My Bella Story

Let us help you tell YOUR CHILD’S story. Using pictures you send us, and details of the beautiful story you want to tell, we’ll create a storybook that you can share with your child. Their own BELLA story.
What is My Bella Story?
We think BELLA says it best. Our adopted daughter was our inspiration. Her name is Isabella Grace. “Bella” means beautiful and her middle name is for “Grace of God”. We wanted her to know that she was chosen, that she was a gift. So we created a book that we felt would well illustrate her story as “The beautiful grace of God’s love and gift to our lives!”

As we shared it with her, and saw how much joy it brought her, we decided to create a storybook for our son, too. As friends and family saw these books, and the joy and sense of identity that it gave to our children, we started receiving requests to help others do the same for their children. That’s how My Bella Story was born.

Let us help you create a book that will be a wonderful love story to a child; YOUR CHILD. It lets them know who they are, where they came from, and shares your story about how you chose them to come into your life forever. We help you put words and pictures together in a way that helps make it real for your child. We add in scripture verses, if you like, that will be tailored to the topic on the page to help give life to the words.

Our Bella Books are crafted with care and begin at $149, which includes printing and shipping costs. Additional books, for grandparents of course, cost up to $89, but can cost less when purchasing four books. We’ll include one book for free when you purchase four.

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If you’d like to keep in touch and know the latest on what’s going on at MyBellaStory.com and all that we’re up to, this is the place.

Nate Solder on criticism of Patriots culture: ‘The fun is playing well’

by admin on June 16, 2018

Nate Solder on criticism of Patriots culture: ‘The fun is playing well’ More Nate Solder played seven seasons with the Patriots, made it to four Super Bowls and won two of them. Normally it would go without saying that the left tackle had fun playing in New England — but it’s 2018 now, and in these trying times, we can assume nothing. Since Cassius Marsh started speaking out about his short stint with the Patriots, bemoaning the way they used him and accusing them of making football so horrible that he considered quitting, other players have joined the chorus.

We performed well last year as a defense – our record didn’t show it – but now it’s all about the little things – the little things to get us there, the little things that get you beat, too, Trevathan said. So we want to go ahead and eliminate those minor mistakes.

It’s little things that can grow over time, and we want to nip them in the bud right now. That’s why I’m glad we’re out here, I’m out here right now playing with this defense right now and getting a sense of where we can be better. And that’s what we want heading into camp. It feels great heading into camp, and stopping the little things right now will help us tremendously. 

Jackson’s thinking goes like this:

The Temple product flashed at times as an occasional starter as a rookie before making a run at 1,000 yards (he finished with 941) while scoring seven touchdowns in his second NFL season. 

The 25-year-old has been arrested in back-to-back offseasons and could be facing a suspension as a result, but the Jets have little reason to cut bait on a high-potential receiver slated to cost them just $633,334 in the final year of his entry-level deal. 

Now Cleveland could be down to one final game with James. The three-time champion can opt out of his $35.6 million contract and test free agency this summer, and it may be time for the 33-year-old to find a team capable of beating the Warriors.

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Like Donald Trump, Fox News gets caught lying about Eagles

by admin on June 15, 2018

Fact: No player on the Eagles took a knee during the national anthem during the 2017 regular season, post season or Super Bowl last season.

That is not what you might believe, however, reading the tweets of President Donald Trump or watching FOX News on Tuesday morning.

Trump has been extremely critical of players in the NFL who have protested during the national anthem, and at least initially came out in strong support of the league’s new policy that will punish players who protest during the anthem.

I think that is good, Trump said of the new rule. I don’t think people should be staying in locker rooms. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem. Or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there, maybe you shouldn’t be in this country. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem and the NFL owners did the right thing if that is what they’ve done.

But don’t assume Houston will be the same team in the postseason as it is right now.

Despite head-to-head success and a better record heading into play on June 4 (37-17 vs. 37-24), Houston owns a much better run differential (+122 vs. +78) and boasts the title of World Series champion.

A Yankees-Astros ALCS rematch could flip to New York this time, but Houston’s willingness to go the extra mile for a top-end reliever before the July 31 trade deadline could change things in a significant way.

Josh Breaux is another guy with a really good makeup, Oppenheimer said. He’s still young as a junior college guy, but his arm is huge and he has raw power. His ability to hit has really matured this year. With Breaux, we think we have an impact tools guy who’s a catcher. You’re talking about a big, strong player who shows up and people understand right away why you took him.

Does Giants’ Rhett Ellison see difference in Pat Shurmur as head coach?

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XFL names Oliver Luck as commissioner and CEO

by admin on June 13, 2018

eagles_095Vince McMahon’s rebooted XFL has picked veteran sports executive Oliver Luck as its commissioner and CEO for the league’s relaunch in 2020.

Luck, 58, the father of Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, played four seasons under center with the old Houston Oilers in the early 1980s. Since his retirement he’s held a number of sports executive posts, most recently as the NCAA’s executive vice president for regulatory affairs. From 2010-2014 he worked as the athletic director at his alma mater, West Virginia University. He’s also held high-level posts with Major League Soccer and the Houston Sports Authority.

I’m not going to sit here and point fingers at anybody. Would I like to win this game? Absolutely so would everybody else in here, Sale said. It would be kind of selfish for me to say something like that, especially looking at my last two leading up to this one.

Boston right-fielder Mookie Betts was eligible to come off the disabled list, where he’s been with a left abdominal strain, but did not Friday.

Philadelphia defeated the Patriots in the Super Bowl last season to earn a trip at the White House, but like other teams with the same opportunity, chose to allow players the option to remain home.

Last week, The NFL announced a new rule banning players from kneeling in protest during the playing of the national anthem before games. If they choose not to stand, they can stay in the locker room, but if they violate the new rule, their teams will be fined.

Astros shortstop Carlos Correa missed his second straight game since coming out after seven innings against Seattle on Wednesday because of soreness on his right side. Correa said an MRI didn’t show anything abnormal, but manager A.J. Hinch said the club won’t rush it. I think what gives us comfort is that he hasn’t had any pain since the night that he got injured. He’s not feeling anything when he coughs, when he breathes, when he laughs, any sort of body movement, Hinch said. The Astros have a day off after this four-game series.

Astros: C Brian McCann was activated from the disabled list after missing nine games with right knee soreness, snapping a 1-for-29 slide with a single in the ninth inning.

Rangers: SS Elvis Andrus took light batting practice. He’s been on the disabled list since April 13 after breaking his right elbow when he was hit by a pitch. Andrus is eligible to come off the 60-day DL Monday.

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Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie hints he could return to the Giants

by admin on June 12, 2018

eagles_096Free agent cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has said he expects to be in some team’s training camp. Might his new team be his old team?

Rodgers-Cromartie played in Giants safety Landon Collins’ charity softball game yesterday, and he hinted at the possibility of returning to the Giants this year.

But because this is the Patriots, they are always prepared, considering contigencies and finding new guys to do their job in Josh McDaniels’ offense.

There’s a direct replacement for Lewis in rookie first-round draft pick Sony Michel. And while the answers to replace Cooks and now Edelman aren’t so linear, expect them to be clear soon.

Parting ways with Amendola at 32 and knowing Edelman is also 32 and coming off a torn ACL, the Patriots addressed the slot position twice by signing Jordan Matthews and drafing Braxton Berrios in the sixth round.

Besides, college football coaches aren’t putting the notions in the heads of the players. The notions had been hatched from the moment the players first showed dominance against their peers; the college football coaches are merely giving giant buttons that long to be pressed a gentle nudge.

Bronco Mendenhall, the third-year Virginia football coach, said Friday at a UVa Board of Visitors meeting that he’s trying to get his players not to think about playing in the NFL. Mendenhall explained at part of the discussion that he routinely asks his players to explain what their futures hold.

Almost all say, even at [Virginia], my goal is to play in the NFL, Mendenhall said, via the Lynchburg (Va.) News & Advance. And then my simple response is, ‘And?’ It’s amazing the uncomfortable silence that immediately proceeds that.

But silence, even of the uncomfortable kind, is far better than misguided, ill-informed, and inaccurate noise. Which is what Mendenhall supplied, by rattling off statistics that have no apparent basis in fact.

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Titans supporting players who remain in locker room for national anthem

by admin on June 9, 2018

eagles_097Titans players who choose to remain in the locker room during the pregame national anthem have the entire organization’s support,coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday.

Vrabel said he addressed the issue with his players earlier in the day, while speaking to reporters for the first time since the NFL last week created a policy requiring players to stand for the national anthem if they’re on the field before games.

Vrabel said the policy doesn’t make his job any easier, and he said the team regularly discusses important off-the-field issues.

It’s going to be something that we’ll continue to address,Vrabel said. We’ll continue to address things that affect our players, that affect our team, that affect our fans. Those things are ongoing. That just doesn’t come up once a week. We talk about all types of things in the morning in the team meetings, that I think are important.

Whether that be our conduct off the field, how we treat women, the decisions that we make when we’re out at restaurants and bars and clubs, to not get in an automobile and drive. I try to just teach them every chance I get. If there’s things that are on my mind and I don’t sleep at night, I usually come in and talk to them about them. Every day there’s a situation with workplace misconduct or some mistreatment of a female. So I try to remind our guys that we want to stay away from those types of situations.

The Caps hung on through a scoreless third period for their first Stanley Cup Final victory in franchise history largely because of a bounce-back performance by Holtby, who was battered in Vegas’ 6-4 series-opening win.

Holtby capped his energetic performance with a jaw-dropping stick save with 1:59 to play, stretching back to rob Alex Tuch of a possible tying goal.

We refocus and pick each other up and that’s a sign of a good team, Holtby said. That’s one of our strengths.

Brooks Orpik ended a personal 220-game drought with the eventual winning goal for the Caps, who rebounded from a ramshackle loss in the opener and handed the expansion Golden Knights only their second home defeat the first in regulation in Vegas’ nine postseason games.

James Neal and Shea Theodore scored and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 23 shots for the upstart Knights, who couldn’t summon their usual clutch magic in the third period, even with lengthy man advantages.

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Jaguars sign second-round pick D.J. Chark

by admin on June 6, 2018

The Jaguars announced the signing of second-round pick D.J. Chark to his rookie contract Friday.

This is amazing, Chark Jr. said, via quotes distributed by the team. It is something you dream about your whole life and to finally put your name on that piece of paper to solidify that you are indeed a player here is a surreal moment. I can’t even put it in words right now.

The Jaguars now have six of their 2018 draft selections under contract: Chark Jr., third-round safet Ronnie Harrison (Alabama), fourth-round offensive lineman Will Richardson (North Carolina State), sixth-round quarterback Tanner Lee (Nebraska), seventh-round linebacker Leon Jacobs (Wisconsin) and seventh-round punt Logan Cooke (Mississippi State). Only first-round defensive lineman Taven Bryan (Florida) remains unsigned.

Three months after Kaepernick became a free agent, with talk radio still raging about player protests, a funny thing happened: ESPN announced it was bringing back Hank Williams Jr. and his rowdy Monday Night Football theme song. The real national anthem was back.

Americans are having a strange little spasm of nationalism, and Hank Williams Jr. is its Homer. Williams’ work is jam-packed with the themes that have dominated conservative political thought since the rise of Donald Trump and the populist-nationalist tendency for which he stands: anti-urban, anti-elite, sometimes apocalyptic, steeped in white underclass dysfunction, marked by a vague evangelical fervor that is strangely at peace with all manner of vice and, inevitably, prone to voicing to batty conspiracy theories on cable-news programs. ESPN knows: This is Hank Jr.’s moment.

We’re looking for players, Gruden said, via Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area. We’re looking to get better every day, and Christian Hackenberg was available. He was a second-round pick. He did some really encouraging things at Penn State. He had some ups and downs. We’re going to look at him, and we’re going to make it very competitive to see who Derek Carr’s backup is.

At the moment, Hackenberg is competing for that honor with Connor Cook and E.J. Manuel for that privilege. They’ve at least thrown NFL passes, so they may ostensibly have an edge.

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NBA rumors: Another sign Cavaliers’ LeBron James could land with Sixers

by admin on June 2, 2018

Get ready for the summer of LeBron James.

With the Cavaliers staring at an 0-2 hole in the Eastern Conference Finals  vs. the Boston Celtics, James’ season could be over soon. Then the real fun begins: James’ potential date with free agency.

This, of course, could narrow down the suitors, potentially to just Cleveland and Philadelphia.

They acquired quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in a midseason trade with the Patriots to address the most important position on the roster. During the draft, general manager John Lynch acquired pass protection.

Left tackle Joe Staley has two years left on his deal, and right tackle Trent Brown showed improvement in his third season, but the 49ers wanted an upgrade in Mike McGlinchey. Lynch then traded Brown to the Patriots, who needed an offensive tackle. It’s a game of “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” between the two front offices. 

McGlinchey lined up at both tackle positions at Notre Dame. He played a full season on the right as a sophomore. As the pick at No. 9, he’ll start opposite Staley in Week 1 to solidify the perimeter protection for Garoppolo. 
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Salt Lake City gets fourth AAF franchise

by admin on May 31, 2018

With legalized gambling, people will want (need) more games on which to bet. Enter the Alliance of American Football.

The fledgling spring league has announced its fourth franchise, to be headquartered in Salt Lake City. Via the Associated Press, a coach will be named later.

He caught the eye of some of his new teammates, impressing his fellow rookies with his command of the huddle.

“The biggest thing is you can tell how a quarterback’s going to act in the fourth quarter by the way he treats his huddle,” fifth-round guard Wyatt Teller said. “He was very respectful, but he was very stern. He complimented us if we had a good break and if we made the play right, but he had great huddle presence. If someone’s out of place or if someone’s like leaning in too far, he’s like, ‘Hey, hey, hey. Work on the huddle, fix the huddle.’

The report comes just days after Broncos general manager John Elway was deposed Tuesday and answered questions for an hour at Broncos headquarters.

The biggest bonus you’ll see if you read Breer’s full piece (and you should!) is that Darnold was the guy they fell in love with, and they never thought they’d get a chance at him until they were actually on the clock.

“I’ve stated again and again that I definitely want to be a head coach but at the same time, I love being here,” McDaniels said, via the Patriots’ team reporter.

“Indianapolis did a tremendous job. They have a tremendous organization and I was lucky to be considered and I just think once I found out [what my future in New England was], I made the right decision for me and my family at this time,” McDaniels said in March.

McDaniels, 41, started his NFL coaching career with the Patriots in 2001. He left in 2009 to serve as the head coach of the Broncos for two seasons before returning to New England. The 2018 season will be McDaniels’ 15th overall with the Patriots.cowboys_064

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Giants sign wide receiver Russell Shepard

by admin on May 25, 2018

The Giants have signed free agent wide receiver Russell Shepard, the team announced Tuesday.

Shepard had posted Monday on Instagram that he was joining New York’s roster.

Shepard signed a three-year, $10.5 million contract with the Panthers in March 2017. He registered 17 catches for 202 yards and a touchdown last season but asked for his release from Carolina earlier this month after the team reportedly requested he take a pay cut.

“I was locked out of my house after a late-night movie,” Heinicke told reporters. “I came back and there’s no one home, and I’m trying to nudge the door a little. It was one of those double doors. I thought it just needed a little nudge. Me and my buddy were getting it going a little, but when I put my foot to the door, my foot kind of slipped and it went through a window. It was just kind of a freak accident.”

The freak accident reportedly resulted in a severed tendon. He was expected to miss up to three months.

Reynolds was drafted in the sixth round by the Ravens in 2016 and later signed to the practice squad. He was on the active roster for just one game.

Later, he was released and picked up by the Redskins, but he became an unrestricted free agent again in Sept. 2017.

The 23-year-old may have landed in the perfect spot in Seattle as the Seahawks traded one of their top pass catchers in Jimmy Graham during the offseason to the Packers.

Allow me to explain. First, the head count. As the conference finals began, the Golden Knights had more Canadian players than the other three contenders:

But beyond that, they have the fewest American players. Nate Schmidt and Alex Tuch are basically the only U.S.-born players who see significant ice time. Contrast that with “CaTINO” (Canada’s team in name only). The Jets have roughly 10 players from the United States, ranging from captain Blake Wheeler to Dustin Byfuglien to Paul Stastny to Connor Hellebuyck. From a personnel perspective, the Jets are about as Canadian as Toby Keith.
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Takeaways from Yankees’ win over Red Sox

by admin on May 22, 2018

With the count full against ex-Yankee Eduardo Nunez to start the fifth, Severino got Nunez to swing over a slider in the dirt. The ball fell just short of its mark and bounced under Sanchez’s glove and to the backstop.

That allowed Nunez to reach despite the strikeout. He eventually scored on a two-out single by Andrew Benintendi. That cut the Yankees’ lead to 2-1.

The Red Sox tied the score, 2-2, when Mookie Betts tripled home Nunez in the seventh. Aaron Judge put the Yankees ahead for good in the bottom of the inning with a hard single to left field, scoring Neil Walker.

Some would deem that a lot for a 26-year-old back, especially when some in the organization believe that his 25-year-old backup, Tevin Coleman, who has one year left on his cheap deal, is better.

Freeman doesn’t quite have the size to be a true bellcow… would the Falcons invest another $20-plus million guaranteed to retain Coleman?

Both bring valuable flexibility to the passing game, and, stylistically, they fit Atlanta’s outside zone scheme.

The third starter is Ricardo Allen, who was drafted as a cornerback and has become one of the league’s top dozen free safeties.

“We’re going to basically expose him to everything,” Maccagnan said. “We’re going to give him the opportunity to go out there learn and earn the position. Of course our focus is not necessarily to throw him into the fire until he’s earned it. We’re very excited about him, his upside and potential. He’s going to have every opportunity to go out there and hopefully fulfill every potential we see in him.”

There have been plenty of cases where rookies have made it clear they are the top option before the summer is out, others when a change was made shortly after the start of the season and, of course, situations where a rookie season is devoted to learning while observing. The Jets will start sorting out which way things will go for Darnold during their minicamps and OTAs this spring.broncos_003_4dc71ebe680da54b-180x180

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