In 2003 I moved to Oxford, MS, to begin my freshman year at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). I was away from home for the first time and a bit nervous, but I found a great group of friends through the Honors College that ended up introducing me to Stephen (aka Husband). Stephen was a year ahead of me in school, but we became friends and eventually started dating (that's a LONG story for another day). In December 2005 we got engaged, and we were married in December 2006. At that point, Stephen was one semester from earning his Masters of Accountancy and I was due to finish my Bachelor's degree. We felt happy and blessed, and were planning and dreaming of our future life together. Silly us :).
We had plans to move to Jackson when we graduated. Stephen had a position at an accounting firm waiting for him, and I felt confident that I could find work as well. We visited our families for the Christmas holidays and had a lovely time. We were in for a big surprise when we returned home, however!
Meet Anna Ruth, or as we called her then, "Nathan James". In case you haven't noticed yet, Stephen and I are usually wrong in our plans and assumptions. There were seven generations of boys in Stephen's family, so we were certain our baby would be a boy. The first outfits I bought for baby were blue and precious. You can imagine our surprise when we found out this baby was a GIRL!
It was an adventure to bring her into this world; I went into labor in late July and spent six weeks on full bedrest to stop the progression. I was released from bedrest at 36 weeks, and every indication was that I would deliver Anna soon thereafter. We revised our schedule and plans, since Stephen was scheduled to travel every week in July/August for work...I was sure that Baby would stick to her parents' plan. Of course, our precious girl did not actually arrive until September 6, 2007, when she was evicted via C-section at 39 weeks and 8 pounds.
If the first year of our married life taught us anything, it would be that God has a plan for our life that is much different and much better than anything we could imagine for ourselves. Most people don't expect to celebrate their first anniversary with a newborn, but that's where we we found ourselves. By Anna's first birthday, Stephen had passed the CPA exam and begun to establish himself in his firm. Our Lord has always provided for us, and my goal with this blog is to document some of the many instances that His providence and blessings were illustrated to us. I know that there are many more times that we did not notice, just as children do not realize every thing their human parents do for them, but my prayer is that my blog can remind me and encourage others as they face challenging times.
A few more photos from this period of our life:
(Just after our first anniversary)
The day Stephen passed the final section of the CPA Exam...a tribute to St. Anthony Hall (Stephen's Fraternity)
Until next time...
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