We have been getting a ton of rain here in North Carolina.
And over the last several days, my house has flooded a couple of times... pretty badly.
Flooding is not totally out of the norm for this house... I bought it a couple of years ago and we have endured several floods since then because it sits below street level and below my neighbor's house...
BUT, the sad thing is that the previous owner failed to disclose this information when I purchased the house, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into at the time.
Since then, we've had 6 major floods, including one hurricane that caused us to lose everything in our downstairs and all of my dad's stuff (he used to live downstairs below us)... and we also had to rip the dry wall out and gut the bathroom, etc to prevent mold.
As you probably know, I'm a single mom, so when situations like this happen, it's all up to me to 'bail us out' (haha- pun intended) and to find solutions.
Usually, I just try to figure stuff out on my own, but after spending 4 hours removing water in my downstairs on Monday with a shop vac (AGAIN!), I decided to finally ask for help.
I ended up making a video that showed the flood waters and everything that I was dealing with, and I posted it in a couple of Facebook groups for locals here on the island that I live on.
Immediately, I started getting responses from people with phone numbers and suggestions for things I could do... and some of them said there's really nothing I can do because of the way my house sits lower than the street.
But a few people went beyond the Facebook comments and were seriously proactive about helping me.
One of them (a friend of a friend) sent me a message and said "I saw your video and I think I can help you. I'm coming over in the morning to look at your yard."
Another one said, "Stop by for coffee this afternoon, I want to talk to you about your house. I have some ideas."
They both helped me A LOT.
The first guy has some great ideas for different drainage, etc and is rallying with other guys that he knows that have experience with this (and the right tools) to get some stuff done right away before the next storm hits.
The other one, when I showed up for coffee, had drawn out my property and looked up the square footage of my lot to figure out exactly how many thousands of gallons of water need to be removed per hour to eliminate the flooding. He then helped me did a trench in my backyard (the same day) so that we could install my pump below ground level before the rain started up again.
These are what I like to call the 'helpers".
It's based on the quote from Mr. Rogers,
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' "
Whenever unfortunate events happen, or situations where we just can't go it alone anymore, I've noticed that these sort of helpers show up.
They show up without fail... and it always feels like they are angels, sent to me by God or the Universe (or whatever you believe in).
They are always available, if you are open to receiving help. (*** the key is you HAVE to be open).
Last night, I had the privilege of having Jim and Kristi Hall on the Power Hour as guests... and I had my mind blown and was moved to tears, several times during our conversation.
They are the epitome of the term 'helpers'.
Kristi saw a need that she could fill, and even though she didn't have it all planned out or ready to go, she just started helping.
She launched a membership site to help others in the 'home baking' niche, way before she was ready, and she has now built a community of 15,000 people and has made a HUGE difference for home bakers all around the globe.
Jim is committed to helping people in any niche to create similar platforms and opportunities to free themselves from having to work at full time jobs.
Together, they are making a gigantic difference in the world.
If you missed the live session last night, I highly recommend you catch this replay before it comes down.
Not only will you be inspired beyond what you can possibly even comprehend, but you will see the type of people that our Home Business Academy community is made of- and maybe you will understand exactly why I'm constantly ranting and raving and blown away by the difference we are able to make for people here.
The older I get, the more I realize that the reason we are all here is to help and to serve. That's seriously why we are here. We are all helpers in our own unique ways.
And I (and we) are here to help you, in a big way... but as I said before, you have to be open to the help.
And prepare to be blown away when you hear Kristi explain things that she's done, simply out of her passion and her desire to help.
If nothing else, you will be inspired... and inspiration in and of itself is always a good thing. :)
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions at all. I'm here to help... it's seriously what I live for.
