>   I wrote a simple program to send out the pulses and I did get a motor to
> turn but it turns very weakly.  My guess is that the PORTA voltage levels
> are too low.  I have heard one can use transistors and a separate larger
> voltage level to increase the power of the motor.

You're lucky the micro still runs!  No micro is going to have enough output
to run a stepper without some huge drivers.

>   So I added four 2222 NPN transistors w/ the base of each connected to
the
> PORTA.0 - PORT.3 bit outputs.  I had +9V from a wall wart going into the
> emmitter and then the collector was connected right to one of the motor
> inputs.  With this addition to my circuit the motor does not turn at all.
I
> have also tried swapping the emmitter and collector but that fails as
well.
> Anyone know why this is so?

Most likely, a problem with turning the 2222s on and off.
The low output voltage of your micro may not be low enough to turn off the
2222s.
Try using one of the open collector driver chips.  ULN2003 or similar.