~ A New Chapter in Life ~

It has been quite a time since I last wrote on my blog. I will do my best to quickly review what has happened since Simeon's birthday in March. :)

We have purchased a farm with 80 acres and a 100+ year old home....and the best part...a beautiful, huge barn! :) YAY! The whole transaction took a while to finally come to a close but all in all I am excited about raising our family there. We hope to teach them many good values, including a good work ethic as we all care for the farm and animals together as a family. -- We are already getting started on getting animals. We have purchased a miniature pony for Simeon from my sister's daughters and bought a puppy a few days ago too. :) Also, 3 horses came along with the farm. Two of them are old and un-rideable (which we are giving away soon) and the other we will be keeping who is very old... but rideable. :) Next year and the coming years we hope to add other animals! We are also hoping to buy our own haying equipment in the coming year or two because most all of our land is hay land which is currently being hayed buy a neighborhood fella who splits the hay with us. --Works nice for us for now!
The house itself is a little different story. It needs lots of updating and TLC. The more we take it apart, the more we see needs to be done. We just hope and pray that it comes together again OK and somewhat quickly. -But saying as Chad and I will be doing most of the work as we find the time, it may take a long time to get the 'old house' looking good.
There's a newer addition on the house that is in pretty good shape though and we've hired my brothers to do some work on that part so that we can get half of the house 'livable' quickly so that we can move in to the newer part before the summer is gone. I am hoping that all works out as planned and on schedule!! (fingers crossed) :) 

We are working on our house in town here as well. We are completely finishing the basement for that added 'selling perk'. --Hopefully it works.-- After all is said and done, this house will have gone from 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths and about 1100 sq. ft. to a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 baths and about 2200 sq. ft.! We are adding an office and family room besides the 2 bedrooms and bathroom. Lots of work and time! We are on the home stretch to completing it though. Just some sheetrock, mud and taping, painting and carpeting to do. Its hard to be this close and have no time to do things. :(  Frustrating cause we need to get it up for sale soon! -- Maybe you could keep this all in prayer..? :)

Besides keeping up the 2 yards and gardens at both houses and working on things here and there when we can, Chad is busy (as usual) with work and I with 'wife and mother life'...and now Houston, our puppy. Betwixt all that, its hard to find a lot of extra time to get things done. Perhaps we need to learn to budget time better...? After we sell this house in town, we won't be quite as busy and should have a little extra time each day to work on the farm house. --Besides, it'll be much nicer and easier when we don't have to drive the hour round trip to do stuff at the farm.

Anyway, enough with the busyness. We are all doing well. Simeon is growing SO FAST!! He is still quite partial to crawling rather than walking but I think that is just fine with me when it comes to keeping up with him. :)  He knows HOW to walk, but just doesn't see that its a better way to get around quite yet. :)  In his own time....
He seems to be constantly teething ever since he's been 3 or 4 months old! He doesn't do very well with it either. He and pain are definitely NOT friends in the least! I'm kinda hoping that this next baby will be a better sleeper and teether than Simeon! :)
Simeon LOVES to be outside. As long as he is outside, he is a happy lil man! (He gets that from me!) :)  He LOVES water! Drinking it, bathing in it, swimming in it, splashing in it....you name it. I'm definitely thankful that he drinks it so well. He's probably only had juice (diluted) a handful of times in his life. I decided early on not to introduce him to the sweetness of juice till he was older than a year or ever.....I think it has paid off! :) -- Although he likes water so much that he tries to drink it whenever he can, whether its in puddles, his bath or the puppy's water! (YUCK!)  So, I have to keep a close eye on him when it comes to water. :) 
Example: There's a tiny little hole in our concrete step outside. Its about the size of my finger tip; but whenever it rains and water collects in there, Simeon HAS to play in it and then he bends his body over, sticks out his tongue and tries to drink it! HAHA....I've been able to stop him every time so far but I think it is so funny that he tries to lap it up from that tiny little hole! :) ---That's just one of many such like stories I could tell you about his love for water. :)

Chad is, like I said, keeping busy with work and working on our 2 places when possible. He's been able to cut down on his work travel - which is a real answer to prayer!- He's enjoying being a father to Simeon and is looking forward to our new little one expected in October. He also seems to really enjoy Houston as well! :)  I think Chad is pretty excited about getting to experience farm life too! I think we are both pretty eager to get out there and settle into our new life.

I feel fat and tired! HAHA  I usually feel much bigger than I am but Chad says that I'm still in that "is she pregnant, or does she just have a gut?" stage. HAHA...that's the worst stage! I'm guessing that within the next month you will definitely be able to tell I'm preggo without a doubt.
Things are going well with it. Other than feeling tired a lot and having the normal aches and pains and having to wear these hot compressions socks all day, I feel pretty good. Early on I was nauseated all day long and had to eat all the time. I had the appetite of 3 grown men combined and craved nothing good....all junk food or fast food! This was not a good thing cause I ended up gaining MUCH more than I should've. But I guess I can try to comfort myself with the fact that I started out 20 lbs under my normal weight. :)  Does that justify it all?? :) HAHA  I like to think so.

Anyway, I should sign off now and give your aching eyeballs a rest. If I would write more often, I wouldn't have to write so much at a time and scare you all away with the novels! :)

I hope you all are well and would really like to hear from any of you!

Greetings from the Stewarts!

SIMEON JOSEPH - A Year Gone By

Sunday, March 24th, we celebrated our son, Simeon's 1st birthday. I can't believe it's been a year already! It just doesn't seem possible that the time flew by that quickly! (Although I seem to be the only one who thinks that) :) 

I think I've said this before, but I don't mind saying it again, I am so blessed to have been able to be with him practically every waking moment. I have been here to cherish every little milestone. I love it and am thankful to God for that opportunity and great privilege!

This last month or 2 have been full of little 'milestones' with Simeon, it seems. He now is starting to try to talk alot more. There is hardly a quiet moment around him! He LOVES to talk. He says "ball" "nana" (for banana...one of his favorite foods!) "num-num" (for food) "mama" "dada" "buh" (for bird) and he's said a couple of times what sounded very clearly like "night-night" (for when he's going to bed). So it seems he's mastering the consonants B and N. :)  He also recognizes many words and will point to the objects when you say them. He's a real cutie! He waves hello and goodbye, likes to try to sing sometimes, enjoys music, reading books and as usual, loves bathtime! Chad seems to enjoy Simeon more and more these days...now that Simeon and he can communicate a little and laugh and play together. It's pretty cute!
Simeon isn't walking yet, but that is just fine with me! I think I'm not quite ready for that milestone! He seems to be growing up too fast the way it is...I don't need to see him walking around everywhere too! : /

Simeon has continued to use the potty from time to time and I think he is starting to catch on to what it all means. :) We haven't gone into it extensively yet because it seems we are constantly on the go with Chad's work...and I just don't feel quite ready. I've been reading a little on potty training and was surprised to discover that at least 50% of children worldwide are potty trained by the time they are 12 months. (Simeon's age) In India and China, babies are usually potty trained at an average age of 6 months. Everywhere else in the world (except the U.S.) children are trained by 24 months. It seems that only the United States waits for the children to "be ready and decide when they want to be trained". The result is usually between the ages of 2 and 4 years. Hmm...interesting. I also learned that the age of potty trained children in our country especially extended with the introduction of disposable diapers, since the child can't feel when he/she is wet as well as with cloth. Anyway, enough about potty training for now. :) Back to something more interesting.

At Simeon's birthday, the last present that he opened was a "Big Brother" t-shirt. This is how we announced the coming of our second child! Yes, I am pregnant....about 10 weeks along! We are very excited and thankful for the Lord's good timing. Simeon and baby #2 will be 19 months apart. I think that will be a great spacing! :)  -- Apparently the Lord thought so too. :)
In other news, we are looking to perhaps sell our house this spring/summer and maybe buy a farm in the country. Chad and I are both more than ready to get out of town! :) (Please keep this endeavor in prayer! :))  We both have the same desire of raising our children on a farm where they can learn to work hard and appreciate the real things of value in life. --None of this Nintendo and Ipad stuff! : /  YUCK!

Chad has had a very busy schedule lately with LOTS of traveling. He has been working on a very large project in Michigan that demands most of his time. He was there for a 3 week stretch just recently...that was a long haul! He is home for about a week and off to MI again. Also he has a trip to Chile coming up in a couple weeks, then Brazil. We are hoping that this all settles down in May! Simeon seems to really react when Chad isn't home nowadays. He gets much more clingy to me and more crabby. It's always a welcome thing when Chad comes home...for all of us, in many ways! :)

I have been having a lot of morning sickness again with this baby. Most of the day (especially mornings) I feel nauseous, dizzy and weak. I NEED to be eating something at least every one to two hours or I get sick. I told Chad that if this keeps up much longer I might get quite fat! :) (not just baby fat either!). This ickiness lasted about 4 months with Simeon so, hopefully I am more than half way done with it! :)

Infinity is in South Carolina visiting family. Between her schedules and Chad's traveling all the time, we haven't seen much of her lately. Like I said, hopefully this will all tame down in May. - -  She has started softball practice. The practices are indoors but when it comes time for games, which is supposed to be in a week or so, I'm not sure how they are supposed to play when there is still so much snow on the ground! haha. I guess they are hoping it melts very soon. :) It'll need to or they'll be getting some really good exercise trudging through the snow! :)  -- Infinity will need continued prayer. Please pray for her to make wise choices and that she would desire a real relationship with God!

That is all I have to share right now. Scroll down to see pictures of Simeon on his b-day! He's getting so big! :)

We hope you are all well. We love to hear from you about how you and your families are! Drop us a line if you have the time!
Blessings

A Song in the Night

Hello friends! I just wanted to share a song with you today. It's a song by Don Francisco. I was listening to it while washing dishes today and it really spoke to me and met me where I was at. -- The Lord communicates in many different ways! :) -- I'm so thankful for that!

~~HE STILL LOVES YOU~~

 

When the world outside's been closing in around you

And the way from here is more than you can see

When the day's been more than you've had strength to handle

When a man is more than you know how to be

 

When the ones you love are trapped in lies and sorrow

And you just can't lift the weight that holds them there

When your friends have gone and left you empty handed

And the loneliness is just too much to bear

 

He still loves you, He's just waiting

For your struggles and your strategies to end

He's been beside you, every long and weary mile

If you'll just let Him lead the way, He'll be your friend

 

When at last you're tired of trying to be a Christian

And you've seen the end of all that you can do

When you realize how little you're worth without Him

He'll still be reaching out with love to you

 

He still loves you, He's just waiting

For your struggles and your strategies to end

He's been beside you every long and weary mile

If you'll just let Him lead the way, He'll be your friend

 

His love never ends!

_______________________________________________________________

When we get our eyes off of Christ and His power and promises, the world does seem to close in on us--so quickly.

 

I can get so narrow sighted and not be able to see much of anything other than the one problem that my mind is focused on. It's said that women can be great multi-taskers but when we take our eyes off Christ and the prize, our multi-tasking goes out the window. As we cannot serve both God and man...we cannot focus on God and the world and our problems at the same time. So, when we seem to get near/narrow sighted, lets turn our head away from that and look again to Christ. ---I know that this is easier said than done but the more we excercise this, the easier it gets!

 

I like the chorus of this song....so true and simple. I like how it says "He's just waiting for your struggles and your strategies to end." Oh how I strategize! Always trying to ''figure out'' what's wrong and how I can try harder next time to fix it, etc. It reminds me of a phrase that is found in Proverbs several times: "There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is destruction" and the well known verse that says "lean not on thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowlege Him and He shall direct thy path." Our ways may seem right and even brilliant or clever, but in the end we are not all wise and all knowing and usually we are wrong about things when WE try to figure and understand things without the wisdom of God. God knows all things, so why not leave the 'fixing' up to Him? --It's so much easier and more plesant when we do! :)

 

I also really liked the part of the chorus that says "He's been beside you every long and weary mile." Today when I heard that, the thought occured to me that it's not only long and weary for us, but I think it must be long and tiresome for God. -To prove Himself time and time again, just to see us fall and struggle again and again. How disheartening, I'd think. When I thought of it that way, instead of thinking its just ME struggling and growing weary, I was more thankful to my Father for being so long-suffering with me! Even though He has to teach me the same things again and again, He never grows too tired. What a Rock to rest upon! What a fortress to be able to run to and hide in! Praise Him - He is so good to us!

 

Thank you for reading my jumbles of thoughts and words. I hope you have found even a small amount of encouragement in this.

 

Carry on friends. Stand steadfast in Him! He is our strength and song!
Please keep us in your prayers, we need them in a few different areas!