In an Oklahoma City hospital, a group of nurses were attending to a soldier who showed up in a neck brace. The hospital had been very busy recently, and the nurses were working overtime in order to provide each patient with the proper care and treatment they deserve.
One nurse named Tammy Smith approached the soldier and asked him for his name and birthday. He replies with his birthday and informs the nurse that his name is Brandon Smith. Without a second thought, the nurse writes it down and moves on.
She was so busy that she did not recognize her own son’s face, name, and birth date!
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Brandon had been deployed overseas the past two years, and he thought it would be wonderful to surprise his mom for the holidays. Pretending to be an injured soldier, Brandon arrived at the hospital ready to shock his mother. Only, he didn’t expect his own mom to not recognize him at all!
When she finally realizes who he is, the two laugh and share a precious moment together. Mom is clearly elated that her son is home and back in time for the holidays!
Please SHARE this touching surprise with your friends on Facebook.
Anders said that he began seeing pennies as a reminder to stop and say a prayer.
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“If I would see a penny when I’m gassing up, on the ground, or in a store, it would be a reminder to stop right there and say a prayer,” Anders said to ABC News. “I never failed to do that. That’s why they had so much value to me.”
At no point during all of his penny-collecting did Anders accept coins as a gift from anyone else.
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“But I never allowed anyone, not even my wife nor children, to give me pennies without being compensated,” he continued. “I wanted the inner satisfaction that God and I acquired this collection.”
“I became convinced that spotting a lost or dropped penny was an additional God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful. There have been days where I failed to pray and more often than not, a lost or dropped penny would show up to remind me.”
Anders filled big water jugs with the coins he collected.
He said at one point his goal was to fill up 5 giant water jugs but once he had done that, he felt the urge to keep going.
He needed to go to the bank and turn them in or else he’d never do it.
At the time he finally went to the bank, he had filled 15 5-gallon jugs.
“I wanted to fill five five-gallon water jugs. That was the goal, but I couldn’t stop. … If I hadn’t turned them in yesterday, I was not going to stop.”
In addition to the intrinsic value Anders found in collecting the pennies, they also added up to have significant financial value.
After finding out his homeowner’s insurance policy wouldn’t cover his collection, he called the Origin Bank in Ruston, Louisiana, where he had been a customer for years.
Anders let them know he would be coming in with a large number of pennies.
They were happy to help but it was quite the undertaking.
“We value his business, as we do all of our customers,” said the bank’s Vice President Jennie Cole. “But if we can help Anders with his endeavors, we are happy to do so.”
