and we spent many holidays together. We laughed at the same things, had lots in common and both felt a burning desire to be parents. Comments like “If neither of us is married by …” or “Could we co-parent together?” had been peppered throughout our conversations for years, and when we seriously began to discuss it, we were hard pressed to think of a reason we shouldn’t do it. It just felt right.

By 2010, when we decided to put our plan into action, media representations of alternative parenting approaches and family types had come a long way. Miranda and Carrie had discussed their biological clocks on “Sex and the City” and revealed their “scary age,” or age at which they feared they would realize it was too late to have a baby. “Will & Grace” and “Modern Family” were opening closets and shining a bright light on modern gay life while offering new definitions of family. Even though there were still no visible gay-dad-straight-mom co-parenting role models for us to look to, there were so many more possibilities when it came to parenting, and Heidi and I felt determined to make our own version of a modern family a reality.

David and Nate in New York City’s Central Park in 2011.

Navigating uncharted waters, we would be forging ahead guided solely by instinct, but what prospective parents aren’t essentially doing that in most respects, right? There were no books on Amazon titled “Gay Dad, Straight Mom” or “When Your Gay BFF Becomes Your Baby Daddy,” and there were so many issues ― from the legal to the financial ― to iron out, but those were really just details to us. I felt that as a “couple,” we were at a distinct advantage, and I remember thinking, “Aren’t Heidi and I in a better position than many other people who get pregnant without having had the benefit of 20 years of friendship?” In our hearts we knew we were doing the right thing, and in our minds we had already become Daddy and Mommy. So with our plan concealed from family and friends, we set out to try to conceive.  

The idea of having sex made us chuckle, so we decided on at-home insemination without any kind of medical intervention. Since Heidi is a nurse, we had the benefit of her medical background, and we obtained the sterile cups, syringes and the other paraphernalia needed to increase our odds of conception. We agreed that if Heidi didn’t get pregnant within three months, we would each go to a fertility doctor to determine if we were individually able to have children. If my boys were the reason that Heidi couldn’t get pregnant, I would have been disappointed but graciously bowed out of the process, wishing her well in her journey toward becoming pregnant without me. I gave it my best shot (literally!), and we inseminated whenever Heidi was ovulating. 

We made the insemination process as lighthearted as we could because, while we were attempting to do something that, if successful, would alter our lives forever, there was a comical aspect to the process of doing this ourselves. Here we were actually doing what so many other gay men and their straight college girl friends had promised each other they would do, and the faint sound of their words ― “If I’m not married by 40 …” “You’re my gay BFF. We should have a baby!” ― echoed in our heads throughout our journey.

Here we were actually doing what so many other gay men and their straight college girl friends had promised each other they would do.

On insemination night there was no mood lighting, no chardonnay and no Barry White playing. Instead we told each other funny stories after the process was complete. Heidi remained lying on her bed, hips raised at an angle to increase the odds of sperm meeting egg, with Led Zeppelin playing (Heidi sings in a Led Zeppelin cover band, after all), a “Seinfeld” rerun on TV and cartons of our favorite Chinese takeout within reach. After our third attempt, Heidi became pregnant. Apparently steamed shrimp dumplings plus “Stairway to Heaven” plus some Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer craziness equaled success ― at least for us.

Throughout the pregnancy, I remained awestruck that the sonogram images of the baby in Heidi’s belly were of my child, and I found myself marveling at the fact that the in-home insemination really worked. We worked out that Heidi would have primary custody during the week, I would have the baby at my place on the weekend, we would share finances and we would create a Family Day ― one day dedicated to our all being together ― that we would share each week.

In September 2010 our son, Nathaniel Chase, was born. We hadn’t attended one Lamaze class, since he arrived before they were scheduled to start, but Heidi was a confident champ, masterfully in tune with herself and what her body was naturally designed to do. I was steadfastly there by her side ― cheering her on and holding a knee when helpful but scurrying to move my daddy ass out of the way when the nurse screamed at me to do so. After Nate was born, we had an impromptu “circle of life” moment (cue “The Lion King”) to welcome him into the world and then had Chinese food delivered to the hospital room.

David with Nate and Heidi in the Bahamas in 2015.

What I came to realize after our son was born was that our situation as parents was more similar to than different from those who became parents in what we now think of as a more traditional way. Our co-parenting story garnered some media attention, and we appeared on NBC, CNN and other networks with the intention of showing that we were an alternative family proud of our journey. We thought (and still think) of ourselves as simply Mommy and Daddy ― there to guide, educate, love and raise our child, just as millions of other parents do every day. My sexuality and Heidi’s choice as a single woman to become a mom were not at all relevant to our abilities to parent, and while our identities may have changed how we got to where we are today, ultimately, they do not define us as parents.  

Parenting as a gay man has been interesting, to say the least. In addition to experiencing many of the typical things that a first-time father experiences, I often find myself in situations other dads might not. In 2012, I was in a Starbucks when a well-intentioned grandmotherly type approached me and asked what so many others have asked me over the previous two years when they saw me alone with Nate: “Is it Mommy’s day off today? Are you babysitting?” Unfortunately for her, she chose the wrong guy and the wrong day to inquire and I told her what I’d been itching to tell the dozens of people who had asked me similar questions before. “I’m gay,” I responded. “How do you know that my child’s other parent is a woman, or that there even is a mommy?” The woman turned whiter than the foam on her latte. 

I don’t entirely fault her for seeing a man with a baby through a more traditional lens, probably as a result of being the product of her older generation, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a rush of satisfaction from responding the way I did. And to be honest, I also take issue with the idea that if a man is alone with a baby, that automatically means he’s babysitting or temporarily stepping into mom’s shoes when she’s not around. Men parent too, and they aren’t babysitters to their own kids.

My sexuality and Heidi’s choice as a single woman to become a mom were not at all relevant to our abilities to parent, and … ultimately, they do not define us as parents.

Another time I was texting with a gay friend, and he told me that he was on his way to have a threesome. “Look what you’re missing out on by having to be home on a Saturday night with your toddler!” he wrote. “Will you ever be able to go out again?”  

I was never interested in threesomes before my son was born, but that was beside the point. It wasn’t my job to convince him that I was happy or that there was nowhere else I would rather be on a Saturday night than at home reading “Goodnight Moon” to the most important little guy in my world.        

My family is everything to me, and I’m thankful for what I’ve been able to experience because of the people I love. I’m especially grateful for Heidi and the way that becoming parents together morphed our relationship from best friends to something even richer and deeper and built on even more trust and respect than we had for each other before. We work hard to discipline Nate consistently in our respective homes, communicate daily and try our best to parent as a united front. Not everyone supports what we are doing, and we’ve faced many challenges (including some despicably misogynistic and homophobic comments), but we expected that to some degree, and we’ve learned to tune out that ugly noise and focus on what is most important ― raising Nate and being a positive example of what a loving, modern family looks like.”