Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for:

1) My Catholic Faith- where would I be without God? I am thankful He has shown me the fullness of truth in the Catholic Church.
2) My husband- he supports, loves, and challenges me to be a better person. He is a true soul mate and I am thankful for his companionship on this journey we take together to our final home in heaven.
3) My children- Liam and Analee. They show me everyday what true love is: hard work and sacrifice. They bring unspeakable joy to my life. I love them so much, it hurts sometimes!
4)All the friends and family who support me along the way. My mom- who is my number one fan (and I'm pretty sure it's mutual!) and my sister, Julie, is especially supportive. My friends- old and new.
5) The ability to stay at home with my children
6)My rosary business- and all the wonderful customers I have gotten to know along the way.
7) This country and our freedoms
8) Our new home
and the list goes on and on...

Thank you, Jesus, for all the many blessings you give me every day!

Our Lady of Guadelupe Bead

Here she is. As with any cane design, the ending result is a bit distorted from the original. That is the nature of the beast! But the image is recognizable and I am happy that she came out.

The final touches

After a final shipment of clay I got in today (I don't even want to count how many times I had to order more for this bead!), I was able to finish up the last of Mary's rays. Now I just need to add some more clay around the edges to make it round for rolling. Then the fun begins....and many, many more prayers that thing turns out. I vow never to make a bead this big again- ever!

Big Momma is back and bigger than ever

I'm back on the blog- from a very busy break! My family moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia- only a two and a half hour move, but by far, the hardest one I've ever made. With two very young kids, everything takes forever! A month later, we have everything in it's place, and it's time to resume my work on Big Momma (my new Mary Bead that won't stop growing!).


Here is a pictures of the rays I am putting on Mary. They are coming along nicely, but she is just getting so big, it's making me really worry how this is all going to work out. I've never reduced a cane this big and I've never used this Kato clay before, so I am praying-really, I'm praying hard that this is going to work.


Anyway, here is a pic of my new work space in my new house. Quaint. But let's face it, I make rosaries , not money ;) The picture on the right is a poster I had back in high school that I got from a Marian Conference where I traded a rosary for it. It is a drawing of Mary in three pinnacle parts of her life- the Nativity, the Presentation, and the Crucifixion.




Also on the wall, I had to put the picture my Grandma made for me when I was born- I blogged this on an earlier post (Grandma Leukam).

Lastly, here are a couple picks of my family on Halloween. Analee was Mother Theresa, and Liam was Thomas the Train (he is obsessed with trains!). I made the Mother Theresa costume out of dishtowels and paint. What fun!