Blessings in this New Year, everyone!

I hope 2016 has started well for you, and that you’re still on the positive side of any resolutions you’ve made—if you’re a resolution-kind-of-gal.

As 2016 begins, I’m celebrating the New Year, yet also deeply mourning the loss—albeit, a temporary one, due to our steadfast hope in Christ—of this beautiful woman…

Judy McMahan, such a dear friend. 

She passed away New Years Eve after a seventeen year battle with cancer. I’ve known Judy since I was five, and it’s so hard to imagine this world without her light, love, and laughter. And yet, I know all still exist. In the afterlife. And in me. And in every life Judy touched. And she touched a bunch!

Judy was a friend, mentor, and a beautiful sister in Christ who came alongside me in such a sweet way as I helped walk my own precious mom, June, to heaven in 2009. To think of those two—Judy and June—together again makes me smile. For a believer in Christ, “the end” here is really only the beginning! Thank you, Lord.

Please remember Judy’s husband, Bob, and their two daughters, Alice and Kellie, and the rest of the family in your prayers this week. I’m headed to Atlanta for the memorial service this weekend.

Quick update from my writing desk…

I’m putting the finishing touches on the last novel in the Belmont Mansion series as we speak, and am so excited to share Tate and Rebekah’s story with you. Then I’m eager to get back to the last novel in the Belle Meade Plantation series. I feel so blessed to be partnered with these Southern mansions to tell the real history of these magnificent homes, and the romances set against the history of Nashville in that era.

And now, my writing desk itself…

Last year I showed y’all a picture of an old farm table my husband and I found at an antique store in Franklin, and that we refinished for my “new” desk…

Remember this from a post last fall? 
(click to see the original)

I thought I’d come back and show you the finished product in my office. I decided to go less formal this time. More Joanna Gaines (my new girl crush!) and her Fixer Upper style. Who else loves that show?

Can you say, “Road trip to Waco?”

Not picture perfect, by any means. Not with all this writing. But very cozy.

And never fear about Jack. He still has his place—right by the window where he can watch the school bus and the children, and all the neighborhood comings and goings.

So how is your 2016 so far? What are you most looking forward to this year? 

Much love from Nashville, and blessings in this New Year!

Tammy