I am a retired teacher with 30 or so years of experience.  For the first two years, I have been enjoying retirement with my husband (also a retired teacher) and training my Llewellyn setter, Ella.  She's the white-chocolate-and-freckle dog in all my pictures.  We are avid bird hunters, hunting Hungarian partridges and Sharptail grouse in Montana; Ruffed grouse, woodcock, and quail in WNC; and UP in MI, MN, WV, and WI. You can check out our Trips by clicking here.  In the spring, we are in the big open woods hunting turkeys. 

We currently have FIVE bird dogs (2026): Two Gordon Setters and Three Llewellyn Setters. In the summer of 23, we lost our oldest, Gordon Setter Darcy, to stomach cancer.  Darcy loved and was loved by all who knew her.  Her loss was very hard for us. 😢We were down to three setters (Ella, Maggie, and Annie), but God had a plan to add another. 

My husband has been working with a bird dog trainer at Toccoa River Setters.  He has both of Ella's sisters (Laural and Bell).  It just so happened that Bell's litter was about 8 weeks old when we lost Darcy, and one of the puppies had just become available. 🤩 Ivy is the black freckle dog in the pictures below. Then, in the summer of 2025, my Father-in-law, my husband's dad, was called to our heavenly home. This meant the mom, the OG, Daisy, would come to live with us, making FIVE the magic number of bird dogs at the Stewarts' home.  We have Ella, the daughter and aunt to Ivy; Daisy, the grandma to Ivy and mom to Ella; and Ivy, the niece to Ella and daughter to Daisy.  Whew! Our Gordon setters, Maggie and Annie, are sisters from different litters. It's kind of a family affair. 

We currently attend Mountain View Church, where we help with the youth on Wednesdays. On the 1st & 3rd Mondays, we open our house for a small group to share life.  On Tuesdays, we open our house for family ministry.  We have about five families, plus others who join us for a meal, conversation, fort-building, critter-finding, and rolly ball in the yard. 

We are a bird-dog family.  Check out our dogs below. We are all about Daisy, Ella, and Ivy (Llewellin setter), with the sisters Maggie and Annie (Gordon Setters).

Check out what I did before retirement (click) and my educational background (click).  

During my retirement, I haven't been sitting too idle.  My husband always says he does retirement better. For three years (2018-2021), I have tutored a Challenge 1 (9th grade) homeschool group in Franklin, NC.  Check out my Challenge 1 and Challenge 2 pages. Now, I am in my fourth year tutoring Challenge 2 (10th grade) for the Andrews community. I am an online Blended Teacher for NCVPS, and I occasionally serve as a Field Supervisor for WCU, working with student-teacher interns.  In my community, I have become involved with our local Pregnancy and Parenting Center. I am also a Colson Fellow (2022).