Do you remember going to school? Sitting in class through lunchtime breaks and Physical Education and all the different events through the year, perhaps talent shows too. Simply the idea of being on stage was intimidating!

OK, so talent shows consist of either singing, dancing or playing an instrument and that pretty much covers it, but apart from showcasing talent the shows were a great way to show off to your schoolmates, the attention you got was pretty good too!

I really do think that these 10 year old boys that come from New Braunfels Christian Academy really did just that, they entertained, they impressed all their schoolmates, they, all in all, put on a great show in their school’s annual talent show.

These four boys had put a lot of time and effort too into their preparations for the amazing performance together and were really excited to see if their schoolmates would love it as much as they loved performing it.

The performance starts mysteriously with just a very big black sheet, everybody in the audience it quiet!

Then the sheet is pulled away, then there is nobody that is not laughing.

The boys didn’t go for the traditional talent show kind of thing, by singing or having an instrument, they thought up an original and incredibly funny performance, as babies in onesies and bibs, looking a little like puppets!

As soon as the music started it will crack you up, they are awesome!

The way they perform, right to the props and the choreography is just great, you will remember it for sure!

Have a look at their performances and you will see exactly, 1:50 will have you rolling on the floor!

As parents, we often take actions to prevent harm to our children, sometimes without thought to ourselves of the repercussions! This is just one of those times as this 56 year old mother jumped in with a knife in her hand to fend off three men gang raping her daughter.

One of the men died and subsequently the woman was arrested, however, the courts have now decided that she will not receive any time for the murder!

A South African woman was told by a friend of the terrible thing that was happening to her daughter, being gang-raped by three men, inside an empty house in part of a village called Qumbu.

The woman, 56, whose daughter was suffering the attack searched the house frantically only to find the three men and her distressed daughter. Without a thought, she quickly grabbed a knife and stabbed the three men to get them away from her daughter, one of the rapists died after the incident.

The mother was arrested and faced charges of murder and attempted murder for the part she played in the ordeal.

In South Africa, the case received a lot of attention, as well as international media too! The brave mother was nicknamed “Lion Mama”.

There were a lot of people who sympathized with the mother and there was a crowdfunding campaign set up to show their support and to pay her legal costs of around USD $ 10,000.

The mother’s lawyer said:

“She still needs to go for trauma counselling for her and her daughter. We have transferred the money that was paid to us to her for her wellbeing”

The Magistrates Court, Lady Frere, made an announcement that the woman was not going to be charged with the murder of the rapist and the other two men were arrested and await prosecution.

Talking publically to hundreds of her supporters outside the courthouse the mother said that she was completely touched by the public’s reaction and support.

She said:

“I felt like an old baboon that has no friends, but today you showed me I have people and that I was not alone. Thank you”

You can certainly say that this mother needed to save her daughter from the violence and stepped in without a thought for herself.

What would you do? Should she be locked up for the murder, share and support her!

Homeless people do have a way of drawing in those who want to genuinely help. Many of us only look at how they look outwardly but some of us make assumptions about them form how we think they ended up in the streets.

Nevertheless, even considering how that homeless person might have ended up on the streets, we find the love in our heart to give to them selflessly. On this note, there was one Facebooker who realized how important it is to do this!

A realtor in Jacksonville, North Carolina, called ShelbyLynn Henry Alexander went into detail about what exactly happened to her in January. She saw, while sat waiting at some traffic lights, a raggedy man standing with little clothes and it was only 30 degrees outside!

He had handwritten in big letters on a cardboard sign:

“Need a little help. Will pay it forward.”

Alexander went over to the guy, he had a dog that he wrapped in a blanket and decided to give him some money. She wrapped three bills around her real estate business card, and then for the times to come, maybe he would be in a better position and need a home.

Alexander drove off and as she did she said a prayer for him, she said about him:

“I never caught his name, but I remembered his face.”

Looking forward eight months and Alexander saw how much a simple prayer could change things, sure enough, she received a call one night from a client, at her office.

When Alexander arrived at the meeting with the client she noticed a dog poking his head out of the client’s truck. As the guy opened the truck door she noticed that is was the same guy she gave the money to earlier on that year.

This time around the guy was clean and dressed nicely, Alexander had a fearful thought that maybe it was a scam from the beginning, but then the guy, with tears in his eyes handed her back her card wrapped in three bills!

She was left completely speechless, she learned that he was homeless following a bad divorce. Present day he has a new job as an engineer, his life was back on track!

That day Alexander really learned to not judge anyone without knowing all about them and their circumstances, just pray and let God decide!

Do you remember the last time you left something important at home and had to turn back to get it? It’s completely maddening when this happens don’t you think?

There are some people that believe in fate and that there are no such things as coincidences, then there are some that things happen for a reason, like a grand ordained plan. Earl Melchert, whatever he believed before the September the 5th he now won’t ever grumble about such a mistake again.

Earl returned to his house in Barett, Minnesota at lunch to pick up diesel, in the distance he saw what looked like it could be a deer, but as he got closer he realized it was a person!

That deer that was a person was really a scared 15 year old girl called Jasmine Block, soaking wet and very nervous to take refuge inside Earl’s truck.

Earl recognised the girl straight away, he had seen her picture on the television news, flyers and all across the internet, missing from her home Alexandria, Minnesota since August 9th.

Jasmine said that the father, who was 32 years old, came to her housemate at night looking for her help with his son. Jasmine got inside the truck he was driving and went with him to his house in Carlos, Minnesota.

Jasmine was tied with zip ties one she got there! For a whole 29 days she was sexually assaulted by Baker and his two friends Michael Samuel Powers and Jason Lee Holby, 21 and 31 years old respectively. She was moved to many different locations regularly.

Jasmine feared for her life all the time she was kept there and told investigators that Baker tried to Kill her three times, once in a bathtub, but he was not strong enough with his cerebral palsy. The 5th of September the two men transported Jasmine in a duffel bag in a pickup truck…

Completely scared, Jasmine found her chance to make a run for it when the two men went inside a store, so when she was unsuccessful in getting help in nearby houses she swam across a lake to get to land near Earl’s home…

Her captors were looking for her, desperately, and she knew it, she was desperate to get inside Earl’s Truck, she pointed the men out to Earl and he called 911, when the police came, ultimately leading to the arrest of the three captors.

Powers came out and said that he had spent two weeks at baker’s house and been involved in sex with a child. Baker only admits to heavy alcohol and drug use but denies accusations of knowing Jasmine, and even denies picking her up or holding her against her will.

For Earl, and his part in helping the girl and calling the police he received $7,000 from Alexandria Police Dept which he immediately gave to Jasmine’s family as an anonymous donor!

Earl had retired the wekk beofre really surprised everyone when he just smiled and handed his cheque to Jasmine and gave her a huge heartfelt hug.

He said:

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,”

“What a retirement present, to hand over some money to people that really need it.”

If Earl had not left something at home and hadn’t had to return, then he would not have been able to save Jasmine’s life, The next time you double back just think, maybe it’s fate or part of a bigger picture!

Briana a soon to be a mother will have these four words, her mother in law said, imprinted in her thoughts forever “Austin had an accident”.

Brianna took the two hour journey to the hospital by car, her emotions were running high as she drove, without a single clue what was wrong with her husband. The baby she was carrying inside her was due in a few short weeks, they had excitedly anticipated the birth and new baby.

Squarely between life and death in an awkward balancing act, his brain had bled, the doctors were not sure why though at first.

Many tests later the doctors had eliminated drugs as the cause but they were able to give Austin’s family the reason why his brain had started to bleed like it did.

In order to push himself further and work more hours, especially with a daily commute, her husband had slipped into an energy drink addiction. Austin now faced a less than certain future, with many brain surgeries ahead of him, with the possibility of seizures and strokes.

Brianna wrote:

“But while everyone was focused on the almost unrecognizable face hooked up to all sorts of machines and tubes, all I could see was his parents”

Brianna’s heart couldn’t emotionally stand up to the gravity of the situation watching the grief on her in-law’s faces as they realized what was in store for him.

She went on to write:

“I saw the light leave his mother’s eyes as she saw her motionless son laying in that hospital bed”

“I saw his father break down crying as he held onto his wife.”

After two weeks her due date approached and he still had not woken up, she had to give birth without him there.

When her newborn baby looked up at her she wept with a bittersweet feeling, on one hand, the joy of the birth, but then the sadness of her husband too.

Brianna went on even more:

“But a beautiful miracle happened as I delivered our son, Austin woke up”

Months onward, eight to be more precise and Brianna finds herself caring for her baby and her husband, her husband is now a completely different man than she married, nevertheless, she falls more in love with him every day.

Brianna shared her final thoughts:

“Love is knowing you would sacrifice things that you didn’t even know you could sacrifice”

“Love is selfless.”

SHARE AWAY FOLKS!

We often don’t take the time to think about where all the food came from, especially when we sit down to eat it! Fresh vegetables and fruits are delicious, but we pay the price for them, the largest is to the farmer’s families!

To the farmer’s families, the sacrifice is great, that of a father working long hours and sacrificing his family time, either not realized or soon forgotten as we eat our food.

That is just the reason that the wife of one farmer decides to share the truth about her husband’s work on the farm after her difficult night trying to get the kids ready for bedtime.

Katie Spence Pugh, the Farmer’s wife was completely drained after a long hard day working, followed by an evening of looking after the kids, again without her husband’s help! Eugene her husband was, as is always, working his usual long hours in the fields and although his wife was frustrated she had a light bulb moment.

Katie went on to Facebook to let out her thoughts about the whole situation:

“I snapped this picture the other night at the end of a long day.

I was tired. I was irritated.

I had sent my husband a text telling him that I knew it wouldn’t make a difference, but I wanted him to know that I was feeling fed up with how much he works and with all that I have to do every day by myself.

The full-time job, cooking dinner, bathing kids, weekend trips without him, keeping up a home – you name it, I was resenting it. I have to have these little moments once (okay, several times) throughout planting and harvest season.

Then this happened.”

For Eugene, it really was the hardest time of year, with all the work he needs to do, but he had to keep on going for his family and the business.

Eugene wasn’t at all angry with his wife’s text, but simply sat down calmly to eat, for a little quiet time after a long difficult and wearing day doing all the farm jobs.

“He came in, fixed his plate and sat down to eat all alone. He was tired. He was hot. He was exhausted.

Rather than complain, he said he was sorry I was tired and felt that way.

Charlotte joined him and talked his head off and even ate most of his dinner. He didn’t complain. He shared, and it hit me. Do I wish that we saw him more than an hour or so a day? Yes. But, the love he has for his craft is something to envy.

Farmers work in a thankless profession. It’s always non-GMO this and organic that, and let’s not even talk about the stress from Mother Nature.

This is a man who is working to uphold four generations of blood, sweat and tears and showing his children the value of hard work and discipline. So while I felt frustrated, I really should have felt thankful.”
“I got to sit down to dinner and hear all the stories from the day with the kids. I got to give them a bath and hear their squeals and giggles. I got to snuggle and love on them for three hours more than he did. He is the one sacrificing, not me.

We will keep on keeping on until the next rainy day when we get a few extra hours with our hard worker. In the meantime, the next time you slip into that comfy cotton shirt or eat delicious farm fresh food, thank a farmer.

Where would we be without them?”

WIthout families like the Pughs then we wouldn’t have the fresh farm produce that we eat every day!

Even if things get difficult for them, Katie and Eugene will have each other to lean on for support – there will be no more frustration in their home.

Samoan Hotshot fire crew are completely accustomed to marching through the forest, most people don’t even give it a second thought. Their absolute favorite thing that they do was caught on camera and now it’s going viral!

These brave firefighters not only save people’s lives every day, putting themselves in harm’s way to save others, nut they are really talented singers too! They often project their powerful Samoan hymns as they are on the move….

A classic Samoan hymn that is popular with Samoan people is “Fa’afetai i le Atua”, which sounds a little bit like “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” it is all about saying praise to God for what he has given and its translated to something like:

“Thank God, that we grow, when he was free, to all of us”

This is the song in the video below starts by saying thanks to the son of God for coming from the heavens and to his soul for bringing success to their lives.

The forest fighters, who are incredibly brave and bold, they know how perilous their work is, saving others lives but too they also know that they have God to thank for protecting them in times of need.

Of course it makes perfect sense that they sing to the heavens to praise the Lord while on their merry way to the next place, it’s not only gracious but it’s magical echoing through the forest.

To gladly run into dangerous situations every day to help others takes amazing people, who are selfless and have God to help them out in times of need. Strong individuals with strong souls and their voices really are heavenly!

Four weeks of training is how long it takes before they are permitted to march through the forest together, with a more than significant bond they have developed, each depending on the other for their lives.

Have a look at them in their full mountainside sing song in the video below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De9hDyIN6JY

Getting up each morning, most of us think that the day is going to go just as planned, usually if we have a plan that is. Work, maybe for some of us, school, routine jobs, and other things. Now and again though something happens that we were not expecting and an ordinary day will become life changing.

One day when A son and his mother were going through the drive through at a fast food place, they hoped to have a delicious lunch, but instead and to their amazement, they left the restaurant with a lot more!

Landon and his mother Tara Routzong were in the drive through and saw something that drew their attention to the licence plate in front of them. As they patiently waited in the line at the ‘Chik-fil-A’ Tara and her son noticed something on the licence plate directly in front of them, something which drove them straight to take action!

The licence plate displayed the word ‘Florida’, but what was the reason that it was so interesting, after all we pass many licence plates every day, but Tara and Landon were feeling very downtrodden when they had the realization where the guy came from!

The sad news about the Hurricane Irma on television has touched us all, such a destructive storm as it passed through the Caribbean and finally landed on Florida, tearing up homes, lives and while communities too. So when Son and mother noticed the Florida plates right in front of them, they decided almost immediately and together to do a good deed.

Tara said on Facebook:

“Went to Chick Fil A for lunch today because yum. Landon saw the car in front of us was from Florida (we have been talking about Irma today) and he declared we were paying for their meal and I agreed.”

Then she said:

“But how do you pay for the car in front of you?? You run toward their window with a debit card in hand and scare the mess out of them lol”

The Florida guy felt very deeply moved by this gesture, so unexpected and beautiful was this act of kindness! The Floridian guy in the ‘Chick-fil-A’ drive-thru was actually fleeing the path of this crazy and terrifying hurricane…

“Landon and I both had tears in our eyes from how appreciative he was.”

Tara said, in her Facebook post:

“The man has left his home in Miami and was passing through to go stay with family in Birmingham. I told him we hoped he returned to his house untouched and that we’d keep him in our thoughts.”

The awesome kindness of his mother and son wasn’t expensive, but the gesture really made a difference!

The tragic events of the hurricane has really brought out the best in most of us, as humans, looking after other humans. People from all over the world and many different states are joining together to donate their time, help, personal things and belongings, and hard earned cash to help rebuild the lives of those suffering because of the hurricane.

Tara said:

“I often feel like I’m failing because I can’t do it all, all the time and then things like this happen and remind me that I don’t have to. My most important job is going just fine.”

Carmen Mendez and her boyfriend were on their way to get some fried chicken when they spotted a homeless woman near the entry, the woman was quite dirty but sober, she was standing quietly close to the trash asking people for their leftovers.

As everyone put their trash into the bin, they looked at her but just carried on throwing their food in the trash!

Mendez said on Instagram:

“Not one person said yes, they all ignored her and threw it away, it broke my heart” … “I have been volunteering with the homeless now for many years… they don’t repulse me or make me sick to my stomach. I hold them all with so much love.”

Carmen, who felt heartbroken by what was going on decided to give the homeless woman her leftovers if she was still there when she finished, but 20 minutes later she had gone!

She said:

“I looked for her as we were getting ready to leave and couldn’t find her” … “I felt sad knowing all the rejection she had that night searching for a warm meal.”

Sadly, Carmen was about to throw her food away when she heard a small voice say:

“Can I have your food?”

Without a moment of hesitation, Carmen gave her food to the woman with a big smile, but it just didn’t feel like it was enough.

Mendez said:

“I felt like a horrible human being feeding her my leftover chicken strip… she deserved so much more… so I bought her a whole meal… she deserved to eat a hot meal”

Carmen boldly went to the restaurant counter to get the woman a full hot meal, and politely asked the restaurant to let her stay to eat it! The woman was clearly in tears and appreciative of what was happening here.

Mendez then said:

“That hug she gave me was like a hug I had never felt… those tears she shed were felt deep in my heart”

“I held her tight and let her let it out. I wasn’t repulsed by it. I just held her. And that is a moment I will never ever forget. So next time you judge a homeless person, think twice… not all of them are homeless because of a drug addiction or because they are lazy.”

Most of us would agree that to give a homeless person money would be foolhardy or possibly feed some addiction, but no one could fault Carmen’s show of selflessness and compassion.

I hope it inspires more people to do the same in the spirit of humanity and the betterment of it!

Some North Carolina firefighters from the Apex firefighters department were completely stunned by the kindness of a random act of a woman at Walmart. It still remains a mystery to the identity of the woman, but firefighters hope that she will at least get their sincere message of thanks.

It all began when the crew from engine number 2, at Walmart buying some groceries had to abandon their groceries before they could even complete their purchase because of an emergency call. The left straight away for the emergency without a second thought.

The crew said to the Walmart cashier that they would be back to pay for their groceries before they quickly left, there was no time to spare at all, they had to leave straight away to the emergency call.

Firefighter, Andrew Baker said:

“It’s important to us,” …it takes no more than 90 seconds to leave on a call… “We take a lot of pride in trying to get out.”

When the fire crew returned to Walmart there was a surprise waiting for them, an employee, a woman, had paid for all of the groceries, with a note on the receipt saying “Thanks for all you do”.

All the crew asked who the woman was, but nobody knew who it was, the whole crew left feeling overjoyed and grateful for such a wonderful thing that happened.

Jeffery Jones, Firefighter said:

“The nice employees at Walmart told us that it was a lady behind us in line” … “But we never did actually get to meet her and tell her, ‘thank you.’”

The hope is that the storey will find its way back to the mystery woman and she will know that she is welcome to visit the fire station any time at all.

The firefighters said:

“We would like to tell her thank you from the bottom of our hearts”

Sadness and heartache are commonplace in the role of a firefighter, putting out fires, emergency calls, sickness and death are all too commonplace. So, such a simple gesture was really appreciated, for the whole crew to know they really are appreciated like this brings such light to the dark days they endure and make it all seem even more worthwhile.

Baker said:

“It makes me feel like there are still good people in the world” …“You don’t get that every day, so to me it gives you a warm feeling inside to know that people really do care about you.”

We will probably never know who the mysterious woman was, but her kindness is truly amazing and inspires all of us. Just also to realise that to make a better world we all need to give what we can to help others and to help the brave people, whether it is firefighters to army personnel who keep us safe and secure risking their lives for us.

A young teenage boy from Tasmania had a terrible accident with a laser pointer that caused him to lose about 75 percent of his sight, as reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Ben Armitage, an optometrist of 14 years to the family said:

“He came in to see me and on the Friday night he’d got a hold of a laser pen and unfortunately shined it in his eyes for a very brief period of time”

Ben took a photo of the boy’s eyes and discovered that he had burned his retinas and irrevocably damaged his eyes.

Ben had said that:

“Unfortunately, that’s the area where your detailed central vision takes place and therefore it’s had somewhat of an exaggerated effect on how much sight he’s lost”

The damage occurred immediately that the boy pointed the laser into his eyes, his vision was impaired exactly at that moment the laser light shone on the back of his eyes, he didn’t feel any pain but the damage had been done.

The part of his eyes that were damaged was an area called the macula, in cases like this that meant that the blindness was very likely to be permanent.

The optometrist, Ben, was hopeful that some of his vision may return once the swelling had subsided a little, however the boy had to be prepared for the fact that he may only live his life with 25 percent vision.

The Chief Executive of Optometry in Tasmania, Geoff Squibb, has since warned parents about the dangers of laser pointers and especially in relation to children, who don’t always really understand the gravity and seriousness of or trying foolish things like shining a laser into thier eyes.

He says:

“Parents are better off trying to warn children of them after this particular case where the future of a young person has been seriously affected.”

The repercussions of this can be absolutely devastating, what looks like a harmless toy is in fact a ‘silent destroyer’ of retinal components of your vision.

In 2009 Emily Gavigan, during her sophomore year at the University of Scranton, was alarmingly paranoid and regularly rambled. She was convinced that terrible things were about to happen to her family.

Emily’s parents were very concerned too but didn’t really know what to do, but the Gavigans were not able to turn a blind eye to the situation any more, especially when Emily mysteriously disappeared one afternoon!

For the afternoon in question none of the family were able to get in touch with her for a full 24 hours, until finally they got a call from Emily’s Grandparents in New Jersey to say that she had turned up there unexpectedly.

She had driven all the way to New Jersey from Pennsylvania without any money at all, flying through the tolls as she went without paying! WHen she arrived there she said that a truck had followed her all the way.

Grandfather looked out of the window for the truck, but he didn’t see any trucks, emily’s parents came to the conclusion that it really was the time to get her some professional help.

The doctors thought that Emily’s problems were psychological, like her parents had thought, and though they ran tests on her and tried various medcine, nothing seemed to have an effect.
The treatments, if anything, made Emily even worse and at this point the doctors thought that her condition may be physical in nature, like a tumor on the brain, but they couldn’t find any physical evidence that this was the case either.

The whole family tried everything they could, but desperately nothing really helped or got to the bottom of the problem and all the time Emily was still getting worse.

In a strange turn of events the family were alerted to an episode of the ‘Today Show’, and to their surprise and shock something made them sit up and pay attention!

The story they heard was of a New York Post reporter, Susannah Cahalan, she wrote an article about the time she spent a month thinking she was for sure losing the plot. The storey sounded very similar to what the family had experienced with Emily, which prompted the doctors to then run tests on Emily!

Susannah suffered from a condition of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, which causes the immune system to attack parts of the brain, causing neurological damage and strange behaviour.

Emily’s doctors were not receptive at all to the family’s suggestion and queries, they were convinced that the family were just grasping at straws.

After some time though Emily was in fact tested for the condition, and guess what, it was positive! Now Emily had not only a correct diagnosis but could be considered for treatment that could actually help.

The Long road to recovery had finally started and there was light at the end of Emily’s long dark tunnel, finally. She could at last begin to return to the life she had before the condition robbed her of her mental faculties.

And so in 2012, after Emily had recovered she then joined Cahalan on the ‘Today Show’ and shared her story too of how the show had really saved her life.

Many miles away in Omaha, Nebraska, another family, the Jensen family, were watching this time as the Gavin’s had previously. Their daughter Madison was going through the same sort of experiences and had the same symptoms Emily had.

Madison’s mother really didn’t know what was going on with her daughter, that is until she saw the show too. Then, after that, she felt positive that she had found what would also save her 6 year old.

Madison is the wonderful age of 10, and is living happily thanks to Cahalan and Emily sharing and talking about their stories on television. Her mother hopes that one day they will be able to also share Madison’s tale and again help someone else too!

Nickolas Conrad, a 15 year old boy from Arkansas was woken up suddenly in the night with the sensation of fire on his neck, like he had been set on fire.

The burning was intense, but he hadn’t been set on fire, it was his so called friends that had pranked him, but this wasn’t an ordinary prank, it was much more serious.

Nickolas said:

“I just want them to leave me alone. They’re not my friends anymore and they’re not going to be”

It’s been called by some the “Hot Water Challenge” where people are pouring boiling water on unsuspecting others…

Everyone is now being warned about a seriously dangerous new thing that is spreading via the internet.

Nickolas was a victim of the insane new trend that is going on.

One particular night after Nickolas had fallen asleep, his so called friends crept to get some boiling water from a microwave. It was really intensely hot when they poured the boiling water on him.

Nickolas said:

“I felt this really bad burning on my neck and when I woke up and I started screaming and crying. It was the worst pain of my life”

Nickolas’s so called friends had burned him before with a cigarette lighter, he just wanted to be left alone!

He Said:

“I just want them to leave me alone. They’re not my friends anymore and they’re not going to be”

Nickolas isn’t alone and their are others that have been really badly burnt or injured in this cray trend, an 11 year old girl called Jamoneisha Merrit was burned on her face when her so called friends threw boiling water at her.

In Florida a girl died, she was 8 years old and died because she attempted a version of the hot water challenge, her cousin challenged her to drink boiling water through a straw. Several months after the grave injuries she suffered she died.

Diane Johnson, the aunt of the little girl who died is now trying to raise awareness about this dangerous growing trend, and to make others realize the grave consequences.

Diane says:

“Parents, talk to your kids about these challenges. Don’t just give them your phone and let them go by. Watch what they are doing”

This really must STOP. Please share this article and raise awareness any way you can so parents will talk to their children and make sure they know how really dangerous it is!