Faith Inspired Jewelry, Giving Back

They say a faith just the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. 

Our story began with sowing our very own seed; a seed that felt astronomical in size comparison to the faith we felt we had. What seemed like a blessing of frequent ultrasounds to see our babies quickly escalated to a meeting in our doctor's office, giving us an ultimatum no parent should ever face. At just 17 weeks we were advised to selectively terminate one of our babies, or likely lose them both to TTTS & SIUGR. Unbeknownst to me, those frequent appointments were actually not a blessing, but doctors had been closely watching our boys' condition of type 2 SIUGR & TTTS quickly progress. As we were told to prepare for the worst, making any decision still felt too heavy for us to carry. Due to their severe imbalance of placenta share, they were inoperable for laser ablation which would likely also cause demise of our donor baby. No matter the outcome, I refused termination and surrendered our fate to God. My husband and I's lives flipped upside down and inside out; as I left my jobs to go on strict left side-lying bedrest, and consumed over 175g+ daily to support their growth. My husband took nearly a $10 pay-cut to be with us at every ultrasound, we were supported by government assistance programs and the love of our local community; family, friends, churches, every member of our medical team. It was during this time that my mother-in-law gifted me a mustard seed necklace and she told me that faith could be just this small to move mountains. And what a small seed that we felt we had, facing a miracle sized mountain to climb. But that's the thing about surrender; when you let go, God leads the way. Months of darkness, 92 total days of bedrest, I held onto it as a constant reminder of how small my faith could be – but truly my faith felt so much smaller. Little did I know through my constant crying and prayer, that I would be sowing that seed. Our boys stunned their care team when they miraculously arrived at 29 weeks and 5 days. Darkness continued through 120 days in NICU, our babies unknowingly fighting off NEC from the premature Abbott formula recall. While I had hoped to breastfeed, our boys' nutritional deprivation required us to pump & bottle feed with fortifier. Once the recall happened, finally it all made sense. But now due to supply and demand, finding any formula was even more difficult. Because our babies bellies were happiest on just pure breastmilk, I exclusively pumped 14 months in all. Surrendering my expectations of motherhood was the hardest thing I never expected to happen; but it allowed God to show me something that I never knew was there. Little did we know what our smaller-than-a-mustard-seed-sized faith would grow to be; a testimony and a catalyst for research on TTTS & SIUGR. Pathology of our placenta later showed that our donor had a marginal velamentous cord insertion with 3 false knots, and only 3.5cm of his 10cm cord was protected by the umbilical membrane. Results also depicted how our boys had developed a well vascularized network of connections between each other, leading doctors to believe that our recipient twin helped keep our donor twin alive in utero. Subsequently, our recipient twin was born with congenital heart disease for working hard to help his brother. 

Through it all, we learned that faith is not only what keeps us going, but it's threaded through community support. While we never received a bill for our nearly 8 month long journey living in the hospital, we are continually humbled and remember that this is rare blessing that many others deserve. What was once a life support along our journey, has now grown from a seed to a tree of shade to later offer rest & financial support for those facing similar battles. Every purchase helps sow seeds of hope as 100% of our profits are donated to charity. Click here to learn more about donations and our partners.

As a tribute to the mustard seed pendant I held onto during our journey, each string of beads contains a hidden handmade mustard seed bead. Serving as a symbolic testament for you to sow whether you're in the middle of your journey, or reflecting back in hindsight. My hope for you is that these pieces will serve you or the ones you love, and that you might have even more hope everlasting knowing that all of your purchased proceeds are donated to our charitable partners. Through our mustard seed jewelry, we all share a story; reminding us that faith will transcend this life into the next. 

Your support not only carries a story of faith—it helps us write new ones for others. Thank you for being part of something bigger than just jewelry. May you love your beads, may your seed be sown (albeit watered with tears like mine) and may you reap in joy a faithful fruit to share with others.

² Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. – Jude 2–4