Have You Sent Your Christmas Card yet?

As a pastor's daughter, Christmas cards were always a big deal growing up. The perfect posed and planned "Christmas Card" picture was always taken (usually around Thanksgiving) and matched to it's cardstock counterpart, donned with a carefully worded holiday greeting and sent out to (hundreds) of friends and family members.
The first year we were married, I totally dropped the ball & didn't get Christmas cards out, but got back in the game just in time for "Happy New Years Cards." (thank you, next day shipping!) So you would think by our next Christmas I would have been prepared, right? BBZZZZ!! Wrong! Answer is- no! No Christmas Card, no New Years Card, nada, nothing! It was like I was getting worse!
If only I had known about Shutterfly's amazingly beautiful Christmas Cards. The Christmas Cards that are not only unique because of their whimsical holiday cheer and yummyness, but because they are so incredibly easy to use and personalize!
Worried that all your hard work on your family's Christmas Card will get overlooked amidst the throngs of other Christmas greetings in your recipiant's mail boxes??!! Fear Not (a child is born!) thanks to Shutterfly's fabulous matching envelopes, your holiday treasure will immediatly stand out from all the rest!
Go check them out, here, now!!!

here

I Know I Know

I know how terribly long it has been since I posted on our little blog.

Honestly, it has been quite a while since i have had anything to say. Anything coherent or even remotely interesting that is! 

Since the big move life at the Stews has been a little less rosy then either of us would have liked. In May '09, we were told by a law professor at Regent that the first dive into law school is like being extremely thirsty, just absolutely parched, and you are begging for a glass of water and what you get is a person about 3 ft. in front of you blasting a fire hose right in your face.

Yeah. Ouch.

It was definitely a shock to our systems. I think we both felt that we were somewhat prepared for law school because the whole 2 1/2 years we have been married Caleb has been in undergrad. Uhhh Wrongo. 

But you know what? God has been so faithful to us! 

Caleb and I were given the most amazing devotional for New Years. Its a daily read and in the 6 days that we have been reading it, we have felt that every devotion marked with that days date was written specifically for each of us for that specific day. It is incredible. The way the Lord chooses to reveal his presence to us is so precious to me. In a marriage and really in any relationship, you learn to try to read into people's love languages. In what way will this person be most responsive to an act of care? - time, gifts...etc. 

But God, the maker of Heaven and Earth and all there is in between, also formed our hearts in his hands and knows every laugh line and every heart break. 

In the last 4 months, there have been many heartbreaks and there have been many times that I thought my heart would stop due to the scarring. But it didn't.

One of the things that I have been learning (seemingly over and over again) in this last season of my life is that God is faithful even in His silences. For me, especially recently, I have been so frustrated when I really seek God's heart about something and I don't get an answer. I feel alone. I wonder why He has forsaken me in my time of need. But while I am wallowing, God is still all around me in His provision for my life. While I am obsessively fixating on my issue I am missing the blessings in my life that were planned out for me long ago by His hand.

This is an excerpt out of today's devotion that blessed both of us...

" Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship."

I have said this in years past, but I am very very committed to be transformed by the renewing of my mind in this new year. Perhaps, because the latter portion of 2009 was difficult, I can recognize the blessing of sheer provision and faithfulness as my love-gift back to God. 

What a way to start out 2010!

Here are some of the things that I am grateful for from 2009

Always #1 on all of my lists....the love of my life.

This is my Whirly Pop Popcorn Popper. amazing. Incredible. The best. 

Our 2009 Thanksgiving Turkey! Our School Schedule didn't allow us to make the costly trip back to CA for Thanksgiving so we celebrated just the two if us with a low key, no stress, laid back day (and delicious food, if I do say so myself!)

My new and improved love of Fabric

My Mom coming out for a visit for my birthday!

First Official Week

Monday was Caleb's first day of Orientation. While school does not actually start until next Monday (for me, too!), he has come home with homework every night! As in briefs and outlines to write and tons of reading! I was shocked! They really get the ball rolling here! But he LOVES it though! You should have seen how amped he was when he walked in the house the first night with his piles of books and folders and papers...it was so refreshing for me to see him like that. I was a little nervous that the first few days would be really overwhelming, but instead I feel like the first few days, at least, has done the opposite. Despite the fact that there was an insane amount of new information presented to the students yesterday, Caleb definitely came home rejuvinated and "on his game" last night. I was thrilled.

Other news- we are all moved in! Well, there are still a few drapes and pictures we have to put up, but thats easy stuff. All the furniture is in place, the kitchen is set up and organized to meet its maximum level of functionality ( I thought we would never be done in there!), and most importantly, the office a.k.a Caleb's War Room is set up for Caleb to conquer and solve all the worlds problems...and study law at the same time! The way the apartment is set up the War Room can be turned into a little suit just by closing the door to the rest of the house. See?..

The open door in the back is the office... the room to the left is the guest bathroom. Sorry these pictures really are not good quality at all...they are from my Iphone...trying to find my camera charger! I will post better ones as soon as I find it! Promise! Here is the empty living room- Caleb's waving to everyone! This is 2 days before our furniture...we had to wait there allllll day long for the cable guys to come hook up everything so I turned it into picture time!

Front door/Entryway...to the left you have the coat closet and that other door is to the water heater. So boring, but at least they put a cute door on it right?

The Dining Room. I love the lights...the same ones are in the kitchen also. 
We bought a new couch and love seat shortly after we arrived here and they were able to be delivered the same day the rest of our furniture arrived. Here's the love seat...

When we got married, we inherited a great chair from my parents. My mom bought it at least 15 years ago for $10 at a garage sale in Leisure World. Some grandma did not know what she was giving away! My mom thinks she has re-upholstered the chair 8 or 9 times during her time as owner and after 2 years of having it dark green, I decided to change it up for the move. We chose this gorgeous fabric. (Im sitting in that chair right now typing to you all with that laptop!)
Here is the matching couch!
Here is half the set-up dining room...
The Kitchen view from the dining room...the breakfast bar is so fun for meals, internet browsing, and homework.
So proud of my man!

The apartment has 9 Foot Ceilings leaving a great space above the kitchen cupboards for fun turquoise decor! The cherry cabinetry was a huge part of what sold me on this apartment!

Whole Living Room! The right drape is in the mail from the poorly stocked Bed, Bath, and Beyond of Virginia Beach...
Guest bathroom...Palm tree/ beachy decor.

Well, thats our place! Well, for now.. I will post more/better pictured of everything soon which will include pictures of our room, the War Room and the deck and everything. :)

God is so good, life is so good, and we are counting the days till Christmas! We miss our families, our friends in CA, Orange County, and In'n'out...so so bad.

Thank you for your prayers! We can feel them!

We love you all! 

OOOOkklahoma!

(Sorry I am so late in posting this...I wrote this on Friday night but am just not pressing the "Publish Post" button now...)

Today we are in Oklahoma City and officially ( a tiny bit over) half done with our road trip back East!

I have to admit that, while I was excited for the whole experience of driving across the country, spending so much time with Caleb, and enjoying all of the Midwest scenery (and food :) ), I was a bit apprehensive about the astronomical amount of hours we were going to be spending...sitting. in. the. car.

You see, I have a very short attention span and prior to our departure I was having visions of myself attempting to claw myself out of the car or refusing to leave the rest stop or something equally insane. But it honestly has not been that way at all to my GREAT surprise! Thanks to the genius of the 3G network I have been able to text, facebook, email, check up on the news...etc. throughout most of the 1,400 miles of the 5 states we have traveled across thus far. (only 1,300 miles to go!!) Caleb is a master DJ who has expertly compiled hundreds upon hundreds of songs to keep us musically entertained---Thank the Lord for brilliant husbands! 

And, have I mentioned, that when you get up at

 4 a.m. 

to get on the road- the day seems to go a lot faster?! 

That's right. It's ungodly...but it's real. 

Starting the Trek...

This morning just before 6am we climbed into our completely packed car and pulled the trigger. We knew that was going to be the hardest part of this journey across the country to our new home in Virginia, but anticipating the emotion didn't help any. But we did it and I am so proud of us! I know full well that this is the path that the Lord is leading us down and has prepared for us. He has already shown us so much favor during this whole moving process--from packing to the moving company, to school and life on the East Coast-- God has walked with us, hand in hand, each step of the way.
About an hour ago we crossed into Arizona, moving onto Texas next!