Wow. What a week last week. Seriously, what a crazy, crazy long and exciting week. Wednesday was the big, big day…we finally received our manufactured goods. They came a day later than I expected, but you better believe I was happy they were here…it could have been a lot worse…it could have been one week or one month late, so you won’t see any complaining from me. We moved our car out of the third bay garage {yes, Evy’s Tree now consumes our entire garage} and the freight company unloaded all the boxes for us….
This sweet man was a God send….while he was unloading the truck he looked me square in the eyes and said, “This business is your ministry, isn’t it?”
It gave me chills. Bonifide, hair raising chills.
While he was unloading the packages, he kept speaking faith over my company:
“You know this is how Steve Jobs started…out of his garage”
“Yes m’am, this business is going somewhere, I can feel it!”
“Next time I deliver your goods, you’re going to be in a warehouse!”
“I better get your autograph now, I can say I was here in the beginning!”
By the time he was finished unloading, I was pretty convinced that he was an angel in disguise. God knew I needed that. He really, really did. Someday I am going to write a post on what I think you need to start a business, but I’ll tell you, one of the first things you need is lots and lots of faith. Faith in yourself first, but I believe you need faith in God as well. See, I put everything I do in HIS hands. And whatever He wants from me, I will do.
Guys, I’m going to be honest with you, if you have followed along at all over the last year, this has been a long, long road. Definitely not easy. There have been many moments where I would wake up in the middle of the night crying because I didn’t know what I was doing, where God was guiding us, and where we were supposed to go. Two years ago Brandon and I stepped out and made a huge step of faith, and here we are. There have been many moments where I stood in the middle of our house and screamed, “What have we done?!?!” Honesty here, sorry.
But over the last couple weeks God has brought a lot of it together for us. He has opened some doors that I never dreamed would have existed two years ago, and shut some doors that I was certain we were meant to go through. Funny how that happens.
See, ministry to me has always been more pulpit. More church oriented. But the crazy thing about Evy’s Tree is that it has shown me that ministry is sometimes different than what you think. I’m finding that ministry just simply means “reaching out”. And that is what, through Evy’s Tree, I’ve been able to do. I’ve been able to reach out to those I would never have been able to meet. I’ve been able to connect, and sometimes inspire, others. And somehow, this has turned into a ministry.
So yes, freight delivery man {I never got his name}…you are right. This business has become my ministry.
After saying all that, I guess you can imagine how excited I was to receive this shipment. A happy ending to a long time period I’m eager to kiss goodbye and new beginnings to a wonderful new chapter in our lives. Nicole and I waited eagerly all day Wednesday for them to arrive, and when they did, I jumped up and down for joy. So did Jake….when he arrived home from school and found everything in the garage, he was ecstatic. Bless his heart. He knows how important it is to me. 
After we got over the excitiment of the arrival, I had to deal with the huge undertaking of unpacking and consolidating inventory.
Yikes.
Thankfully, I have some pretty amazing nieces. They were exhausted after a full day of school and volleyball practices, but they {and Nicole} came over and helped us unpack and count hoodies.
We finished about half of the boxes that night and then I completed the rest the following day. It took us 19 hours and four people unpack and consolidate the shipment. Yes. 19 hours. By the time Thursday evening came around I was limping to bed, utterly exhausted. But the studio looked neat and tidy, and everything was organized. That’s an amazing feeling.
YES!! That is leftover fabric from the years gone by up on top. If you want fabric, please let me know we are selling it by the pound and would love to get rid of it!
All the hoodies came packaged so beautifully from our factory and wrapped securely together so during shipment they wouldn’t shift. This is how they looked coming out of the box. So nice and neat!
Oh, and Evy wore a mini gunmetal simple to school on Thursday. It’s only fitting that Evy wear one of the first manufactured Evy’s Tree, right?
On Friday morning my niece Brittany came back and pulled all your orders. She made her way through July 30, which was our heaviest preorder date.
While she pulled hoodies, I packaged them with our new packaging. I think you guys will love receiving your hoodies…the packaging is so pretty!
And let me just say, the second thing you should do if you start a business, after having faith, is make sure you are surrounded by good friends. I can’t tell you how many times over the years that my friends have helped me out in a pinch with Evy’s Tree. Natalie and Harmony saw the stress in my eyes and asked if they could come over and help. While I packaged, they finished up sachets for you all. Yes, you get a handmade sachet in each and every box. Hope you love it!
And my dear friend Heidi. I adore her. She came by after school on Thursday and saw the overwhelmed look in my face. An hour later she showed up with this shepherds pie.
It was delicious, and for a family who hadn’t eaten a home cooked meal in several days, it was such a blessing!
We made a huge dent in the July 30 orders.
I am pleased to say that the majority of them should be shipping today. Please watch your inbox for shipping notifications. I hope to catch up with shipping by the end of this week and have our orders back to a 3-5 day turnaround time by next week. Stay tuned!
In closing, I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. We were able to catch my nephew’s football game Friday night. It was so much fun and he is AMAZING!
By Saturday I could barely say my name, I was so tired. Seriously. Our friends came for the weekend, and it was so nice. Instead of us entertaining them, they entertained us…seriously, they made sure I was resting, calm, not working. It was wonderful. The kids swam in the pool at my parents while I rested poolside. I haven’t done that in a long time. It was so needed and so wonderful.
don’t mind my toes…pedicure is next on the list this week…yikes.
I love you guys! I hope you all love your hoodies. Make sure you take some great pictures of you wearing them because we’re going to be hosting a really cool giveaway next week and it involves you wearing your hoodies!! 😉
xoxo
PS…did you guys see the new photos by the very talented DASO Photo? Click HERE and HERE.
The Adventures of the Miraflor Family...and Evy's Tree 
I just found our website and blog. I saw in one of the pictures that you were selling fabric by the pound. I have a dear friend that has an autistic daughter that will only wear stretchy knit fabric. My friend makes most of her daughters clothes and is always looking for deals for fabric. I know this post is old but I would love to know if you still have any of the fabric for sale and how much if you do. Thanks!