Yesterday was our Saint peg exchange. We officially began this project back in late March of 2014 when we all submitted 3 Saints that we'd be interested in painting. The organizers sent out a list of which Saints everyone was doing and we got our first choice- St. Madeleine Sophie Barat. That was also when one of the two fabulous organizers of our exchange had this incredible way of ordering pegs in bulk and everyone got a deal and it was so easy! I went and picked my bags up at her place just blocks away from us and *thought* I was ready to begin!
And then I read the emails more closely and realized that the actual peg saint exchange wasn't happening until October! So of course I got to work right away and got them finished with months to spare... procrastinated and thought to myself each month, Everything is so busy now. Next month will slow down and I can work on the pegs. October is still a long way off...
In all those months of putting it off, I did at least do a little bit of research and found this post and followed much of her advice about paints, brushes, etc. I shopped on Amazon sometime in July or August and scooped up some Americana brand acrylic paints, the paintbrushes she recommended, and the gloss as well. Because we are doing an exchange and I was only painting one Saint, I opted to also get this Americana acrylic paint set so I'd have more colors to choose from without having to buy big bottles that I might only use briefly.
And then it was the beginning of September and I had all kinds of things on my calendar. A big visit (hasn't happened in 7 years) from Chris' parents, an alumni event, a few parties, and I helped put on a bridal shower for my little sis. I did my best to paint the pegs, but suddenly I started realizing just how big an exchange 37 pegs really is...
But I started. Yay, me!
And I slowly began making some progress here and there. Honestly if you had the time to just sit down and do a lot of painting at once without interruption (not my life with 4 littles at all) it really wouldn't be so bad. In fact, I really enjoyed the painting and it was rather therapeutic. The trouble is that with 4 little ones I get interrupted constantly (even when they go to bed, there's no guarantee that they won't wake up right when you are working on something and need to go to the bathroom, get a drink, throw up, nurse, cry for no apparent reason...). So though I enjoyed the actual painting, it became increasingly more stressful as the deadline approached because I needed to paint, paint, paint, but I have kids, kids, kids. :)
But I tried my best to just take it a step at a time and do a little here, a little there and trust that it would all get done before the October 22 deadline.
Luckily the two gals organizing our exchange are awesome. They sent out regular emails (especially the last several months) to encourage and keep us all on track. They sent tips here and there and one of my friends in the group posted some pictures of her progress which was helpful to me. It's nice to see that someone else is moving along too and it helps to motivate one to work harder. Plus it's fun to see some finished (or at least in progress) work!
In September, I also completed our short bio on Saint Sophie with a picture and sent it off to one of our group organizers who had offered to print up everyone's Saint bios. She is also the organizer who hosted the party that we attended last night for the actual SAINT EXCHANGE!
These apple muffins look a little weird in our poor kitchen lighting, but the picture showed some more progress on some saint pegs...
And then it was October.
I had a number of the pegs at the point shown in the picture above, but I still had 7 that were back at blank stage. I needed to move on with some of them to see that progress was happening and had just never come back to begin them yet...
Slowly, but surely I kept making slow progress as October (also a busy month filled with Ava's birthday, a backpacking trip for Chris and I, OktoBEERfest, the airshow, and more...) marched on.
About a week ago, after getting most of the pegs to the point of just needing their glossy varnish coat, I finally got working on the last 7 blanks. Fortunately, having done so many others already, the work was faster and easier because I knew what I was doing. Kayla requested that some of them please! have pink mouths, so I complied.
The lighting is poor, so it appears as if the pegs all have subtle mustaches and are carrying some kind of large horseshoe under the books and cross, but I just love how done they suddenly look with the glossy finish.
Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat
(1779-1865)
Feast Day: May 25
Patroness of school girls
“Your example, even more than your words, will be an eloquent lesson to the world.”
"Let us fix our eyes on the crucifix in every difficult moment and that gaze will renew our courage."
Next step was to turn them in a few days prior to the actual exchange, so that they could be organized, checked etc. to make sure all were there and everything was in order. And then last night we went to the big Saint peg exchange party.
I'm so grateful for the wonderful ladies who organized this big, sometimes overwhelming, definitely fun peg Saint exchange. (the "head" organizer is in the coral dress above--THANK YOU for all your hard work. You went over and above everyone's expectations and opened your home to us as well. God bless you, Elise!)
The saint pegs were all set up in groups with their little bio cards.
We had refreshments (most gals brought an appetizer or dessert to share) and chatted and admired everyone's hard work.
party seflie!
And then it was time to exchange. We began with an Our Father, a Hail Mary, a Glory Be, and a Litany of Saints (with all the saints in the exchange of course).
Then we started with the saints we had painted, and moved around the room (there were 3 tables with peg saints) counterclockwise to pick up each of the saints and their bio cards.
All of our new Saint pegs. The girls LOOOOVE them.
They were very confused about one that had no mouth though. Ava (3) especially was distraught. "Please give her a mouth, Mommy. She can't talk. " (this was said on the verge of tears).
Perhaps the most sweet moment of all though was when (my) little Elise brought me our St. Madeleine Sophie Barat saint peg and said, "Mommy, I love it. You did such a good job." There was a whole range of talents and abilities among the different artists in the exchange, and I would say my doll was quite average, but it was really sweet to see Elise pick it first and play with it as if it were the most special and beautiful one in the world, simply because I had made it, and she knew it.
So worth all the time and effort.
Additionally, I'm grateful for the lessons in perseverance it taught me as well as the reminder that I should work on not procrastinating so much. And now, having done this, the thought of doing some of my own Saints or making pegs to represent our family doesn't seem so scary. It fact, it actually sounds fun.
And I'm totally wanting to do a local Nativity set peg exchange.
Or I suppose I could just make my own...
But I totally want one.
I mean, did you see how cute the one in the Ordinary Lovely blog post I linked to above was?
