Taking all life has to hand you with a shrug and a smile

Nancy eating breakfast with the "high-maintenance" girls this morning.  Why high- maintenance?  Rose went through 3 forks til she had the right one, and that had to be a "little" fork like the one her cousin, Bernadette, had.  Keeping peace can be a juggling act some time, but why sweat the small stuff?

I sit at the feet of my girls and learn from them about how life should be handled.  Ruth just left here with an extra kid, a pail of apples to make into sauce that the boys and Rose unexpectedly picked off the tree, and a sudden discovery that she needs to go to work at 11a and work over 12 hours til midnight tonight!  I would be a wreck to have that all on my plate!  I had just gotten a call to work an overnight coming up and that was stressing me out... but after watching Ruth shrug and say that it would all be fine and that the apples can wait until tomorrow, and the extra cousin can play outside with Dave til Nancy can pick him up... I called the nursing home and told them that I can work that overnight and survive. 

The kids all gathered around their moms - learning that working together can be a time of growth and sharing in LIFE lessons and work.  It can be enjoyable to share work and end up with wonderful homemade food from fresh vegetables that were just growing in the garden.  That is one of my favorite things to say to the kids - "This was just growing in the garden, and now we are eating all that goodness!  So fresh and wonderful!"  I was overjoyed to see that Psalm 51 was the Psalm for mass today...  "A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me."  Yes, we strive to keep our hearts clean with keeping away from the darkness and evil that is just so close at hand through the media.  We also need to be steadfast... what is that?

stead·fast

ˈstedˌfast/

adjective

adjective: steadfast

1. resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.

   "
   steadfast loyalty"
   

   loyal, faithful, committed, devoted, dedicated, dependable, reliable, steady, true, constant, staunch, solid, trusty synonyms: "a steadfast friend" firm, determined, resolute, relentless, implacable, single-minded; unchanging, unwavering, unhesitating, unfaltering, unswerving, unyielding, unflinching, uncompromising "a steadfast policy"

   antonyms:

   disloyal, irresolute

    

:

I see this very much in my girls and how they take on all the odds to be committed to raising lights and being open to LIFE!  Nancy recently addressed this in her blog, and will be inviting many women to share their stories! http://www.dosmallthingswithlove.com/2014/08/choosing-open-life-kids.html 3. The Gift of Siblings I grew up in a family of 7–3 sister and 1 brother.  Although not big by some standards, I loved the fact that my family was bigger than most.  When I went off to school I already had friends there–my sisters.  In the evenings we would all sit around the dinning room table and do homework together.  We were on the swim team together.  When we got older we were roommates, and travel companions and bridesmaids for each other. Simply, my siblings are my best friends. It was a sacrifice for my parents to have 5 kids, I’m sure.  We didn’t have a lot of things that other kids had in terms of clothes and toys.  I drove a aqua Astro Van to school and was always on the hook for picking up or dropping off this sibling or that.  But I knew that my parents had as many kids as they could–and that is the greatest gift that they ever gave us. This idea–that siblings are the greatest gift I can give my kids–is reinforced every time I see my kids play together.  They certainly fight, but they also love each other. I want my kids to be challenged and loved and molded in a way that only a sibling (or lots of siblings) can.  Sure, kids are expensive, but I would rather cut back on all the STUFF and instead have a house full of kids. And so there you have it.  We are Catholic and we do embrace the teaching of the church on contraception–but our choice to be open to life, to welcome more children, is so much richer than just obedience. This made me cry - so what's new about that, mom? Thank you, Nancy, for embracing the Truth about Family, and seeing clearly that The Church is sharing the Way, The Truth and The LIFE with us - Christ and His Bride, The Church... they are helping us get to Heaven!          We did fill this huge container we got from the HRS sale years back to the brim with juice!  Ruth and I always laugh when we see how we fill everything to the tippy top when we can together! I love the call to being steadfast in our spirit!  I look at my kids and see that they are heading into each day with a firmness of carrying their faith into all that they are doing!  They are committed, loyal, devoted, and all the rest - they are steadfast to their Faith and their Family and to the Farm also! The two baby boys hanging out this morning - Luke is 9 months and Dominic is 2 months... in just 19 days they will be joined by Maria's baby boy, Romeo!  He will be here safe and sound with a C-section on Sept 9th!  It is the year of the boys in our family!  What a change is in the wind for us after all our girls!  Jesus, today in the Gospel you remind us that we need to come to your wedding banquet with the "calves and fattened cattle" - Pat and I joked with John that his dad would say that about his wedding feast if and when - no, there is no girl in sight...  we are to be properly "dressed" with all the beauty of a clean heart and a steadfast spirit!  "My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit and heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn."  It is very interesting that we are not to go to the Feast with rags and poorly dressed... we are to be glowing and arrayed with wonderful rich clothes fitting a wedding, yet to be humble and contrite.   We are arrayed with the goodness we have been steadfast to in our day to day lives... taking all that comes at us with a cheerful acceptance and learn to give without counting the cost.  "Wounded, I will not cease to LOVE."  The motto that the Community of the Lamb lives by - looking to the example Christ/The Lamb lived out for us, and then He asks us to take up our Most Cherished Cross and follow after HIM!  Jesus, we trust in YOU.  Amen and Hallelujah  Borrowing one of Ruth's wonderful pictures from her blog - http://familyfarmexperience.blogspot.com/ She is promoting and educating the world about the Family Farm! Bless-bless, Barbara Luke the Crazy-Catholic! "Allowing the Gospel message into our life means letting our life become, in the broad and real sense of the word, a religious life, a life referred to , bound back to, God.  The basic revelation of the Gospel is the overwhelming, penetrating presence of God.  It is a call to encounter God, and God allows himself to be encountered in solitude. True solitude is not the absence of people, but the presence of God."  Servant of God Madeleine Delbrel

Another fun one from the camera of Ruth Ida Rose Lanoue!

Laura Story - Blessings

Broken Hallelujah - the Afters