Hi I’m a stay-at-home mum of three and I’m obsessed with making rosaries 🙂

I wish I could say I’ve been a devout Catholic my whole life but the truth is I was born and raised Catholic then fell away from the faith for more years that I care to admit to. It was when my athiest husband spontaneously decided to go through the RCIA and convert to Catholicism that I figured I better go to Sunday mass with him.

I was sitting in the crying room with my son, not really paying attention to what was being said - I was too busy despairing over housing prices. Then came the homily.

"God doesn't care how big your house is, but those talents he gave you, what are you doing with those?"

By the end of it, the only person crying in the crying room that day was me. I went home and made the best batch of cookies I ever made and have never looked back. I thank God every day for coming to find me.

When I told my mum I was a regular church-goer again, she immediately ran into my old room and started pilfering through all the boxes of my stuff that I keep promising to take home with me. The sheer joy and happiness on her face when she began unwrapping a statue of Mary made it abundantly clear just how many prayers had been hurled in my direction over the years. I realised that, praying for my kids was the far greater gift over owning a giant house. Along with Mary, home came a guardian angel statue and my rosary beads that were gifted to me by my late grandparents. To make them even more special, I was putting my kids to bed one night when I realised...my rosary beads glow in the dark!

My husband was needing rosary beads of his own, unable to match the wonders of my glow-in-the-dark rosary beads. His first purchase was a chain link rosary, while beautiful, they were too dainty and fragile for his man-hands. So next parcel arrives and out comes this gigantic paracord rosary. I was in the middle of a macrame project and had to stop to inspect it. I knew the knots and I immediately thought...‘I want to try making one’.

The macrame project still remains unfinished to this day, completely abandoned in lieu of beads, wire, cords, crucifixes and centres. I've learned so much through experimentation, hurdles and disappointments and, though I still have a long way to go, I am so excited for the journey ahead and have so many ideas I want to work towards. Making rosaries is my happy place and each one is made with the best intentions. May they inspire you to pray in times of trial, remind you to give thinks in times of happiness and may they bring encouragement should they fall into the hands of a recent convert.

-Kate