Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...

 

If by "sweeping" you mean with the rage of an overstimulated mom with company coming over, then sure. The Oklahoma wind comes sweeping down the plains.

SURPRISE!

ha.

If you really know Zac or myself, you would know that we started seriously considering moving to Oklahoma back around 2022. Then we just kept living life and it wasn't working out aka we weren't being obedient to where we were being called.

God wanted us to move. We both felt called, but apparently we weren't going to do it on our own. I've seen recently, a quote about how God will let you go to places you didn't need to go, to get you to places you need to be. Yep, I can fully attest to that. 

So we took an offer to live in North Carolina. I made a post about some of it in May of 2024, (read that here) but in April 2024 we moved. We left Grand Junction, left Colorado. Where I'd lived the last 20 something years of my life, where I was born, where all 4 of my kids were born, where I met Zac... it was a big thing. It was A LOT. It was good when we got there for about 9 days. I am going to be completely honest here, and tell you that I struggled to have hope almost every day. Besides obviously being grateful for my kids, and getting to take them to the Ocean, I had a hard time feeling grateful for them because I felt like I had failed them for moving there. Nothing was as it was supposed to be. I didn't know if I would ever make it out of NC. I thought some days that I would die there. (Take that how you want, you would be correct.)

Zac asked me more than once if I wanted to leave, to try to move to Oklahoma. I told him no every time except for the last. I didn't want people to think I failed. I didn't want people to see how broken I felt or how hopeless I was. Really, feeling like I failed and made the wrong decision - I couldn't mentally handle thinking other people thought the same thing. 

I'm not going to go into everything that happened, because I have had a year to think and process everything, and there are conclusions Zac and I have come to, that aren't our business to share with the world.

Fast forward to the beginning of July, one particularly mentally painful morning of confrontation I didn't ask for, I texted Zac and told him I couldn't do it anymore. He took the lead, called my dad (who lived in Oklahoma) and told him how badly I was struggling. Together, my dad, stepmom, Zac and I came up with a plan to get us home.

September 6, 2024, 5 months after we moved to NC, we headed back West.

Landing in the Mid-West, in North Eastern Oklahoma (also known as Green Country!) we found our home. Not even a physical one, at first. That took about 7 months. To say we feel at home here is an understatement. Yes, we miss Colorado. (when you've seen those mountains that John Denver sang about, there is almost always going to be a longing in you. (and the curse of the Western Slope is a thing!)) But, the people here are so nice. Everything you could want in a small country town. I know I said this about GJ, but BVille is about half the size. With that, I very much have my work cut out for me with GTB, haha.

My dad and Karen Aug 2019

With this whole thing, I need to recognize my parents for a minute. My dad and my stepmom, Karen. They are incredible humans. Their hearts are so full of love, and getting to stay with them even though it was longer than anticipated, (there was definitely a divine timing reason for that) was healing to my soul after our time in NC. If it weren't for them, I truly don't think I would have survived.

Now, for our house! I've said for awhile that I would love to live in an old, Victorian style house. I mean, there were so many in Palisade! (Looking at the giant purple one there!) We applied to rent some houses here, but couldn't afford to keep paying application fees and not getting approved because multiple people got approved at the same time and showed up to sign paperwork first/not having the most perfect credit score/we have a bunch of pets, lol. We even tried to get into another RV. Which, apparently you can only get approved for financing a new RV with the highest amount of financing you've ever had. So, my $25,000 college loan really hasn't done anything for me, except find Zac haha. Man, that was discouraging.

On the way back to our temporary home with family, we drove by a big, vintage, roll top desk with ALLLL the drawers and compartments. My dream desk. Worth LOTS of money on FB marketplace.. just sitting there! FOR FREE! My first thought was that it was a middle finger from the universe. Like, "hey, look what you want but cant have because you have nowhere to put it" but then by the time we got to the stop sign at the end of the street, Zac was telling me there was room in our storage unit. Then, I knew it was a God wink. A, "hey, you didn't get approved for the RV because there is something better for you... it's not ready yet but here is something you can have that will keep you hopeful!" So we called my dad to see if he could bring it to storage with his truck. That was toward the end of 2025. Like, in December.

We found a house we really liked, with a lot of character similar to an old Victorian style. It was built in the 60s. It was for sale by owner. We thought we had a chance, then found out we were not in a place to buy a home at that time. That was in the beginning of March. By the end of March, I had found a house for rent, at a REALLY good price, that was built in the 1900s, and hadn't been renovated of its charm. We looked at it, applied for it, and after the literal longest week of our lives we were told it was ours. If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen some bits and pieces, and know how little things about it remind me of my grandparents house in Nebraska. (another divinely guided thing)

Proof of a fun summer.

We've lived in this house for almost 7 months now. In Oklahoma for a year. Honestly, its only been the last month that I have really processed and started to find myself again, and find forgiveness for that entire situation, and forced myself to come back out of my shell and not only create community but insert myself into spaces already created. An example, living near another amazing Damsel Pro and getting to go to her monthly team meetings. I even started going to church. (almost a year after my oldest two started going with my parents). Zac even comes with me! Speaking of Zac, he is painting and still doing RedsRockCreations! He is actually one of the vendors for a big Western Festival this weekend, and was in SunFest this summer. 

Does this sound like a Christmas letter yet? Ha.

I will leave this update post here: we are all doing well. We still have a storage unit in Colorado full of stuff from 2016, so that will be really fun to go get.

Till next time!

MarcieAF