We are very excited to be heading out for our family time on the Big Lake Michigan tomorrow! It is a time for close family sharing and caring away from the distractions of TV and computer! This picture of Nancy and her precious Godson, Simon, was taken just before we headed off to France in August 2009 of John's brain cancer journey. Being together for 2 weeks in Michigan will allow Simon and Nancy to spend some special time together. Nancy is a wealth of projects to do with the kids, and Simon has discovered that he likes to draw on paper his many wonderful imaginations he has about robotics and tractors. All his time studying books from the tractor stores of the ins and outsides of tractors have left a definite imprint on his mind - he can now draw very precise and surprising drawings of tractors and impliments! He now thinks that art is pretty cool and definitely something that allows him to share his thinking. It is nice to see him embrace this along with his sister, Mary, who loves her pictures and watercolors. We are just sad that our Therese will not be there to join in the art times with her Nancy and cousins!
Today a dear friend shared on facebook that she just returned from a life altering time in China! It reminded me of the intense feeling that filled and shocked me to the core when I returned from our miraculous trip to France/Lourdes when JOhn was just three weeks out from his brain surgery and just after his second chemo for Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma! After not being able to reach us for help to the bathroom overnight and getting there,with great difficulty, by himself. Maybe we can go to France for his sister, Susan's, taking her habit and changing her name? Within 24 hours we had tickets and went to join Nancy, who had flown on without us after John's cancer seemed to change everything! We did it... we were shocked and amazed that it had worked out for us to go!
How powerful for us... the picture was not quite complete most especially with Hallel's dad unable to drop everything and come on a day's notice, but...
Two years later for her first vows - he was there!!! As was his mom and John!
And the night before Hallel's vows we watched 5 women take the habit and change their names - Pat wept at the beauty of the change and power of the mass/service. At that point he understood and shared in what we had experienced with Hallel two years before! There is a bridge in time that can heal and share experiences! As hard as it was for him to stay behind when we had come in 2009 - now he could experience all of it two years later and with tears share in the JOY and Wonder of it all! Our daughter is joyfully a spouse of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! What proud and happy parents are we!
And Lourdes happened both trips! John was thrilled to go back and thank Our Lady for her healing and motherly LOVE that cradled him in her arms throughout his cancer battle! Here he holds a candle that he bought and lit to Our Lady for a young girl, Lisa. She is now with her Lord after a courageous battle with brain cancer - she was just a year older than John. John says that he still struggles with why he is still here in this world... that can be difficult and challanging as we all know. He sometimes seems to wonder why he wasn't spared the struggle and join our Lord, yet at the same time he has a feeling that he is here for a greater purpose. He is thrilled that Fr Craig is helping and encouraging him to share his story and bring others to the Truth that Jesus is alive and well and healing just as He did in the days that he walked the earth! John is a living breathing example of all that! One thing about this job/vocation search he is on is that he is asking the Lord what he wants for John, and not so much what John would selfishly want. That is not done so much with young people these days, but imagine how much happier and more fulfilled they would be if they approached their futures in this way! Life would fall into place and your path would be through the doors that open ahead of you... Trusting in HIM!
Jesus, we are filled, once again, with the great beauty and JOY that we found on our journey towards healing armed with all that You and Your Bride, The Church,could offer us! It was so much that we could not contain it all! Each day was filled with Your Word/Jesus which became visible to us - LIFE through the Gospel! We shared mass daily many days, the sacraments of reconcilliation often and healing of the sick/annointing 4 times, then all the Saints that walked the journey with us carrying their Most Cherished Crosses and showing John how to do that without counting the cost! How we loved and embraced our Cross that brought LIFE to us and showed John the Faith he had witnessed from afar in his sisters - now his own! St Irenaeus, on this your feastday - knowing that you were a second generation disciple of St John the Evangelist and his Gospel of LIFE/LOVE/ LIGHT! Thank you for fighting to bring the Truth to us today, and continue to show us the glory of Christ in our midst. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb
How Pat loved to help in Saint-Pierre! There is a very funny story about cement and this little pickup(?) and the steep hills in the foothills of the Pyrannies Mountains where St Pierre is located, but another time for that...
Psalm 128 - from mass today
"Blessed are you who fear the Lord,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children life olive plants
around your table.
See how the Lord blesses those who fear him."
"Christ took away our infirmities and bore our diseases."
Is that cute or what???
Danielle Rose - Singing Mary's Heart!
It was raining and they were very wet with water from heaven and John went into the healing baths with his dad too!
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