A bit of Spring in our step.....

Happy Monday to all! Tim's day off is Monday so we decided to go to our favorite local park, Mill Lake. Tim took the camera and we had a wonderful morning together. The sun was warm, the air was chilled....spring is on its way.




This is Promise's favorite place in the park. She serves "ice cream" from this little counter....not worms. The ice cream bears a strange resemblance to bark dust.
And then we came home to sweep the driveway of all the cedar needles from when Daddy and Uncle Andy took the cedars to the dump.
Big sister, Promise, always lending Toby a hand.....
And my precious boy during our daily wrestling match.....I always win...the prize?...well, it's cuddles and kisses!

Life has been busy these days. Two weeks ago, my brother, Andy, and his amazing family came up for a 5-day vacation. This is the second visit up to Canada in well over 8 years! Of course, 3 of those years were spent in the Philippines.

With 3 kids in tow, we had an incredible time together. They were a delight and Promise and Toby still talk of their cousins' visit. I will have to post some pics of all that soon....I have to steal them from Ruth's blog. :)

After a long season of sickness, Promise and Toby have been seeing a naturopath and are undergoing extreme dietary changes along with some new naturopathic meds. Already, we are noticing a decrease in Promise's belly aches and an increase in her appetite. She seems to be trying new things without as much caution and timidity as well. Her playful side is coming out more and we are delighting in seeing her spark! She LOVES to sing and the song of the year is "Somewhere out there" from the movie, "An American Tale"....which happens to be among her top 10 movies. She sings the song in the bath tub, in the car, at church....she stays in tune, too! Her second current infatuation is her "ballerina shirt". This shirt is simply a pink, long-sleeve, drop waist shirt with ruffles and a hood....but apparently to Promise, it transforms her into a Ballerina Princess. LOVE IT....except when she gets food on it and it has to be washed, which leads to tears. :)

Toby has discovered how to annoy people. He is just too cute to get angry at, but requires consistent discipline....if we turn our backs for a slight second he is into the toilet water, the trash, Promise's treasured toys, and anything else he can get his fingers into....all with a very BIG smile on his face.

His current favorite things are dogs....and balls....he will follow them without any hesitation to the ends of the earth. He says "thank you" without being asked and loves to show you his gratefulness with kisses and hugs.

We have amazing kids. I am so thankful for them. And they LOVE having daddy home. We like Mondays these days.

Be blessed.

A snowy day....oh wait...I meant 'a snowy WEEK'!

our stairs on Tuesday morning.
Promise eating the "cold"
Toby learning to walk in snow....until he couldn't! By Tuesday afternoon, he was buried and could no longer move in it!

Greetings! It has been an adventurous week! It started with a light snowfall on Friday and included a WONDERFUL visit from our friends, Amber, Kayla and Jenna. We met these three precious ladies in the Philippines about two years ago. They have been on a little bit of a visitation tour of the West before heading out on the field again. Amber is headed to India and Kayla and Jenna are headed to Sierra Leone.

We were so blessed with their company on Saturday and were so thankful they made time in their busy schedules to visit us....despite driving all the way up from Oregon and hitting snow here in Abbotsford!

Then Sunday night, the snow decided to show itself more powerful and a few more inches fell. We were able to get outside to play on Monday (Daddy's day off) as a family and even try to drive the highway towards Richmond to get Tim's camera fixed....alas, we only made it to Langley and had to turn back towards home as the snow was too thick to see through....

Tuesday, Tim had to take my van to work as his van has stinky tires on it and would likely end up in a ditch, so we cancelled two doctor's appointments and our women's bible study was cancelled....we got some time outside....it took well over 30 minutes to get the kids "suited up" for snow for less than 10 minutes of snow fun....

so, here we are, Wednesday morning and it's still snowing.... -11 degrees Celsius and the wind is blowing so hard you can only see about 5 feet in front of you. :) It's an inside day.

I measured the snow this morning.... 11 inches and still falling. The drifts get up to an upwards of 18 inches....this isn't sledding snow...Toby gets buried too fast now....and it's too dry and soft to make snowmen....

However, we did get some sledding and snowball-throwing in before the snow took its blustery, cheek-burning turn. Tomorrow is supposed to be light snow and moments of sun....then rain on Friday afternoon through Sunday....ewww....slushy and flooding?

For now, it's beautiful.

Please be praying for Tim....he is heading up to the next level of responsibility at work and with the addition of being short-staffed, he is a busy dude. He is taking on the role of assistant manager in so many areas, but still has to maintain the role of answering phones and customer relations all while interviewing for new positions. It's amazing and wonderful that they trust him with such responsibilities after only being employed there for 9 1/2 months, but it is also daunting!

Thank you for your prayers. He is doing a great job, but certainly feels inadequate....which I guess is good because it means that the Lord can be mighty in his weakness.

Be blessed.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! 2012 is sure to be rich with growth if it was anything like 2011!

Here's the last of 2011....pictured above is promise and me getting ready to blow out the candles on my birthday cake the day after Christmas....no, I am not turning 2 years old, but I did have two candles....notice that one of the candles is the number 3. I am 31. Just so there's no confusion. :)
Promise and daddy made that cake for me. And thanks to my dear friends, Arnica and Liv, I even got 3 princesses and two dwarves on my cake. :)
Yes, Promise and daddy were very careful to measure everything perfectly...and the cake was magnificent! While they made the cake, I took down all the Christmas cheer from our house....yes, the Bedford Falls cityscape was demolished and put into boxes.....the garland removed, the Christmas tree de-christmassed. Got it done in one day! WAHOO!
Christmas day yielded a grand and wild party with all the Stewart cousins pictured above. :) Micah, Hope, baby Grace, Toby, Promise, Lila and Justice played so very well together and the noise level was deafening....just the way we like it. Promise got very special pjs from Grandmastina and other precious treasures...

Toby and Promise got new slippers on Christmas Eve....they NEVER take them off....Promise is convinced they are "ballet slippers" and claims that they make her dance. :)
Just before Christmas, we got a surprise visit from Promise and Toby's favorite person in the world!....TEAGAN, babysitter-extraordinaire. She and her boyfriend, Leighton, came over for some pre-Christmas festivities....it was so much fun!
And the Monday before Christmas yielded a very precious gift....Tim's best friend, Paso, and my friend, Laurenn, and their son, Zeke, welcomed a beautiful baby girl into their lives...Amelia was born perfectly and beautifully into her daddy's waiting hands (and midwife) on the morning of the 19th. Laurenn's labor was amazing and though very difficult, Laurenn was a champ and after having a cesarian section with her first child, had many prayers answered with this normal vaginal delivery. She was a labor QUEEN!

And all the more special....I got to be her doula. :) This was my first birth since being back from the Philippines and I was so honored to be a part of it.....so grateful to take part in Laurenn and Paso's joy and thrilled to be in a birth room again.

But I was also reminded as to why I am not a practicing midwife right now! Being on-call is tough when you have two toddlers dependent on you and a hubby that work 6 days a week for 12 hours a day! And 36 hours without sleep is just not right in my world. And the muscle and back pain! I had forgotten about THAT! Sigh....perhaps midwifery is still supposed to be on the back burner for a few more years.

My parents made a surprise visit to us for New Years...Promise went ballistic and Toby was in utter shock. We had a wonderful meal together and then Toby and woke up the next morning with strep throat and the flu. So my parents became nurses for two days as they took trips to Walmart for meds and Promise out for lunch to give Toby and me some much-needed rest. They took off Sunday morning, much to our disappointment....perhaps another trip is due in the near future.

Tim is loving his job and working hard...Promise is lovely....Toby is just now getting a bit better from his awful flu/strep virus and I am seeking.

May 2012 be full of transformation from the inside out.

Be blessed.

Christmas fun....more pics!

Toby's "What'cha talkin' 'bout, mom!?" look.
Handsome 18-month boy...
And my pretty bird.
Elton John?
Foamies stick!
Promise, a true foamie artist!
Our finished gingerbread house....

Building...
Icing....

Ahhh.....the sights and sounds of Christmas.....Promise and Toby even re-enacted the Christmas story....of course Promise was Mary and Toby was (reluctantly) Joseph. The baby Jesus? Well, He was several Dora dolls. :)

I love Christmas.

Be Blessed.

Christmas!

Greetings! Sorry....things have been so hairy that I haven't had much time to sit...

In a nutshell....

Promise is no longer wearing pull-ups to bed. :)

Toby is walking....no, RUNNING everywhere....tantrums abound....as does God's mercy and grace....I am going nuts and I love my husband....

Oh, is that snow I see?

And Promise is singing Jingle Bells! Here are some pics of her very first Christmas production at church! She LOVED being on stage and sang well. I love her. And the last pic is of her in front of our very first REAL LIVE Christmas tree in 9 years of marriage! :) I like trees.

Happy Christmas, everyone and we'll update later!

Be Blessed!

Hand, foot and mouth....eww, yuck!

Toby learned two new words this past week..."Ewww, Yuck!"

This was in response to his latest adventure....Hand, foot and mouth disease. Yes, Toby contracted this nasty virus that attacked his whole body from head (especially mouth) to feet from church nursery. Painful blisters, high fever, diarrhea, and lethargy sent me with him to hospital. I came home with tylenol. Poor kid...nasty virus and all we could do was wait it out and hunker down into quarantine mode. That's right....stuck in the house for well over 7 days. Then Promise got it, but thankfully, she only got two spots. :) So with our stuck days, we decorated the house for CHRISTMAS! Yes, we know it's early, but it's the most wonderful time of the year! We're just attempting to make it LOOOONGER. :)

And here is our fairy princess now! She LOVES her princess crown from her cousin's birthday party and her girly sunglasses from her friend, Shiloh. And the dress....from our friends Sandra and Wendy...they blessed us with a bunch of beautiful clothes for Promise. This is Promise's favorite outfit...she says that she is beautiful in this dress. I agree....with or without dress....my daughter is beautiful.

When the kids and I finally reached total meltdown, cabin fever, get the heck outta the house feelings this weekend, we decided that Daddy should take us to Grandma Con and Papa Jim's house in Oregon for Remembrance Day weekend. :) Tim thought that was the perfect way to spend a 3-day (that turned into 4!) weekend! Tim has very few days off, so this was quite a surprise and a welcomed treat!

So we surprised my mom and dad arriving Friday afternoon and invading their peaceful house and weekend with Hand, Foot and mouth disease remnants. They didn't mind!

We had an amazing time.

It was what we needed. I find that spending time with my parents is like getting hooked up to a Holy Spirit IV of encouragement, truth and eternal perspective. We all needed it.

One night on a whim, while doing some much-needed laundry (Toby still had horrible diarrhea), I found my wedding dress from almost 10 years ago! I also found my mom's wedding dress, my grandmother's and my GREAT grandmother's wedding dresses! So the thought goes through my mind, "I wonder if I could still fit in that!?"

And guess what!?

I DID! And my mom put hers on, too, just for fun! Although 10 years have changed my shape dramatically (partially from having kids), that dress fit me almost better than it did 10 years ago. It was somewhat encouraging.

Toby showed off his new tricks...he has this little flirtatious evil eye he does (the picture doesn't do it justice, but it's AWESOME!)...he had my parents in laughing fits with this move. What a character...even when sick!
My little man.
And His sister likes him, too! She's very affectionate and he is just waiting for the right moment to take her affection and sink his teeth right into it...literally...we often have to say, "TOBY, NO BITING!"

And once again, my precious girl. She is just so very smart and growing so well. Ya know, she still remembers her friends from the Philippines.....she often asks for Eliana and Zoe, her very first friends....she was less than 2 when she made those two friends and still draws them pictures and makes them "presents" weekly.....so, Heather Boswell and An-An, if you are reading this, please tell your kids what an incredible blessing they have been and continue to be to Promise....she remembers them with great love.

With Christmas on its way, we have been reading treasured stories to Promise about the birth of Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. We will not be doing any Christmas presents this year, so we are planning on doing some kind of service project or creative blessing activity instead. Promise is still young enough that she does not expect gifts on Christmas (at least we don't think she does), so we will start the tradition of blessing eachother in other ways....giving thanks first and foremost to Jesus, for it is HIS birthday and HIS celebration.

With all the bombardment of "give the perfect gift" and the pressures of "bigger and better", I am so thankful that we are broke and haven't any money to buy gifts this year! It certainly takes the pressure off AND gives us more time to focus on BEING the gift rather than BUYING it. I am committing to BEING a gift to my family in order to honor Christ and I hope to teach Promise the same....THAT is pressure enough! Ha ha ha! I will need Christ to accomplish that, too!

Enjoy the season of blessing.

Warm colors, cold wind....

Greetings! Promise, Toby and I (mommy) went out this week for a autumn photo hunt for fall colors and WOW! we found some! Above is our little Mum plant that was dying from slug attacks last year and after some loving care, behold! What a pretty color.

Grandma-Stina, as Promise calls her (Tim's mom), and Papa Steve bought a lovely maple tree for the backyard that Tim planted...Promise loves that the leaves are falling off it....she had to strike a pose.
One of my favorite plants this time of year is the chinese lanterns....love their colors and love their shape.
I planted a passion flower vine in the yard this year and despite the nursery telling me to bring it inside for the winter, I planted it in the ground....with plenty of winter warmth...underneath Promise's painted rocks is a fleece blanket, styrofoam, newspaper, and finally, the plastic planter....I am sure it will survive. :)
Next we have my favorite fall colors.....
And our walk to the park, under our favorite fall tree, with our house (the blue one) in the background (though you can't see our basement suite from this angle).

Sorry it took me so long to post...Tim was gone in Vernon, BC for two weeks for more Kal Tire training, so getting to the computer was like going to Disneyland....it never happened.

But Tim has returned and life is just starting to get back to normal.

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a "true Christian" amidst a society that is self-seeking, self-sufficient, self-actualizing, and SELF-selfing. You know what I mean?

Our search to make ourselves happy is a constant rat race....while we don't always admit it, but just about everything we do comes down to our need to feel happy....we buy certain foods because they taste good, thus making us feel good while we eat them...we buy certain cushy chairs to make our bums feel happy....we plant flowers to enjoy their fruit, which makes us happy....etc.

Now, I know I am leaving out a large component here, as I am fully aware that enjoying God's creation and His provision is not always self-serving....however, I am finding that there is also an "unhappiness" in life that is to be expected, is healthy and certainly "holy".

Like I shared about in the last post...we ARE sojourners here....aliens in a weird, fallen, pain-ridden world....and because of this, we groan. Our spirits groan....creation groans....we groan for the coming of Jesus when pain, suffering and sin will be no longer part of our daily lives.

In Freedom Session, a class I am currently taking, one of the repeated phrases is "the only way through the pain is THROUGH the pain"....you can't jump over it, cover it up, ignore it, medicate it, or go around it....we are MADE to experience pain. It's good...it's necessary and it will always be there....a reminder of the fact that this world is not what we are living for....it's the next....until Jesus comes, pain will be a part of this life....yes, I know I am stating the obvious, but how often do we run from pain because it is uncomfortable and we feel we should not feel discomfort? Or even SHOW discomfort..."a GOOD Christian is living in a constant state of VICTORY and it should show!" Yes, I am being VERY facetious.

Jesus came to rescue us from the pain and consequence of sin and death and He HAS!....but until we are in His Presence.....face to face....beholding His complete glory in the Place He has prepared for us, we will feel a lack...we will feel pain....our spirits will groan. Do we not believe that the Trinity feels pain as He watches another divorce, another starving child, another person refuse Him? Of course He does! When we feel pain, we identify with Christ. Did He not feel the utmost pain on the cross? Why do we run from pain? What if Jesus had run from the pain? Mmmm.

My friend, Naomi, had a beautiful baby boy on Tuesday....she is one of those people who smiles broadly while in labor...singing, swaying and dancing....moaning, grunting, and IN PAIN....seriously...she will say loudly, "I am in PAIN" and yet, she continues to smile through tears of pain and joy....and her pain lasts but a couple of intense hours and her reward is nestled in her arms....isn't that how we are? With our lives as a moment, a breath compared to eternity...we smile and groan through tears of pain and joy knowing that our pain will not last much longer and will give way to precious life with Christ.

I long and groan for Heaven....and I smile through tears.

Be blessed.