MOTHER-HOME

She is now a Christmas tree, representing holidays missed and support from strangers.  Three children whose holiday was not going to mourn loss but celebrate change and resilience, also prayer and longing hearts for loved ones alone and far away.  So grateful to have my children.  The back wall represents my journey as a special needs mother and all I have learned and all the blessings reaped from this experience.  My son was diagnosed during my husband's first deployment, my son was 18 months old and the military insurance said Autism was not covered in our plan.  The squares are visual representations of the PEC system, a tool used for nonverbal communication. The PEC images are displayed on dog tags that act as ornaments.  Children use this system to communicate what they need and want.  I am using this system to communicate what I need and want. 

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MOTHER-SEPARATED

Mother of three.  My husband was deployed when my children were 3, 5, and 6. He would later be deployed three more times, most recently in 2021.  The body is made of an exercise ball, my coping mechanism, exercise. This would also become an obsession and create ongoing medical problems.  The skateboards represent my youngest daughter and son and the ball is painted for my oldest daughter.  All mothers hold their hearts in their hands, one's heart becomes totally exposed, fragile and outside the body, more often than not.  The bean bag represents support for the womb, the body that nurtures the baby, no matter how dangerous the outside environment.  Organs and pieces of a mother lay strewn on the floor as she ages and gives every piece of herself and there is nothing greater than falling apart from love so great it’s indescribable.