Over watching the 4 kids while parents were working last evening... little Rose sits up on her own on the couch with me and is enthralled by the activity all around her! Her brother, David, would thrill her with is rushing over to her to hug her! I think she knows that she is so loved and cherished not only by her parents - little Gift from God Rose Ida! But she has her 3 siblings touching, hugging and including her in their lives of sibling LOVE and very active LIFE!
All going in different directions in their thoughts and actions yet a group bonded by Family, Faith and Farm! John and Nancy just called and it struck me that John went from an almost totally home filled with women other than his rough and gruff farmer dad... 4 sisters and a mom. And now he is in a world of men in seminary! Pat was asking him about how they get to mass this morning - "do the guys drive or ride?" And I just was struck with how different this all is for him... he did get a taste of it being in Farmhouse Fraternity for 4 years at the U of M, and having now 3 brother in laws. "I think that he loves it!" said Nancy. We were talking about her memories of being excited about John being born and "helping me with him" and noticing his milestones like walking or talking etc. Even more so we hear about Therese spending all her time mimicing her mother's care of Patrick! Maria says that she even has finished one coloring book and is starting another because she sits beside him and colors all day! Then there was Susan/Hallel and the way that she watched out for John when she was only 3 1/2 years older than him! She cared for him, and watched out for him, and is even given the title of saving his life! We were standing out in the yard one day and she looked around and asked "Where is Johnny?" Just then we looked over and saw that he was walking into the shed where he heard his dad backing out the tractor! We rushed over to grab him just in time! John has always been very coddled and cared for by the 5 women of this house! That look of contentment and peace that I saw so much in his battle against brain cancer was much more visible when he had all of his sisters around him! The prayers surrounding him had a similar effect on him, too!
He cried all the way to Sauk Rapids, and begged Maria not to leave our family and enter the Poor Clares on January 1st, 2004. The thought of a sister behind the cloister was too hard for him... no more hugs! It was a powerful 5 months, and it revealed to her that she was not called to this life of prayer in the sense of joining the Community... rather she was called to marry and raise LIGHTS and a community of prayer within her Domestic Church/family! The Poor Clares continue to be important to our family and we totally see why they seperate themselves from the distractions of the world the way they do. There is so much that pulls us away from HIM, and we need those that give themselves to PRAYER without ceasing for the unending needs of the world! Now to have Hallel in the Community of the Lamb is also a sacrifice for our family, and you can only imagine how hard it is on John! He and Susan/Hallel have a special closeness and John is totally honoring her FAITH and example to him as he answers the Call he is hearing since surviving and being healed of brain cancer 3 years ago!
The big family job days on the farm have always been a special time of sharing all the parts of work that make up our big days of canning or working the cattle. The kids have always enjoyed these days, and their joy shows and makes them precious memories! Now to have Ruth and her 4 just a short distance away and very willing and excited to help... I am so blessed to have the next generation just as happy as their mom's were to be part of the big Family and Farm days!
There were times this summer when we had 4 generations gathered in the kitchen with JOY! There is wonder at learning to do the things that we have shared every year of our marriage, and for Pat and his family it was every year of his LIFE! Too special that I have been blessed with my 34 years on the farm! Well, I am just drifting in a world of Family, Faith and Farm today. I am once again learning the lesson of Patience as Nancy is soon to have her little girl. Each day and night goes by, and we only know that the Lord has his own perfect timing! Lord, we place the arrival of our newest granddaughter in your hands and Trust! She will have the blessings that her mother had growing up in a home based on Faith and Family and I have no doubt that she will come to know and share in the Farm often! We are formed into a loving domestic Church/faithfamilyfarm by all of the elements of JOY! We are humbled by your watching out for us in such a powerful way! We yearn to all be united with Hallel in a few weeks in Kansas City! You know what it will take for that to happen and you are in control! Jesus, we long to have a real picture of family after the years of seperation by an ocean between us. We rejoice with each new life and LOVE that stretchs us more and more upon our Most Cherished Cross! The Cross that we need to embrace to bring us to your Truth and LIFE everlasting! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb
"Happy the man who meditates on wisdom, and reflects on knowledge.
She will nourish him with the bread of understanding, and give him water of learning to drink,
He will lean upon her and not fall, he will trust in her and not be put to shame.
She will exalt him above his fellows; in the assembly she will make him eloquent.
Joy and gladness he will find, an everlasting name inherit."
Sircah 14:20; 15: 3-6
St Leo the Great, pray for us!
Soon Gus will have his sister to learn to love and grow with! 
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