Several years back, I was afforded the opportunity to visit Lebanon. Lebanon is, of course, the home of the Cedars of Lebanon, referenced throughout Sacred Scripture and in many ancient secular texts as well. As souvenirs for our children, I brought home “prayer beads” made from those cedars. I put “prayer beads” in quotes, because of course they were rosaries, but we were not Catholic, so to us they were just prayer beads or maybe even just religious jewelry.

A year later, enduring some of the normal difficulties and trials of life, I found myself desperately grabbing for one of those sets of cedar “prayer beads” and asking the Blessed Mother for help.

Meanwhile, also searching for answers, my husband Kyle found himself reading through religious history. The more he read, the more he wanted to read and the more excited he became. He was discovering a vast treasure that had been nearby but somehow hidden all along.

We each knew we had found what was needed, but neither knew about the other’s journey. It made for quite the awkward summit conversation one day, which transitioned from timidity and concern to boldness and tears of joy.

The Blessed Mother’s gift of smuggling a rosary into our home was a major turning point in our lives, the compass that got us pointed towards Rome, to the Church that began with Jesus Christ. Hence, the rosary has purposefully become a constant presence, our good times and bad both lived with fingers tracing beads and mouths whispering Hail Mary, full of grace.

Over time, our home became littered with the bones of broken rosaries, those that had been prayed into pieces. Conversations revealed that this problem of rosary-fragility was one that was well known amongst the faithful. So inspired, Kyle set out to make a rosary that would hold up to our prayers. His goal became something that was beautiful enough for special occasions, yet durable enough to pray every day.

Success was found, and in retrospect, it does seem that Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Nicholas (or Sankt Nikolaus as we call him), Blessed Stanley Rother and a slew of other members of the Church Victorious had been deeply involved and had greater plans in store still.

We committed a portion of our monthly resources, time and money, to making rosaries, our desire being to give to others the gift of a beautiful and durable rosary, and in effect, helping the Blessed Mother to continue smuggling rosaries into the homes of those whom she knew most needed them.

We gave them to individuals, to classes of adults who were attending RCIA and later to the young adults who were attending confirmation classes. Sometime after passing the 100 mark, we were approached by a stranger who requested what became our first commissioned work.

With a few steps in between, today we find ourselves the pleased owners of Nikolaus Design, makers of fine art jewelry, specializing in rosaries beautiful enough for special occasions but durable enough for daily prayer. We take great joy in our art and even greater joy in working with our local parishes to ensure that those new to the faith are introduced to the rosary in grand fashion.