How it Started...

How did MadonnaMosaics begin, you ask?

Like this...

It took many tries to extricate myself from my marriage. On my first serious attempt in 2004, I was sober, AGAIN, and the only way to keep my sobriety was to remove myself from that toxic situation. I didn't want to disrupt my kid's lives until I knew how it was gonna all shake out. So, I rented an Apartment at the Regency in downtown Oklahoma City.

The Regency is the Concrete High Rise right next to the Murrah Building Bombing Memorial.In the aftermath of the bombing, it was still standing, but all the windows were blown out. It looked like my soul felt. Restored now, it was the perfect landing spot for a broken heart. I hoped I could get myself together, my husband would get sober, and we could save this beautiful family.

Underneath the Regency was a Store, Sacred Relics, placed there as a respite for pilgrims to the Memorial. I found respite there too. I walked in, broken by the hopelessness of my situation. My boys, 3,5,8, and 10 deserved a shot at a healthy family and Mike, the EX, was never going to get sober. EVER. I had been sober for 5 years prior and knew i couldn't make a go of it with a drunk husband. So this was The line In The Sand. He had to get sober or I was leaving. Coming home to my apartment after a long day of driving carpools and giving bathes, I stopped into Sacred Relics for some inspiration and hope.

Hanging on the wall was the Most Glorious Black Madonna I had ever seen. Irreverent and Bold, She looked like someone had vomited Mardi Gras all over her. She was mine. I had only recently discovered the Black Madonna. She's the Champion of the Unseen, the Sacred Feminine that Shines from the Shadows, This particular Madonna had been bedazzled by a German Woman who survived Auschwitz AND was a Recovering Alcoholic. She drank to dull the tragedy until it quit working, as it does. When she got Sober, She devoted herself to making these amazing Madonna's imbibed with her Joy of Sobriety and Freedom.

I snapped her up and made an altar with candles and pictures of my boys, Mike and Me. Each night when I came home from taking care of the boys, I would light my petition candle and beg Mary to Heal My Family. And you know what? She DID! Mike got SOBER and I moved home. It worked until it didn't. We lasted 6 more years until the Drinking returned.

I wanted to show my Gratitude to the Madonna by creating new works of devotion to her. I've been doing them ever since.

I apply one bead at a time.

Bead by Bead.

Breath by Breath.

Prayer by Prayer.

WE ARE HEALED.

So. Much. Love.

M