The New Website and the Audacity of Angels

The new website is set to launch next weekend on Sunday when coder Ben Sheehan can spend the day making sure the launch goes smoothly. As all the threads pull together, I recall how this new website got rolling.

It is a case study of the audacity of Angels.

I looked up the word audacity because I wanted to be sure I was using it correctly. An online dictionary describes it as “the willingness to take bold risks” with a secondary definition of “rude and disrespectful behavior.” Since there is never anything disrespectful about Angel behavior, I refer here only to the primary definition of a willingness to take bold risks.

More than a year ago, the Angels encouraged me to begin a letter writing campaign to Katie Carpenter to get her to come here and create a new website for us. I knew very little about Katie other than she was the lovely older sister of staffer Laura Carpenter. Katie wrote me very sweet notes in reply, mentioning most gently that she had a life in Pennsylvania and a job that was keeping her quite busy enough. This didn’t at all dampen the Angels enthusiasm for the letter writing campaign. As my notes continued, the Angels encouraged me to mention to Katie that it was them who wanted her to come to New Hampshire. I wasn’t sure what Katie thought of Angels but that became a theme of my notes. Katie continued on with her sweet replies.

Katie is one of the kindest people on Earth, and I am not sure an impolite word has ever crossed her lips, but I can only wonder what she made of this person she had met once or twice for no more than five minutes sending her all these notes about the Angels’ plans for her! By the time Katie’s work situation unexpectedly changed in March, she had been hearing about these persistent Angels so much that she recognized the Angels hand in the sudden opening in her work life, and she agreed to come north and do the site.

Much like a deep sea fisherman with something unknown on the line, I had no idea what kind of great news this was for Green Hope Farm. I had never seen Katie’s resume or even asked her what on Earth she did. This is fairly typical of my life with Angels. Foresight? None on my part. Hindsight? A lot better.

So what did I learn as things unfolded with Katie? One of the first things Katie did as she began to plot the redesign of our website was have me look at other websites for things I liked and things I didn’t like.

It was hard to miss that websites were no longer static long sheets of online paper but much more dynamic. It was also hard to miss that Katie would frequently show me mind blowing sites that she had designed.

The fish on the line was turning out to be a beautiful marlin! In fact, as the months working with Katie continued, not only did Katie prove to be incredibly imaginative and a complete joy to work with, but I would keep on finding out through other people that this wasn’t exactly Katie’s first rodeo.

You worked for the O network as a film editor for a TV show?

You have an Emmy?

The understatement of the century was proving to be that Katie had the experience to make us a beautiful new website. Had I known what I know now, I would have felt it audacious as in the secondary definition of rude or disrespectful to expect this woman to move to New Hampshire for six months to do our website!

Sometimes the grace in life comes from not knowing what we are asking for!

So here below are two peeks at the new website. There will be some changes from what these pages look like, but it gives you the feel of the new site. The watercolors were Katie’s idea. Of course.

Before I close, I want you all to know that like an environmentally conscious deep sea fisherman, it is required of me to release my lovely marlin back into the ocean.

Katie is returning to her life in Pennsylvania where she will continue to help us with our new website from afar as it grows and changes. She will be looking for new clients to design for. Ben is set to continue to code for her. This is another audacious bit of Angelry. Ben had managed our site for many years but for this new website he had to learn several new coding languages as it is a very complicated site. This could explain his summer hunched over a computer 24/7, cackling whenever he got the bead on a new bit of code. This also explains why we did not understand a single thing he said to us about his new life as a coder.

Take a look at the site when it launches in a week. Then contact Katie at katiecarpentereditor@gmail.com if you need a new or newly recreated website. As of September 21st she is free, and that is a very lucky thing for whoever gets to work with her next!

Each Flower Essence will have its own page that will look something like this:

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This is an example of what the search filters will lead you too- This is the search filter for Flower Essences having to do with LOVE! You will be able to click on each small box and have the bigger box of information like the one above open for you.

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And here is Katie checking in with Grace about a photo of her and Sheba on the new site. Bless you Katie and thank you for everything!

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