Handmade with Love

Since I work at BYU, I receive a copy of "YNews" regularly to my inbox. Most days I skim over the articles and throw it away. But the last issue I got had something that stood out to me. This article talks about how the Harold B. Lee Library had scanned 575 diaries from their special collections and have posted them to the Internet. The part that stood out to me was this picture of Hyrum Smith's diary.

The caption under this picture read, "Lucy Mack Smith hand-decorated this diary for her missionary son, Hyrum." I actually got a little emotional when I read that (which, for any of you who do not know me, is not normal). I felt a connection to this woman. This diary said so much to me about the kind of mother and woman she was. She took something mundane and made it beautiful. She added this beauty to remind her son of her love and support. She was just like missionary moms today, who make things like scrapbooks and packages for their sons and daughters. I tend to think of handmade items from long-ago as being made out of necessity, and though that was part of it, there was more to it. They were made out of love, just as all handmade gifts are. I finished my handmade Christmas cards* today. Sorry they will be a little late, but remember, they were made with love, just for you, from me. Merry Christmas!

* For any of you who's address I may not have (this means you, MarySue!) please send me an email with your address, so you can get a little handmade love! angelajewell (at) gmail (dot) com