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I'm thankful for my friend Barbara over at "Praying for Grace" and her beautiful apostolate called "Prayerful Beads", that of repairing and creating beautiful handmade rosaries!
I've never really owned a "special" rosary before, gifted with one as a very young child after my First Holy Communion is all and obtained many cheap ones along the way which broke easily I might add.
It was one of those ah-ha moments for me one day when I came across a mound of broken rosaries located inside the small drawer of my heritage wooden tea wagon.
I've been a fan of Barbara's three blogs for several years now (yes, all three! check out her cooking one! Fabulous!) but for some reason I never correlated the idea of asking her to repair our broken rosaries, let alone did I ever think before about having a custom made rosary for myself for that matter, all flooding my mind as part of that "ah-ha" moment on one sudden day.
First I sent Barbara an email with a photo displaying all the broken ones, thinking it was overkill, almost embarrassed over just how many we've accumulated over the years with little ones pulling and breaking them apart. I wanted to give her an idea of what she'd be up against.
"No problem" she said with graciousness aplenty, "just send them my way and we'll get them all repaired".
And then, the idea of (begging), um, commissioning her to make a very unique and exquisite lifetime one for me was born.
I would be visiting in the US for my second bi-annual sister-only visit and would she mind repairing the rosaries and sending them to me at my sister's address so I could escort them home and not have to deal with postal issues in reverse.
On the last day during my trip, her package arrived safe and sound with all the repairs AND my special gifts had been placed in sweet boxes, all ready to pack up and take home. Wowza!
Not only did this sweet woman oblige me to repair and/or replace some plastic parts to metal ones, she was instrumental in assisting me with ideas and links to suppliers to get my ideas together for my "special" lifelong rosary of my very own.
I was so excited, and began to spend time surfing and perusing those links she sent, and then - everything I "thought" I had wanted for my rosary altered in a dramatic way!
In the end, I never opted for the lovely pure white beads and other parts I initially first dreamed about. You know the white, heavenly, clean slate color one envisions?
Instead, my request included "PURPLE" beads, you know the color that stands for "penitential"? Yep, that's what I wanted. Something meaning "humble", "on my knees", "penitent", "hopeful", full of intentions for prayer and sacrifice....
Emails flew back and forth. I was almost ducking and awaiting the email that exclaimed - "are you nuts woman to choose purple!", but it never came. Thank you Barbara, sheepish grin on face here.
And then the centerpiece didn't end up being as first thought either. Actually to me IT IS perfect! It's not only super stunning and beautiful, it's something a mother's heart can thoroughly relate to, difficult motherhood moments and humility comes to mind.
You can check out further details about my beautiful rosary by clicking HERE and also see more photos from Barbara's most creative and loving hands. I love, love, love it!
Last of all, a final possibility filled my brain (poor woman again!) when I noticed all of Barbara's auto rosaries on her website she had made with loving hands. She made me an auto rosary to match using the leftover beads, so nice to own one of those too. *rosy red blush*
Thank you again Barbara! You've blessed me (and my husband was free from having to shop the day before like he usually tends to do, LOL) so much.
Thank you to my husband, who actually snatched it right out of my hands when I returned from my trip and actually hid it until the perfect time to give it back to me several weeks later. What a guy! :)
Hugs!
Renee
