Today is such a big day in the Stew house, for many reasons.

One, it is my birthday.

Two, it is Parker’s 8th Birthday.

Three, it is Marta’s, our compassion child, 19th birthday.

Wow, is all I can say.  The Lord made this day significant to me for three very specific reasons, some I am still not aware of.  He ordained my own birth, the birth or my first child and the birth of a girl I will probably never meet, but to whom I am forever connected.

I am reminded on this day, that it is not about me, anymore.  IF it ever was, those days are long gone! Now, for my birthday, I get to take donuts to a 2nd grade class, be taken to McDonald’s to lunch by my 3 year old, and get to choose between Fazoli’s and Arby’s for my birthday dinner.  Why?  Because I am a mom and it is my daughter’s birthday.  It is her childhood and her day.  I will gladly take backseat to let her have a day that is special just for her.  She thinks it s SO COOL that we share a birthday.  She asks often if she was the best present I ever received on my birthday and I answer her that yes, she is…..and the epidural was a close second!  Don’t get me wrong, my family and friends are great to treat me to night’s out, presents and fun to celebrate my day, it just usually happens on another day.  God uses this day to show me that life is greater than me and it is all about His plan.

13 years ago, we began sponsoring a little 6 year old girl.  Jason had chosen her because we shared a birthday.  Little did I realize then, how significant that would become to me.  After traveling to Africa and really seeing the reality that her life could be and seeing the difference Compassion makes in a generation of women in Africa, I am reminded that God is in the details, He is about redemption and salvation.  I don’t know the impact we have on Marta, but I know that we have been committed to her and I have been taught so much through her life.

A baby truly does change everything.  My life was forever changed 8 years ago, today.  Parker Caroline, 6 lbs 11ozs, of pure, life changing, flesh.  She amazed me, overwhelmed me, flustered me, had mercy on me and showed me a glimpse of the Father’s sacrifice, when He sent a baby that changed everything.

This song has become an instant favorite of mine.  The Lord is crazy in love with His creation and if you ever doubt, remember the lengths He went to show us…..His baby changed everything….

When we moved, you may recall that we inherited a garden that mostly had already ripened, but we did enjoy some tomatoes for  a while!  My dad asked if he could plant a garden this Spring, and I said, YOU  BET!  We are not the best of vegetable eaters, I will admit, so maybe easy access will make it easier!  I made the comment that we should plant an organic garden to Jason, to which he responds, “How much more organic does it get- it’s in your backyard.”  You can see we are as far from granola as they come, but hey, baby steps!

Last week, we finally had a clear, sunny day, to plant the garden, so Dad and the kiddos went to work.

Poppy telling them about planting.  Check out Emery’s winter gloves to work in.

Showing them how to cover it up…

Making rows.  Those are our tomato plants.

We ended up planting squash, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, canteloupe, radishes, ocra and the tomatoes.

Bro and Sister

I will be curious to see how this all comes out due to the experience of our farm workers….

Grow little plant, Grow…

Our neighbors, who also go to church with us, gave us their trampoline!  Their kids are much older and don’t use it anymore!  See, Recylcling at its best!

My 100 pound lab, Knox, even got in on the fun!

There you have it, the Stew family’s version of going green!

I can’t believe that I just wrote that.

He has been such a huge blessing, joy and completion to our family.

I remember so much about the day he was born, the nine months before that, the devestation of a miscarriage before that, and always the hope and prayer that God would give us a healthy baby.

We are so glad He gave us you, Bradley!

In this past year, you have continued to capture our hearts. You are all boy and everything you do is with energy and motion!  You love cars, trains, and any kind of ball.  You love to be outside and can often be found playing golf or shooting hoops!  You are full force and do not do things half hearted.  You love to wrestle with your daddy and the sisters when they will indulge you.  You refuse to go #2 in the potty.  This has shown your extreme stubborn side.  You are strong willed when you  have made your mind up about something.  You are a talker, as well. You talk all the time, in a deep voice, in a way that will probably require speech therapy!  But, I love it.  You can’t say your r’s or your l’s and it makes me melt.  You LOVE your mommy.  You give great hugs and sweet kisses.  You especially like to pray and always thank God for mommy and daddy.  I am so glad God ordained you to be in our famliy.

We celebrated Friday with my family since they were going out of town.  We also threw in a few friends and called it a birthday party!

I decided on a golf theme because recently, he has been a tad bit OBSESSED. He kept telling us he wanted blue golf clubs and white balls.

We found him a golf bag that is blue, since he really doesn’t need new clubs to replace his mini Nike clubs!

Here are some pictures:

The table setting..

My centerpiece- golf balls, tees and some shredded green filler! Bradley wanted his yellow practice balls thrown in, as well!

Trying out his new bike

Green and brown cake- I went for cute!

Checking out the candles, which were golf balls on tees!

His groupies....

Today, we went bowling!  Jason even dropped in at lunch!  He also had a few friends come and hang out with him to bowl a round!

He had to carry his own 9 lb ball..

Bowling was a big hit for the 3 year old boys! Bradley, Mason and Jonah were all about rolling the ball down the ramp!

Hanging with his Dad

He's a natural...

Quick picture of Jason and I with Bman.

Happy Birthday, Son!  I pray that you will be a lion chaser who leads this next generation to love God and serve others.  I pray that you will be bold in your love for Him and have a heart for the nations.  I am praying that you will reek of integrity, character and loyalty.  I am praying you will be a man who leads leaders, your family and those around you to a deeper walk with Christ. Love you Bradley!

Jason and I decided to give Parker a new, bigger girl, room for her birthday. I mean, come on, she is the ripe, old age of 7. I was also ready for some paint to go on a wall, any wall, in our new to us, home. Bright pink probably would not be my first through 35th choice, but she is 7, and should have some say in what her bedroom looks like, right??

She has been telling us for a while that she wants a pink and black room. This shows me that she is her mother’s child with her choice of black, and still a 7 year old, girl, with the choice of pink. So, I have been feverishly shopping, for about a month, to pick out her new bedding, some accessories and new lighting.

Our big plan was to surprise her when she came home from school on Friday. I had grand, HGTV big reveals, in my head. But, that did not happen. One, it took three coats of paint. Two, it was 30 degrees outside, so the paint took FOREVER to dry, and we had the 2 year old wanting to be a “helper.” Bradley and paint are not a good mix. So, it turned into a 24 hour design, instead of an 8 hour design!

Here are some before pictures:

Isn’t it beautiful? (Insert sarcasm)

Can you tell she didn’t get all her “chores” done?

Here are few pictures of the process:

We moved most of the furniture out into the hallway.

Here is Bradley “helping” Jason with the electrical outlets.
He is FASCINATED by them, especially if there is no child proof plug.

Ah, splotchy, first coat!

And, here is the Almost final result: (I still have some accessories to buy!)

This is what you see from the hallway.
Jason finished it up while I was at a party with Parker, and got most
of the styling right! The curtains are actually tie-up curtains and most of the accessories on
her dresser, I am going to replace as I find ones I like!

This is her bed, with Emery posing! She was pumped to see it before her sister!
I got the bedding from Target. I am also wanting to add a few more pillows.

Here is her desk area! We need to attach the top still!
Jason got her these shelves and
frames from IKEA to display her
artwork in! Her chair is also from IKEA.
The bulletin board is black with pink, white and green
polka dots.

Here was my little craft project! These letters I got at
Hobby Lobby and painted myself! The black has white polka dots, which is kind of hard
to see. The ribbons are the opposite print. This is super inexpensive!
The mirror is from Southern Living at Home.

Here is our first attempt at wall words.
I found this at Hobby Lobby and it seemed
to be something that I think fits Parker!

Princess- Daughter of the Heavenly King

THE BIG REVEAL!!!
She was so excited to see her room. She obviously knew that she was getting something in her room done after coming home from school on Friday! She had to wait until Saturday evening, which she did like a trooper! She loved it and jumped up and down a lot! So cute!

Here she is being interviewed by her Daddy

Parker in her new room!

My favorite moment came a few minutes after she saw her room. Jason and I were in her room with her, talking to her about her room. She told us thank you and that she really loves her new room. Then she said something to me that showed me she is growing up. She is beginning to make some connections. She said, “Do you know why I love it so much? Because I know how hard you both worked to fix it up for me.”

Tears, sweet tears. I love being her mom.

Parker came around the the painted ornament party and it ended up being a lot of fun!

Here are a few pictures of the party:

Hugging Nana after getting this:

Waiting to paint…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMERY!!!

She turned 5 today and I am thrilled for her. We are amazed at how she has “grown up” these past few months and is going to start Kindergarten in July.

Be still my heart.


She has been the most amazing surprise God has ever seen to give us. She is such a unique mix of shy and outgoing, happy and moody, creative and strategic, a leader but a follower. She is simply one of a kind.


I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through you, Emery. I pray that you will love Him first and most. I pray you will seek Him like He is your next breath. I pray you will have a passion for His Word that drives you each day. You are so special and an amazing little girl. I know God is at work in you, even now, preparing you for His amazing work. I pray that I will always encourage you, seek to understand you and give you a glimpse of the God I love so much.

I am forever grateful for you, Emery. I love being your mom.

May your sixth year be your best!

Today, Emery Kate is 4 years old!!

I am so excited for her! She is such a joy to be around and is a constant source of entertainment in our household. She can also throw one mean fit! She is learning a lot about self-control lately!

Emery Kate was a “surprise” to us, but of course, not to her creator. We had struglged to get pregnant with Parker and so we didn’t think it would happen easily when we were ready for a second child. Needless to say, Parker was 8 months old when we got pregnant with Emery. I remember telling Jason and he thought I was joking! I had to show him proof of the test for him to believe me!

My pregnancy was good until around 31 weeks. I had an amazing doctor who did an ultrasound every visit. He noticed that my fluid was low, but he also thought that the placenta had stopped growing with her. I was sent to the high risk doctors that day and they confirmed that is was just low fluid. I was monitored closely for the next several weeks and told to drink a lot of water.
My fluid stayed okay until the end when it got low, so we scheduled to an induction on May 2.

We celebrated Bradley’s birthday party this past Saturday with our family. We traveled to my parent’s house and had the pary there. All the grandparents live in the same city, which makes it easier, sometimes, for us to go there. My sister and my nieces were also in for the party. I had decided to go with a ball theme due to Bradley’s love of all things round! We made him a special cake with no wheat and eggs and honestly, it was pretty nasty! I got cupcakes for everyone else.

He absolutely loved the icing!

The cake, not so much! He would spit it out if he got a taste of it!

Bradley’s cake

The party was a great hit!

Sweet face!

The cousins!!!

Granddad and Bradley

LuLu and one squirmy boy!

We spent a few days in with the grandparents and the kids had a blast. We took all the girls to the bounce house and they jumped to thier hearts content! We also went up my parent’s church and played in the gym, which the kids loved. Bradley was able to dunk a few, with some assistance. It amazes me how he knows the ball goes in the hoop!

Parker and Emery went with thier LuLu and got thier nails painted and spent the night with her. They had a great time.

My mom bribes the girls with money to go to sleep. Not the best life lesson, but it works. SO, we all went to the dollar store and they each got $10 dollars to spend. I just love bringing home $20 dollars worth of junk, excuse me, fun little toys!
It was a great time being with my parents and sister. I am so blessed to have a great family.