Hi there!
My name is CaryAnn Pendergraft, and how ever you stumbled across this I am so glad you are here! The reason probably has to do with something I've made, so here's its backstory...
Be Wee began soon after my husband Ted and I were blessed by the birth of our first baby. I left a career as a fashion designer to become a stay at home mom, and it didn't take long for me to realize that I still needed a creative outlet! I began making accessories for friends and family during nap time, and with their encouragement began selling my work through craft fairs, boutiques, and Etsy.
My favorite things to make - -by far- - are engraved leather bracelets. Daily Reminder bracelets began in response to a time when our family's world turned upside down overnight. What I thought would just be a regular check-up led to my husband being diagnosed with a rare nerve tumor. During the long, hard days in the hospital that followed, friends and family sent scripture our way and we started to copy them down and tape them all over the little room. There was nowhere to look that did not have a reminder of God's presence, love, and the peace only complete trust in Him can bring. It was the only thing that would stop the worrying and what-if's from spiraling thru my head uncontrollably- rare tumors leave a lot of room for the imagination to run wild. I was not at all sad to see Ted leave that hospital, but as we went home to the busyness that comes with raising 2 toddlers, I missed those ever-present reminders of our DIY Bible verse wallpaper. I tried recreating the effect at home, but our kids were not content to sit in one place for very long! After a lot of searching and experimenting, I began engraving hymns and scripture onto leather wrap bracelets so I could carry those reassuring words with me wherever I went. They were such a blessing amid the blur of Ted's countless Dr appointments, tests, and procedures. Through all of the uncertainty, God taught me the true impact of praying "Thy will be done" for my husband's diagnosis... no small feat for a girl who fell in love at 15 years old, and then never dated anyone else because I knew without a doubt that I'd found my match. I learned that it is so much better to abandon what I thought my future would look like, and instead trust God to be there with me no matter what came next. Two years after his first surgery, Ted's Drs gave us the great news that since his tumor hadn't come back, it probably wouldn't, and it still has not, PRAISE GOD!!!
My newly deepened faith was tested just a few months after we got that great news. We found out that my distant family's breast cancer had been linked to the BRCA1 gene. I tested positive for the mutation as well, and just like that, we had more major medical decisions to make. Again, God graciously walked us through them. Turns out, He had been preparing us since the day we first found out about my husband's tumor 2 years before. When I got the first call from Ted that his Dr was sending him straight from his check-up to get a CT scan, I was at the park with our 18 months old and 3 year old. Another mom was there with her kids, and sensing something was wrong she graciously motioned that she'd watch my kids so I could focus on the call. When I hung up, I thanked her and told her what was going on. She nodded knowingly and told me she was a 2-year breast cancer survivor. Julie was able to give me estimates on how long scan results take, and timelines for the next steps like biopsies and pathology reports. I am a planner- I really, really, really like to know what to expect- so at that moment they were the most comforting words I could have gotten. I know without a doubt that God put her there that morning to show me His intricate involvement in every detail of my life. He knew exactly what I would need to deal with what was coming for Ted- and then He showed me that again, years later when I found out about the BRCA1 gene. Seeing Julie's radiation scars, hearing her cancer story, and then later seeing cancer come back would make my decision to go ahead and have my own breasts, fallopian tubes, and ovaries removed BEFORE cancer hit a lot easier than I could have ever imagined. I'm not saying it was an easy pill to swallow, but I see it as God's protection for my health and to spare my family from more medical drama and uncertainty. I am so grateful that God makes beauty from ashes- that even our hardest times are a treasure because they let us see how He's gone before us and prepared us. He does not leave us alone in them. We get to see that those hard times are bigger than us, and I think getting to experience that is such a beautiful gift.
Long story short, each of my wrap bracelets are hand-painted, cut, and engraved knowing that there is nothing more reassuring, encouraging, and unchanging as God's loving promises. Years later, I still love how they catch my eye as I'm going about my day, and how the verse or hymn on the bracelet I'm wearing starts to run through my mind, prompting prayer, praise, or a little bit of reassurance. I truly hope you enjoy wearing each piece as much as I've enjoyed making it!