Lost then FOUND!

Jesus Sanchez - he was lost...to me at least.

Who is he? A 3rd generation Vatican bookbinder and, according to some, the foremost bookbinder in the world today. I had read about him and had heard that he lived in Hilo.

Over the last 2 years I became almost obsessed with finding him and, eventually learning from him.

It was our daughter, Susan, who sparked my interest. You see, 2 years ago she gave us handmade books for Christmas. She had taken a book arts class in college and made these gorgeous hard cover beauties! I was intrigued!

I began searching for bookbinding workshops and classes online. I was willing to go anywhere to learn. That's how I first heard of Jesus Sanchez.

You might remember that I learned - quite by accident - that my neice Allie was into Book Arts. So last June I flew to Portland to take a 3 day workshop from her. I LOVED IT!

I loved the process - which requires you to take it slow. I loved the exactness required to do it right.

Allie taught me more (how to make a box) when she was here in November.

And through it all I kept thinking about Jesus Sanchez...

Every now and then I would google him to see if he was offering a class...once I saw that he was and signed up for the class...but it got cancelled.

In January of this year I decided to google him again. There was a link about him going to Cuba (he has a massive historical books project that he is doing for the Cuban gov't).

I clicked on the link and saw not a picture of Jesus Sanchez but a picture of...Tomas Belsky - husband of my cousin Moanikeala Akaka!!! Tomas had gone to Cuba last year with Jesus!

I got on the phone right away and called Moani. "Yes," she said "Jesus is a good friend of ours! he's in Cuba right now but should be back soon"

The connection was made - and yesterday Moani called to give me Jesus' cell number!

Haven't called him yet but I did call Allie and Susan to see if they'd be interested in maybe going over to Hilo and meeting Jesus and perhaps learning from him. They were both enthusiastic and ecstatic about such an opportunity. So am I...Can you imagine all the things we can learn from this master??

What a small world! And how blessed am I??? The person I had been trying to find for 2 years happened to be a friend of my own cousin. How great is that! Am I Heavenly Father's favorite or what????

Jesus Sanchez..FOUND!