The Harvest of Goodness
Usually, when I sit down to write to you, it’s to announce a new collection or share the latest designs hitting the shop. But tonight is different. Tonight, I’m not here to talk about gifts or greeting cards. I’m here to talk about a week that felt like a direct conversation with the universe.
I can’t go into every specific detail, but on Tuesday morning, my husband George called me from the shop. My heart initially sank - an unexpected call usually means something is wrong. Instead, he was calling to deliver the kind of news that leaves you breathless.
A partner organization we work with had secured grant funding to upgrade the technology used by their community programs. Because of the work we do alongside them, they chose to award us the funds to completely overhaul our equipment. I’m typing this right now on a beautiful, high-performance machine that, just days ago, felt like a distant "someday" dream.
To understand what this means, you must understand what I was leaving behind. I bought my previous laptop in 2015, during one of the most stressful chapters of my life - packing up my home in Florida, navigating immigration paperwork, and planning a wedding across an ocean. For ten years, that computer was my workhorse. But lately, it had become a barrier. It couldn’t support Windows 11; it was bogged down by a decade of updates, freezing constantly and testing my patience daily. I’ll admit, I had more than one fantasy about tossing it into the street just to watch a line of traffic drive over it.
We knew it needed to go. But in a volatile economy, cash flow is everything. We were holding onto our reserves, prioritizing the stability of the business over the tools I needed to run it. I had resigned myself to the "slog" - to the inefficiency and the lost hours of troubleshooting.
Then, this blessing arrived.
Working on our website, with my trusty assistant at my side, and reflecting on the generosity that enabled us to upgrade my laptop and improve my productivity this week. Note: I used AI to remove something from the background of the photo.
It isn’t just about a faster processor or integrated AI tools - though those are life-changing for my productivity. It’s about the timing. By removing this barrier now, at the end of March, the goals I’ve set for the rest of 2026 suddenly feel within reach.
I have spent all week thanking God, our partners, and the universe. But more than that, I’ve been reflecting on why this happened now. It’s a reminder that the energy we put out into the world isn’t lost; it’s just traveling. We must never stop putting "good" out into the world because when we least expect it and need it most, all that good will come back to us.
This gift has filled my heart with a renewed sense of gratitude. It’s the fuel I needed to keep pushing forward, to keep serving our local community, and to finally bring my newest and largest project to date for our website to life. I’m heading into April not just with better technology, but with the profound realization that when you work with intention, the universe eventually finds a way to work for you, too.
Now, I feel safe to dream of one day having a home office as warm and cosy as I have dreamt of in my mind over the years. For now, this AI generated image gives me something tangible to work towards about as I plow forward with my Master Project List for the shop for 2026.