Shout out time!

Hey everybody!

Hope you have all had a great start to your week. Pretty uneventful here at the Belcher house. About the only thing that’s pressing on us is to get our stuff packed up, we are moving to a new apartment in two weeks! It’s in a different part of town, and we are excited to explore a new area! It will be right across from Forest Park, which is the primary park here in St.Louis. It contains the Zoo, the Museums, and in the winter an outdoor ice skating rink! It’s actually larger than Central Park in NY. Anyway, packing is the main theme for the next few weeks.

I just wanted to do a quick post to shout out to some of the blogs I follow. They are all unique and awesome in their own way.

First is a blog written by a friend of mine in KY. Check out her Blog HERE! She has some great ideas, whether new recipes, workout plans, decorations…etc.

Second is a girl I went to school with. Her blog is really special because they are trying to raise funding to adopt a little boy from Ethiopia! Check it out, she even has cute T-shirts for sale on etsy, and all the money goes towards their adoption. Not only that, she and her husband have done some SUPER cute renovations in their house. Click HERE.

Last is a blog I stumbled across from the amazing world of PINTREST. This blog is INCREDIBLE for DIY home renovations. Some really cute stuff I must say. It is a married couple who have actually made a carrier off of their blog. They spend most of their time posting and finding more DIY things to do around their house. Sounds like a great job huh?? Maybe someday….. Click HERE.

 

So there ya go! Check ’em out if you have time, support them if you’re into following blogs. They sure are good ones. 🙂

Night!

EB

Basket of Hope

This is a post about an organization based here in St. Louis that I have gotten to know.

It is called Basket of Hope. It was started by the mother of one of my friends here in St. Louis. My friend has a pretty incredible story, she had cancer when she was 8 years old and spent a year in treatment for it. There were many ups and downs, but in the end the Lord healed her! She is now my age and has a 3 month old baby of her own.

After the experience that they all went through, her mother decided she wanted to help other children and families that were going through the same thing they did. Thus Basket of Hope was born. It was 1995 at the time. Since then Basket of Hope has grown into a large non profit organization that reaches thousands of families, not only in St. Louis.

Here is what they do, given the name you probably guessed there are baskets involved. A basket full of amazing toys, games, cds, movies, mp3 players, really anything you can think of are delivered to the Children in the hospitals. Totes with encouraging books, and Bibles are given to the parents. They don’t stop there though, the volunteers of Basket of hope sit and talk with the families, pray for them, there are even times when Basket of Hope helps the families financially. Sometimes they need hotel rooms, or help with a mortgage, the bills often stack up beyond what one family can handle. Basket of Hope is there to help with that.

Last night was one of their big fund raisers for the year. It was a dinner auction held at a country club. Tyler and I had the awesome opportunity to volunteer with all the work that needed to be done. There were so many things that had been donated for the auction event. There were vacations, gift certificates, Christmas decorations, kitchen appliances, toys, jewelry, dishes, goodie baskets, the list goes on and on. Someone even bought an African Safari! They were able to raise so much money through this event, and everyone had a great evening. There was yummy food, great speakers, and an awesome Jazz band.  I don’t know the final amount that they earned last night, but I have no doubt that the Lord exceeded their expectations. It is just so evident that the Lord has used and is still using this organization love on, and teach his gospel to the masses.

I said previously that Basket of Hope isn’t just in St. Louis anymore. This year for the Super Bowel, Basket of Hope is going to be one of the featured organizations! The week before the Super Bowel, baskets will be delivered to the cities of every NFL team, and the players for that team will be delivering baskets to their hospitals. That’s baskets in every NFL city! Everyone should look for them when watching the Super Bowel. What an exciting thing the Lord has done!

I left last night amazed at how the Lord uses things like cancer to draw people to himself. Basket of Hope as you can probably see isn’t just about giving baskets. The goal is Hope. That those people would know the Lord, feel his love for them, and accept him as their savior. Not necessarily from cancer. But to have the Hope that is Christ in them. The assurance of healing and grace for eternity. What better Hope do we have than that?

Check out their website, and if you have been looking for an organization to give to, or partner with, consider Basket of Hope. Click HERE.

I hope everyone has a great day of rest!

EB

The past few days

Hey friends! Long time no talk, I know I’m sorry. I admit to being pretty bad a blogging. Anyone have tips on being better?

Here’s what’s been going on the last few days.
I started feeling sick on Tuesday, just normal cold stuff. Sore throat etc. Wednesday I still worked because I’m pretty sure that’s where I got it anyway.
Wednesday night I felt pretty bad but who doesn’t with the common cold. I was really looking forward to the weekend though, the plan was to drive to Louisville on thursday, pick up my best friend Brittany and head to Mississippi to see our close friend Jessie and meet her sweet baby girl for the first time.
So Wednesday night I got the ok from Jess to still come even with the cold because I had already had it over 24 hours ( not contagious after that time.)

Thursday morning came and I got up to say goodbye to my husband since he was getting ready for work and I was going to leave a few hours later.
And now comes the exciting part…

There I was, standing in the kitchen and all of a sudden I started to feel really nauseous and dizzy. The next thing I knew I fell on the ground, I couldn’t stand because my legs got too weak. Then Ty was leaning over me and I had to jump up to run to the bathroom because I was about to be sick. Then I remember sitting on the ground in the bathroom telling Ty that my ears were hot. The next thing I knew I woke up in his lap thinking I had been in a deep sleep, completely forgot all about the bathroom. I was very confused for a second before I remembered what was happening. I had fainted for the first time in my life. What the heck?!

We went to the emergency room because well, fainting for an unknown reason isn’t good. They did some blood work, an EKG on my heart and gave me my first IV ever to put some fluids in me. After 4 hours they sent me home saying everything looked good and diagnosed me with having had a “Syncopal response” or “fainting spell.”
This is the same thing that happens to some people who faint when they see blood or things of that nature.
But seriously what happened? Why would someone who has never fainted in her life, and has had a lot worse than a cold pass out like that. I’m still baffled by the whole thing.
I know fainting isn’t always a big deal, but it is to me since it was the first time.

Hey thanks everybody for baring with me through that story. I just think its crazy.

Anyway things are great now. Cold is going away, and hubs baked some yummy bread yesterday. Check him out! Good work babe.

That last picture was dinner from last night. It’s one of our favorite meals. Homemade bread, red wine, and some stinking awesome white Gouda.

Another Scarf

Hey everyone! This is going to be a quick post. I’m sorry that its been a while since I’ve posted! Busy busy times. I promise to post an update soon.

But just real quick, I put another scarf up on ETSY. It’s been great! I have actually sold several which is awesome, so fun. I hope all my customer’s are happy with them!

 

 

Thanks!

Emily B.

 

 

World…Meet Apollo

Be prepared. I am about to dump a whole bunch of dog pictures on you. I just couldn’t pass up showing them! And what’s a blog without some doggie pictures eh?

So here is our boy Apollo. Puppy to current, which is still puppy… he’s only 10 months now. But he’s almost full grown now, all 85 pounds of him.

Ok I know that was a lot. Just wanted to show the growing up, so they are in order, or at least I think they are. 🙂

Emily B.

HelloSomebody

Just found out about a really cool ministry that feeds the hungry. Its called HelloSomebody, click on the title below it will take you to their site, check it out!

They said:

“To change the world, you must first start by changing individual lives. To empower a hopeless human, you must first begin by filling his or her stomach.”

In their first year they fed over 1 MILLION people. I think they have a pretty great thing going on.

Here are a couple of ways that you can help them, by donating or purchasing some of their pretty cool merchandise. I just bought hubs and I each a watch.

Pretty cool huh? Only $22 dollars. And get this, one watch feed 125 people. So just by purchasing 2 watches that’s 250 people!  I just had to give a quick shout out to them. Good stuff.

-Emily B.

New scarf

I have another scarf up on Etsy. Click HERE to check it out. I’m working hard on getting some new ones up. I am also very excited to report that I have sold three on Etsy already! I am very thankful for family and friends who are advertising for me. You all are the best!

Here are a few pictures of what you can find on Etsy right now.

 

 

Thanks again everybody!

-Emily B.

 

A ride through the park

My hubs loves biking, and has been wanting to get out together for quite some time. I have too actually, well at least since the weather got cool. We have been delayed though, because my bike needed a new wheel. So once we got that done we were ready to go.
This afternoon was our first chance, so we took our bikes over to Tower Grove park and rode around. It was glorious! The weather was nice, the park beautiful, we had a great time.

There is a trail somewhere outside of the city that goes pretty far, all the way up to a winery! I think that sounds fun, maybe spend a day riding stop at the winery for lunch and then bike back.
I hope to accomplish this while it’s still warm. Any St. Louis friends with bikes wanna join? Let’s plan a trip!

Anyway, here a just a few shots from today.

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Everyone have a great weekend! Play outside!

Emily B.

 

 

Etsy Shop time!

Yes I decided to do the scarf thing Via Etsy. It’s super excited, we will see if I get any bites though. I am fully aware that my family and I may only be the ones who like these things. And that’s ok, at least I’m trying!

Click HERE to see my site on Etsy.

Here is the newest addition to my scarf collection. You can find/purchase it on Etsy. I think this will be the best way to go about selling. This way I won’t get overwhelmed with orders. It’s simple, if you like it buy it! And it’s already made. 🙂

Thanks so much everyone! Means a lot that you check out my blog!

Em

 

New Recipe/ fun baking

This is my first post via iPhone, so let’s see how it goes. How great is it to have a blog on an app? Gosh technology moves fast.

On to the point. I tried a new recipe a few days ago and it turned out great. I Just love it when you put forth the effort in something and it turns out great!
So here’s what I made.
Chickpea burgers with a cucumber ribbon salad. Here’s a picture!

And just for fun, and because the breeze outside is cool. I made banana bread! I’m so excited about fall coming I can’t stand it. The whole loft smells like banana bread now. 🙂

Just had to add the little owl guy to the picture. He makes it way more fallish. Even though I use him year round.