Kicking the Year Off Right!

We have had an incredible start for the new year, but the most exciting thing had to be our big snow event. This kind of thing just doesn't happen in Louisiana! The most snow on record for Lafayette, LA is 14” in 1895. 130 years later, Mother Nature gave it another go! I haven’t seen the official record yet, but it measured 10” at our house. It was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, if you were interested in building a snowman like I was, the snow was too powdery. It would have made great skiing snow, but alas we have no hills! Nevertheless, we enjoyed what Bud Plake is affectionally calling “Snowmageddon!” By day two we were able to build this guy! In addition to the snow, we had a record-breaking low of 4 degrees!

It is always so great having Pastor Denny with us to kick off the new year. I am so thankful for his apostolic leadership in my life and in our church. He always brings such a great word to our church. This year, his message emphasis was on the promise found in John 1:12 that God gives us the power to become. My prayer this year is I will become everything God has called me to be! I am praying that God will empower us to become the church has raised us up to be in these last days. We hosted our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting again this year and, until the snow event, we were averaging between 400-500 people joining in online and in person! We also have over 300 people in our church doing The Bible Recap Bible reading plan with us this year! 

We got to bring the family to the rodeo in January! We brought Robin and Chase up attending the rodeo every year and they always enjoyed it. I have been looking forward to introducing the grandkids to this family-friendly event and I think they really got a kick out of it. My parents brought me to the rodeo when I was young and that’s where my fascination with horses began. I would love it if one or both of my grand babies shared my passion for horses one day! They sure looked cute in their cowboy hats we had saved from when Robin and Chase were littles! 

January is always a big birthday month for our family! Robin’s birthday was on the 8th and my birthday was on the 17th. We celebrated Robin’s birthday at her favorite sushi restaurant and celebrated mine at a new Indian place that we LOVED! These are two of our family's favorite types of food and we always each typically choose one or the other! Because of the time of year me and Robin's birthday falls, it's not uncommon for us to choose King Cake as desert! 2025 hasn't completely been without challenges so far, but it really has shown great promise!