Lessons in Claiming Miracles

Aside from planning and preparing for our Startup Princess conference next week, I’m also up to my ankles in mud–literally, but I’m not complaining. I claimed this miracle.

Here’s how we claimed our miracle of landscaping:

We moved into our house 5 years ago. Yes, 5 years ago. It was brand-spanking new and we didn’t have the resources to finish the yard at that time and said, “We’ll do it next year.” Well, next year came and went…and then we had a few rough years financially and all of a sudden it was 4 years and we still had dirt and weeds. Every time I drove up to my house I felt a little sad about it and wanted it done for my children and my neighbors. I was trying to be patient, but it was hard, it was time to figure out the answer. (Photo credit to Henrique Vincente)

So, last year we worked out a trade with someone and he did most of the work before the snow fell and we thought we’d be able to finish it up early Spring. Well, Spring came and he didn’t return our calls and eventually we became discouraged, particularly when we learned he didn’t do a good job. End of August came and my husband and I decided it was time to claim a miracle and find a way to ‘Make it Happen.’ We still have limited financial resources and so paying someone to finish it off seemed to be a challenge, but September 1st came and I wrote down “sod by Sept 30.” We had talked to another landscaper, Steve and he said he’d consider a trade for a plasma tv (my husband sells them). I had little faith that he would be able to come because he was really busy and wondered if he could or WOULD make it a priority. I hoped. I called Steve a few times and I thought about our yard being finished daily and prayed for it too. I visualized it being done and the kids playing FINALLY on grass. We talked about it being done and kept the design on our fridge.

Then our miracle, Steve came on Sept 25th. He came and surveyed the broken sprinklers, the misplaced heads and messed up design and said, I want to fix this for you and I want to trade it 100%. Then he came again and again and stayed until midnight and 1am and brought his team of hard working guys and equipment to fix it. We made them dinner in gratitude and they brought us TREES. 3 of them. Now we have sprinklers that work and sod is on the way, so is curbing and a beautiful design that was affordable for us in the trade. When Steve planted our first tree I was so happy, my kids danced and I thought I heard the tree whisper he’s happy to be part of our home. We didn’t have sod by Sept 30, but we had Trees…an even greater gift. Tonight we gave thanks for our miracles.

Now I’m claiming the miracle of a full Startup Princess conference next week. We are getting close to our goals, but we need to reach a wider audience and broadcast our message bigger and more widely. If you would like to be part of our grassroots marketing team, please contact me immediately and I will give you a discount to the conference if you’re local or if you can’t attend, I’ll send you a DVD of the event. Comment here.