“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now…come further up, come further in!” ― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
Labor Day was a nice lazy day with some fun and finishing up projects.
Josh got a bike and a bike trailer for him and Stevie to explore. everything was assembled today and they got to do their first test drive in the neighborhood.
Afterwards we took Nana and Boppa and the bike to Foster Park for some fun.
There was a little bit of homesteading today as well: I processed peach butter to be turned into fruit leather for Little Miss. I also spent some time in the garden gathering tomatoes, beans, and peppers. I will be the first to admit that our corn is embarrassing.
As a self-proclaimed nerd, I have always taken pride in the stories I have consumed. I especially loved historical fiction, fantasy fiction, young adult novels, and sci-fi stories. however, I must admit that higher education can frequently kill the desire for reading for pleasure. It’s taken me a while to approach reading as a fun and engaging activity again rather than a thing with which to be productive.
On top of this, in the last few years I’ve had to come to the realization of the uniqueness of how I learn. through this discovery I have been in the process of being assessed for ADHD and autism. though I have been previously diagnosed with anxiety, depression, PTSD, and OCD.
All of these things factor into how I take in information and process that information. I wanted to learn things “right.” These realizations resulted in needing to reflect on some ableist attitudes I had been holding.
I used to judge myself for my preference to read through audiobooks and would say it didn’t count as reading which led me to pretty much not reading anything. if it wouldn’t fit into the categories I created for myself, I wasn’t going to read it.
My thoughts have since been challenged by TikTok (which was inspired by a tweet)
I had been limiting myself along with others because of preconceived ideas that I received from someone else. When I released my definitions about reading, I immediately started looking for audiobooks.
Before my revelation, I was using solely my Kindle or audible options for content. Then I saw a Facebook post by a local bookstore Chapter 2 books about an app called libro.fm– this app allows you to buy digital books and audio books through small businesses. I also updated my library card and downloaded the Libby app in order to borrow books from the library, which is a much more budget friendly option. (Occasionally I will still buy books through Google books in order to spend my Google rewards money.)
This post is all a very long way to say: I have set a goal to read 15 books this year.
I have finished six so far and have abandoned two because 1. I did not like the content (Time Traveler’s wife) and 2. i wasn’t able to emotionally handle it at the time (the body keeps the score).
I am currently in the middle of my seventh book: Lies We Believe About God. UPDATE: i finished this.
Some Books on my radar for this year:
The Gentle Parenting Book by Ockwell-Smith
Eragon by Paolini
A Rhythm of Prayer by Bessey
Leaving Church by Taylor
The Book Thief by Zusak
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Sanderson
The Hate U Give by Thomas
What are you reading? What’s your preferred format?
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 