January– We celebrated our second anniversary, still no honeymoon.😭 BUT we’ve got a baby on the way! In January, we were both still eating 100% gluten-free and had fun exploring recipes and restaurants that fit our needs. (Meriah is still gluten-free but Josh has reincorporated it into his diet).
February– Meriah was in hard core nesting mode and we did a bunch of projects on 926 Live Oak: under the stairs closet, painting, rearranging furniture, assembling the nursery, and more. The best Valentine’s day gift occurred by accident. We found an old tape of little Josh singing to his grandmother.
March – We had two wonderful baby showers in one weekend. Meriah’s parents came to visit for the last time before the baby would arrive. We bought 15 new baby chicks (and learned culling is harder than we thought). Meriah and Josh attended The Midnight in concert in Indy. We had a pregnancy scare and ended up in the ER but everything turned out ok. Meriah was told to slow down but that things were ok with the baby. In the same week, we ended up in the ER again because Josh sliced his hand working on a knife build and got his first ever stitches.
April – Josh turned 39! Cousin Lynleigh was born- our family had 4 babies due in 2022. Meriah passed her glucose tolerance test for pregnancy. Holy Week and Easter brought on new challenges for a very pregnant pastor. We went hiking when the weather was good… though Meriah had to take things slow.
May -We had a blast planting flowers, fruit, and vegetables in our garden at 926 Live Oak. Meriah had a second pregnancy scare. This led to some tests in Indy with specialists, but once again things turned out ok. Needless to say, we were relieved and cried quite a bit that day. Grandma & Grandpa Tigner were planning to move to Indiana but struggling to find a home in the cut throat housing market. Then Josh and Meriah did something crazy: we put an offer in on a house and put our house up for sale. This house has an apartment attached- perfect for grandparents! We had to say goodbye to two of our pets prior to moving: Franny & Dexter crossed the rainbow bridge the same day. Dexter’s bladder cancer continued to provide complications and pain while Franny’s arthritis was making it difficult for her to move around and use the litter box. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t miss them.
It won’t surprise you that suddenly we had little time for hobbies because we were moving and preparing for a baby.
June– On top of the craziness of having a baby and buying a house, Josh also changed jobs. Josh returned to Cisco just before our due date. Stevie Louise Tigner King was born on June 6th, even though her due date was June 20th! Yep, Meriah went into labor on Pentecost Sunday, BEFORE church! The c-section went smoothly and went home after a few days. The birth put all the fears from our pregnancy scares to an ease. Stevie was perfect. We closed on our new house, but the move-in date was not set until the end of July.
July – Grandma & Grandpa Tigner moved to Indiana – we shared our home 926 Live Oak for about a month! Grandma Vicki worked remotely for her South Dakota job using the nursery as her office. Two city kids bought a “tractor,” country folk would call it a riding lawn mower, but that’s no fun. We had to say goodbye to another of our pets – Maggie got sick and did not recover. This was quite unexpected and heartbreaking. At the end of July, we moved into our acreage at 4100 Anna Lane with Grandma & Grandpa Tigner and dubbed it Starshire Farm. We were blessed with so many amazing friends & family to help us move. Our acreage is on the outskirts of Kokomo, still close to Josh’s family.
August – Meriah returned to work after maternity leave and started the journey of learning work/mommy life balance. (Stevie has some strong opinions about that!) Meriah was approached about writing for Judson Press’ periodical curriculum again (look for that in the Summer 2023 edition). She was also asked to lead two workshops at a conference in Puerto Rico in June 2023 for her denomination.
September– Grandma Vicki, Stevie, and Meriah walked a 5k with our friend Kelsey for Gilead House, a women’s drug rehab facility in Kokomo. Yes, crazy Meriah did a 5k 3 months postpartum. Cousin Abraham was born! Uncle Josh, Uncle Micah, & Aunt Lizy came to visit Stevie over Grandma Vicki’s birthday. Great Uncle Jimmy & Great Aunt Cheri came too!
October– Meriah turned 35! Stevie’s first road trip– We went to an American Baptist convention in Terre Haute, In. Our friends Alex & Deandra came to visit. Stevie’s first Halloween– we were a family of skeletons. We had a ton of fun decorating the house with inflatables and pumpkins.
November – For Stevie’s first Thanksgiving, we traveled to Wisconsin to an AirBnB to meet Uncle Josh, Uncle Micah, & Aunt Lizy. We had a blast! Stevie was a champ about the seven hours in the car…ignoring the blowout diaper as we were driving through Chicago during rush hour. Cousin Tobias was born!
December – Stevie got her library card and rented her first library books. Meriah celebrated 5 years at Liberty Baptist and 5 years of ordination. Grandpa Lee helped cook a meal at church for Jubilee Christmas! Stevie’s first Christmas!
You may not have asked for a month by month detail of our year. 🤣 However, as we reflected on each month, we realized how lucky we truly are. Another beautiful year for the Tigner Kings! The joy just keeps on growing!
Merry Christmas and Happy New year from the Tigner King family.
Meriah J Tigner 