A Change Of Season

Nature is an amazing teacher. So much of it reflects our inner lives, and the lessons abound.

With the fall season came brilliant colors and delightful weather for our enjoyment. It is my favorite time of year, hands down.

Pre-ride grooming--he's already excited

When I owned horses, it was also my favorite time of year to ride. I would get to the barn every chance I could, excited to ride out and see all the vibrant colors and feel a cool breeze as we galloped through the grass. Pep was anything but the deadhead, bomb-proof stereotypical Quarter Horse gelding. He was the smartest, most energetic and athletic QH I've owned or known. Born and bred for cutting, he loved having a job to do, but he also loved fall trail rides as much as I did. That first cool breeze up his nose would have him walking at nearly a trot pace, ears forward, spooking at leaves blowing across the ground. There was nothing dull about my best friend.

Fall is also a tough time of year for me, since I am currently not riding. It's ingrained in me to head to the barn and ride out, and then I remember--not now. It's another part of me--the equestrian I am at my God-created core, from my earliest memories--that I surrender to God's timing.

In characteristic fall style, the weather is widely variable and difficult to predict. It can be downright heavenly and alternately dreary and cold. So it is with our lives this year.

This fall, amidst some dreary days of life's challenges, we have been blessed to welcome a new family member; our son-in-law, Ross. Laurie, my youngest daughter, married her Starbucks crush, on October 20th. The day could not have been more beautiful, from the setting on a northwest Virginia horse farm to the beautiful couple, ceremony, and their guests. What an absolute joy and blessing!

That weekend, we learned our family has grown even more, with the announcement of (daughter and son-in-law) Alison and Chris's baby on the way!

Parents-to-be, Alison & Chris

Since that weekend in October, we've faced the challenges of a week down with flu, losing a lucrative photo shoot, and a costly home repair due to water damage; alternately, with some great business successes. Leland and I continue to move excitedly toward our business partnership.

Nature tells me that winter and the quiet stillness of dormancy is right around the corner. In our lives, however, we feel as though spring is appearing and life is stirring again. Buds are appearing, along with the hope and promise of renewed life. I pray this is our season:

The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, 

to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.

Deuteronomy 28:12