About Me
It's really awkward to write about yourself. But I'd like there to be some context for anyone who might want it.
I'm Megan. I grew up in a small town in south-central Kansas. My dad was always self-employed and around a lot, and my mom was a teacher who stayed at home once she had kids. We were at the Baptist Church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. I played violin, basketball, sang in Madrigals and had a peaceful, easy childhood.
I went to college in two places: OBU and the other OBU. (Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, OK for three semesters, then finished my last five semesters at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, AR). After graduation I went out to Thailand with the International Mission Board as a Journeyman, working as an assistant to the Member Care team. We served in mental health care for missionaries. I met my husband, Paul, at a training for this job. He was on his way to West Africa, I was headed to South Asia. Somehow, the friendship that was sparked in those six weeks of training in Virginia bloomed over eighteen months and thousands of miles into a deep enough love to get engaged. We got married four months after he returned to the US and moved straight to North Carolina for seminary. The rest is 16 years of blissful history. I adore him.
He studied Intercultural Studies and I worked in the admissions office. We loved it there: loved our house, loved our church, loved being together. Soon we were expecting our first baby, and soon after that, our second. That second one came as a surprise (they're just 16 months apart), and delayed our return to India as career missionaries by a few months. We landed in India in 2007 with an 18 month old son and 2 month old daughter. We planted ourselves in Ajmer.
Ajmer was a town of about 250,000, and as far as we found, there were only two other foreigners living there: a Greek woman married to an Indian man, and a French woman who was exploring mystical Islam. It was a crazy experience. We also spent awhile in New Delhi and a few years in Jaipur. Jaipur (by Indian standards) was an awesome place to live.
After seven years of missionary work in India, my whole person began to fail. Physically, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Emotionally, I couldn't feel anything anymore. Spiritually, my soul was wounded and crushed. It was time to go home. Paul has his own story, too. So we packed up and again walked into the unknown in 2014, this time battered and bruised with no parachute.
Putting our life back together in the United States has been hard and slow going. Learning to survive as adults with real responsibilities while also trying to heal from emotional and spiritual trauma with very limited means is a challenge! But it's been six years now, and we're in a very good place. We've seen a lot of healing, and we've got so much to be grateful for. Jesus is more True and more Beautiful to us now than ever before.
One thing that's been a constant for me since I became a mom is being with my kids. Early on we prioritized my being at home with them, but I always planned to "get my life back" when they started school. That didn't happen the way I thought it would. Turns out their starting school brought me into a fuller life, because they didn't end up going to school. That's a long story that I'll tell another place. But homeschooling has become our way of life and I could not be happier or more satisfied in that. We're finishing our tenth year in a few weeks and I still love it!
That's me. Thanks for being here.
I'm Megan. I grew up in a small town in south-central Kansas. My dad was always self-employed and around a lot, and my mom was a teacher who stayed at home once she had kids. We were at the Baptist Church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. I played violin, basketball, sang in Madrigals and had a peaceful, easy childhood.
I went to college in two places: OBU and the other OBU. (Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, OK for three semesters, then finished my last five semesters at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, AR). After graduation I went out to Thailand with the International Mission Board as a Journeyman, working as an assistant to the Member Care team. We served in mental health care for missionaries. I met my husband, Paul, at a training for this job. He was on his way to West Africa, I was headed to South Asia. Somehow, the friendship that was sparked in those six weeks of training in Virginia bloomed over eighteen months and thousands of miles into a deep enough love to get engaged. We got married four months after he returned to the US and moved straight to North Carolina for seminary. The rest is 16 years of blissful history. I adore him.
He studied Intercultural Studies and I worked in the admissions office. We loved it there: loved our house, loved our church, loved being together. Soon we were expecting our first baby, and soon after that, our second. That second one came as a surprise (they're just 16 months apart), and delayed our return to India as career missionaries by a few months. We landed in India in 2007 with an 18 month old son and 2 month old daughter. We planted ourselves in Ajmer.
Ajmer was a town of about 250,000, and as far as we found, there were only two other foreigners living there: a Greek woman married to an Indian man, and a French woman who was exploring mystical Islam. It was a crazy experience. We also spent awhile in New Delhi and a few years in Jaipur. Jaipur (by Indian standards) was an awesome place to live.
After seven years of missionary work in India, my whole person began to fail. Physically, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Emotionally, I couldn't feel anything anymore. Spiritually, my soul was wounded and crushed. It was time to go home. Paul has his own story, too. So we packed up and again walked into the unknown in 2014, this time battered and bruised with no parachute.
Putting our life back together in the United States has been hard and slow going. Learning to survive as adults with real responsibilities while also trying to heal from emotional and spiritual trauma with very limited means is a challenge! But it's been six years now, and we're in a very good place. We've seen a lot of healing, and we've got so much to be grateful for. Jesus is more True and more Beautiful to us now than ever before.
One thing that's been a constant for me since I became a mom is being with my kids. Early on we prioritized my being at home with them, but I always planned to "get my life back" when they started school. That didn't happen the way I thought it would. Turns out their starting school brought me into a fuller life, because they didn't end up going to school. That's a long story that I'll tell another place. But homeschooling has become our way of life and I could not be happier or more satisfied in that. We're finishing our tenth year in a few weeks and I still love it!
That's me. Thanks for being here.
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