January 2026

I was off work the first 4 of the 5 days of the year. I had plenty of time on my hands so I started out the year getting some puzzles completed. I made a goal for myself this year to do 41 puzzles. Why 41? Well, that is how old Jennifer and I will be this year. The Lego set puzzle could only have 999 pieces done because Fawkes ate one of the pieces. 

The kids wanted Fawkes to help put in the last piece of the Wizard of Oz puzzle. 

Our last of the holiday visits spilled over into the new year. We went down to Granddaddy and Memom's for lunch. These boys played outside the entire time. They played basketball, jumped in leaves and ran all over the property. 

All the family that all got together to visit with Granddaddy and Memom. Everyone was excited about Memom's spaghetti and spending time together. It was so nice that we were able to be back in the house that was almost destroyed in the flood last year.

I challenged myself to read at least 20 books this year. This book was given to me by dad for Christmas. It was an easy, quick read but boy did it pull at my heart. I was in literal tears while I was reading the final couple of chapters. I returned the book to my parents so that they could read it too. 

Brinley went to the UK game with me. I might have to make her go to more games with me because she is undefeated at Rupp for the season. I believe she is starting to enjoy going to them a little more than she used to, but I don't think it is her favorite. 

I was on a roll and just felt like doing puzzles. Six more puzzles put me up to 10 on the year. Not too bad of a start to the year. The donut puzzle only took me and Brinley about 3 hours to do and it was a 1,000 piece puzzle. 

Landon harassed me for about a week to cut off all of his hair. He was tired of having to style it every morning before school. He kept saying he wanted a buzz cut, but I didn't know if he understood what he was asking for. 

Second book of the year done - Rhythms of Rest. I really need to find rest in my life after so many years of always having to feel the need to do more things. I am hopeful that I can learn to experience rest and we are going to try and do that in 2026 by practicing Sabbath as the way God intended it - to rest. God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th - not because he had to, but because he wanted to give an example to us. So another goal of mine for 2026 is to rest on Sundays. It is going to be challenging, but I believe that God wants us to rest.

Well, I did it. Cut off about 4-5 inches worth of hair. Immediately Landon said "I forgot about the cowlicks". It is going to take a long time to grow back out again. 

Kentucky was losing big to Tennessee and I decided to head to the gym. Well, I got to watch a great comeback win. I couldn't scream and shout because I was out in public. It reminded me a little about how I used to watch late games after the kids had gone to bed. A lot of fist pumps, but no actual sounds. 

Apparently a man can't fall asleep on the couch without a dog climbing up on his shoulders. 

Landon and I at the UK game. We were winning by about 10 points with 4 minutes left in the game and Landon told me he had to go to the bathroom. We made our way down and found some seats in the lower arena to watch the final couple of minutes. They almost blew the lead, but held on for the victory. 

The school had an open house where the kids projects were on display. Brinley made a diorama of the cretaceous period and Landon did a project on Ghana.

Brinley's academic team finally got to participate in the district governor's cup competition after canceling due to bad weather over the weekend. Brinley took the Science written assessment and then was an alternate for the quick recall team. Here she is getting some time to play in the championship match.

Brinley's team won district quick recall with a 4-0 record and they came in first place overall. I am super proud of her and all her teammates. 

Date night with Jennifer before snowmageddon arrived in Lexington. I got to spend the morning with Jennifer and then we headed to Big Kahuna for lunch before heading home. 

I set a goal for 2026 to run a mile everyday. Well, that doesn't mean I could stop just because it was cold and snowing outside. I got my mile in and I didn't slip and fall which made it very successful. It wasn't fast, but I was safe. 

Brinley has been asking to paint her room for a while now. We finally went and got the paint to make it happen. She picked four leaf green and we began the process. 

With the kids having NTI days and I not having to go to work I knocked out five more puzzles. 

Cold days call for a snugglie that also holds your dog. 

School got cancelled for the last week of January and due to low volumes at work I was able to stay home for a few days too. We didn't get out of the house and go anywhere except for Jacobson Park to go sledding. Brinley wanted to take Fawkes sledding, but it didn't really like it all that much. It only went down one time and then we put her over the back fence to head back into the house. 

Landon went out sledding with me two days. Here he borrowed one of the neighbor's sleds because he had broken one of ours. 

We actually ended the day of sledding when we broke both of our sleds. We had those sleds for multiple years and had gotten many good trips down hills in them. Now we are on the hunt for some new sleds. 

Third book of the year -  When God doesn't make sense. This title made me a little reserved about reading it in public, but maybe that would help open up discussion with anyone who saw me reading it. The book was very interesting. It shared lots of stories of people who have endured very difficult times and why some survived and others did not. It was trying to make sense of why God sometimes answers prayers and other times does not. In the end it concluded that we will never know here on earth why things happen. We have to know that God can see a much broader view that we are not able to understand. 

The first time I got out of the house to drive after the winter storm was to go donate blood. The Big Blue Slam is a competition between Florida and Kentucky to see who can have the most blood donors. This year we were getting stomped because of the storm. Regardless, I was able to get out and help save a life. I have been to the Kentucky Blood Center 74 times all together. 

After a five day break I finally had to go back into work. Well the 17 minute walk into work gets extremely cold. Thankfully I bundle up and wear my neck-a-nater that my cousin Rossy made for me to keep me warm. 

The last book of January that I finished was King James - which is the story of Lebron James. I have had this book for a few years and never read it. It was interesting to read about his early childhood and a lot about his high school career. Lebron is about 4 months older than me and I didn't know too much about his high school career because I was also going through it around the same time. His record with his high school team was 101-6, with three state championships, and 3 Ohio player of the year awards. 

I finished puzzle number 16 in the month of January bright and early on a Saturday morning. I have gotten up two mornings in a row to work on a puzzle. Puzzles are my quiet time where my mind just focuses on trying to just find the next piece. 

Well, I finished number 17 while listening to the UK and Arkansas game. Only 24 more puzzles for the year to hit my goal of 41 puzzles in 2026.