Christmas Letter 2013

I finally got my Christmas letter out a few weeks ago. I hope I got one to everyone! If I missed you, please let me know!! If you were interested in reading the Christmas letter that went with the card, here it is:

Obviously the hustle and bustle of life got in the way of us ordering and getting our Christmas cards out in a timely manner. I apologize. However, just because I didn’t get them out, doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking of all my wonderful friends and relatives on Christmas.

I hope that you all had a wonderful year. Our 2013 was crazy, great, and interesting with all the ups and downs a year can bring. We continue to try and maintain simplicity in the rat race of a Houston lifestyle. So….here are some details:

Dave loves his new job and EMAS. He works so close to home, and it is a huge blessing! He’s had the opportunity to be so much more involved in getting the older girls off to school and has been able to attend a lot of school programs. He even came with me to have lunch with Julia on her birthday. Yay!

He and I began co-teaching a Sunday school class at our church, and we both love it. It is a huge challenge and a huge blessing…kinda like raising kids. We are asking the Lord to grow our class and allow it to be a blessing to others!

I am continuing my venture in Real Estate. I am so thankful to be done with my first year, as I hope it was an obligatory hurdle that once accomplished will be a launching pad for years to come. It was a rewarding and laborious first year. I love my job, and do my best to maintain a positive work-life balance. The girls and Dave bless me by being proud of me and my real estate endeavors.

Julia did amazing things this year. She keeps losing teeth, is in 1^st grade, and seems huge and beautiful to us. She had an outstanding role in our church Christmas Show, playing Cindy Lou Who in the Grinch scene, and a dancer in the Polar Express scene. She had six performances and three dress rehearsals, (and exhausted parents) and we could not have been more proud of her.

Lydia has had an amazing year as well! Her starting Kindergarten and loving school has been so fun for Dave and me to watch. She has many sweet friends, and a wonderful teacher. She got to sing a solo at church the first Sunday in December, and got to be the “star” of an in-house commercial and Dave’s office. She was so cute wearing a suit and bun and looking professional! I can’t wait to see her beautiful face on the clip!

Saige is a busy-body with as much spunk and pizzaz as her sisters. She is well versed in the words “No” and “Stop!” She is a cuddle bug, opinionated and so darn cute. She gets to go to mother’s-day-out two days a week and also spends time with her sweet babysitter who usually comes on Mondays and Wednesdays. She calls her babysitter (Miss Rebekah) “Keka”, and Lydia “Aya”. Julia is “Juju”, dogs are “woof-woofs” and ducks are “quack-quacks”. She loves to take her toddler-size stroller and walk to visit the pond in our neighborhood because she gets to see many dogs and ducks along the way…but getting her to walk back home afterwards usually involves a lot of crying on her part and a lot of persuasion and coaxing on ours.

We know that our family has been moving quite often, and we apologize if you’ve had to scratch up your address books in order to keep our address correct. It certainly has not been our desire to move every year! We also don’t plan to stay were we are for super long because we’d like to have a house with a yard again soon. However, we are also hoping our next home is one we stay in for a while. Here’s hoping anyway!

I guess that wraps things up for us! I hope that all of you had the best year imaginable and that 2014 is even better! Blessings to you all and praises to God in 2014. Merry Christmas and Happy New year!!

Love, Dave, Amber, Julia, Lydia and Saige Stewart