Well, am I the only one who feels like January was 5 months long? Literally – it felt like the longest month ever and SO much happened!! I had written in my goals post about how January had set itself up to be really slow for Luke and I – well goodness gracious did it turn out a tad different than what we had thought! But, it was blessing because our weekly commitments slowed so we had time for all of the things that came our way and we spent so much time together!

The month did indeed start off pretty slow with no evening plans and I enjoyed some lunch breaks with my sweet teacher friends Lindsey, Emily, and Lonna before they started back to school. Luke and I celebrated Maddie’s 18th birthday by having dinner with her family and had lots of free time for dinner dates with friends.

My parents went to California for the National Championship and Luke and I just watched it by ourselves because it was a Monday night and we knew we would be up super late, but we had the best time cheering our heads off as our Alma Mater WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP – AGAIN!!!! It’s always been an amazing time to be a Clemson Tiger, but wow these past couple of years have been just unbelievable. I love being a part of the Clemson family and my heart swells thinking of Dabo and my best friend, Ashley and the amazing players and coaches who make up the Clemson football program and deserve every bit of this victory.

Fun fact – the years that Luke’s parents got married, we got married, and Luke’s brother got married have all been National Championship years!! Pretty crazy!

The first weekend in January, Luke and I had a talk about what we thought our timeline should be for buying a house as we said we were going to get serious about looking in the new year. We sort of made our plans and then the perfect house came on the market the day after we had talked about our plan. We felt it was too good to be true and that by the time we could get our financing together and pray through it, the house would be gone and that would be our answer! Well, a whirlwind of a week later – we put an offer in, it got accepted and we’re closing in 2 weeks! It feels surreal and we can’t believe the way the Lord orchestrated it all, then yet again we can because He really is a God of miracles and we are overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement! We knew 2019 would be a big year for us, but for something so big to happen within the first 2 weeks of January!?

It’s going to be crazy town around here because we’ll be moving in during my busiest season (tax season) at work, we were supposed to be getting a puppy in September and the mama went into heat SOOO much earlier than expected so now we are getting the puppy in April – probably right around tax deadlines (can’t make this stuff up!), but it’s going to be an adventure figuring it all out together!

January also brought us my Nanny’s first birthday in Heaven. It was a hard and sweet day with lots of tears. I miss her more than I ever thought possible, but I know she is whole and healed with Jesus. I spent the day after her birthday eating biscuits and gravy because that was one of my favorite meals of hers and then I visited her grave for the first time, which was actually quite peaceful and I’m glad I finally got up the courage to go.

My amazing mama got a HUGE PROMOTION in January that she deserves more than anyone and it was so so exciting for our family to be able to celebrate this amazing accomplishment with her!

Luke and I coordinated Tori + Levi’s beautiful wedding at the Dairy Barn and I was so sick, so when I say Luke and I, I pretty much mean Luke! He did so much and I seriously have the most selfless and loving husband in the world.

We also attended Christi + Thomas’ wedding and had a blast going with Alli and her boyfriend, Andrew!

Luke and I wrapped up the last weekend in January with a trip to Charlotte to have a date at Cowfish (our sweet best friends Hadden + Hannah who live in Kenya right now venmoed us at the beginning of January some money and told us to spend it on a date night and they were believing 2019 would be our best year yet) – it seriously blessed us so much and we had the best time shopping for a couch and eating yummy burgers anticipating all that is to come this year and reflecting on how amazing and crazy January has been!

As for the goals I set for January – I have been following the FASTer Way to Fat Loss and really loving it. I’ve pretty much fasted the full 16 hours everyday and have been so much more mindful of my food. Definitely can do better and have not been working out, but I feel good about my progress! Also, Luke and I have stayed consistent with our daily Bible reading on the one year chronological plan and are LOVING it.