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Jane Fonda’s outfit from the Golden Globes attracted the attention of many

The name Jane Fonda speaks of success and fame probably more than any other female name in the film industry. Her career spans six decades, time during which she gave her fans many memorable roles.

Some may say that being the daughter of the legendary actor Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda didn’t have to work hard for what she has, but that is certainly not the case with the now 83-year-old actress.

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She was born in New York city on December 21, 1937, and her mother committed suicide when Fonda was only 12 years old. This was something that affected her deeply. She and her dad were close, but he wasn’t a man of many words. Speaking of him, Fonda told Oprah, “My father didn’t verbalize much, but I knew he had regrets, and I don’t want to.

“I want to have people around me who really love me, whom I really love. And I know that you can’t collect those chips unless you’ve earned them during your life. What that said to me was that I had one act left to make sure I didn’t get to the end with regrets.

“What would I regret the most? My big regret would be if I’d never had an intimate relationship. But if you never grew up with intimacy, if you were never with parents who really loved each other, and you never saw that and absorbed it as a kid, it’s hard to know how to do it.”

Known not only for her films and the great number of awards she has received, among which many nominations and two Oscars, for her 1972 movie Klute and the 1979 movie Coming Home, but also for her charity work and her courage to speak her mind, Fonda is loved by many. However, during one occasion, she made people angry after she posed for photos next to an anti-aircraft gun in North Vietnam during the height of the anti-Vietnam War protests.

This year, during the Golden Globes Award Ceremony, Fonda received the Cecil B. DeMille Award given annually to an “individual who has made an incredible impact on the world of entertainment.” Among those who were honored with this reward are stars like Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep and Lucille Ball.

According to Page Six, Fonda said she knew her father would be proud of her. In her speech, she addressed the issue about the lack of diversity inside of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which votes on the awards.

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Another thing that attracted the attention of the wide public was Fonda’s choice of outfit. Some years ago, she told Ellen DeGeneres that she would never again buy a new piece of clothing, and she stood by her words. During the recent Golden Globe Ceremony, she was dressed in a white suit that she wore before.

During the 2020 Oscar’s, Fonda was dressed in the same outfit as at the International Cannes Film Festival in 2014.

What we can all agree on is that Fonda looked absolutely stunning and classy.

Chip Gaines donates his hair and raises over $425,000 for St. Jude Children’s Hospital

Fixer Upper, the reality show ran by Chip and Joanna Gaines, attracted plenty of fans throughout the five seasons it aired.

However, this couple that we all love so much isn’t only famous for their renovating skills, but for their hearts of gold too. Over the years, they have donated money to charities on many occasions and never miss a chance to ask from the public to do the same.

Back in 2019, following a visit of St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, Chip and Joanna donated $1.5 million.

During the quarantine, Chip changed his style drastically. Namely, he let his hair grow long, but not many liked him that way. And as many criticized him for his looks, he actually had something else in mind when he opted not to have his hair cut for that long.

“The pandemic hit and we just cut that out of our typical routine, probably like most people, and so after it got a little longer and a little longer, I just was like, ‘You know what, I’m going to go for it. I’m going to grow this out,’” he said.

He decided to turn people’s “dislike” of his long hair in his favor and challenged them to donate to St.Jude Children’s Hospital depending on how much they hated his style. “All I’m asking you to do is cut a check. If you hate my hair, $25. If you are repulsed by me and my hair, I’d say that’s 50 bucks,” he wrote on Instagram.

Believe it or not, in no time, $425,000 were raised. Chip and Joanna rounded it up to $500,000 and also contributed an additional $50,000 to Children with Hair Loss, the organization Chip donated his hair to.

When the day for the so much anticipated cut arrived, Chip was accompanied by a teenage boy named Bailey whom he met back in 2017. At the time, Bailey was battling cancer and was receiving treatments at St. Jude.

“Jo and I met Bailey back in 2017, and seeing him now as a healthy young man reminds me why we were drawn to St. Jude,” he wrote on Instagram.

Before it was completely shaved, Chip’s hair was pulled back into ponytails and cut off.

With or without hair, Chip looks as handsome as ever. Way to go Gaines, and thank you for everything you do.

The career and the tragedies in the life of actress and talk show host Ricki Lake

This is the life story of one of the most inspiring women out there, Ricki Lake. She’s an actress, television presenter and a producer who made a name for herself after she was cast for the lead role in the musical Hairspray.

Her life wasn’t an easy one, as she faced a number of obstacles throughout the years, but she would always end up a winner. When she was pretty young, Lake was sexually violated by one of her father’s employees, and that’s something that stayed with her forever and changed the way she saw her body and perceived her femininity.

“This was the late 1970s and it wasn’t talked about,” she explained. “You pushed everything under the rug.” At one point in her life, she weighted 270 pounds and said it was a result of her insecurities. That all changed, however, when she gave birth to her sons Milo and Owen. “I was able to look at my body and see what it was able to do and embrace it,” Lake told People Magazine in 2009. “Sort of let go of all the body image issues.”

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Lake was married twice. In 1994, she married Rob Sussman, the father of her kids. They divorced in 2005. Lake’s second husband was jewelry designer Christian Evans who suffered from bipolar disorder and took his life in 2017. Lake was left heartbroken and posted a tribute to the man she called her soulmate, writing: “It is with a heavy heart that I share that my beloved soulmate, Christian Evans has passed. The world didn’t understand this man, but I did. He succumbed to his life long struggle with bipolar disorder.”

Lake was always under the spotlight, first, because of her acting career and later for her talk show Ricki Lake which reached to millions of fans and was rated second by the number of views, just after The Oprah Winfrey Show. Lake’s show aired in 1993 and became an instant hit, especially with the young audience. Lake was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1994 and won one in 2013 for Outstanding Talk Show Host after her show which she left in 2004 was reborn.

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Speaking of her role in Hairspray, Lake told Interview Magazine, “I totally did break the mold, and it’s with life experience that I have more reverence for what I was able to achieve. I have to give credit to John Waters for seeing in me the qualities he wanted for that character. And thank god he did, because I don’t know what I would be doing without having had that job as my entry into this business.” This role, of course, wasn’t the only that marked her career in film. In 1990, Lake starred alongside Johnny Depp and music icon Iggy Pop in Cry Baby and was part of a number of other films and projects.

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Recently, our favorite host shared a secret with her fans. She spoke openly of her problem with hair loss and admitted how she was wearing wigs and extensions for the last 30 years, but she felt it was now the time for her to show her true self to the world and serve as an inspiration and support for other women who go through the same.

It has been debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, depressing, lonely, all the things,” she wrote. “Almost no one in my life knew the level of deep pain and trauma I was experiencing. Not even my therapist/s over the years knew my truth.

Lake shared photos of her with her natural hair and we say she is not only beautiful, but very bold too. She truly is a wonderful person, both inside and out.

World War II veteran celebrates 100th birthday: “Every day should be for him”

It’s not everyday that we hear of people who reach 100 years old. Those who do, however, are the luckiest of all, and one World War II veteran named Benny Ficeto is definitely one of the most fortunate people there are. Not only because he got to live that many years, but also because he’s surrounded with people who love him unconditionally and make sure they remind him how grateful they are for his service every single day.

What is unusual about this special man is that he only retired from his job when the pandemic started. Up until then, he was going to work every single day. Before turning 90, Benny worked at a Stop & Shop in Bloomingdale, New Jersey. He then moved to Edison, New Jersey, for his last ten years of work.

“Working at my age gives you purpose,” Benny said, according to his nephew Daniel Reynolds who spoke to Fox News about his uncle.

Stop & Shop organized a birthday party and a parade for Benny to mark his milestone. There was food, music, and a number of people there. Benny’s co-workers, family members, and even customers gathered together to celebrate the special occasion.

“Always enjoyed seeing Benny when he worked in the Bloomfield store…always upbeat and helpful….I could always leave the store smiling if he was bagging for me,” one customer wrote on the shop’s post dedicated to Bartholomeo Benny Ficeto, whom everyone knows as Benny the Bagger.

“People would wait in line even if there was an open register, they would wait because they wanted Benny to bag their groceries,” the store’s spokesperson Stefanie Shuman confirmed.

Besides the party, the place had a special surprise for one of their most hard-working employees. Namely, in Benny’s honor, they designated a parking spot as veterans-only and dubbed it “Benny’s Spot.” What a thoughtful thing to do for someone who has dedicated a great part of his life serving the country and its people.

“It says in honor of Benny for his service to the store and his country,” Shuman said. “He knew the day was for him. Every day should be for him in my opinion.”

In fact, this isn’t the first time for Stop & Shop to organize a party for Benny. They have done beautiful things for him in the past. For his 98th birthday, they congratulated Benny through a number of media outlets. When he turned 99, the place organized a drive-by birthday parade.

The store is looking forward to Benny’s 101st birthday. “He’s still part of this family and we will continue to celebrate him,” Shuman added.

Happy birthday, Benny, and many more to come!

Woman’s belly weights 44 pounds and still growing, doctors fail to learn the reason why

Doctors from the rural Guizhou Province in China, as well as from nearby towns, struggle to detect the reason why a 36-year-old woman’s belly can’t stop growing. According to Huang Guoxian, who is a mother of two, her belly weights 44 pounds and is getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.

She finds it extremely hard to do her everyday activities and is unable to stand on her feet for more than 10 minutes. That means that her 10-year-old son has to take care of pretty much everything around the house while her husband works away from home. The grandparents also help.

Youtube: NYOOOZ

It all started when Guoxian first experienced pain some two years ago. Doctors gave her medicine which made her feel a bit better, but her stomach kept growing and hasn’t stopped ever since. Doctors ran a number of tests and tried different treatments but the reason behind her condition remains a mystery. CT scans, however, showed how she suffers from various illnesses, including liver cirrhosis, ovarian cancer, and an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen and chest, according to the Daily Mail. It is still unknown whether any of this conditions affected the belly growth.

Guoxian is now hoping the specialist from a local hospital could operate on her, but the surgery would cost 30,000 yuan, or $4290. The helpless woman who has trouble breathing, eating and sleeping is begging the public to help her raise the money.

Youtube: NYOOOZ

The Daily Mail cited what Guoxian told the Guizhou Urban Daily, writing, “I used to do homework very quickly, but now my big belly has seriously impacted my normal life. My two children are still young. Their grandmother and grandfather are helping to look after them now. I hope to recover and become healthy as soon as possible.”

We honestly hope doctors will help Guoxian get her old life back as soon as possible. Check out the video below for more.

This is what Rachel Ward, who played Meggie Cleary in “The Thorn Birds,” looks like today

Every actor has a unique story to tell of their rise to stardom. This is the one of Rachel Ward, an incredible actress whose career has spanned for decades.

At the beginning of her journey to fame, Ward was a well-known fashion model who appeared on the covers of many influential magazines such as VogueCosmopolitan, and Harper’s & Queen. This, along with the number of commercials she was featured in, opened her path to Hollywood. It was in 1979 that beautiful Ward appeared in her first movie, Christmas Lilies of the Field. What followed after this movie were a number of smaller roles. But eventually, Ward got her well-deserved breakthrough playing Meggie Cleary in the cult miniseries The Thorn Birds alongside great Richard Chamberlain.

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Choosing the right actress for this role wasn’t at all easy. One of the producers of the 10-hour-long series, Stan Marguiles, recalled the struggles. “She has to go from 18 to her early 50s. From a rather naïve, overly romantic young girl to a bitter woman in her 30s, to a woman who finally understands where she took the wrong turn when she reaches her 50s. There’s an enormous range of emotions and colors,” he told NFSA Australia.

Ward herself spoke of the time she got the role that changed her life forever. “They first started to age me, it was kind of scary,” Ward recalled. “I had these endless double chins. I sort of had a body suit underneath the clothes, I remember liking it when I grew older, I liked the outfits, there was slightly more masculine than they were in the beginning.”

“My audition was quite light and I had a sense of humor” the actress added. “I remember I was taking it seriously but I wasn’t acting with a capital A. It is so subjective, performances pieces, and I was probably spot on the first time. I got like 10/10 for looks and 4/10 for acting.” 

The series was a huge success and is considered one of the best ever by many. It received four Golden Globes, including Best Miniseries, as well as six Emmy awards. Ward was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Speaking to Closer, Ward opened up about her insecurities after many criticized her acting.

She recalled the New York Times writing at the time that she was a “miscast.” However, over the years, she realized she shouldn’t be harsh on herself as there were so many people who praised the way she presented the role. Among them was her daughter who has seen The Thorn Birds years after it first aired and told Ward, “Mom, you were fabulous.” “That was, for me, the most important response that I could’ve ever had,” the actress said.

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This miniseries didn’t only bring Ward fame, but also gave her the love of her life. It was when the cameras were off that the true love story took place. Ward and her on-screen husband, actor Bryan Brown, fell for one another on set. “What happened on screen was happening off it – that’s why our love scenes were so believable,” Ward told the UK’s Daily Express.

“Everyone on set realized they were falling for each other. “I’ve never seen two people more in love,” Chamberlain said. “She seemed to get happier and happier and her work got better and better.”

Ward and Brown got married in 1983 and have three children together. Until this day, they love one another as day one.

Ward is now 63 and she has never stopped acting. Some of the movies she took part in are The Big House, Martha’s New Coat and television series Rake, Devil’s Playground and The Straits. In 2001 she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in the film On the Beach.

In 2019, Ward and Brown became grandparents for the first time when their daughter Matilda had her son Zan. What is very special is that both of them where present when their grandson was welcomed into the world.

Speaking of that moment, Matilda told Over Sixty: “When I was pushing Zan out at the end, dad was stroking my head and mum was cheering me on, crying, saying, ‘Come on, Till! He’s so close. It was pretty special that both my parents got to be with me through such a monumental time in my life.”

Besides acting, Ward, who looks as incredible as ever, is busy doing charity work. 2005, she was awarded the A.M (Member of the Order of Australia for “raising awareness of social justice through lobbying, mentoring and advocacy for the rights of disadvantaged and at-risk young people.”

Nursing student is devastated when she can’t afford a down payment for a car, but then a stranger gives her his

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…

Posted by Seoul Fields on Tuesday, 5 February 2019

“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.

The tragic last photo of televangelist and actress Tammy Faye Bakker

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

Rest in peace.

Five-year-old hero saves mother and brother from a life-threatening car crash

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.

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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.”

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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.

Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition

Great job, Lexi, you are a real-life superhero!

Smiling horse steals the show by photobombing couple’s maternity photoshoot

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.

Internet technician warms one mom’s heart after taking her blind son in his arms

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.

Family blessed with quadruplets just weeks after adopting four children they fostered

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.

Everyone felt like their family was now complete, but God knew just how great of parents the Youngs were and decided he had other plans for them.

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.

We wish this beautiful and big family all the best in the years to come. They are all so happy for having one another.

Six-grader risks his life protecting younger siblings from a vicious dog attack

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.

Thanks to people from the community and all over the country who praised Deacon’s heroism and bravery, the funds required were collected in no time.

For more on his inspirational story, check out the video below.

Remember Frida Lyngstad from ABBA? At 75, she still looks amazing

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.

Melania Trump hits back at Michael Beschloss’s criticism of her White House Rose Garden redecoration

One of the most noticeable features of The White House, besides its grandsome structure, is the Rose Garden. First formed by First Lady Ellen Wilson, the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson, it replaced the colonial garden by President Theodore Roosevelt’s wife, First Lady Edith Roosevelt. In fact, throughout the years, each First Lady added a personal touch to this place.

Melania Trump wasn’t an exception. However, unlike those redecorating the Rose Garden in the past, Meania faced harsh criticism by the wide public and a group of historians who mocked her taste and claimed she stole the garden’s soul by getting rid of the 10 crabapple trees, planted during John F. Kennedy’s time in office. ”What happened to the trees?” Andrea Mitchell, NBC News Chief and Washington Correspondent, wondered. The White House answered at the time that the trees were casting too much shadow on the flowers and that they would be planted at other places around The White House. This answer, however, didn’t put those concerned about the Rose Garden’s new look at ease.

Flickr / Trump White House Archived

Among the rest, Melania strengthened the infrastructure around the garden, set up new cameras, audio visual equipment, paving, drainage and lighting. She also made the place more accessible for people with disabilities. One of the things she also added was the limestone walking path bordering the central lawn, flanked by treeless beds.

The Rose Garden isn’t just a place for enjoyment. It is also where many conferences and other special occasions take place.

“Decades of use and necessary changes made to support the modern presidency have taken a toll on the garden and have made it more difficult to appreciate the elegant symmetry of the Mellon plan,” the White House wrote in a press release. 

Flickr / Trump White House Archived

”If this isn’t a Marie Antionette moment I don’t know what is. Who cares about a redesigned rose garden when we’re in the middle of a pandemic, 175k+ people are dead and millions are out of work?” New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow tweeted. And he wasn’t the only one who showed their rage at Melania.

Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian and author, called Melania’s redesign of the garden an ”evisceration.” “Evisceration of White House Rose Garden was completed a year ago this month, and here was the grim result—decades of American history made to disappear,” Beschloss wrote on Twitter.

The Rose Garden in 1988 / The U.S. National Archives

Melania, however, didn’t respond to the criticism, but now, as a year passed by since the redesign of the garden and people still lash out at her, she decided to answer back.

Her office posted a photo of the garden with all of the roses lifted up high in their glory and charm and tweeted back at Beschloss: ”@BeschlossDC has proven his ignorance by showing a picture of the Rose Garden in its infancy. The Rose Garden is graced with a healthy & colourful blossoming of roses. His misleading information is dishonorable & he should never be trusted as a professional historian.”

Jill Biden seems to be one of those people who appreciate what the former First Lady did with the garden. Recently, she posted a photos of the beautiful flowers with the caption: “Spring is here at the @WhiteHouse!”

For one, we believe Melania Trump has an excellent taste and we know she has managed to put her personal touch on the Rose Garden.

Sosie Bacon, daughter of Kavin Bacon, pursued a career in acting and inherited her parents’ genes and talents

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, they say, and in the case of Sosie Bacon that turns to be very true. This incredibly talented young actress was lucky to inherit her famous parents’ genes and talents.

Sosie is the daughter of Kavin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, one of those Hollywood couples many envy because they stood the test of time and showed the world that celebrity couples do stay together forever.

When the couple first met, Kyra was still just a girl. She and her brother went to see a movie and met Kavin after. Around 10 years later, they bumped into one another again on the set of Lemon Sky but Kyra wasn’t into him and told Wide Open Country, “I vividly remember looking at his butt when he walked away after we first met and thinking, Well, I guess some girls like that.” She probably had no idea back then that Bacon would be the man she will spend her life with.

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Kevin and Kyra got married in 1988 and welcomed son Travis into their lives a year later. Sosie was born on March 15, 1992. Her mom revealed how her girl got the name after Sosie Hublitz, the art director of the movie Miss Rose White she finished filming shortly before giving birth.

Both Travis and Sosie acted along their famous mom in the movie Loverboy in 2005 which was directed by their dad. Travis, however, decided to pursue a career in music, while Sosie continued with her acting career.

Loverboy put Sosie under the spotlight and her performance impressed many, including The Closer‘s producer James Duff who invited the talented girl to step on-screen and offered her the role of Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson’s niece Charlie.

This role was even bigger breakthrough for Sosie, but as everyone was looking forward to her new projects, she decided to take a short break and finish her education.

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And the lols coming tumbling down! @kevinbacon

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Sosie took other roles and starred in a number of movies, “Basic Witches,” “Wishin’ and Hopin,’ “Lady Loney,” and “Another Life.” 

When she was 21, Sosie was awarded the Miss Golden Globe award and her father couldn’t be any happier for his girl’s success.

Speaking to MTV News, he admitted he was “actually sort of astounded at how easily she has slipped into this. The last couple of days, she’s been up at the crack of dawn and going around and doing interviews.”

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When she turned 22, Sosie was cast for the leading role in the independent thriller Off Season. More recently, she has appeared in the second season of the Netflix hit series 13 Reasons Why, and she’s featuring in the upcoming Charles Manson drama Charlie Says.

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Sometimes I can be fanci

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Fans agree that 28-year-old Sosie possesses exceptional acting skills and can’t wait to see more of her in the years to come.

Octuple boxing champion Manny Pacquiao builds 1,000 homes for the poor in the Philippines

When they earn enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives, some people get greedy and only want to see their fortune pile up, while others decide to share a large portion of it with the less fortunate.

The name Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao is one of the greatest in the history of boxing. Coming from a poor neighborhood in the Philippines and not being able to afford any commodities early in life, this man achieved what seemed unachievable for someone who struggled as much as him at the beginning.

Pacquiao is the sole eight-division world champion in the history of boxing and has won twelve major world titles. He has been inside the boxing ring with professionals such as Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Timothy Bradley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Showing incredible strength and out of this world moves and speed, Pacquiao made a name for himself and “boxed” his ways into millions of dollars.

The great thing about Pacquiao is that he’s more than willing to share those millions with his fellow Filipinos who are in need of help.

Believe it or not, so far, Pacquiao has helped build over 1000 homes in the Sarangani province, which is known to be one of the poorest in the country. He knows what it feels like to be homeless because until the age of 12, he didn’t have a roof over his head. But then, he learned he was great at boxing and his life changed for the best.

Pacquiao is aware he is one of the few lucky ones who escaped the poverty and he now shares his luck with those who need it the most.

Source: Facebook – Senator Manny Pacquiao

For more on this incredible athlete and his impact on the rural parts of his native country please check out the video below.

A story worth sharing, don’t you think so?

Madonna’s new boyfriend is 35 years her junior – is age just a number for the Queen of Pop?

How would you react if your son is dating someone 35 years their senior? Maybe you will get mad and you won’t be glad, but Drue, the father of Madonna’s new boyfriend doesn’t feel that way, and as a lot of people are attacking the pop icon, 27-year-old Ahlamalik “Malik” Williams’ parents are happy he’s dating the star.

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Madonna first rose to fame with her incredible dancing skills. In fact, while at university, the Michigan native was offered a scholarship on their dance program, which she was more than happy to accept. However, she always knew she was born for great things so she went to the city where all dreams come true, New York.

It was Dan Gilroy whom she dated during the late ’70s that introduced Madonna to music and offered her the position of a lead singer in his band. She was later part of other bands including Madonna & The Sky and The Millionaires before she started a solo career.

Youtube/ninzter

During a 2015 interview with Vice, the Queen of Pop recalled her beginnings in the music industry. “It wasn’t until I really decided to switch into being a musician and a songwriter, and I moved to the Lower East Side, that I started meeting artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.”

“While I felt we all fed off each other’s energy and we were all inspired by each other and jealous of each other, collaborating with each other, I had no idea then what their place in the world would be now. But not my own, either. So we were just artists having fun, happy that anyone was interested in our work.”

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It was in 1993 that Madonna released her first out of 14 studio albums simply titled Madonna.

This album was a huge hit and people from all over the country learned of her name. During an appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, when asked about her ambitions regarding music, Madonna said, “To rule the world.” These words became reality and many magazines often refer to this interview when speaking of her incredible success.

Instagram/madonna

“I may have been insecure, I may have felt like a nobody, but I knew I had to do something,” Madonna told The Guardian on the classic quote. “If I was going to make something out of my life, I had to, you know, hurl myself into the dark space, go down the road less traveled. Otherwise, why live?”

Her second album, Like a Virgin, reached the top of the charts and she sold over 3.5 million copies thus cemented her place in the world of music forever. She’s still the one and only Queen of Pop music and it seems like a lot of water will pass under the bridge before someone takes her spot.

Youtube/madonna

When it comes to her private life, Madonna never really kept it private. She was married twice. Her first husband is actor Sean Penn with whom she was together for four years before she married director Guy Ritchie with whom she has son Rocco. Madonna has another biological child, daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, and four adopted children.

Her love life has always sparked controversy, and today, she’s dating her dancer Ahlamalik Williams, 27. The couple was first spotted together last year and they are no longer hiding that they are together.

Instagram/Madonna

Malik first met the superstar back in 2015 when he was part of her Rebel Heart Tour. In 2017, he wished her a happy birthday on his Instagram and now, they share a lot of photos of one another.

He has a very successful career as a dancer and his videos of complex dance routines stun millions. Malik, who is from California, moved to Las Vegas to work as a street performer and was later part of Cirque de Soleil’s Michael Jackson: One show.

Among those who criticize Madonna for dating someone that young is Wendy Williams. “He is three years older than her daughter, Lourdes. They’re all on the same vacation, and there’s old grandma booed up with a 25-year-old,” Wendy Williams told Hollywood Life. “You know what, she’s become that old lady that I feel bad for. Because, I don’t think she understands that it’s ok to grow older gracefully. Like, we do stuff, we go through stuff. If a 26-year-old girl is lucky, she’ll live to be 61 like you, Madonna. It’s ok!”

Madonna was dating young men in the past as well. At the time she was together with another of her dancers, 24-year-old Brahim Zaibat, she told The Billboard, “I didn’t write down on a piece of paper, I’m now going to have a relationship with a younger man. You see, that’s the romantic in me. I just met someone that I cared for. This happens to be his age, I don’t want to live life on my own. I love being a mother, but I need a partner in life.”

Well, for some, age is just a number, and Madonna has obviously found her happiness with Malik.

Meet Chad Dean, the man who lost over 400 pounds on “My 600-lb Life”

Dr. Nowzaradan, or “Dr. Now” as we all know him, is probably one of the most famous bariatric surgeons out there. This incredible man has helped change the lives of a number of people from all over the country who struggle with their weight. We love watching him in one of the most popular TLC shows, My 600-lb Life.

One of the participants of the show who was given a new lease on life is Chad Dean, a Maryland man who weighted 701 pounds at his heaviest.

Youtube/BCN7

According to Chad, he has always been big, even when he was very young. That, however, didn’t stop him from playing football and being active during his childhood. But as time passed by, he started eating more and more junk food and reached 400 pounds. Chad tried following into his father and brother’s footsteps and became a chef, but his back problems prevented him from pursuing a career in the culinary industry. Instead, he became a truck driver and spent most of his days sitting behind the wheel.

During the time he worked as a driver, Chad gained 300 more pounds and weighed 700. “On the road, you’re sitting all day long, so you’re grabbing soda, chips, pizza, McDonald’s, things that are easy to eat,” he explained. “That’s what’s available at the truck stops.”

On top of that, he once fell from the edge of the truck and got a nasty injury which forced him to stay home. This only made things with his weight worse. “For the driving-test component, I climbed up the side to get in the truck, and I just fell over backwards,” he recalled. “My pride was shattered. The one thing I really enjoyed doing, I couldn’t do again.”

Youtube/BCN7

As both Chad and his family realized he couldn’t be living that kind of life any longer, his wife Ayesha recorded a video of him and sent it to TLC. That was the start of the first day of this man’s new life.

Once he got accepted on the show, the family moved to Texas and met with incredible Dr. Now.

“When he accepted me as a patient — that right there was the reality check,” Chad told Men’s Health. “To have someone take an interest in helping me when no one else wanted to, you can’t put a price tag on it.”

Facebook/ChadDean

After Chad lost 51 pounds on his own, he was ready to go under the so much wanted bariatric surgery, a procedure which makes the part of the stomach which receives the food smaller and helps achieve weight loss.

Believe it or not, over the years, Chad lost over 400 pounds. In the beginning he still had a hard time walking, but he never gave up. Thanks to Dr. Now and his personal trainer Brad Tillery, Chad gained back his body’s functionality.

“Never in a million years did I ever expect myself to be smaller at the age of 46 than I was at age 18,” Chad said. “Right now, from what my life used to be, I’m in heaven.”

Speaking to Men’s Health, the trained said: “With so much extra weight, he wasn’t able to move really well, so we did a combination of strength training, muscle training, conditioning, and kind of moved forward from there. He came in about three to four times a week.”

Facebook/ChadDean

The best thing about Chad is that he manages to control his weight now and haven’t gained any additional pounds in years. His meals mainly consist of healthy food, and that includes meat, fish, and lots of vegetables.

Of course, like any other human being, Chad eats junk food every once in a while, but he learned how to control his craving. “I try to take my mind off of the cravings,” he explains. “Whether it’s lifting weights or turning the radio up, you just have to get your mind off of it. And I try to reward myself once a month, but the day I do reward myself, I exercise a little bit more.”

Facebook/ChadDean

Today, when Chad has the control over his life again, he’s helping others achieve their goals and lose weight. His journey is an inspiration for millions who have seen the show. He has written a memoir, I’m In Here Somewhere: Memoir of a Food Addict, where he speaks of his struggles and what kept him going.

Its description reads, “Chad’s greatest hope is that others may learn from his mistakes, recognize their own decline into addiction, and pass on the knowledge to others that are still in gripping denial.”

Youtube/Life&Style

“Mine was an extreme case; however being even 40-50 pounds overweight is leading to, or already causing, internal issues,” Chad said in an interview with The Ashely’s Reality Roundup. “I wrecked my spleen and liver, which are now thankfully recovered. Every day I thank the stars that I didn’t annihilate my heart. Think about the stress to your ligaments and bones.

“Yes, it’s hard to change your lifestyle,” he added. “But it’s even harder to try to recover what you’re steadily destroying day by day.”

Posted by Chad Dean on Saturday, 22 September 2018

Today, Chad is again working as a truck driver. He’s healthy and happy!

22-month-old Russian girl who spent 4 days in the woods vows to “never run away from mom again”

Believe it or not, a 22-month-old girl from Russia who wandered into the forest last Tuesday was found safe and sound after four long days. Little Lyuda Kuzina managed to survive without food or water, although searchers believe she drank water from the streams. Her body was covered in insect bites, and luckily, she somehow stayed away from the wolfs and the bears the Tyomkinsky area is knows for.

Lyuda was playing in the garden with her 4-year-old sister while her mother, Antonina Kuzina, was chatting to a neighbor when the girl headed towards the woods.

Hundreds of professionals and volunteers joined the search. They all feared the worst when they failed to locate the toddler the first day as the nights dipped down to 50 degrees.

“There was such despair when she was lost,” Antonina said, as reported by the Mirror. “So many people were looking and not finding her, we thought maybe she had been knocked by a car or kidnapped. After three nights in the forest, of course, we already thought that at best we will find her unconscious. On the second night there was a heavy shower, and the third night was cold.”

On the fourth day, the search team stopped to take a rest when they heard a noise. To their surprise and huge relief, it was Lyuda.

“The volunteers told me they hadn’t been far away from the spot on the first day,” Antonina said, according to BBC. “It was only on the fourth day when they heard a ‘squeak’ that they found her in some branches under a tree.”

The moment they spotted her, the search team assured Lyuda that everything was going to be just fine. They told her she was the bravest girl in the Universe. She, on the other hand, started telling them fairytales and told them she was a princess.

“Lyuda immediately stretched out her thin arms and snuggled tightly to her rescuers,” a member of the search team told a local newspaper. “Everyone cried — experienced and first time volunteers, local residents, everyone was sobbing.”

Lyuda was taken to the hospital where she recovered from the bug bites and nettle rashes.

“She’s quite adamant she’ll never run away from Mum again,” Antonina said, according to the BBC. “Although quite how long she’ll remember that promise, I have no idea. But at least she says so.”

We are glad Lyuda was found and we hope she would keep her promise to never embark on such a scary adventure again.

School cafeteria employee fired for giving hungry boy free food

As kids, we were often told how an act of kindness can go a long way, but it turns out that these days being kind may get you into trouble. 

Bonnie Kimball is an awesome lady who worked at the school cafeteria of Mascoma Valley Regional High School. She really loved her job, although she was given wide array of responsibilities that included operating the cash register, selling drinks, making ice-cream and smoothies, and more. 

“We didn’t even call it work. We got up in the morning, we took care of our families and we went to take care of the kids,” she said during an interview. 

Source: GoFundMe

One day while on the job, a student filled his lunch tray with items worth $8 but didn’t have the money to pay for them. After he told Bonnie about it, she said he could have them and asked him to tell his mom about it so that she could add money to his account. 

Bonnie simply couldn’t let the boy stay hungry and she was certain his parents would pay for the lunch as soon as he informs them about it, which is exactly what happened. 

This kind act of hers was noticed by the district manager of Café Services – the food services company that employed her, and he believed what Bonnie did was simply wrong. So instead of a praise, she was given the sack. 

This happened on March 28, only a day after she let that boy eat the lunch his parents paid for as soon as they were notified about it. 

Bonnie recalls how the manager walked past her that day and asked her what was on the boy’s tray. The following day she was handed a letter of termination and was told “not to cause any scenes with the contract.”

“‘Do you understand what you did was wrong? That was theft,’” Bonnie said she was told.

Café Services released a statement once Bonnie’s case was exposed to the public. A spokesperson said that they “would never authorize an employee to not feed a student or staff member a meal.” 

Jaime Matheson, the director of human resources, added:

“Although we are not at liberty to discuss the confidential details regarding an employee’s employment or termination from employment, we can share that the company has policies and procedures in place that are shared with and acknowledged by team members.”

“When established policies and procedures are not followed corrective action is put in place up to and including termination.”

Source: GoFundMe

The letter of termination, however, clearly stated that the reason for Bonnie losing the job was the incident with the boy. This is what it read:

“On March 28, a District manager was on-site and witnessed a student coming through the line with multiple food items that you did not charge him for. This is a strict violation of our Cash Handling Procedures, the Schools Charge Policy and Federal Regulation governing free meals.”

Two colleagues of Bonnie who said they would act the same if they were her quit their job as a sign of protest against the company and its ridiculous policies.  

“These guys really took care of our kids. They put our kids first and their focus was really our kids,” Christina Moodie, a mom of a student from the school said. 

Bonnie really misses being around the kids. One may say her job wasn’t anything special and she can always find another one, but the fact is that she really enjoyed working there and she now feels really sad. 

“I’m just dealing with so much right now: the public, paperwork. One minute I’m mad and the next minute, I just want to forget it all happened. I guess I’m mourning my job,” she said.

The school district has nothing to do with the incident as Bonnie was hired and later fired by the Café Services. But the school renewing their contract with Bonnie’s former employers speaks of the fact that they didn’t really care for Bonnie’s case. 

However, after the story spread around, the mother of the boy in question was reported to have shared on Facebook that Bonnie giving her son a free meal wasn’t why she was fired. “I have three children, and they are all well-cared for and well-fed,” the mother told the Union Leader, as quoted by The Washington Post. “She did not get fired for feeding a hungry child.”

The president of the Café Services, Brian Stone, on the other hand, claimed that Bonnie had given the teenager much more than just one meal. “This student hadn’t been charged for anything for the previous three months,” Brian said. “This employee was dishonest and was let go for not following procedures.”

Do you believe Bonnie’s termination is unjustified? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. 

Off-duty officer notices a distressed mother with her baby chocking and turning blue – He grabs the baby and performs CPR

Police officers are those people who go above and beyond for the safety of the members of their community, not because their job requires them to do so, but because they are simply used to doing good and being there for people in trouble.

As officer Gilbert Troche of the San Pablo Police Department was out with his family, he noticed a woman by the side of the road. She was standing next to her car and had her baby in her arms. From what officer Troche could see, the woman was clearly distressed and in need of help.

“She appeared to be crying hysterically,” he said, according to KRON-TV. “She was holding her baby kind of against her shoulder, so I stopped the car, I jumped out, and I went over to her.”

Without hesitating, he rushed towards her and asked her if everything was okay, but it was then that he noticed her baby wasn’t breathing.

Officer Troche grabbed the little one and started performing CPR. He then told the mother to call 911. Luckily, the baby’s throat cleared up, it threw up, and then started crying. It was the sound everyone was hoping for.

The department shared the incredible story on their Facebook page, praising Officer Troche’s brave act.

“This past weekend our very own Officer Troche was out enjoying his time off with his family when they came across a mother stopped on the road in a state of distress.

“Officer Troche realized her baby was having a medical emergency and he leapt into action. He began life-saving measures on the infant and was able to get the baby breathing again.

“Officer Troche’s heroic actions are nothing short of a miracle and we are extremely proud to have him as a member of our Police Department. His quick thinking and decisive action no doubt saved a life.”

Needless to say, he was dubbed a hero by everyone who has stumbled upon the uplifting story.

“I definitely don’t feel like a hero,” Officer Troche said. “I think that anybody in that situation that [had] seen her there as distraught as she was would have probably tried to do the same thing.”

Thank you, officer.

Officer who shot Ashli Babbitt in Capitol riot speaks of the events which led to his decision to fire a shot

Seven months have passed since the Capitol riots during which five people lost their lives. One of them was Officer Brian D. Sicknick who was severely injured while physically engaging with the rioters who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential elections.  

“He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” the Capitol Police statement said at the time of his death.

Three other people were reported to have died of “medical emergencies,” according to the police. The fifth person who lost their life during the riot was 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt from Huntington, Maryland, an ardent Trump supporter who held strong political views.

Babbitt was fatally shot in the shoulder by a member of the US Capitol Police. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Months after the fatal riots, the officer who shot her, Lt. Michael Byrd, gave interview to NBC News’ Lester Holt and spoke of the shocking events that led to his decision to fire a weapon, calling it his “last resort.”

“I tried to wait as long as I could,” he revealed during the interview. “I hoped and prayed no one tried to enter through those doors. But their failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers.”

It was his responsibility to protect the House members who were inside the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.

“Once we barricaded the doors, we were essentially trapped where we were,” Byrd said. “There was no way to retreat. No other way to get out. If they get through that door, they’re into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress,” he added.

Byrd told the lawmakers to take off their pins and “blend” with the staff members in case they get close to the rioters. He was only able to know what was going on from what he could hear from the police radio; screams by his fellow officers who were attacked with chemical agents.

“It was literally broadcast over the air,” Byrd recalled. “I said, ‘OK, this is getting serious.’”

As rioters started smashing the glass doors in an attempt to get their way into the chambers, Babbitt climbed through one of the doors. After pleading the mob to get back, Byrd fired the gun.

Once the public learned it was him who killed Babbitt, he and his family started getting life threats on a daily basis. No matter how devastated he felt, Byrd says he believes he did what he had to. “I know that day I saved countless lives,” he said. “I know members of Congress, as well as my fellow officers and staff, were in jeopardy and in serious danger. And that’s my job.”

Byrd has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Justice Department and the Capitol Police. He claims that he had never had a political agenda, something he’s been accused of. On the contrary, when Trump was president, he escorted him through the Capitol numerous times.

“I do my job for Republican, for Democrat, for white, for Black, red, blue, green. I don’t care about your affiliation,” Byrd added.

He wants people to understand that he was only doing his job the best he could. There was imminent threat and danger to the members of Congress, and he only did what he believed was the right thing to do. He concluded his interview saying: “I just want the truth to be told.”

Byrd has been serving as an officer for 28 years.

Man on a mission to locate his daughter spots truck stranded in floodwaters – saves couple and their three dogs

The floods which struck Tennessee claimed many lives and destroyed a huge number of houses and properties.

Despite the terrifying road conditions, a man named Tyler Stanley started his car and went to check on his daughter who was affected by the rising water. He took his mother with him and hoped he would reach his girl on time. As they were driving along the train tracks, which were elevated above the water, they spotted an elderly couple and their three dogs stuck inside a nearly submerged truck.

Although he was in a rush to get to his daughter’s place, Stanley was aware that time was running out for the couple, and in case he didn’t stop and try to save them, they could easily drown.

Bonnie and Doug Whitfield, 71, noticed Stanley stopping his car. They felt relieved knowing they were now standing a chance to be saved.

Stanley threw a rope towards Bonnie and Doug and told them to hold onto it and let the current drag them near him. It was then when he managed to pull them to safety. The three pups were rescued too.

“My goodness, this guy — you know, he stopped to help us when he was trying to find his children, you know,” Doug recalled. “He was, he — he was on a mission, a, a dire mission himself, you know.”

After the successful rescue mission, Stanley managed to locate his daughter, and they were all able to get home safely.

As for Bonnie and Doug, all of their 12 properties were completely flooded and destroyed, but they were lucky to be alive. Their children got into contact with Stanley and thanked him for saving their parents from certain death. They told him that they consider him family now and will be sending Christmas presents every year.

“And the dogs, too. He saved the dogs,” Bonnie said. “I would say, I love you, 10,000 angels around you.”

“He’s very kind-hearted,” Doug added. “[A] real gentleman.”

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