The last night of Breno's visit...we had a wonderful "family meal" at the home of Pat's mom and his sister, Ratera! The house was full of laughter, and much activity, and good food was abounding and delicious! Ruth's 3 kids found a fun spot out on the porch for their meal... it was a adventure to eat out amongst the beautiful plants and flowers. We all were filled to the brim with delight, at the joy of FAMILY!
Breno and his parents shared the prayer before the meal in Portugese, and Breno, with deep emotion shared that his year with us was "one of the best years of my life." That is very profound for me to hear, and I look back with new eyes on the year that we shared our family, and our farm, and our faith with him. It was very last minute that he came to live with us, as he had requested a Catholic family, and we were approached for that reason just weeks before he came. It was very much like the Lord was knocking... and how could we even think to say "no." So as a result we have this wonderful broadening of our family, to inlcude two doctors and their children in Brazil... now their two sons are doctors too! "Dr Breno" is what they call him now!
John and Breno had been very close for that year, and now 10 years later seemed to rediscover the friendship and kidding closeness that they had for that year. John told a humbling and funny story of his first kiss, to entertain, and pointed the finger at Breno at passing on to his "younger brother" the uncoolness, that he exhibited in that situation... We laughed loud and hard at John's ability to laugh at himself, and show us his innocence, which I consider a wonderful thing!
Spending a week in New York... Breno's family had gone to Elis Island, and were interested in the old documents showing the coming to America of Pat's great-grandparents and grandparents... We all realize that the ways that we come to be living our lives, and meeting those that are instrumental in our lives... is a total gift and example to me of how the Lord has his fingerprint on us and our lives! 
I have shared many times about my own life... meeting Marge/Raterra at college at the U of M, and then from there meeting her brother, when I came to her wedding. The following year...we were married - I had found my Most Cherished Cross! My life started as a farmer's wife, and about a year and a half later... a mother. The two things I had longed and prayed for - to be a wife and mother, and this was after seriously considering becoming a nun! 
Such a joy to see the result of that embracing of the Cross, when I look at these wonderful gathering of family to support, and sharing in the lives one of the other! It fills me with such appreciation... for His loving direction in my life! Thank you, Lord, from the deepest places in me... I love you and thank you for your Cross in my life...
Today is the feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross... it is a very large feast day in Hallel's community of the Lamb. But it is truly a very amazing day for all of us... as we follow our Lord carrying our Cross... as he asks of us! The Cross has become the Tree of Life - "With the Cross we are freed from the restraint of the enemy and we clutch on to the strength of salvation." St Theodorus... St Catherine of Siena writes..."we cannot produce or give any other fruit, but the fruit taken from the tree of life." "We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he is our salvation, our life and our resurrection; through him we are saved and made free." Gal 6:14
How blessed I am... to have my children with me on my faith journey, and when I complain about my most cherished cross - they are quick to remind me that this is what the Lord is asking of me. They do not cut me slack, and I need that very much. They are beautiful examples to me of being good wives, and mothers, and brides of Christ, and I learn and grow from their shared faith, and love, and life! They teach me more and more of the Truth of our amazing Church in their words, and their lives! What mother could ask for more?
They are loving, and wise, and remind me that this is my salvation... and the pain is when I grow and turn to HIM..."Wounded, I will not cease to love." Today the motto, of the Community of the Lamb, upholds for us these words to live by... this is the CROSS! 
When Breno lived with us - he discovered Mello Yello... they do not have it in Brazil, so we bought a 24 pack for him to indulge in for the 3 days that he visited. We had a parting toast the last night as we were saying goodbye. We are family with the ups and downs - always knowing that our faith is what has brought us together, and that is the true bond of LOVE! "YOU decreed that man should be saved through the wood of the cross,
The tree of man's defeat became his tree of victory; where life was lost, there life has been restored through Christ our Lord." Preface from mass for the Exultation of the Cross
Lord, we love you and thank you for how family, and faith, and farm are all a part of the beauty of the life we have been called to... Our Most Cherished Cross! There are struggles and hurts, but from those we find the fact that we need you to go forward, and without you our lives are lost and sadly misled. Give us the joys that come with embracing your LOVE and LIFE, in all its forms. May your Truth be set high on the pole - the Cross- so that looking upon it we may see how we are to live, and to love without counting the cost - for "wounded, we do not cease to love." Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb"Holding up the cross, bidding us gaze into the bleeding and humiliated face, the Holy Spirit's focus is not first and foremost at the suffering, or even at sin and its consequences, but on a love that is absolute, 'out of this world,' 'other,' 'what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived.' We must gaze and gaze with fullest attention and then affirm: this is God; this is what God is really like. Through this vision we have the certainty of what is beyond our comprehension, that God is love and nothing but love, and that he is love to and for us.." Sr Ruth Burrows
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