9 adorable pics of a Brazilian rugby player getting proposed to by her girlfriend.

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'I wanted to show people that love wins.'

There were tears, laughs, and balloons after the Brazilian women's rugby team finished playing on Aug. 8, 2016, at the Rio Olympics.

But none of that had anything to do with the team snagging a medal (Team Brazil finished ninth, after all).

It had to do with one couple's very special moment.

Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images.

Player Isadora Cerullo was brought to tears because she'd just been proposed to by her girlfriend, Marjorie Enya.

Cerullo had just worked her magic on the rugby pitch, and Enya is the manager at the Olympic venue where the women's matches went down.

So the scene really couldn't have been more fitting.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images.

The couple, who both live in Sao Paulo, have been together for two years.

Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images.

And under the bright lights of Deodoro Stadium, they decided to make it official.

Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images.

"I know rugby people are amazing and they would embrace it," Enya said about the proposal, according to the BBC. "She is the love of my life."

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images.

Two women kissing on the world stage shows just how far we've come when it comes to LGBTQ rights and visibility.

Throughout the past 15 years, marriage equality has crept across much of the globe, predominantly in Europe and the Americas. Currently, same-sex marriage is legal nationwide in 21 countries (and counting).

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images.

But the global spread of marriage equality doesn't tell the whole story.

Progress usually results in pushback — and it has certainly, and unfortunately, been the case when it comes to the rights of LGBTQ people.

Homosexuality is still banned in far more places than where same-sex marriage is recognized. In several countries, it's punishable by death.

And while many Americans celebrated the Supreme Court decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide, a global push for more tolerance by the Obama administration may be causing more harm than good in certain regions of the globe, as it's "triggered people’s defense mechanism" against progress.

In the U.S., the rise of costly, transphobic "bathroom bills" shows how an unintended consequence of progress is oftentimes emboldened bigotry. And in Brazil — where Enya and Cerullo's engagement was largely met with elation and where same-sex marriage has been legal since 2013 — an alarming rise in anti-LGBTQ violence has put many officials on edge.

The current global climate of LGBTQ rights and protections is far more complicated than many people realize.

Despite the challenges that remain, however, Cerullo and Enya's beautiful engagement reflects a world that's, overall, becoming increasingly open to LGBTQ love.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images.

And the power of that moment certainly wasn't lost on Enya, who said she wasn't nervous to pop the question so publicly.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images.

As she noted, "I wanted to show people that love wins."

It seems like she did just that.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images.

Joy

Woman builds an elaborate hotel in her yard for stray cats to stay cozy through the winter

People are calling it "Hotel Catifornia" and "The Fur Seasons."

A woman in China provides a cozy home for stray cats in her neighborhood.

As winter approaches, people may wonder how stray animals stay warm and safe. Stray cats in particular are highly adaptable creatures and their home is the great outdoors, so most of the time there's not much that people need to do to protect them. But when temperatures dip to dangerous levels, caring humans naturally want to make sure strays have a place to go to get out of the harsh elements.

One woman has taken that desire to a whole new level with an elaborate cat apartment she built for the many stray cats in her neighborhood. We're not just talking about a shelter–it's like luxury hotel living for her feline friends. The apartment has multiple rooms, cushy blankets that get taken out and cleaned and even a temperature-controlled water source so they're always able to find drinking water in frigid temps.

Check this out:

from MadeMeSmile

The woman who built the apartment actually lives in China and shares videos on TikTok.

Welcome to the Meowtel Catifornia

Of course, the clever hotel jokes and puns started rolling in first thing:

'Welcome to the hotel catifornia."

"Such a lovely place."

"They can check out any time but they won't ever leave ^^"

"I prefer Hotel Calicofornia."

"Meowriott."

"Given my skill, mine would be more like Meowtel 6."

"Pawliday Inn.'

"The Fur Seasons."'

"Meowne Plaza."

People loved seeing the care and ingenuity she put into the "meowtel," as well as how happy the cats seem with the arrangement. In fact, some people were sure their own house cats would move out just to go live in this kind of cat commune.

"My cat just looked at me and sighed…"

"All the neighbours be looking for their cats and they’ve bailed to live at the kitty motel."

"They’d pack their little bags and move in without a second thought."

"They wouldn't even wait to pack their bags."

"Alright Carol it’s been real but we’re gonna head out. Found a great deal on a luxury apartment so yanno… take care."

@5fimnl9m
Create a single apartment on the third floor of a four story winter cat shelter for stray cats#fyp #cat #cute #Straycat#salvation

Cats live where they want when they want

Those people may have been joking, but several people shared that their cats really did ditch them to go live with neighbors who had more desirable living situations.

"I’ve had two cats do this. One was annoyed at our second dog’s puppy energy so she moved in with an older lady a street over. We used to see her all the time until she passed. The other missed our kids being little so she moved next door where there’s a little girl. We talked to both neighbors and said if they get sick of them to let us know and we’ll take them back but both lived the rest of their lives with their new families."

"One of our cats moved next door because he loves children and wanted to be with the little girl next door. Because it’s a very small village, he goes to the school most days to wait for her and they come home together. School is 3 buildings away."

"We had a cat do the same thing about 20 years ago. She hated the barks of our new puppy and would put her paw on his mouth to try and stop it. One day, she slipped outside and I found her a month later, two streets over, hanging with a couple who didn’t have a dog. They said she just showed up at the door and moved in. I gave them all her cat food and hope she had a nice quiet life."

@5fimnl9m
After two months of production and renovation, the basic facilities for wintering stray cats in the courtyard are almost complete#fyp #cat #cute #Straycat #salvation

Is it a bad idea to feed and shelter stray cats?

People have differing opinions about whether it's good to feed stray cats or not, as cats can cause problems for local wildlife and it's not great to encourage an increasing stray cat population. However, there are responsible ways to care for stray cats, which includes spaying and neutering those in your area.

According to the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, here are the best practices for feral and stray cats:

- Spay/neuter to prevent additional litters

- Find homes for friendly cats

- Feed outdoor cats on a schedule

- Remove food & dishes when they are done eating

- Pick up scraps and keep the feeding area tidy

- Provide fresh water

- Provide a warm place for the cats to sleep

So go ahead and care for those kitties and keep them warm through the winter—just make sure they can't make any more kittens.

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animals

Family

Appalachian husband saves cooler of wife's breastmilk by hauling it over raging flood waters

“As someone from Appalachia this is proof to our ingenuity and GRIT,” one viewer wrote.

@supersingleton/TikTok

Talk about resourceful.

Mere days before Florida was hit by Hurricane Milton, Helene, a Category 4 and the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina, raged through other southeast states—hitting North Carolina the hardest.

But one video, shared by Emily Singleton, captures just how resilient and resourceful Appalachian folks are when it comes to protecting their families.

Speaking to PEOPLE, Singleton shared that the day two of her close friends, Josh Johnson and Graham Avery, were trying to save the breastmilk of Graham's wife, Logan Avery.

They needed to get the milk out of the Avery house, which had lost power, and into their in-law's house, which had a generator. With the floods making the bridge out of their house inaccessible and fallen trees everywhere, this would be no easy task.

Still, Johnson and Avery were able to put the breast milk in a cooler, along with some frozen meats to keep the milk. They then used a rope pulley system—Avery on one side, Johnson on the other—to guide the cooler across a raging Roaring Creek.

As Singleton’s caption put it, this was just good old fashioned "Appalachian folks makeshifting ways.”

She also told People that the river was not only a transportation system, the cool waters also helped preserve the milk. that ‘s a little trick that all the “Mamaws and Papaws had to do growing up.”

The video struck a sense of pride for fellow Appalachians.

“As someone from Appalachia this is proof to our ingenuity and GRIT,” one viewer wrote.

Another echoed, “Appalachia was settled off this same grit, determination, and sense of community. Seeing everyone helping, rigging up pulley systems. Makes me even prouder to be from there.”

Another even shared that “we [Appalachians] have been doing this with moonshine for years. People in these mountains will make a way one way or another. Always.”

And those not from Appalachia were moved after seeing the way this community looked out for one another.

“I know mama is so appreciative. The testimonies you all are going to have after this horrible situation is over are going to be so amazing!” share one person.

“This hurts my mama heart, but makes me so proud to be an American. THis is what it’s about,” said another.

Singleton also joked in her caption that this family should be sponsored by Yeti, which sells ultra-durable coolers, drinkware and bags. Seems like they more than earned that.

To learn more about how to help with relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts from Hurricane Helene, click here.

From Your Site Articles

parenting

Family

Mom took heat for cleaning her teen's bedroom. Her response was a lesson in grace.

She won the #CleanTok controversy.

@organizedchaos4/TikTok

"It costs you nothing, and it creates this ripple effect of kindness."

The corner of the internet devoted to grime and muck being scrubbed away to oh-so satisfying perfection, otherwise known as #CleanTok, is mostly wholesome, cathartic fun. But every once in a while, controversy comes in.

For a mom named Audrey (who clearly has a passion for cleaning hacks, given her TikTok handle of @organizedchaos4), that moment came after she filmed herself doing a deep clean on her 12-year-old daughter’s room. Several people chimed in to accuse her of spoiling her kid, essentially.

Granted, Audrey admitted that she had posted the video “hoping that the trolls would get those thumbs a-movin’.” So when they did indeed come after her, she was ready.

“I surprised my daughter by cleaning her room for her. She's been getting herself up for 6 a.m. practices, she gets herself to school, she's out of the house before the rest of us have even woken up,” Audrey says in the clip.

“Keep in mind she's 12. In return for all that she's been doing, I thought it would be a nice treat if I just did a quick speed clean of her room. It was no big deal.”

Audrey goes on to say that the point of her follow-up video was to reiterate the importance of “extending grace.”

@organizedchaos4 When we throw empathy out the window, we throw grace out the window. If you saw the video and your first reaction was to say, “why isn’t she doing it herself?” Ask yourself, “have I EVER left a room messy because I was overwhelmed, tired, busy?” If so, then you are in no position to judge a child for the same thing. #grace #kindness #help #parenting #cleaning #kids #mom ♬ original sound - Organized Chaos | Audrey

That's what I did for my daughter. She had fallen behind on her room and I helped her.,” she says. “It costs you nothing, and it creates this ripple effect of kindness. We all have setbacks, we all have failures, we all make mistakes and if you say you don't you're lying. By extending grace we are spreading kindness, we are spreading compassion. If you can't extend grace to your own children then there's no way you're going to extend it to anyone else in the world and that's a scary world to live in.”

Audrey then argues that being kind to others often makes it “easier” to be kind to ourselves, which is “vital for our mental health.”

She then concludes, “so if you watched the video yesterday or you're watching this one today and you're thinking negative thoughts, ask yourself, ‘Am I quick to judge, be resentful, be negative or am I quick to extend grace or ask yourself have I ever stumbled and wish grace had been extended to me?’”

Down in the comments, we see that Audreynis certainly not alone in her thinking.

“Kindness costs nothing and provides everything,” one person wrote.

“This will only inspire your daughter to keep working hard and give back when she has a chance to, and know she can rely on you when she struggles,” added another.

Several other moms even chimed in about doing something similar for their kids.

“Exactly I did the same thing for my 23-year-old daughter who works full-time and is a full-time college student. She’s 100% independent. I just want to take some off stress off her plate,” one mom shared

Another said, “I do this for my daughter still, and it's her house.”

As with all things in parenting, balance is key. Of course we don’t want to instill laziness, but at the same time, kids can’t be expected to overachieve in all areas, at all times. Adults can’t even manage this without a little help. Sounds like this is truly a case of a good kid acting as responsibly as humanly possible, and a mom just wanting to help out where she can, all why'll teaching her the world can be a safe place. Hard to see anything wrong with that.

From Your Site Articles

9 adorable pics of a Brazilian rugby player getting proposed to by her girlfriend.

'I wanted to show people that love wins.'

There were tears, laughs, and balloons after the Brazilian women's rugby team finished playing on Aug. 8, 2016, at the Rio Olympics.

Player Isadora Cerullo was brought to tears because she'd just been proposed to by her girlfriend, Marjorie Enya.

The couple, who both live in Sao Paulo, have been together for two years.

And under the bright lights of Deodoro Stadium, they decided to make it official.

"I know rugby people are amazing and they would embrace it," Enya said about the proposal, according to the BBC. "She is the love of my life."

Two women kissing on the world stage shows just how far we've come when it comes to LGBTQ rights and visibility.

Progress usually results in pushback — and it has certainly, and unfortunately, been the case when it comes to the rights of LGBTQ people.

Despite the challenges that remain, however, Cerullo and Enya's beautiful engagement reflects a world that's, overall, becoming increasingly open to LGBTQ love.

And the power of that moment certainly wasn't lost on Enya, who said she wasn't nervous to pop the question so publicly.

As she noted, "I wanted to show people that love wins."

People are calling it "Hotel Catifornia" and "The Fur Seasons."

Welcome to the Meowtel Catifornia

Cats live where they want when they want

Is it a bad idea to feed and shelter stray cats?

“As someone from Appalachia this is proof to our ingenuity and GRIT,” one viewer wrote.

She won the #CleanTok controversy.

They're funny because they're true.

He covers many topics, but it's his hilarious parenting comics that are resonating with parents everywhere.

Gordon shared 15 of his oh-so-real comics with us. They're all funny 'cause they're true.

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I love Gordon's comics so much because they're just about the reality of parenting — and they capture it perfectly.

"THIS is the face of domestic violence."