Snapshot Saturday: January 2023

I did not keep up with my weekly “Snapshot Saturday” posts during January so here’s just a quick summary of the whole month. These are in very random order. I’ll start with the pets.

King Kat

Floyd has a way of lounging on our beds with this expression of confident ownership. When he does this Joel calls him “King Kat”.

If I Fits, I Sits

My daughter says this is Pumpkin’s life motto because she tries out everything to see how it “sits”. I had just emptied this basket in my bedroom, and she did not hesitate to fill it up with herself.

Partners in Crime

I left the linen cabinet open one morning while I was getting ready, and the cats couldn’t resist jumping in. They love a cubby space! I must say I was pretty impressed that Pumpkin, considering her (ahem) weight gain, was still agile enough to jump that high. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it and I must admit I was pretty proud of her. The girl’s still got it!

Walking Buddy

I started taking Liberty, my daughter’s dog, with me on my morning walks. It took a couple of weeks of getting her in a good rhythm without stopping at every mailbox and barking at joggers, but now she’s up to going 2 miles with me and I’m enjoying having a little buddy with me on my walks.

On a side note: I don’t have any photos this month of Barney Boy partly because he can’t stand to have his picture taken and partly because he’s been such a good boy that there haven’t been any stand-out mischievous moments to capture, ha!

New Year’s Bible Reading Plan

I love starting my day in God’s word! That’s not to sound all “churchy” but I sincerely treasure my quiet mornings in scripture and prayer and need it to get through my days. I looked at several different Bible reading plans for the new year and ended up going back to this one I already had and have gone through a few times.

Pears and Pines Winter Tea

My friend Missy hosted the loveliest and tastiest winter tea lunch! It was such a treat! I know I’ve talked about her before and if you haven’t visited her blog, I promise you would enjoy it as much as I do. She always sets the prettiest tables, and this “Pears and Pines” theme was no exception! I took so many photos of her table and food that day, but I’ll send you over to her blog to see the details in her own post. You don’t want to miss it!

Winter Lodge Wedding

My nephew got married in January to the sweetest girl and I wrote all about it in my post “Winter Lodge Wedding”.

Field Trippin’

We love our monthly field trips with our homeschool group and Dalwhinnie Fields may have been the best one yet! If you didn’t catch that post, check it out here.

Tornado Season

We have had several tornadoes in Alabama this winter. We ended up in our safe place more than once with a couple of bad ones in our area, but the photo above is from Selma which we drove through going to our field trip. The tornado went through this area the day before our field trip, so the damage was very fresh.

Finding My Hygge

I finished Holy Hygge by Jamie Erickson which is a perfect book for winter reading. If you’re not familiar with the concept of “hygge living” it’s a Danish mindset and lifestyle that finds the cozy in the harshest of winters (this Alabama girl really can’t complain about the cold after reading about what the Danes endure!). But it’s the subtitle, Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow, that sets this writing apart from all other books on hygge because Erickson encourages readers to not just embrace the pleasures of candles, cocoa, and knitted blankets, but to use hygge to draw others into the warmth of Christ. This book went deeper spiritually than I expected it to. Good read!

Date Night!

The hubs and I are really trying to get in more date nights. We managed to get in one date night in January and went to our favorite restaurant downtown. We shared an appetizer and an entree. Everything was so good! Then we picked up a coffee to sip while walking around Lowe’s. We almost always have to run a practical errand on our date nights, haha! Anyone else?

Memory Lane

I can’t believe I have another child graduating this year! We had to turn in photos last week for her graduation ceremony, so we went through a lot of sweet pictures trying to narrow it down. This pinky cowgirl is one of my favorite memories of her! What a cutie pie!

And while I was going through pictures, I found this one of my oldest daughter’s first Easter (I’m holding her up). There are 16 grandkids on my side of the family (I’m 1 of 5 siblings) and I like to say they came in batches. This was our first batch of babies! This was April 2000 and now one of these babes is living in Tennessee continuing his education and pursuing career, three are married, and one is engaged to be married this summer. Wow, time flies!

Beauty on the Horizon!

It’s been nice to get back to walking after not doing it much during the holidays, but some mornings are tougher than others. This morning in particular, I was so tempted to go back to bed. I woke with a headache and my back was crooked with pain and the temperature outside was in the low 30s. I really didn’t want to get out but told myself to just take a short walk and come back home, however, once I got going, I ended up doing my whole route and coming home to this glowing sunrise and feeling much better. That’s usually how it happens, right! And it seems that the prettiest sunrises are on the mornings I was most tempted to stay in bed! It’s like God gives me a sweet reward for toughing it out.

Some seasons of life can be that way too, and if you’re in a season that feels like headaches and backaches on a frigidly cold morning, take heart! Beauty may just be on the horizon!