The Gospels don't give us much.
Their names come from tradition, not Scripture: Joachim and Anne. Mary's parents. The people who raised her and taught her to pray. Without whatever they built together in a house nobody was recording — there is no Mary. Without Mary, there is no Rosary.
The Church celebrates their feast on July 26. They are the patron saints of married couples.
Not because their marriage was perfect or recorded. Because what they built together, slowly, over a lifetime nobody was watching, produced Mary.
I have always believed that marriage is not about the grand gestures, or special vacations, or the size of the ring. Marriage is about choosing to love your spouse in all of the small moments, the little glances, the everyday rituals that build a lasting and loving relationship.
We have kept the rosary as part of our daily devotion and prayer, even when life gets wild. Brett offers his first rosary of the day for Maria, George, and me. Sometimes we can pray the rosary with the kids, and sometimes we need a little help from a YouTube recording of Fr. Patrick Peyton. We have learned to pray as we can - not as we cannot.
Why We Made These
This year, on our wedding anniversary, we released two new rosaries. We made them as a pair. Though we are two very different people, Brett and I make a great team. Our relationship reminds me how the Saints are people who became more of who they were, and how they were created to be while in relationship. These rosaries echo that - The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary are models of love and Christian living in sync.
**The Promise Rosary** is for a bride. White wood Hail Mary beads, Rose quartz Our Father beads, cream paracord, Italian Immaculate Heart of Mary centerpiece and Pardon Crucifix.
The vows spoken before God are not merely words. They are the beginning of a vocation.
**The Covenant Rosary** is for a groom. Walnut wood Hail Mary beads, Ice obsidian Our Father beads, black paracord, Italian Sacred Heart of Jesus centerpiece and Pardon Crucifix.
Built for the man who prays, leads, and carries his family toward Christ.
Both are built to be handed down. Not as relics. As tools — something the person who receives them will still be using twenty years from now, when the wood has darkened and the cord has worn smooth and the prayers are in the fingers before the mind catches up.
Who These Are For
Couples getting married. These are wedding gifts.
But also for the marriage that's already underway. For the couple five years in, or fifteen, or forty. For the people doing the work that history won't name — who wake up and do it again, without an audience.
Joachim and Anne did that work. They didn't get much recognition for it.
They didn't need to.
When Brett and I got married on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I had no inkling that God would be calling us to start Runewood - I had much more boring plans in mind! It has been an honor to be under the mission of Runewood Rosary Co. and work alongside Brett. Our hope is that these rosaries will bless the couples striving for a Christian marriage. You have no idea how sacred and powerful your marriage is! Pray together! Choose each other. Give everything to Jesus and Mary, and they will take care of you!
