Proud Wife

This may not matter to all of you but I just wanna brag about my amazing husband. I certainly give him enough grief, so I want to balance it out with a little boasting. He deserves it. And because this is MY blog, I can do what I want. (Thanks for coming along for the ride!)

Four years ago (this coming April) we started what would become Window Cleaning Medics. We had just moved from Utah and were temporarily living in my sister Amy’s living room. (I was four months preggo with Addy.) The day after we arrived in Florida, Deland washed his first windows. (Clients we still have today.) All (almost) four years he has been working his booty off to grow our business and provide for our family. In that time we have been through many ups and downs. Led by Deland’s hard work and determination we grew our business to over 900 customers.

In November, a man named Mike approached Deland about selling our business to him. We had been looking into selling our business for over a year, but just hadn’t pursued it. But now it was right in our laps! For a long time, Deland had talked about starting a carpet cleaning business. However, it takes quite a bit of start up money, so we knew it would be a long way off. But, when the opportunity to sell the window washing business came along, we took a long look at carpet cleaning. After several weeks of reviewing our options we decided to buy a franchise of Clean As A Whistle, Inc. They are based out of Houston, TX. Deland has a long standing knowledge of the owner, Howard Partridge and has been VERY impressed with the company’s operation.

Mike paid us an original lump sum to purchase the business which we have used to turn around and start Clean As A Whistle Orlando. The majority of the money to purchase the business will be paid to us over a period of one to five years. (So, NO you can’t have a loan; we don’t have several hundred thousand in the bank.) *Oh, and we still have access to all the clients we have earned through window washing.* Deland has been working so hard to learn the art of carpet cleaning and several friends have let him ‘practice’ on their floors. (You guys are wonderful!) Deland will sign the papers to officially purchase the franchise in the next few days.

This feels like a new, fresh start for us. Window washing was good to our little family. It has been a rough few years, but we learned a lot. Our marriage has been tested, our faith and business knowledge have been tried many times. But through it all we have grown and been strengthened. We feel that Clean As A Whistle Orlando, will bring new opportunities and provide for our family a better life. (We are counting on it!)

Most of all, I am proud of my husband. When we started window washing, we knew everyone thought we were crazy. (Some days we wondered if everyone was right!) But Deland knew he wanted more for our family. He never got discourage from washing windows because he kept his eyes on the ‘prize’ of being the business owner of a “turn key operation.” Deland is the most motivated person I know. His faith in himself is indescribable. His faith in himself comes from his faith in our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for that because (I’m ashamed to admit) sometimes I have not had the faith in Deland that I should have had. He carried both of us when I could not walk anymore. Countless nights I have cried on his shoulder because I felt life was “too hard.” But he helped me laugh. And when I could not manage to laugh, he turned on our song (Danny's Song, by Kenny Loggins) and sang to me while we danced in our (very small) living room.

We don’t live in my sister’s living room anymore. And our current house is big step up from our first Florida apartment, which was about 575 square feet. We are still renting, but we are in a much better place than a few years ago. Between the efforts of my amazing husband and the blessings of our Heavenly Father, I believe we will go very far. I am so proud of the man I married, and I feel so blessed to have him as my best friend and partner FOREVER. “Thanks for choosing me, hunny. I love you to infinity and beyond! This songs for you.”