November 20, 2024 • 35 mins
Guest Cindy Howard tells the story of how God turned a clump of clay into jewelry that sparks conversations about life in the womb.
VitaArt Jewelry https://life.vitaart.org/aff-shop?am_id=mybodymyworship (affiliate link)
Get notified of new episodes of Abortion—Changing the Conversation https://mybodymyworship.com/prolifepodcast
Post-Abortion Care https://mybodymyworship.com/postabortioncare
Psalm 19:3-4
Genesis 2:7a
Job 10:9a
2 Corinthians 4:7a
Isaiah 58:1
Follow Cheryl on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cherylkrichbaum/
and on X https://x.com/cherylkrichbaum
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
You may notice that every week I wear this beautiful pendant and matching earrings. I wear them on purpose and with purpose because this is a baby at about 14 weeks gestation in a teardrop. The goal is to spark conversations because we are here to change the abortion conversation. And so today I have a guest. Her name is Cindy Howard, the contributing artist and founder of VitaArt.
(00:36):
VitaArt is life affirming jewelry celebrates beauty and the sacredness of life. The jewelry is designed to inspire hope, spark meaningful conversations, and serve as a reminder of the value of every life born and unborn. VitaArt jewelry carries a deeper message, empowering wearers to honor the voiceless, bring hope to those wounded by their abortion choices, and connect with others through shared values of love and remembrance and purpose.
(01:18):
So let me introduce to you my friend Cindy Howard.
Hi, my name is Cheryl Krichbaum, award winning author, speaker, and writing coach called to equip Christ followers to reach the abortion minded for life and for Christ. Here at Abortion—Changing the Conversation, we look for opportunities and ways to engage people in conversation, being fully equipped to speak the truth in life.
(01:59):
So today with me, I have my friend Cindy Howard, the artist who created this beautiful jewelry. She's got a wonderful story and we are so thankful to our mutual friend Priscilla for introducing us.
This is my friend Cindy Howard of VitaArt, and we are really excited today to talk about — Well, no, I'm really excited today to talk about her jewelry because it's just it's so beautiful. And it allows us to spark conversations. And we need to we need to have conversations with people on one on one so that we can reach people, reach their hearts, for life and for Christ.
(02:52):
And Cindy and I met through a mutual friend, and she told me the story of how this jewelry came about. And it is just absolutely amazing. So I want you to hear the story from Cindy herself, who really had no intention of going into business. Creating jewelry that was not her intent. But I want you to hear this story from her.
(03:19):
So, Cindy, thank you for joining me today and telling us your story. Thank you, Cheryl, and it's an honor to be able to share this story.
As you said, this started out completely unaware to me. I innocently asked my husband for a bag of clay as my gift for Mother's Day. What most women want, right? But that's what I wanted.
(03:44):
I received my clay. I went to the corner of my garage where I have an art studio. I have an art background. And I said, “God, what can I make to honor you? I am so grateful for the life that you've given me and how you've affected and changed my life.” Immediately. I saw an image of a preborn baby in a wall plaque.
(04:08):
I created the wall plaque. Friends and family saw it and it touched their hearts right from the beginning. They said, Cindy, you have to turn this into a piece of jewelry. I had all kinds of excuses. I didn't have the time, I didn't know where to get be a silversmith, etc. but I did say yes and everything worked out to where I did create the first pendant.
(04:35):
I then looked for ways to have it produced because after it was made, I realized this pendant was not just for me. It was a way to spread the light of life around the world and to engage people in conversations. In fact, I read a verse when I only had the the pen, the work, the wall plaque, and it didn't make sense at the time, but I knew it was for Vita.
(05:07):
And it is Psalm 19:3-4. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. And I knew deep in my heart that was for Vita. It was very humbling. I decided to have this reproduced in Israel. When I was looking into it,
(05:35):
I found a place in Israel.
The thought came to me to have to use the first fruits of what I created with my faux finishing business to have the pendant created. And I'm being very honest with God. And I said, I can't do that. I said, my money is to help our sons go to Christian college. If this thought is from you, then you talk to my husband.
(06:04):
I'm not saying a word. I dropped (my husband) off at the airport and before he got out of the car, I said, what do you think? I've been waiting for about a month. He was quiet. He turned to me. He said, Cindy, you need to take the money from your first job of this year and invest it in creating pendants,
(06:24):
but I want you to double the amount. I knew that's exactly what I was supposed to do. And since then, I have been learning about business. Having an art education degree, I had a lot to learn. But I am so ready now to be able to launch what I believe is going to make a difference in the pro-life movement.
(06:51):
And it is. It already is. You know, there are all sorts of people who are, buying your jewelry, and wearing it proudly to show off that babies are not just clumps of cells, but they actually look like babies when they're in our wombs. And and people ask questions.
(07:12):
You have some really amazing stories of conversations that you've had with people. So, why don't you pick one and and share that with us?
I would love to. What I realized from the start, it did not matter my thoughts about the pendant and why I made it, because it spoke to people differently. And I found out that there's three main areas in which it speaks.
(07:42):
Celebrating of life. Remembering those that are hurting and defending and honoring those that are do not have a voice. Celebrating life. Our electrician came to was working on our house. He said, I want to buy a pendant and give it for my wife. He has, his life has been restored and his wife's life has been restored from very deep drug addiction.
(08:12):
She had three children, unwed. And even though she was poor, she chose life. She struggled and struggled to be free. Finally, she did get free and was able to fulfill the promises to her sons. So Christmas morning, her oldest son spoke for the other two and said, mom, this is for you. We are so grateful that you chose life.
(08:41):
We know it's been hard, but thank you so much.
And to know that the pendant was able to be part of celebrating the life was just awesome. Yeah, because the world would call those crisis pregnancies, right? Oh, absolutely, it was. She was in a terrible position, and she was poor. And and these these boys are becoming wonderful men.
(09:11):
Yes. And they they have an opportunity to fulfill their destiny. Yeah. That's amazing. I love it, and, you know, we need to celebrate every time a woman chooses life and celebrate those three sons and whatever children they have. Right? Because she, she could have cut off her future generations, her family line. And she chose not to.
(09:33):
Even though, you know, things were not perfect, things were not, the way that God maybe intended. And, you know, for us, but, she still took a difficult situation and turned it into a wonderful story. And we need to celebrate that. Yes, yes. And I personally wear it because I'm grateful for my my three sons. I just absolutely love being a mom.
(10:04):
The another area that it touches is remembering those that have a regretted choice. I was taken by surprise when I first started wearing the pendant. The majority of my conversations were people telling me that they had had an abortion. I'll give you two, two stories. One, I'd been friends with somebody for five years. When she saw this, she came over and we were getting together.
(10:33):
She started telling me, and tears flowed and the conversation would not have happened had not depended been there. Another story. I'm outside my grubby clothes doing gardening. I have a woman come by wanting to sell me windows for my house. I listened to her sales pitch and then I showed her the Vita pendant. She said Oh, oh, those babies are so precious.
(11:01):
So we need to speak for them. And I was still. And I said, yes, they are precious. But we also need to be a voice for women that have a regretted choice. She looked at me and her eyes welled up with tears and she burst out crying. And we spent the next half an hour sitting on my bench in my front yard, her pouring her heart out and the pain that she she had.
(11:32):
I was able to encourage her in the Lord. And we had a wonderful conversation.
So that's that's one one of the second area. The third. Did you want to comment on that? Oh, gosh yes! I'm sure you're shocked by that. Yeah. You know, I, I mean, everybody knows that I'm post-abortive. That's why I'm doing the show is to change the conversation.
(12:00):
Because those of us who have been through it, have a perspective that other people don't. And so, you know, one of the things I love about this jewelry and the stories that you tell about having conversations with women who suddenly admit that they've had an abortion is that it starts their healing process. Yeah. And so, you know, this woman was talking about Preborn baby, and we need to, protect them.
(12:30):
But she was hiding, you know, what she had been through herself and perhaps hadn't dealt with it or might have forgotten until that instance. You know, and part of our job as Christians is to help people find the healing that Christ offers. And Christ does offer healing and complete healing that mean he didn't go to the cross for just a little bit of us.
(12:54):
He went to the cross for 100% of us, and he intends for all of us to be completely healed by his grace. But if women are suppressing their memories or unable to talk about their abortion wounds out of shame or whatever it may be, whatever we can do to start those conversations and put them on the right path so that they can find complete healing and and find Christ in that healing.
(13:27):
And there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do that Christ's death and resurrection will not touch and cannot heal. I thought I thought of another story.
I was at an event, one of my first events. I had a big poster behind me so you could see the pendant, but it was way in the back corner because that's what I could afford.
(13:56):
I was way in the back corner by myself. No one else was around. And my new friend Betsy came up. We never said a word to each other. She looked at the image of the pendant. She looked at me. She look to the pendant. She looked at me. She looked back at the pendant and her eyes welled up with tears.
(14:24):
I didn't say anything. I went over and hugged her and we hugged for a minute or two. And that was it. She kept in contact with me. Years later. She told me seeing the pendant started her healing process. She asked if she could have a special order for a pendant with three birthstones. You can on the website order up to two.
(14:55):
I said why three? You have two living children. She said yes, that's what everybody knows. They don't know about the one that I aborted. I want three stones for all three of my children. So people will ask me and I can direct them to hope and healing. That's so beautiful. I know I, I keep cry every time.
(15:22):
Yeah. It is so beautiful.
If you like the abortion changing the conversation. So then share it with somebody and use the QR code or the link to sign up to get email notifications so that you never miss a weekly episode.
(15:52):
Speaking for the voiceless. I have a friend of mine from high school way back a long time ago. She absolutely loved the pendant.
She bought one, and then she told me later. Cindy, I gave it away. I said, oh, really? She said yes. She's a nurse. I learned that my granddaughter's friend was in a crisis pregnancy. She came to talk to me. I told her all about the growth inside of her womb. I gave her the pendant. Cindy, she gave birth to that baby.
(16:40):
It's beautiful. These are just my stories. This doesn't add to the stories that so many other people have had. And I have this image to be able to have a way to continually to share these stories as I grow the audience, to encourage others to share their stories and share their stories so we can actually be the light to the world for life.
(17:11):
Yes. Absolutely. Yes. All right. So I'm wondering if you're willing to get out the plaque and, show us the plaque and tell us the the story of having it fired. Oh, that's a wonderful story. Hold on.
So you asked me about the plaque. I'm in the corner of my garage. I'm working on the clay piece. It is malleable. It is still able to be formed. I have the baby created, but the outside is, It just doesn't have the form. I go to church on Sunday and I'm worshiping, not thinking about it at all.
(17:53):
And I hear the words teardrop. And I knew I went back and and fashioned the outside into the teardrop. And this is the piece that you will see on the website.
It's so beautiful. And it's fashioned after a 14 week old preborn. It is accurate with the proportions. How did you know? How did you know? What a, fashion after a 14 week?
(18:27):
I looked on the web to find images that I felt would be fitting to be able to create. And I like this image in fact, I think the image was from the, the specimens that they used to have at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I used to go there on field trips when I was a child and fascinated with them.
(18:51):
Of course, they've since take them down, but I did get to see them when I was a young child, and I absolutely loved it.
Now I want to give you a little more background of the story.
I created the wall plaque. It was ready to be fired. Well, back up a little bit. So in creating the wall plaque, my brother said, Cindy, I think you should make a form out of this so you can reproduce these. I'm like, okay, that's a good idea. I called up our local community college and asked the the woman in charge of the ceramics department.
(19:34):
She goes, oh, it just so happens we're just about ready to start on making molds. Why don't you bring it in and I will make the mold for you. You will be our guest artist and you'll have it. I said, fantastic. So I went in there. She made the mold. It was fired. But what you have to know, though, to get the clay out of a mold that's been created,
(19:59):
it's supposed to be wet and malleable. Mine was bone dry. I said, how can I save this? She said, well, maybe if you let it soak in water for a long time, carefully take it out. You'll be able to preserve it. I'm like, terrific, because I want the first one. That's what I did. I was able to take it out and it stayed intact.
(20:23):
Except an arm came off and a leg came off and the umbilical cord. But there's things you can do with clay to get it back on. So I did that. I don't I won't give you an art lesson right now, though. I'd love to. It was fired the first time came out. And at second time, I put it in and put a clear glaze on it.
(20:48):
It was on a middle shelf, and above it was a half shell. And for the first time I have ever experienced someone's glaze dripped on it. Oh, yes. It dripped. It dripped on it.
When I took it out of the kiln and everybody saw it. The room was speechless. That glaze was red.
(21:18):
Oh, my. Oh,
you know, I've seen this plaque before, but I get tingles every single time. That is just. That's God.
It's not over-dramatic. It makes a statement. The baby's broken.
(21:41):
I couldn't have thought of that.
But confirmation that you were doing what he called you to do. You were on the path. And it all started with a lump of clay. Okay, a lump of clay. We’re made from the dust of the earth, on Mother's Day. God, what can I make? a baby. And now we have the pendant and earrings and other things.
(22:19):
Yes. Oh my. It is such a, it just, it gets me. I've known you for a number of years now Cindy. It gets me every single time you tell me. Me, too. Me, too. We we’re called you know, God, God formed us from clay. Right. And we are jars of clay formed from God. And, and here you are taking a ball of clay and praying and creating what God told you to create.
(22:54):
He gives you Bible verses along the way that don't really make sense at the time. And then leads you to turn it into jewelry. And, you know, friends, you see me wearing this jewelry every single time I'm on the show and for a reason, because, we are saving babies by changing the conversation, and we're saving the women who have, faced crisis pregnancy.
(23:24):
We're saving them from future abortions. And the ones who have had abortions, we are saving them by leading them to healing programs. And, you know, just a reminder that healed women don't shout their abortions. So we do need to to, you know, remember that that is part of our mission. I, I love wearing this jewelry. I think it is so telling.
(23:51):
You know, it makes it clear that where I stand on things, wherever I go, it, it has the potential I've had just a couple times where, where people have commented on my jewelry. But you know, it gets them thinking, you know, I'm sure there are a lot of, unasked questions. Yes, I can see it in people's faces.
(24:23):
Yeah. But, you know, it's a reminder. It's a reminder that, life begins, with a zinc spark when that, that, sperm and egg come together and grows. And the “just a clump of cells” myth was started before ultrasound machines were prevalently used. The doctor who made up that saying later became pro-life because he saw babies on an ultrasound.
(24:56):
His name was Doctor Bernard Nathanson. Saw them on an ultrasound and went, oh my goodness. They're not just clumps of cells. And of course, you know, we'll hear the whole argument of, well, we're all a clump of cells. It's like, yes, but you know what the original intent was. The original intent was to say, this isn't a moving baby.
And the guy who, you know, was promoting abortion saw that this was a formed, moving baby and became pro-life as a result of what he saw. So this this pendant has the potential to change people's perspectives and open up conversations that we need to have everyday conversations, especially since so much misinformation is presented out in the world. We need to have whatever we can to open up conversations.
(25:47):
So, you know, I invited Cindy on this program to promote her jewelry. I'm just going to be blunt. And, it's Christmas time. This is a great time for for us to get pendants and give them to each other and earrings so that we can start conversations. So, I'm purposely put on a top that's black so that you could see, the pendant with the background, and y’know pulled my hair back so you could see the matching earrings.
(26:19):
Right? And even the earrings, have a story like that was you started off with a pendant and a pin or pin that guys can wear. And maybe, you know, a man who is healed from his involvement in an abortion, and he wants to proudly acknowledge the child that he was involved in creating. Men can get involved, too.
(26:47):
This isn't just for women. And they're available in both silver and gold. But, while I'm here talking about all this stuff, you got to tell the story of the jewelry, because that happened after I first met you. And even that is a really cool story. So tell us about the earrings.
The earrings? People had asked me for earrings for a while, and, like, oh, sterling, this is sterling silver.
(27:10):
And I do have it reproduced in Israel. That's too heavy for the ears. I'm like, I don't think I can do that, but my husband and I are coming back from the workout center in our town. There happened to be an artisan fair. Like, oh, let's stop by. I'm walking down and I see this craftsman that has earrings.
(27:31):
I'm like, oh, those are really cool. And they're lightweight. They're wooden. There's acrylic. He sees my pendant goes, oh, that's really awesome, I said. He said, I can make earrings for you. I said, really? So the earrings are handcrafted one at a time. They are silver tone and gold tone acrylic. But we also have wood earrings and I love wearing them.
(27:57):
In fact, Brian, the the skills, the craftsmen, he is actually, filling an order for me as we speak right now.
That's awesome. That's great. And you premiered those in 2022? I don't remember when it. I think it may have been 2022. I think I was there for that premiere. Oh, you were. Yeah. Yeah, I had a Life Forum and Cheryl was an amazing speaker.
(28:26):
Oh. Thank you. And that's when I unveiled the earrings. That's right. Yeah, yeah. So yes, that was 2022 because I remember the circumstances and it was just awesome being your guest and getting to speak life at that event. And you had so many other really good speakers there as well. It was awesome. So yeah. So these earrings have only been out for a couple of years, the pendants been out for a little bit longer, and you can choose whether you want to get the silver chain from Cindy, from VitaArt or if you want to ...
(29:01):
The chain is also from Israel, and it's a high quality. I absolutely love it. Yes, absolutely. This is not, cheap jewelry... And not to say that it's expensive, I’m just saying this is not cheap jewelry. It's going to last. And yes, with with. Yeah. With the price of silver going up. It's it's very, very reasonable and I want to keep it that way as long as possible.
(29:27):
Awesome.
Also, you can get the Vita pendant with birthstones as I had mentioned story about Betsy. And there's many, many wonderful stories that people share with me as to why they purchase it. And Cheryl you don't know this, but this Christmas time I am reintroducing those who want to get a 14 karat solid gold pendant.
(29:53):
And another option is to have the pendant that is gold plated with 14 karat gold. Those will be on the website shortly. I love that because it gives us a couple different price points too. So we can if we can't afford the full gold, we can, you know, probably afford the gold plated one. That's that's what my husband bought for me for my Christmas gift.
(30:17):
So sweet. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, so, we're going I'm going to make sure that you, the audience, have information on VitaArt so that you can go to the website and, and order jewelry for this Christmas. It's time. It's time for us to get the word out and given, especially given how our political season has gone and all the misinformation that is out there about abortion,
(30:46):
we need to take every opportunity to have conversations everywhere in the nation, around the world. So it doesn't matter where it is that you are. This is important for us to do, to open conversations, have conversations and be brave and speak up. And my favorite—Raise your voice like a trumpet. And and speak the truth in love about the how God sees us.
(31:19):
We too are valuable. He saw us, when we were in the wombs of our mothers and he created life. Created us from clay. Yeah. And he knew exactly what he was doing. There's no mistakes. I want to add on to that.
(31:39):
It can be intimidating if you think that you have to carry the conversation. The beauty of wearing Vita jewelry is you can ask questions and you don't have to have the answers.
People want to be heard and even those that are antagonistic towards life. Listen. And if you listen intently, their hurts can come out and validate those. Let them know you understand the pain that they have been through or the mistreatment that they have had. Ask questions. Ask how you can help. And there's ways of having many different resources and ways that you can help
(32:20):
And I love the asking questions. So what I learn from you is to say when somebody recognizes the jewelry, to say. What do you see? And look closer. Yeah. And, you know, they'll usually admit that they see a baby.
I've had people ask me how far along the baby is. And so then I have to remember, but also, you know, you notice that it's a teardrop. But for women who are post abortive, they might see it as a blood drop. They probably won't say that out loud, but that may be. That may explain why tears come to their eyes.
(33:00):
So. And and also, you know, the teardrop. Because we're in mourning over our choice. You know, and you may have some women who have miscarried and are mourning and may want to honor their children through jewelry as well. So, yes, asking questions. And, also remember Cindy's story about - she didn't say a word. She just went up to Betsy and gave her a hug.
(33:32):
Yeah. And also, it's tears of joy to tears of those that are grateful for life, which is special. Focus is on celebrating life and uplifting that the truth of what happens from conception to birth. It's it's absolutely amazing. And when people can get a hold of that, their hearts can be captured. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, my friend, thank you so much for joining me on the show.
(34:07):
We're here to change the abortion conversation. But in order to do that, we need to have a conversation. And I thank you for being obedient to God in turning a clump of clay into jewelry. So that we can spark conversations. And I thank you for being so bold and coming up to me when I first met you.
and went I understand I'm supposed to talk to you and and, you know, God was, absolutely involved in you and me becoming friends and collaborating and doing what we do. We knew from the moment we talked in one minute, we like, okay, this is it. We're going to be working together. Yeah. So, Cheryl, thank you for your boldness.
(34:48):
Thank you for you taking the travesty in your life and sharing it with others and being transparent and wanting to touch women and men, too. So thank you so much. And it's such a privilege to be here talking with you. So thank you again. Thank you.
You may notice that every week I wear this beautiful pendant and matching earrings. I wear them on purpose and with purpose because this is a baby at about 14 weeks gestation in a teardrop. The goal is to spark conversations because we are here to change the abortion conversation. And so today I have a guest. Her name is Cindy Howard, the contributing artist and founder of VitaArt.
(00:36):
VitaArt is life affirming jewelry celebrates beauty and the sacredness of life. The jewelry is designed to inspire hope, spark meaningful conversations, and serve as a reminder of the value of every life born and unborn. VitaArt jewelry carries a deeper message, empowering wearers to honor the voiceless, bring hope to those wounded by their abortion choices, and connect with others through shared values of love and remembrance and purpose.
(01:18):
So let me introduce to you my friend Cindy Howard.
Hi, my name is Cheryl Krichbaum, award winning author, speaker, and writing coach called to equip Christ followers to reach the abortion minded for life and for Christ. Here at Abortion—Changing the Conversation, we look for opportunities and ways to engage people in conversation, being fully equipped to speak the truth in life.
(01:59):
So today with me, I have my friend Cindy Howard, the artist who created this beautiful jewelry. She's got a wonderful story and we are so thankful to our mutual friend Priscilla for introducing us.
This is my friend Cindy Howard of VitaArt, and we are really excited today to talk about — Well, no, I'm really excited today to talk about her jewelry because it's just it's so beautiful. And it allows us to spark conversations. And we need to we need to have conversations with people on one on one so that we can reach people, reach their hearts, for life and for Christ.
(02:52):
And Cindy and I met through a mutual friend, and she told me the story of how this jewelry came about. And it is just absolutely amazing. So I want you to hear the story from Cindy herself, who really had no intention of going into business. Creating jewelry that was not her intent. But I want you to hear this story from her.
(03:19):
So, Cindy, thank you for joining me today and telling us your story. Thank you, Cheryl, and it's an honor to be able to share this story.
As you said, this started out completely unaware to me. I innocently asked my husband for a bag of clay as my gift for Mother's Day. What most women want, right? But that's what I wanted.
(03:44):
I received my clay. I went to the corner of my garage where I have an art studio. I have an art background. And I said, “God, what can I make to honor you? I am so grateful for the life that you've given me and how you've affected and changed my life.” Immediately. I saw an image of a preborn baby in a wall plaque.
(04:08):
I created the wall plaque. Friends and family saw it and it touched their hearts right from the beginning. They said, Cindy, you have to turn this into a piece of jewelry. I had all kinds of excuses. I didn't have the time, I didn't know where to get be a silversmith, etc. but I did say yes and everything worked out to where I did create the first pendant.
(04:35):
I then looked for ways to have it produced because after it was made, I realized this pendant was not just for me. It was a way to spread the light of life around the world and to engage people in conversations. In fact, I read a verse when I only had the the pen, the work, the wall plaque, and it didn't make sense at the time, but I knew it was for Vita.
(05:07):
And it is Psalm 19:3-4. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. And I knew deep in my heart that was for Vita. It was very humbling. I decided to have this reproduced in Israel. When I was looking into it,
(05:35):
I found a place in Israel.
The thought came to me to have to use the first fruits of what I created with my faux finishing business to have the pendant created. And I'm being very honest with God. And I said, I can't do that. I said, my money is to help our sons go to Christian college. If this thought is from you, then you talk to my husband.
(06:04):
I'm not saying a word. I dropped (my husband) off at the airport and before he got out of the car, I said, what do you think? I've been waiting for about a month. He was quiet. He turned to me. He said, Cindy, you need to take the money from your first job of this year and invest it in creating pendants,
(06:24):
but I want you to double the amount. I knew that's exactly what I was supposed to do. And since then, I have been learning about business. Having an art education degree, I had a lot to learn. But I am so ready now to be able to launch what I believe is going to make a difference in the pro-life movement.
(06:51):
And it is. It already is. You know, there are all sorts of people who are, buying your jewelry, and wearing it proudly to show off that babies are not just clumps of cells, but they actually look like babies when they're in our wombs. And and people ask questions.
(07:12):
You have some really amazing stories of conversations that you've had with people. So, why don't you pick one and and share that with us?
I would love to. What I realized from the start, it did not matter my thoughts about the pendant and why I made it, because it spoke to people differently. And I found out that there's three main areas in which it speaks.
(07:42):
Celebrating of life. Remembering those that are hurting and defending and honoring those that are do not have a voice. Celebrating life. Our electrician came to was working on our house. He said, I want to buy a pendant and give it for my wife. He has, his life has been restored and his wife's life has been restored from very deep drug addiction.
(08:12):
She had three children, unwed. And even though she was poor, she chose life. She struggled and struggled to be free. Finally, she did get free and was able to fulfill the promises to her sons. So Christmas morning, her oldest son spoke for the other two and said, mom, this is for you. We are so grateful that you chose life.
(08:41):
We know it's been hard, but thank you so much.
And to know that the pendant was able to be part of celebrating the life was just awesome. Yeah, because the world would call those crisis pregnancies, right? Oh, absolutely, it was. She was in a terrible position, and she was poor. And and these these boys are becoming wonderful men.
(09:11):
Yes. And they they have an opportunity to fulfill their destiny. Yeah. That's amazing. I love it, and, you know, we need to celebrate every time a woman chooses life and celebrate those three sons and whatever children they have. Right? Because she, she could have cut off her future generations, her family line. And she chose not to.
(09:33):
Even though, you know, things were not perfect, things were not, the way that God maybe intended. And, you know, for us, but, she still took a difficult situation and turned it into a wonderful story. And we need to celebrate that. Yes, yes. And I personally wear it because I'm grateful for my my three sons. I just absolutely love being a mom.
(10:04):
The another area that it touches is remembering those that have a regretted choice. I was taken by surprise when I first started wearing the pendant. The majority of my conversations were people telling me that they had had an abortion. I'll give you two, two stories. One, I'd been friends with somebody for five years. When she saw this, she came over and we were getting together.
(10:33):
She started telling me, and tears flowed and the conversation would not have happened had not depended been there. Another story. I'm outside my grubby clothes doing gardening. I have a woman come by wanting to sell me windows for my house. I listened to her sales pitch and then I showed her the Vita pendant. She said Oh, oh, those babies are so precious.
(11:01):
So we need to speak for them. And I was still. And I said, yes, they are precious. But we also need to be a voice for women that have a regretted choice. She looked at me and her eyes welled up with tears and she burst out crying. And we spent the next half an hour sitting on my bench in my front yard, her pouring her heart out and the pain that she she had.
(11:32):
I was able to encourage her in the Lord. And we had a wonderful conversation.
So that's that's one one of the second area. The third. Did you want to comment on that? Oh, gosh yes! I'm sure you're shocked by that. Yeah. You know, I, I mean, everybody knows that I'm post-abortive. That's why I'm doing the show is to change the conversation.
(12:00):
Because those of us who have been through it, have a perspective that other people don't. And so, you know, one of the things I love about this jewelry and the stories that you tell about having conversations with women who suddenly admit that they've had an abortion is that it starts their healing process. Yeah. And so, you know, this woman was talking about Preborn baby, and we need to, protect them.
(12:30):
But she was hiding, you know, what she had been through herself and perhaps hadn't dealt with it or might have forgotten until that instance. You know, and part of our job as Christians is to help people find the healing that Christ offers. And Christ does offer healing and complete healing that mean he didn't go to the cross for just a little bit of us.
(12:54):
He went to the cross for 100% of us, and he intends for all of us to be completely healed by his grace. But if women are suppressing their memories or unable to talk about their abortion wounds out of shame or whatever it may be, whatever we can do to start those conversations and put them on the right path so that they can find complete healing and and find Christ in that healing.
(13:27):
And there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do that Christ's death and resurrection will not touch and cannot heal. I thought I thought of another story.
I was at an event, one of my first events. I had a big poster behind me so you could see the pendant, but it was way in the back corner because that's what I could afford.
(13:56):
I was way in the back corner by myself. No one else was around. And my new friend Betsy came up. We never said a word to each other. She looked at the image of the pendant. She looked at me. She look to the pendant. She looked at me. She looked back at the pendant and her eyes welled up with tears.
(14:24):
I didn't say anything. I went over and hugged her and we hugged for a minute or two. And that was it. She kept in contact with me. Years later. She told me seeing the pendant started her healing process. She asked if she could have a special order for a pendant with three birthstones. You can on the website order up to two.
(14:55):
I said why three? You have two living children. She said yes, that's what everybody knows. They don't know about the one that I aborted. I want three stones for all three of my children. So people will ask me and I can direct them to hope and healing. That's so beautiful. I know I, I keep cry every time.
(15:22):
Yeah. It is so beautiful.
If you like the abortion changing the conversation. So then share it with somebody and use the QR code or the link to sign up to get email notifications so that you never miss a weekly episode.
(15:52):
Speaking for the voiceless. I have a friend of mine from high school way back a long time ago. She absolutely loved the pendant.
She bought one, and then she told me later. Cindy, I gave it away. I said, oh, really? She said yes. She's a nurse. I learned that my granddaughter's friend was in a crisis pregnancy. She came to talk to me. I told her all about the growth inside of her womb. I gave her the pendant. Cindy, she gave birth to that baby.
(16:40):
It's beautiful. These are just my stories. This doesn't add to the stories that so many other people have had. And I have this image to be able to have a way to continually to share these stories as I grow the audience, to encourage others to share their stories and share their stories so we can actually be the light to the world for life.
(17:11):
Yes. Absolutely. Yes. All right. So I'm wondering if you're willing to get out the plaque and, show us the plaque and tell us the the story of having it fired. Oh, that's a wonderful story. Hold on.
So you asked me about the plaque. I'm in the corner of my garage. I'm working on the clay piece. It is malleable. It is still able to be formed. I have the baby created, but the outside is, It just doesn't have the form. I go to church on Sunday and I'm worshiping, not thinking about it at all.
(17:53):
And I hear the words teardrop. And I knew I went back and and fashioned the outside into the teardrop. And this is the piece that you will see on the website.
It's so beautiful. And it's fashioned after a 14 week old preborn. It is accurate with the proportions. How did you know? How did you know? What a, fashion after a 14 week?
(18:27):
I looked on the web to find images that I felt would be fitting to be able to create. And I like this image in fact, I think the image was from the, the specimens that they used to have at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I used to go there on field trips when I was a child and fascinated with them.
(18:51):
Of course, they've since take them down, but I did get to see them when I was a young child, and I absolutely loved it.
Now I want to give you a little more background of the story.
I created the wall plaque. It was ready to be fired. Well, back up a little bit. So in creating the wall plaque, my brother said, Cindy, I think you should make a form out of this so you can reproduce these. I'm like, okay, that's a good idea. I called up our local community college and asked the the woman in charge of the ceramics department.
(19:34):
She goes, oh, it just so happens we're just about ready to start on making molds. Why don't you bring it in and I will make the mold for you. You will be our guest artist and you'll have it. I said, fantastic. So I went in there. She made the mold. It was fired. But what you have to know, though, to get the clay out of a mold that's been created,
(19:59):
it's supposed to be wet and malleable. Mine was bone dry. I said, how can I save this? She said, well, maybe if you let it soak in water for a long time, carefully take it out. You'll be able to preserve it. I'm like, terrific, because I want the first one. That's what I did. I was able to take it out and it stayed intact.
(20:23):
Except an arm came off and a leg came off and the umbilical cord. But there's things you can do with clay to get it back on. So I did that. I don't I won't give you an art lesson right now, though. I'd love to. It was fired the first time came out. And at second time, I put it in and put a clear glaze on it.
(20:48):
It was on a middle shelf, and above it was a half shell. And for the first time I have ever experienced someone's glaze dripped on it. Oh, yes. It dripped. It dripped on it.
When I took it out of the kiln and everybody saw it. The room was speechless. That glaze was red.
(21:18):
Oh, my. Oh,
you know, I've seen this plaque before, but I get tingles every single time. That is just. That's God.
It's not over-dramatic. It makes a statement. The baby's broken.
(21:41):
I couldn't have thought of that.
But confirmation that you were doing what he called you to do. You were on the path. And it all started with a lump of clay. Okay, a lump of clay. We’re made from the dust of the earth, on Mother's Day. God, what can I make? a baby. And now we have the pendant and earrings and other things.
(22:19):
Yes. Oh my. It is such a, it just, it gets me. I've known you for a number of years now Cindy. It gets me every single time you tell me. Me, too. Me, too. We we’re called you know, God, God formed us from clay. Right. And we are jars of clay formed from God. And, and here you are taking a ball of clay and praying and creating what God told you to create.
(22:54):
He gives you Bible verses along the way that don't really make sense at the time. And then leads you to turn it into jewelry. And, you know, friends, you see me wearing this jewelry every single time I'm on the show and for a reason, because, we are saving babies by changing the conversation, and we're saving the women who have, faced crisis pregnancy.
(23:24):
We're saving them from future abortions. And the ones who have had abortions, we are saving them by leading them to healing programs. And, you know, just a reminder that healed women don't shout their abortions. So we do need to to, you know, remember that that is part of our mission. I, I love wearing this jewelry. I think it is so telling.
(23:51):
You know, it makes it clear that where I stand on things, wherever I go, it, it has the potential I've had just a couple times where, where people have commented on my jewelry. But you know, it gets them thinking, you know, I'm sure there are a lot of, unasked questions. Yes, I can see it in people's faces.
(24:23):
Yeah. But, you know, it's a reminder. It's a reminder that, life begins, with a zinc spark when that, that, sperm and egg come together and grows. And the “just a clump of cells” myth was started before ultrasound machines were prevalently used. The doctor who made up that saying later became pro-life because he saw babies on an ultrasound.
(24:56):
His name was Doctor Bernard Nathanson. Saw them on an ultrasound and went, oh my goodness. They're not just clumps of cells. And of course, you know, we'll hear the whole argument of, well, we're all a clump of cells. It's like, yes, but you know what the original intent was. The original intent was to say, this isn't a moving baby.
And the guy who, you know, was promoting abortion saw that this was a formed, moving baby and became pro-life as a result of what he saw. So this this pendant has the potential to change people's perspectives and open up conversations that we need to have everyday conversations, especially since so much misinformation is presented out in the world. We need to have whatever we can to open up conversations.
(25:47):
So, you know, I invited Cindy on this program to promote her jewelry. I'm just going to be blunt. And, it's Christmas time. This is a great time for for us to get pendants and give them to each other and earrings so that we can start conversations. So, I'm purposely put on a top that's black so that you could see, the pendant with the background, and y’know pulled my hair back so you could see the matching earrings.
(26:19):
Right? And even the earrings, have a story like that was you started off with a pendant and a pin or pin that guys can wear. And maybe, you know, a man who is healed from his involvement in an abortion, and he wants to proudly acknowledge the child that he was involved in creating. Men can get involved, too.
(26:47):
This isn't just for women. And they're available in both silver and gold. But, while I'm here talking about all this stuff, you got to tell the story of the jewelry, because that happened after I first met you. And even that is a really cool story. So tell us about the earrings.
The earrings? People had asked me for earrings for a while, and, like, oh, sterling, this is sterling silver.
(27:10):
And I do have it reproduced in Israel. That's too heavy for the ears. I'm like, I don't think I can do that, but my husband and I are coming back from the workout center in our town. There happened to be an artisan fair. Like, oh, let's stop by. I'm walking down and I see this craftsman that has earrings.
(27:31):
I'm like, oh, those are really cool. And they're lightweight. They're wooden. There's acrylic. He sees my pendant goes, oh, that's really awesome, I said. He said, I can make earrings for you. I said, really? So the earrings are handcrafted one at a time. They are silver tone and gold tone acrylic. But we also have wood earrings and I love wearing them.
(27:57):
In fact, Brian, the the skills, the craftsmen, he is actually, filling an order for me as we speak right now.
That's awesome. That's great. And you premiered those in 2022? I don't remember when it. I think it may have been 2022. I think I was there for that premiere. Oh, you were. Yeah. Yeah, I had a Life Forum and Cheryl was an amazing speaker.
(28:26):
Oh. Thank you. And that's when I unveiled the earrings. That's right. Yeah, yeah. So yes, that was 2022 because I remember the circumstances and it was just awesome being your guest and getting to speak life at that event. And you had so many other really good speakers there as well. It was awesome. So yeah. So these earrings have only been out for a couple of years, the pendants been out for a little bit longer, and you can choose whether you want to get the silver chain from Cindy, from VitaArt or if you want to ...
(29:01):
The chain is also from Israel, and it's a high quality. I absolutely love it. Yes, absolutely. This is not, cheap jewelry... And not to say that it's expensive, I’m just saying this is not cheap jewelry. It's going to last. And yes, with with. Yeah. With the price of silver going up. It's it's very, very reasonable and I want to keep it that way as long as possible.
(29:27):
Awesome.
Also, you can get the Vita pendant with birthstones as I had mentioned story about Betsy. And there's many, many wonderful stories that people share with me as to why they purchase it. And Cheryl you don't know this, but this Christmas time I am reintroducing those who want to get a 14 karat solid gold pendant.
(29:53):
And another option is to have the pendant that is gold plated with 14 karat gold. Those will be on the website shortly. I love that because it gives us a couple different price points too. So we can if we can't afford the full gold, we can, you know, probably afford the gold plated one. That's that's what my husband bought for me for my Christmas gift.
(30:17):
So sweet. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, so, we're going I'm going to make sure that you, the audience, have information on VitaArt so that you can go to the website and, and order jewelry for this Christmas. It's time. It's time for us to get the word out and given, especially given how our political season has gone and all the misinformation that is out there about abortion,
(30:46):
we need to take every opportunity to have conversations everywhere in the nation, around the world. So it doesn't matter where it is that you are. This is important for us to do, to open conversations, have conversations and be brave and speak up. And my favorite—Raise your voice like a trumpet. And and speak the truth in love about the how God sees us.
(31:19):
We too are valuable. He saw us, when we were in the wombs of our mothers and he created life. Created us from clay. Yeah. And he knew exactly what he was doing. There's no mistakes. I want to add on to that.
(31:39):
It can be intimidating if you think that you have to carry the conversation. The beauty of wearing Vita jewelry is you can ask questions and you don't have to have the answers.
People want to be heard and even those that are antagonistic towards life. Listen. And if you listen intently, their hurts can come out and validate those. Let them know you understand the pain that they have been through or the mistreatment that they have had. Ask questions. Ask how you can help. And there's ways of having many different resources and ways that you can help
(32:20):
And I love the asking questions. So what I learn from you is to say when somebody recognizes the jewelry, to say. What do you see? And look closer. Yeah. And, you know, they'll usually admit that they see a baby.
I've had people ask me how far along the baby is. And so then I have to remember, but also, you know, you notice that it's a teardrop. But for women who are post abortive, they might see it as a blood drop. They probably won't say that out loud, but that may be. That may explain why tears come to their eyes.
(33:00):
So. And and also, you know, the teardrop. Because we're in mourning over our choice. You know, and you may have some women who have miscarried and are mourning and may want to honor their children through jewelry as well. So, yes, asking questions. And, also remember Cindy's story about - she didn't say a word. She just went up to Betsy and gave her a hug.
(33:32):
Yeah. And also, it's tears of joy to tears of those that are grateful for life, which is special. Focus is on celebrating life and uplifting that the truth of what happens from conception to birth. It's it's absolutely amazing. And when people can get a hold of that, their hearts can be captured. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, my friend, thank you so much for joining me on the show.
(34:07):
We're here to change the abortion conversation. But in order to do that, we need to have a conversation. And I thank you for being obedient to God in turning a clump of clay into jewelry. So that we can spark conversations. And I thank you for being so bold and coming up to me when I first met you.
and went I understand I'm supposed to talk to you and and, you know, God was, absolutely involved in you and me becoming friends and collaborating and doing what we do. We knew from the moment we talked in one minute, we like, okay, this is it. We're going to be working together. Yeah. So, Cheryl, thank you for your boldness.
(34:48):
Thank you for you taking the travesty in your life and sharing it with others and being transparent and wanting to touch women and men, too. So thank you so much. And it's such a privilege to be here talking with you. So thank you again. Thank you.
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