Isn’t our part of the country just beautiful right now?? How long has it been since we had a real fall and could watch the trees change from vivid greens to incredible yellows, reds, and browns?? Wow! This has been a beautiful month in Oklahoma. Hubby and I went to Sulpher, OK this past weekend. Have you ever heard of Sulpher? Apparently, the hotel we stayed in has quite a history of famous people who stayed with them in the early 1900’s. The original hotel burned to the ground and the Chickasaw tribe rebuilt it to it’s glory days. When we got there, I thought we may have been given the worst room in the house because it was near the elevator. Gratefully, it was so quiet I never even heard the elevator. It was beautiful and the staff was so awesome, I will definitely go back and stay when they haven’t sent us four free nights stay. It was great and I highly recommend it. It is in the Arbuckles so there is a lot to do around there and it is absolutely gorgeous in the fall!
We used the time for our annual planning weekend. It was a hard weekend for me physically as I chose to stop taking any pain killers again. I go through stages where they are necessary evils, but I am not willing to stay on them when my body will allow me to get off of them. Last week was the date so regardless of our plans, I wanted to stick to my plan of discontinuing use of opiates, once again. The rules and government control have gotten so scary, I would prefer to manage life without them and only use them when it is something acute and absolutely necessary.
Life has not been simple for us. I think I actually thought when I married Matt Ford that it would be much simpler than it was in childhood. That has not been the case. The case for us has been a lifetime of challenging beliefs, questioning what we were taught, and overcoming things we never dreamt of going through. Because our childhoods were so different, we have had to bring both of them to the table and discover what we really believe together. It’s been challenging to say the least. That is what our annual planning weekends are about, coming together on our thoughts for the following year. Hubby is definitely a planner but doesn’t consider himself one necessarily because it is much less so than he grew up like. Regardless, he is definitely a planner. In our family we ran by the seat of our pants so anything planned more than a couple of days before was a challenge, I thrived on it. Hubby does not. Neither way was ideal so, the solution is planning weekend.
As the trees start to die off and fall is in full swing, life continues to be full of hope. It’s so incredible how God gives us hope in every season of the year and with every new season in life. I’m looking forward to the next few seasons, both in the weather and in our lives. Hubby and I are in a really good place, safe and hopeful. We are buying our first commercial building for both Hubby’s business and eventually mine, what a great step. I got to see my mom’s widower a couple of weeks ago and as an architectural engineer and successful real estate man, he told us we were doing great. He said the first commercial purchase is a huge step and that we should be very proud of ourselves, so we will be. I love my step dad, Bill Buffington (William E. Buffington), my mom may be gone but he is not and he loves me and my family and for that I am grateful. I learned a lot about business from him and I am forever grateful that my mom picked him.
I hope this post finds you in a prosperous season of your life. I don’t think that any season is perfect, but some are easier than others. By the way, we added a new Ford to the house, Millee is ONE, and we added Mayzee, she’s 10 weeks. Like I said, no seasons are fully easy, but they are all fully worth it!
“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1
As Beauty Unfolds... 