I can't believe what I wrote here last year. LMBO!
Setting this business up was the most time consuming and straining thing I've ever done. Last year was an interesting and I guess testing time. I went down to Dominican Republic with my two kids. Everything that could have gone wrong, did.
We went to D.R. at the end of June. To start my husband's passport didn't make it in time and so I took the trip with the kids by myself. We got home and it was all beautiful and fun, magical! right.
We get to "our home" this is my husband's place, his grandmother's place "our home" first it was too inconvenient and too dangerous for little Gabriel, too many tempting electric cables and such. I didn't want to dry the great-grandma crazier! we had plan all of this around the fact that she needed some one to stay with her, helping her get better, but we couldn't stay there because we would be too much trouble.
So I ended up at my mom's house (my aunt and adopted mom) we had quite an interested sleeping arrangement, but the kids seemed to be happier there and we felt more welcomed. So we stayed here.
In all this, our fabrics and materials are stocked in customs and we ended up paying extra for the time THEY held the materials because the inspector was "sick" Goodness this took about a month!!!
Then the sewing machines, weren't ready when we expected them to be ready, so another two weeks.
After this two weeks the fun begun, my so promised "seamstresses" couldn't sew a straight line! to save my day!
So here I am two months later and no job has been done. I started to do all the cutting work and sew as much as I could, which really wasn't much due to the big fact that in the Dominican Republic the electricity is almost always gone, so basically there is a black out every single day for most of the day. Hurray!
I searched high and low for a good seamstress, I went to the city, I tried teaching some home sewers, but I had no luck!
Finally one of my machines broke down "Again" and the guy who sold them to us came to fix them to our location, and I explained the situation to which he showed interest in the job. It was a big relief, he said he would be back on Monday to see how it's done. This guy used to own a factory in New York and moved it down to Dominican Republic before things went sour and had to close it down.
I was happy! I was relieved! until I hear from my friend the news, there was a family accident and he was involved in it. Oh no! it was tragic.
While this happened I tried finding some one else again, not knowing that he would be back in a week. No luck!
Finally! he came and explained what had happened, he looked at a finished AngelPack, told me exactly how I had sewn the outside of it just by the looks of it. Made an appointment for me to go to his house and show him how to make one from start to finish.
We did that! within an hour he was done with the First AngelPack LX, fallowing my instructions. It was beautiful!! I have never sewn that well.
I have to say, I'm very thankful for finding him. I actually knew his family our grandparents are related. I had also been a sitter for kids in their family and I even babysat two of his daughter when they were babies, his wife was always so nice, even when I got her lost in the City, lol!
Anyways, finally our carriers are being made in our home town, NOT China, by people we know and have known for ever.
This is the short version of what happened, but it absolutely did not go smooth or easy for me, for the kids, some days were scary for them, others were sad, others full of junk food that I don't even dare to bring into my house, but that was something that made them happy and not cry because they missed their home, their food, their DAD!
Through all this something that helped out a lot, was breastfeeding, breastfeeding seemed to calm them down at night and nap time. No matter where we were we had this breastfeeding section for the two of them on my arms and it was a blessing. It kept us close and less stress.
Now there was that! I still don't feel like going into too many details, but this is much more than I have ever talked about the trip to "Setting Up AngelPack Production" the dominican way.
