Today is the date of the birth of my oldest child...Ruth Ida Rose! It was one of the best days of my life! I experienced the pain of giving birth for the first time, and back in the days of no spinals and of waiting for the birth to be surprised by the boy or girl that would appear after hours of pain and that intense pushing... And there she was the most perfect beautiful little "rosebud."
She was so loved and wanted beyond belief... every cycle without pregnancy from the day of our marriage, was a sad and tearful time for me. WE were open to family and I was very impatient for the first one and each one after! I see some of my traits, of craziness when it comes to family, coming out in my kids. Ruth did what I wanted to do...got pregnant the first cycle of her marriage, and celebrated their 1st anniversary with a 2 month old... Some think that the time of just being the two of you is so important to the newly weds, but none of my girls have had that desire... Family is huge for them and they are blessed with wonderful ones!
Today is the feastday of one of the rare saints that was married and had a family and is also the first American saint - St Elizabeth Ann Seton... She was married and had 5 children, whom she raised with her husband before he died. She converted to Catholicism and then founded an order schools and teaching order - The Sisters of Charity. 
It is such a blessing to have Ruth and her family so close and to see how she is following where the Lord leads her in life. I have shared numerous times how my children are teaching me many powerful ways... It is quite humbling and amazing to be able to "see" with eyes of faith those lessons that we are all needing to learn and follow in our life with Christ!
Ruth, unlike me, has always needed to work parttime... using her nursing to help out with the household finances... I know that this is true for most households these days, but it was hard for me to have my first grandkids in daycare. Then they moved here and I was able to care for them while Ruth worked half time at the hospital... now after a year of brain cancer with John... the other grandmother has become the person, who watches and cares for them. The only thing better would be to have her home with her kids, but this is as good as it can be otherwise, and I do know that her service as a nurse is needed and that she has a ministry much like St Elizabeth did both her family and her service!
With Ruth living on a building site in the country just a few miles from our farm, and the small place she lived in on Hwy 59 until she was 7yo....I have often watched her in her garden pulling carrots for her kids straight out of the garden.. with the cows coming up from the pasture to get a drink... or some similar scene.. and realized that Ruth has been blessed with the life that she had growing up. The great part is that she realizes and loves her life both then and now! 
To our delight one evening in July... Ruth the the kids were over on a beautiful evening and we all decided to get into the back of the pickup and go back and check on the cows and calves in the back pasture about a mile away... So many evenings we would load the kids up and go back there - it really became our family fun vacation time to sit in the quiet stillness and watch the cows and calves watch us as they ate grass and the calves would take some time to nurse on their mothers...
Now a generation later...we had the gift of sharing this with Ruth and now her 3 little ones... It was a delight and Ruth even spoke in some emotional terms about how lucky she had been and now was continuing to be... The feeling of peace and Joy were within and without... Ruth has always been very kind and loving towards all the natural things that surround her.
"O divine love, beneficent mysterious Sun. The flowers of every virtue take the liveliest colors under your benign aspect - humility, peace, constancy, joy, faith, hope, and charity are your precious eternal fruits. You give to the soul your delight in her, the purest joys in foretaste of the torrents of your eternal inebriations - speaking to the soul you consume, at all times and in all places, in silence, or in noise, in deepest darkness, or brightest day." St Elizabeth Ann Seton
It was so special to have this hour in the evening with my Ruth and to have her share her joy at having the blessed life she had hoped and dreamed for when a shy girl, who never dated and wondered if the Lord would ever give her someone in her life... Her virtue was highly honored and precious... yet she yearned in her heart for a husband and family and a life connected to the farm...the life she had loved as a child...
The Lord answered her prayers with her wonderful Paul! He had told his dad a few months before they started dating that he wanted to meet a girl with whom he could share his faith and all that he valued in his future. His dad assured him that he would find her soon,and at the County Fair, which they had shared all their lives... they walked around shared a malt and looked at the sites of the fair...so it began and their first "date" at Camden... they talked about what they wanted and their priorities..they lined up and were the same... 6 months dating and a short engagement... why wait, if you find the right person?
Ruth is very calm and caring... She is very quietly listening to the Lord and where He is leading her... there are many times that she has asked the Lord - "Why?" And in short order she gets the answer...
"Why Lord did I have to rupture my uterus while having Mary,and be told no more children?" The Lord answered; "So that you put your total trust in me, and so that you learn the Creighton Model Method to wait until it is safe to have another child... not only learn it to use it yourself, but also to become an instructor and help others use natural means to prevent a pregnancy or to get pregnant!" 
Such it is when we have those roadblocks put in our path in life... we are shown another road to take that makes us and those around us better! 
How happy are we to have children that come home and appreciate the family they had while here, and allow us to share that now with our grandkids!
Life is an adventure! "My feet kept to the level path because from earliest youth I was familiar with wisdom." Sirach 51: 15 As parents we say at the Baptism of our children that we will raise them in the faith, and to have them show us as they raise their families that they totally see this is so important... Not only that we are allowed and encouraged to share in all aspects of our grandchildren's lives... Our happiest times are when we are all together at mass worshiping together! 
Ruth's motherhood is beautiful to behold! A work of art ... just as this wonderful picture is a photo story of how she loves and includes each one in a most warm and caring way... Motherhood is deeply ingrained in her and gives her all the value that fills her deepest recesses! 
Large family jobs in Ruth's large farm kitchen - those heartwarming times and times for some of the best visiting and sharing. Sharing work to put up the fresh food... the many jobs are filled and the bags of sweet corn that feed us for the year to come are bags of golden memories of sweetness and familytime! Soooooooooooo Goooooooooood tooooooo!
"Lord, make me know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths. Make me walk in your truth, and teach me: for you are God my savior...In you I hope all day long because of your goodness, O Lord.... he guides the humble in the right path; he teaches the way to the poor." Psalm 25
Well, I rambled and I gushed... I guess when it is my journal/blog that I can do that...Ruth... we love you and wish you a wonderful 31st year ahead! You amaze us with your calm and joyful spirit and the way that you serve and listen to our Lord in so many ways and experiences in your life! Your children are lights that reveal your beauty to the world! 
Jesus, thank you for your gift of Ruth Ida Rose on this day of her birth! WE ask that you continue to use her and bless her... as she is wearing all the hats, that she is given and asked to wear! She is a shining light for all to see! We are forever blessed by her peaceful,loving, trusting, forgiving spirit. The Best Big Sister, Daughter, Wife, and Mother that anyone could have hoped for or asked for! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb"Now I, like a rivulet from wisdom's stream, channeling the waters into a garden, Said to myself, "I will water my plants, my flower bed I will drench"; And suddenly this rivulet of mine became a river, then this stream of mine, a sea. Thus do I send my teachings forth shining like the dawn, to become known afar off. Thus do I pour out instruction like prophecy and bestow it on generations to come." Sirach 24: 28-31
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