Update on Carly’s Back Problems
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Carly, Steward Family
The following is from Kathy:
Praise God we received some much anticipated answers to Carly’s back issues. She indeed has tethered cord syndrome and is scheduled for a surgical correction on Wed. April 29th at Emanuel Hospital. The pediatric neurologist that we met today described in detail (almost too much detail!) the findings from the MRI and the surgery to fix the problem. She will do the surgery and she seems very confident that everything will go well. Carly will have surgery which consists of going in between the lower vertebrae and clipping a non-essential cord that extends from the spinal cord but contains no spinal fluid and which is putting pressure on the nerves that extend from the base of the spinal cord into the lower back causing her bladder, bowel and scoliosis (the MRI shows 10%) issues. She will stay in the hospital one night for observation and to recover any lost spinal fluid while lying flat in bed. She will need to lay low for seven days and then take it easy for another seven. So two weeks recovery time, not bad for back surgery.
April is a huge month for us. Easter, a three day Focus retreat for Greg (April 15-17), both the girls’ birthdays (Carly turns 5 on the 14th, Sophie 7 on the 24th) and now a surgery at the end of the month. Pray that God would keep us calm, give us wisdom, creativity, energy and joy. Our month could be full of so much worse things! Hallelujah we can praise a risen Lord and celebrate his resurrection and the births of two beautiful girls and correct a long standing problem all in one month! Whew! But God is good all the time. He hears our prayers and answers them. Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement. It means the world to us.
Christmas 2008
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Christmas, Photos, Steward Family
While it was still cold and snowy outside, we had a nice, warm Christmas inside. As is our Christmas tradition, Greg’s mom joined us for breakfast, we read the Christmas story, and then we opened presents. Later that day we travelled to Kathy’s mom’s and spent a couple of nights with them.
Snow in Beaverton
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Photos, Steward Family
In Beaverton, we are experiencing some record-setting snow. In my 52 years as an Oregonian living in the Willamette Valley, I have to go back to the late 60s to remember this much snow. Below are some pictures.
Steward Family Photos in 2008
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Birthday, Carly, Christmas, Dylan, Kristin, Photos, Sophie, Steward Family
Here are some pictures of the Steward family during 2008. During 2008, Kristin turned 23, Dylan turned 21, Sophie turned 6, and Carly turned 4.
You can view this as a large screen slide show at http://picasaweb.google.com/gs777bs/2008StewardFamily/. More Steward family and Greg’s FOCUS photos are at http://picasaweb.google.com/gs777bs
Three Holidays with Chen Chen and Wang Pei
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under International Friends, Steward Family
The day after Thanksgiving, we had Thanksgiving #2 at our house. Joining us were
- Wang Pei and Chen Chen with children Grace and Max. We met them while they were studying at PSU. They have since relocated to the Seattle area where Pei works for Microsoft and Chen is working on finishing her PhD (which is tough to do as a mother of two).
- Yao (Tony) Xin and Li (Mary) Jingping. We also met Tony and Mary through our connections with PSU and FOCUS. Tony (a brilliant individual) is doing research at PSU. His wife, Mary, also completed a degree while at PSU in financial analysis. She previously completed a degree in textiles and has combined these two areas of study into a job at Columbia Sportswear.
- Not pictured is our friend, Rick Cordell.
Below is a slide show of three holiday gatherings. The common thread is Chen Chen and Wong Pei as our guests.
The first one was in Christmas Eve day, 2004. At that gather there were also Chen’s father; Susan and Wushou and son Jiadi (Robert), who are now back in China; Yao (Tony) Xin, who had just arrive that year (his wife, Mary, had not yet arrived from China; Rick Cordell and Philip Burney.
The second one was Thanksgiving, 2005. At that gathering were also Na and Jianfeng; Rick Cordell; and Kathy’s mother, Jeannie and step-father, Duke.
The third one is detailed above.
Carly and Grace are very close in age. It has been fun to see them together through the years.
Thanksgiving at Nana and Duke’s
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Photos, Steward Family
As is our custom, for Thanksgiving Day dinner we went down to Kathy’s mother’s place in Colton.
In addition to Kathy’s Mom, “Nana,” and her step-father, Duke, the following were there:
- Wayne and Carol Wilson (Kathy’s brother and sister-in-law) and their children
- Kelly and David Hernandez and child Hayden
- Jodi and Russell Halverson and children Kendall, Cooper, Blake
- Jamin Wilson
- Pam and Paul Hunter (Kathy’s sister and brother-in-law);
- Stephanie and Jethro Smith and children James, Alaina, Ian, and one in the oven;
- Dawson and new bride Anna;
- Janelle and family were unable to be with us
- special guest, Kristi Hill, who returned to Illinois on December 15
Hiking with Parringtons
Posted by Greg Steward | Filed under Photos, Steward Family
On Saturday, September 6, our family joined Carol Wilson, who is Kathy’s sister-in-law, and Carol’s parents, Rolie and Marie Parrington, who are visiting from New Zealand, for a trip to Trillium Lake and Little Zigzag Falls. Kathy’s mom also joined us. It was a great day to be out. Above are “people” shots. Scenic shots are posted at Miscellanies: Trillium Lake and Little Zigzag Falls.
A Steward Family Christmas
Posted by gregsteward | Filed under Christmas, Steward Family
We celebrated a typical Steward family Christmas on December 25th. Dylan was able to come home from his Marine training in North Carolina for ten days.
On Christmas morning, unlike many families who get up very early, we got up at our “normal” time. I went to get my mom while Kathy fixed breakfast. After breakfast, we read the Christmas story from Luke, then we opened up presents.
After that, we drove to Kathy’s brother’s house for Christmas dinner.
Mother’s Day / Greg and Kathy’s Anniversary
Posted by gregsteward | Filed under Photos, Steward Family
On Sunday, we gathered at our place for Mother’s Day. Kristin, Dylan, Sophie, and Carly were there along with Greg’s mom, Naomi Steward, Kathy’s mom, Jeannie Riseling, and her step-dad, Duke, and Kristi Hill, an Illinois transplant who is currently staying with Duke and Jeannie. Greg’s sister and brother-in-law, Ken and Sharon Klump, dropped Greg’s mom off. We had some barbecued chicken and some other yummy stuff. See photos.
Monday, May 14th, was our twenty-fourth anniversary. We celebrated with a dinner at Red Lobster.