2009 was quite the whirlwind for our family.  Jason and I experienced some amazing highs and some challenging lows.  As a result, we are both sensing the Lord leading us to be more intentional in just about every area of life….faith, family, friends, finances and our home (it doesn’t start with an f but I was stumped!).

Here is how we spent our past year….

JANUARY:

We spent New Year’s Day with friends, bowling…quite fun!

Our church officially changed its name to Lifepoint Church. This has been an amazing year at our church.  We launched a second campus,

moved to three services, and are sending out teams to Thailand and Belgium in the next year.  We are so blessed to see God moving in a real, tangible way!

FEBRUARY:

We launched our Stewart Family Nights…all centered around a theme and a devotional.  I love these nights, but they are a lot of work! So worth it though.

I am looking forward to picking up the pace again this year.

We started with Colors night..

and had Backwards Night. We started with dessert and ate under the table.  Kids loved it!

Lauren, my niece, had her birthday party at a rock climbing place and Parker and Emery gave it a whirl.  Emery loved it!

AFRICA…..how you changed my life!  Jason and I spent 10 days away from our family on a mission trip to Africa.  It was amazing,

heartbreaking, life changing and all the things you think it would be.  You can read about our journey here.

MARCH:

The house was painted while we were in Africa and was starting to feel more homey.

The girls also started a new soccer season, which was great!

We celebrated Bradley’s 3rd Birthday at our home!! We had a golf party and it was a blast!

We also went to Knoxville and spent some time on the girls’ Spring Break with LuLu. We went to WonderWorks and had a great time!

We also went to The Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga with our dear friends, The Hales.

APRIL:

In April, we took a girls trip to Atlanta for the weekend to celebrate Emery’s 6th Birthday.

Our big outing was to the American Girl Store and Bistro.

We ate at the bistro and added a cake to celebrate!

We shopped our hearts out in the AG store….

We also celebrated Easter with some fun activities to highlight the Resurrection…

MAY:

We honored Emery’s actual birthday with a date with Daddy.

She loves going out one on one and this was no exception..

We also ended the school year with Emery’s Kindergarten Graduation. Where does the time go?

The kids also planted a garden with Poppy.  That garden was very plentiful…

The kids were also in a production at church and Bradley made his debut.

He wore his sunglasses the whole time and came very close to stripping off all his clothes…those preacher’s kids…

Parker had her first speaking part in the History Fair at school. She did great!

Jason and I also started P90x and managed to complete most of it…until the addition started.  It worked for us!

JUNE:

Emery had her dance recital and performed in two dances..loved it!

She also was on the praise team for VBS at church…

But, by far the biggest thing we did this month was start an 1100 square feet addition to our home.

Two trees had to come down and my kids loved watching the initial progress…

Ready to pitch in.

JULY:

This month, we had a lot of fun, enjoying summer.

The kids, Mom and I went to Mississippi to see my family. This was a great trip and I totally

had a moment where I realized my kids are getting older and somewhat easier to travel with!

We also potty trained t his summer and it was BRUTAL. PLAIN BRUTAL.

The kids on my aunt’s farm.  They had a blast on this trip.

We also had Kid’s Camp.  We invited our good friend, Callie Grace, to come stay with us and attend.

She did and it was AWESOME!

Lastly, the girls started 1st grade and 2nd grade!!

AUGUST:

We had a safari family night at Rainforest Cafe. This was a fun night out. We were needing a break from

construction and this did the trick!

Bradley also started back to Mother’s Day Out two days a week! He loves it!

We bricked the addition and got many a questioning looks when it looked like this…

SEPTEMBER:

Then, we painted the brick…Lafonda Sagebrush was the color and 31 gallons later…

the house looked like this…

Jason took a much needed Annual Golf Trip and while he was away, my dad

and I landscaped the majority of the house…

That was an exhausting 3 days!!

But, worth it…

OCTOBER:

The kids had two weeks of Fall Break and on the second week, we went to DISNEY WORLD!!!

6 days at Disney World.  We had a great time, but wow, not the best idea on our parts during the middle of construction.

But, the kids did amazing and we will cherish that trip always.

We went with the Hales and we love traveling with them. Our 6 kids did SO WELL and I love “doing life” with them!

We came home and hit it hard on the addition and were finally able to move in!!!

It looks so different now! I will post new pictures soon!

Having our own bathroom, closet and a master bedroom again, can not be put into words! It is so sweet and I feel so

blessed and thankful…

NOVEMBER:

We spent a lot of time finishing up a lot of details of the addition.  We still had a lot of painting!

But, for Thanksgiving, we went to Orange Beach, AL for several days to be with my parents and sister.

We had a great time, fabulous weather and of course, lots of shopping!

DECEMBER:

We finished up a lot of work this month and are very close to having all the details done!

We celebrated Parker’s 8th Birthday!

Here she is on her day with a new bible, a fish and some flowers! She had a sleepover with her BFF’s and a joint party with a friend at

a bounce place.  She is growing into such a sweet girl..

Bradley was a Wise Man in the MDO Christmas play.

He did so good.

Lastly, we celebrated with all of our family for Christmas.

(My camera memory card was placed in emery’s new cam, which was left at Jason’s aunts…pics to come)

This has been an incredible year…high highs and tough lows.

Looking back, I am so thankful for this life I lead, the God I serve, the man I married, the children I get to raise, the church we call home,

the family that love us so faithfully, the friends who support us and the school that teaches our kids that Jesus is enough.

My prayer is that I am found more faithful, more loving, more patient, more giving and more in awe of Jesus in 2010….

Blessings.

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….

Today I am thankful for an evening out with my friends.

We saw a movie and had a quick dinner.

These are the ladies I do life with on a daily, weekly, at times moment by moment basis!

I am thankful for time to hang out and relax with the girls!

Besides, Jason would never go see New Moon with me!

SO

I got behind…

Anyway…

For these days, I am thankful for:

Going out of town for a retreat for my part time job…

Working in adoptions….with families that are adopting…seeing a child be adopted….love it

Being back home with my fam….I love the squeals of excitement when they see me!

Today, I am thankful for some down time with the kids.

Life is crazy and I too often get caught up in my to do list and choose the urgent over the important.

Tonight, I chose the important….hanging out with my kids, baking a cake and watching a little Merry Madagascar.

These are the moments I will remember with the children…no doubt!

Today I am thankful for my older sister, Kim.

Lord, I gave her grief growing up.  I was without a doubt the pesky, annoying younger by almost 6 years, sister!

So, having things in common didn’t come until I hit puberty!

Today, she lives about 30 minutes away and hanging out with her is one of my favorite things to do.

We are classic birth order personalities and are very different, but it works.

I can’t let it out with her and just be myself….and that is worth its weight in gold!

I am thankful God gave me a sister….

Today/Tonight,

I am thankful to be

sleeping

in

my

Long Awaited,

Beautiful,

Master

Suite…..

Here is a picture….more, fully decorated ones to come…

but tonight,

I am thankful…..

Today, I am thankful for Bradley Andrew.

He is simply put-

the funnest kid to be around.

He is loud, active, has the deepest voice for a 3 year old

and

the most cuddly, loving, complimentary little man.

I am thankful to be his mom, to help teach him what it means to be a

leader, to love Jesus and love others.

I can’t wait to see what life holds for him.

Today, I am thankful for Emery Kate.

She is the one that God used to show us His Sovreignty, His Grace, His Healing…and His sense of Humor!

I am so thankful for this sweet, attention seeking, crowd loving, free-spirit.

She is our little caretaker who loves to help in the kitchen and take care of her brother.

She also has  a flair for the dramatic, is full of emotion and can melt down at the drop of a hat!

Her dimples fit who she is- cute, sweet, fun and the life of the party!

I am so thankful that God is the author of life and allows me to be Emery Kate’s mom!

TODAY

I

Am

Thankful

for

Parker.

SHE

changed Me.

She Made Me

A Mom.

She is

an

ENCOURAGER,

A THINKER,

STRONG WILLED

AND TENDER HEARTED.

SHE IS ONE

SWEET,

PRECIOUS,

BEAUTIFUL,

7 YEAR OLD.