Family Photo Medallion Ornaments

In the 2+ years I’ve written this blog, I’ve learned a very interesting thing about blogging and social media in general: people only know what you put out there. I have made a conscience decision to primarily post pictures of my home, my projects, and gifts I make for other people. Every so often, I share something personal: a story about a marathon or my husband coming home from deployment or my Mom. For me, this has been a good balance. I never wanted this to be a family blog or a diary of my life; but every now and then, something happens in my personal life that I can’t help but share with my readers.

Before Christmas I made a last-minute gift for my mom. I quickly snapped some pictures of them before I boxed them up, thinking I would only share the photos once she was better. But that time didn’t come as fast I thought it would, and I want to share this project, and this story, here…now.

A few weeks before Christmas, my mom was feeling very ill and ended up in ER/ICU. It was a short stay, but it left her week and too exhausted to decorate for Christmas. I was sad that her house (that was always filled to the brim with Christmas cheer and holiday crafts) would have none this year, so I whipped up a set of these adorable family photo medallion ornaments (I found the idea HERE!), and sent them off to her.

Literally as I was pulling out of the post office after mailing them, I got a call from my sister that my mom was back in the ICU. Without sharing too many details, my mom went back into the ICU 6 days before Christmas, and she is still there now. She has a very severe form of pneumonia and is fighting for her life. Instead of these ornaments adorning her bare tree at home, they have adorned her walls in the ICU.

Through this whole experience, these ornaments have been a vibrant and visible presence of our family in my mom’s room. I know she saw them, and I know she knows they’re there. I hope she knows that we are there..in picture, in person, in spirit, in prayer, in fervent love.

I’ve been really amazed and overwhelmed by the reaction from my family and the hospital staff to these ornaments. Simple paper scraps, crafted with immense love for an amazing woman. I never would have guessed that pulling this little project together at the last minute would serve as a source of comfort for my mom and a source of strength and pride for my family.

I’m so grateful to Heather for posting this idea and for all those who pinned it so that it found my way to my Pin boards. This simple idea in a simple photograph…has brought a lot of holiday spirit to a family that has needed it.

I wish I could close this post with the good news that Mom is okay. At this point, she is not yet okay, and we do not know how her particular story will play out.

My mom, who I love so much, has a beautiful and strong family gazing down on her from the walls and is pulling and praying hard for her to get through this. If you have a prayer intention list, please add her to it. If you need someone to pray for, please pray for my mom. We need all the prayers we can get.

As you can probably guess, my life (and hobbies) are in a fluid state at the moment. I will try to continue to post when I can, but if I don’t…I’m still here, I’m just spending time with my Mom.