“I think it’s a very, very cute idea…”
Viral: After Family Has First Baby Girl in 137 Years, Dad Can’t Believe What’s Plastered on Highway Billboard
The chances of giving birth to a boy or a girl is generally split 50/50. That’s why when the Setter family of Bluffton, South Carolina finally broke an uncanny 137-year-old streak of only boys, their friends had to do something extraordinary to mark the occasion.
“I just assumed I was going to have another boy,” said Kelen Settle, who already had three sons. When she opened a surprise box and pink balloons floated out, she was left speechless.
Kelen Settle’s husband, Will Settle, came from four generations of male-only children. Knowing their daughter would be a bit outnumbered, they decided to give her a fitting name.
“She’s going to have to be strong with all the men she’ll deal with in the Settle family,” said Will Settle. They chose the name “Carter” for the baby girl because it’s a “really strong name” that “you don’t hear every day.”
Kelen Carlock Settle posted: @arobach Little Carter says thank you for the well wishes 💝 we love watching each morning!
A few days after Carter Settle was born, Will Settle got a call from a coworker telling him there was another surprise waiting for him on a highway. Wondering what his friends might have been up to, Settle set out to find what further shock lay in store for him.
Settle, the director of sales for Marlin Outdoor Advertising shared with ABC News that, “The owner of the company said, ‘There’s a surprise for you between Bluffton and Savannah.’” Once he arrived, he couldn’t believe what he saw right on the side of the road: a giant pink billboard with his baby daughter’s face on it.
The 12-foot-tall and 24-foot-wide billboard read, “Welcome to the world Carter Louise Settle.” Will Settle had already received at least 15 calls and texts from other people who had driven past the conspicuous birth announcement.
“When I first saw it, it was an ‘Oh my God’ moment,” said Will Settle. “It is so pink [and] so large. It’s pretty obnoxious, I hate to say. It is so in your face, you wouldn’t believe it.”
“It’s just eye-catching,” said Ashley Fields, a resident whose home is located right next to the billboard. “That face: she is cute. And that name!”
Although shocked by the pink spectacle, Will Settle thanked his friends publicly for honoring his daughter. Will Settle shared a joke that his friend had made about the billboard: “What a great way to keep it low key,” he had said sarcastically.
“I think it’s a very, very cute idea,” said Kelen Settle, “and it’s going to be a fun story for her. It’s exciting.” Carter Settle is no ordinary girl, and so it was only fitting that she would receive a grand welcome.
This sign might just be the most memorable of the 900 billboards that Marlin has throughout Georgia and South Carolina. “If there’s a number two we’re going to have do a bigger billboard,” Will Settle joked.
Will and Kelen Settle broke a long-standing family tradition and made everyone all the more happy. And now every day Will Settle could enjoy seeing his daughter’s name and face while driving to work.
“When I saw that little girl’s toes, that became my baby.”
Viral: He Feels Something Brush on Leg in Water. Starts Screaming When He Sees Baby’s Foot Float to Surface
“If I was not in that right spot at the right time, it could have been a search and rescue mission,” Angelo Mondragon, a 32-year-old plumber from Fort Collins, Colorado, reported. In an interview back in July 2015, he told the Coloradoan that he was out swimming with family on a Sunday afternoon when he came across a frightening situation.
As Mondragon was “wanderring around in the waist-deep water” at the Windsor Lake Swim Beach, he felt something brush against his leg. “It felt like something you normally wouldn’t feel in the water,” he reported.
The man told KUSA-TV that he used his leg to kick up the object, and that’s when he noticed a baby’s foot float up to the surface. “I just dove in and my parent instincts took over. I grabbed her out of the water and screamed ‘Whose baby is this?’”
The little girl, 4-year-old Sitlali Hernandez, was carried back to shore as Mondragon yelled for help. He quickly realized that the toddler was motionless and started turning blue.
Two off-duty paramedics performed CPR on Sitlali until help arrived on scene. Once emergency personnel had her in their care, she was rushed to a nearby hospital and then later transferred to the Children’s Hospital in Aurora.
On that Monday, Mondragon went to the hospital to see Sitlali. The child was doing a lot better and doctors said she was going to be just fine.
Mondragon had a chance to meet and talk with Sitlali and her mother. When asked what made him leap into action, Mondragon said it was because of the relationship he had with his own family.
“When I saw that little girl’s toes, that became my baby,” he said. “She was my family and I did everything that I could, that I would do for my family.”
Sitlali’s mom, Emma, was extremely grateful for Mondragon’s quick response to rescue the drowning child. “You saved her. You saved her. You saved my baby,” she told him in an emotional reunion outside of the medical center.
While sitting with the youngsters in the hospital room, Mondragon felt that their bond would continue to grow even stronger with time. He said, “I just want her to know that we’re here for her and we’re going to see her all the way through her healing process and we’re going to watch her grow up.”
Although things turned out on a positive note for everyone involved, the incident may have never happened if the child wore a life vest, according to Mondragon. He decided to start an initiative with local businesses to provide life vests for non-swimmers who can’t afford to buy one.
Faith in humanity is restored each day by the good deeds we do for each others. This rescue story will forever be a reminder that decent people still do exist in the world and are Earth’s angels in disguise. We all have the power to save lives and give someone a second chance at life, just in the same way Mondragon did for little Sitlali.