Introduction

Click here to view photo

When I began making crosses it all started out as therapy, nothing more. My husband was in therapy, three times a week, three hours a day at one hundred and fifty dollars an hour. The therapists stretched his muscles for increased range of motion, had him put nuts on bolts to work his fingers and play computer games to improve his mind. One day they told him not to come back, that our insurance company had cut him off because he was not improving and may never get any better. They may as well have shot him! He was in severe depression for years!!!

My husband can be very ignorant. In a fit of anger, he got in his car while I was at work, without a drivers license (they took them away because he was unsafe) and took his wheel chair to their rental center and said, "Take it, I don't want it any more". When I came home from work he was almost in tears, and said, "What am I going to do now? I can't get therapy, and I can't even walk!" Not knowing, I decided to simulate his therapy at home. Looking back, it was probably the best thing that I ever could have done. He was forced to learn to walk. It was very difficult, but he can now, slowly with a knee and leg brace and a cane.

I rigged our exercise equipment to tie him in to exercise with ounces instead of pounds and I purchased the computer learning games that they had him play. Our daughter graduated from college that year; I had a computer that she used for homework just sitting there because she moved away. But I still never had away to exercise his fingers. While at a local hardware store getting nuts and bolts, the man asked what they were for. After explaining, he told us about these crosses that his church youth group makes every year as fund raisers. He referred us to the blacksmith at our local fairgrounds. The blacksmith was very helpful. He gave us nails, ordering catalogs etc.

Everyday while I was at work Rick would do these things, and at night I would help.

As time went on I became good at it. I modified them for beauty and durability, and began to make very attractive crosses. Instead of throwing them away, people began asking for them. 

All this time Rick played these games to improve his mind; but there are only so many games a grown man can play. He was beginning to get depressed and began to give up. I would come home to find him sitting there half drunk in front of the computer playing another boring game just to kill time while waiting for me to come home.

I was explaining this to friends and was told to set him up a website to keep him occupied. We have a nephew that is very intelligent when it comes to computers. Every one pitched in and a website was created. Just like the games, in time it began to get boring. There is only so much that you can say about yourself and your dog. Nobody cares anyway. That's when someone came up with the idea to merge the two.

Rick had been playing on it for years. Then one day our youngest daughter sent me an email at work and said, "This reminds me of dad". I forwarded it to him "A Man and a dog on the Road to Heaven". Rick sleeps with his dogs, one of them may have actually saved his life! (another story). I had to find another bedroom. We liked the email so much that we put it on the website and we asked her to send us more. We began to receive so many that I taught him to copy and paste. I created a library for him to copy them to.

Then, a very strange thing happened. One day while doing a Google search, our web site came up. I panicked, this wasn't supposed to happen!!! I was told that no one would ever find it and not to worry; that it takes a lot of hard work and knowledge to get noticed. We would be ranked, but it would be so low that he would be lost in oblivion.

I figured oh well, if any body should actually want one, that I could just give them one. What's the harm in that? No body will want one anyway. Everything went fine until the Chaplain mentioned above contacted us to supply crosses for his soldiers. They were deploying in the summer for Iraq. I told him that we would try. That got me to thinking and that's when our "Patriotic Cross" was born. (Now we see them everywhere)

That was the beginning of a lo-o-ong nightmare. I sent him boxes of crosses. Apparently word got out because that's when I became inundated with requests.  It went ballistic. During the same time period I was still getting requests from soldiers. And then still at the same time I began getting requests from the National Guard. I didn't want to say no to anyone, but I was falling farther and farther behind.

Our house began to look like a cross factory. It's all I did, every waking hour. I had to schedule orders, and even budget my money around the crosses. I promised myself no more new people. but then a Catholic organization was surfing the Internet and chose this cross for all of the Americans to wear while seeing the Pope at world Youth day in Cologne Germany. How could I say no. And besides they offered to pay. This was a first!  My cross met the Pope and I was actually paid for it. I needed the money because all of this was coming out of my own pocket, and Rick was on disability. 

I wouldn't be writing all of this, but I want you to understand why I never want this to happen again. I was working around the clock, and this was meant to be therapy for Rick.

For whatever reason, this website has become popular. I don't want to take it down without a fight! But without money from cross sales can't afford to continue. Hopefully I find a solution soon!!! (Q & A's)

Evelyn