I've been thinking a lot this month about all that has happened to me in the past decade, and what a jam-packed 10 years I've had.
I began the decade as a young, single teacher who loved teaching, running, and sharing Jesus with people. I loved driving to work before most people were on the road, and I loved getting off of work and going to the gym before most people also. I enjoyed my students, had the best teaching team EVER, loved my church, and loved running long, long distances many days every week.
In 2010, on February 27, I ran another half-marathon. On February 28, I was studying in Panera Bread with my best friend and fellow seminarian. Normally, I would always look "presentable," especially since I was single and mingling, but I was sore from the previous day, so I was in a hoodie and sweatpants. And that's the outfit I was in when I met Kyle. We met on the last day of February, started dating in early April, and were engaged at the end of July. We were young(ish), but we had been around long enough to know what we wanted and didn't want, and we both knew we wanted each other.
On March 19, 2011, we were married. Our wedding was, in my opinion, a lovely, God-focused celebration. It was so fun to see our worlds colliding, our 'people' meeting, and our new life together beginning. And, the candy bar at the reception was wicked awesome. We set off the next day for our honeymoon to Riviera, Mexico. It was fun, adventuresome, and relaxing, but intermittent with petty fights. We learned a lot about each other that week!
A little over a year after that, we were blessed with our newest bundle of joy, Corinth Sophia, who was born 6 weeks early! The plan was that I would finish out teaching my last year of school, as we were planning to move overseas the following year. Corinth's due date was June 11, which gave me a couple of weeks after school finished before her scheduled arrival. But she couldn't wait! She was born on May 7, 2012, spent 4 days in the NICU, and was home and in my arms. We were SO. IN. LOVE. She was precious and perfect and absolutely wonderful! One of our first outings was to our school's field day. Field day was my JAM, and I loved racing my students (and winning) every year! I couldn't miss it, so little Miss and I strolled up to the school for field day and had a blast! The rest of the summer, we were inseparable, going everywhere together- the pool, daddy's work (a homeless shelter!), grandparents' houses, and even a mission trip to Mississippi with a Jesus biker gang.
That Fall, we prepared ourselves to move overseas, moving out of our 1 bedroom apartment and into both sets of grandparents for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. In early January 2013, we moved to Richmond, VA for training before we headed overseas. We left on Easter Sunday and arrived in India on April 1. We only lasted about 6 weeks before Kyle got so sick that we came back to America. After 3 surgeries, a PICC line, and 6 months of medical nightmares, Kyle was healthy and we made our way back to India, our second landing date being October 3, 2013. This time we came back expecting our second child!
Shortly after 2014 began, we headed to a month-long language intensive in a lovely city with much more delightful weather. Following that, we spent 3 months in the capital waiting for our sweet Noah Coleman to arrive. He was born on May 2, 2014. He was a sweet addition to our family, and always slept! I remember bringing him to the pool in the crazy Indian summer heat and him sleeping through the entire thing. He was the peace and pause that we needed. The rest of 2014 was (sadly) filled with a lot of heartache and familial hardship. It was definitely the work of Satan, fought against by the grace of God.
2015 was a relatively calm year. We both passed our language requirements and were able to do more full-time work! We also felt like we were really enjoying "settling in" to our life in India. Don't read this wrong- we had plenty of "I hate India" days, but we were finally feeling like we were at home and had friends and could do life here.
2016, we welcomed our 3rd blessing! Our darling Ruthie Grace was born on September 28, 2016. She was a ended up baby- happy, smiley, and social, just like her big sister! 6 weeks after she was born, we headed back from our home in India to our Stateside Assignment. It was a fun 6 months because 2 of our children had never been to America and Corinth was too young to remember it. We try not to always make America sound so amazing, but before we went back, Kyle and I were feeling very ready to get out of India, and in our heads America was the promised-land. Everything about America was wonderful, and we made sure our kids knew it! I remember telling them, "you can go into the grocery store and there is a whole aisle as long as our house just filled with different kinds of cereal!" And you better believe that the first day we were back we went to that magical cereal aisle and let them pick out any cereal they wanted. It was amazing!
In 2017, we headed back to India. While on stateside, we prayed for 2 hopeful things- a home with a yard for our young kids to play in, and Indian friends for our kids. We ended up moving into a ground floor single-standing home with both a front and back yard. It was absolutely an answer to prayer that we still continually thank God for. It totally changed how we live in India.
In 2018, my kids made those friends. Well, God gave those friends to my kids, actually. It took a while for me to get used to, but my kids' friends, a sister and 2 brothers, come over to our house every day to play with our kids. They speak no English, so my kids' Hindi is SO much better than before. And the best part is that my kids have friends that aren't going to move away. We have a great, wonderful community of ex-pats, many of whom have kids that are friends with my children. But we have seen many friends come and go, and it is always very difficult. This year, our best friends moved to another city in India, and our hearts were crushed. They were more like family than just friends, and it was a very hard season for us to let them go. We are still great friends with them, but it definitely changed our lives. I know that God provided our Indian friends because He knew we would need them when our ex-pat "family" moved away. This year we also all (except Noah) got Dengue at the same time. That was TERRIBLE. One person getting dengue is terrible, but an entire family getting it at the same time is... well, I would never wish that on anyone. It was rough. A few months later, the year ended with me getting to tell Kyle on Christmas Day that we were expecting another (our last!) bundle of joy!
2019 has come and gone quickly! It started well, but in March, at 20 weeks into my pregnancy, I found out that I had complete placenta previa. I went from no physical activity to partial bedrest, to a fairly abrupt, emotional move to the capital by myself, followed by complete bedrest and finally a traumatic, emergency delivery. Praise God, I was healthy, as was our new sweet baby girl (that I really thought was going to be a boy!). Tiny Annabeth Joy Ferguson was born on July 21, 2019, one month early. We are LOVING her, and she has definitely completed our family. Well, as far as people go. We just got our first pet, a bunny named Rosie, as a family Christmas present.
It seems that every couple of years I've been having babies. Now, that stage is over. My baby decade is done. I'd say the next decade will slow down a bit, but I know that isn't true. The 2010's were awesome. They brought me most of the greatest joys of my life (but not all!). I can't wait to see what the 2020's hold!
I began the decade as a young, single teacher who loved teaching, running, and sharing Jesus with people. I loved driving to work before most people were on the road, and I loved getting off of work and going to the gym before most people also. I enjoyed my students, had the best teaching team EVER, loved my church, and loved running long, long distances many days every week.
In 2010, on February 27, I ran another half-marathon. On February 28, I was studying in Panera Bread with my best friend and fellow seminarian. Normally, I would always look "presentable," especially since I was single and mingling, but I was sore from the previous day, so I was in a hoodie and sweatpants. And that's the outfit I was in when I met Kyle. We met on the last day of February, started dating in early April, and were engaged at the end of July. We were young(ish), but we had been around long enough to know what we wanted and didn't want, and we both knew we wanted each other.
On March 19, 2011, we were married. Our wedding was, in my opinion, a lovely, God-focused celebration. It was so fun to see our worlds colliding, our 'people' meeting, and our new life together beginning. And, the candy bar at the reception was wicked awesome. We set off the next day for our honeymoon to Riviera, Mexico. It was fun, adventuresome, and relaxing, but intermittent with petty fights. We learned a lot about each other that week!
A little over a year after that, we were blessed with our newest bundle of joy, Corinth Sophia, who was born 6 weeks early! The plan was that I would finish out teaching my last year of school, as we were planning to move overseas the following year. Corinth's due date was June 11, which gave me a couple of weeks after school finished before her scheduled arrival. But she couldn't wait! She was born on May 7, 2012, spent 4 days in the NICU, and was home and in my arms. We were SO. IN. LOVE. She was precious and perfect and absolutely wonderful! One of our first outings was to our school's field day. Field day was my JAM, and I loved racing my students (and winning) every year! I couldn't miss it, so little Miss and I strolled up to the school for field day and had a blast! The rest of the summer, we were inseparable, going everywhere together- the pool, daddy's work (a homeless shelter!), grandparents' houses, and even a mission trip to Mississippi with a Jesus biker gang.
That Fall, we prepared ourselves to move overseas, moving out of our 1 bedroom apartment and into both sets of grandparents for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. In early January 2013, we moved to Richmond, VA for training before we headed overseas. We left on Easter Sunday and arrived in India on April 1. We only lasted about 6 weeks before Kyle got so sick that we came back to America. After 3 surgeries, a PICC line, and 6 months of medical nightmares, Kyle was healthy and we made our way back to India, our second landing date being October 3, 2013. This time we came back expecting our second child!
Shortly after 2014 began, we headed to a month-long language intensive in a lovely city with much more delightful weather. Following that, we spent 3 months in the capital waiting for our sweet Noah Coleman to arrive. He was born on May 2, 2014. He was a sweet addition to our family, and always slept! I remember bringing him to the pool in the crazy Indian summer heat and him sleeping through the entire thing. He was the peace and pause that we needed. The rest of 2014 was (sadly) filled with a lot of heartache and familial hardship. It was definitely the work of Satan, fought against by the grace of God.
2015 was a relatively calm year. We both passed our language requirements and were able to do more full-time work! We also felt like we were really enjoying "settling in" to our life in India. Don't read this wrong- we had plenty of "I hate India" days, but we were finally feeling like we were at home and had friends and could do life here.
2016, we welcomed our 3rd blessing! Our darling Ruthie Grace was born on September 28, 2016. She was a ended up baby- happy, smiley, and social, just like her big sister! 6 weeks after she was born, we headed back from our home in India to our Stateside Assignment. It was a fun 6 months because 2 of our children had never been to America and Corinth was too young to remember it. We try not to always make America sound so amazing, but before we went back, Kyle and I were feeling very ready to get out of India, and in our heads America was the promised-land. Everything about America was wonderful, and we made sure our kids knew it! I remember telling them, "you can go into the grocery store and there is a whole aisle as long as our house just filled with different kinds of cereal!" And you better believe that the first day we were back we went to that magical cereal aisle and let them pick out any cereal they wanted. It was amazing!
In 2017, we headed back to India. While on stateside, we prayed for 2 hopeful things- a home with a yard for our young kids to play in, and Indian friends for our kids. We ended up moving into a ground floor single-standing home with both a front and back yard. It was absolutely an answer to prayer that we still continually thank God for. It totally changed how we live in India.
In 2018, my kids made those friends. Well, God gave those friends to my kids, actually. It took a while for me to get used to, but my kids' friends, a sister and 2 brothers, come over to our house every day to play with our kids. They speak no English, so my kids' Hindi is SO much better than before. And the best part is that my kids have friends that aren't going to move away. We have a great, wonderful community of ex-pats, many of whom have kids that are friends with my children. But we have seen many friends come and go, and it is always very difficult. This year, our best friends moved to another city in India, and our hearts were crushed. They were more like family than just friends, and it was a very hard season for us to let them go. We are still great friends with them, but it definitely changed our lives. I know that God provided our Indian friends because He knew we would need them when our ex-pat "family" moved away. This year we also all (except Noah) got Dengue at the same time. That was TERRIBLE. One person getting dengue is terrible, but an entire family getting it at the same time is... well, I would never wish that on anyone. It was rough. A few months later, the year ended with me getting to tell Kyle on Christmas Day that we were expecting another (our last!) bundle of joy!
2019 has come and gone quickly! It started well, but in March, at 20 weeks into my pregnancy, I found out that I had complete placenta previa. I went from no physical activity to partial bedrest, to a fairly abrupt, emotional move to the capital by myself, followed by complete bedrest and finally a traumatic, emergency delivery. Praise God, I was healthy, as was our new sweet baby girl (that I really thought was going to be a boy!). Tiny Annabeth Joy Ferguson was born on July 21, 2019, one month early. We are LOVING her, and she has definitely completed our family. Well, as far as people go. We just got our first pet, a bunny named Rosie, as a family Christmas present.
It seems that every couple of years I've been having babies. Now, that stage is over. My baby decade is done. I'd say the next decade will slow down a bit, but I know that isn't true. The 2010's were awesome. They brought me most of the greatest joys of my life (but not all!). I can't wait to see what the 2020's hold!
