Looking forward…..

I love the start of a New Year! It seems like a new beginning…a fresh start.

Karen used this quote in a post and I fell in love with it.  I put it on a photo I took when I hiked last week. Thanks Karen!

I even love January! Of course it’s easier to love January when you live in Florida. We’ve had a few cold days and nights but we’ve also had lots of beautiful days to get on the trails and hike.

(hiking the Florida trails by myself)

To really appreciate a ‘new year’, you need to look back and see what has happened this past year and what can be ‘improved upon’! My husband and I survived the worst year of our marriage in 2017. In January of last year, my husband woke up one morning in severe pain. Many of you will remember that I asked for your prayers. He was in pain one day…it was worse the next….and the next….until he could barely move. We had good advice from his son and found a specialist that gave him a proper diagnosis….Polymyalgia Rheumatica. With the right treatments and drugs my husband has found a way to manage his illness and a year later he can do just about everything he did before. I won’t say he never has pain but he can deal with it now. We even managed to get in 53 hikes, the same amount as the year before. Which amazed us! 

I like to write down every hike. I write where we go, what we see, the duration and temperature.

I also kept track of the books I read and ended up reading 70 books last year.

Oh, and I found a new crafting passion….altered books! I’ve made quite a few but I think I’ve lost count.

I’ve probably made over 20 hardback altered books

and twice as many little handmade books.

(many of these are made out of notecards I’ve received and paper I’ve collected)

So it was a year I wouldn’t want to repeat but I’m happy that we survived. I can honestly say, I’ve learned a lot and I have indeed been blessed.

I want to choose a word for this new year but can’t decide.

Do you have one you would like to share?

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays.