January 2018 Update

After the “year of hard things” and “the month that almost killed us” I was an eager beaver to move into 2018!

We rang in the new year with our sweet friends who have become such a constant in our lives over the past year. It took us 12 years of marriage to find “couple friends,” which is another reminder to me to never give up on the important things!

We did have snow this month, much to my disappointment, but it does look so much prettier at the BFF. I am missing the subdivision life about zero these days! Onyx was a hoot. I love puppies in snow like I love babies eating lemons. They get me so tickled. She’s been staying inside a good bit since it’s been #stupidcold at night but the temperature and snow truly didn’t bother her a bit. She’s such a gorgeous girl and we are all so smitten with her.

Speaking of snow (and ice) it almost caused us to cancel Skylar’s birthday party. We did have to change the date but we are so thankful all of our family could come celebrate with us. Mom and Rex even braved the roads to come from Alabama. It’s a tradition! Scooby Doo is all the rage so that’s the cake she picked for this year. I still can’t believe this kiddo is 11. If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to check out her year in review video. She received a new board game, Isle of Skye that we are loving! It’s kinda like a cross between Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, which are our other favorites.

For her birthday, we gave her family tickets to the Symphony. Skylar LOVES Elvis and they were doing a show playing his songs. She has also been quite interested in orchestra instruments so it was literally the PERFECT combo for her. We sat 3 rows behind the stage. For some reason, those are the most inexpensive tickets but we thought they were the best seats in the house. We had an amazing view and didn’t notice any decreased quality in the acoustics. In fact, Mike and I bought the same tickets for an upcoming Sinatra Symphony next month. They had a band play along with the orchestra and the sound was so unique. We loved the whole night!

We started back to Co-Op this month and Sky is enjoying her classes this semester. She’s learning to knit and is quite good at it. She even taught me so that’s been a fun activity to do together snuggled up in my bed most nights. We also finally got connected with the Wilson Co. 4H Homeschool Program and are looking forward to participating more with that group this year. In other news, she saved up some money and bought herself a violin from our neighbor. Her first lesson is this Thursday and she’s so excited!

This year I picked COMMUNITY as my word of the year. It combines so much of what has been on my heart the last few months. I also had an opportunity to meet Jen Hatmaker and hear her speak, which was like a dream come true. I absolutely adore her! I swear she stalks my life for content and makes all of life’s quirks and frustrations seem not only tolerable but downright hilarious. I listened to her most recent book while riding the lawnmower this past summer. When I wasn’t doubled over in laughter, she was totally blowing my mind and flipping my world around in a good way. She’s such an encouragement and I’m so grateful I had this opportunity to see her.

As is typical for January, I’ve had several new clients join SBVA. I’m so thankful for my assistant Ashley who is helping me manage all of these wonderful women and their projects. It’s been fun to see my business continue to grow and there’s no substitute for dependable, quality help! I also had the opportunity to work on my first children’s book this past month, which was a blast! My final copy should be arriving any day now.

Mike is doing well. We went to the year-end celebration for Union Station earlier in the month. The dinner was 1920s themed and we had a blast! I was so happy to see TWO of his employees nominated for an award. The whole account is in a much better place than where it was a year ago when he took over. He has worked really hard and I’m so proud of him!

We are also still loving New Tribe Church. We are starting to meet more people and we even participated in their month-long fast. Here are 5 takeaways I learned from that experience.

I’m so happy that the days are starting to get longer. We are really excited about the Winter Olympics starting soon. Even though they aren’t the Summer Olympics they still get me pumped for TeamUSA. And after they are finished we will be practically to spring – YAY!