"Stay awake!(stomp/clap) Be ready!(stomp/clap)" John singing

 John helping with tomato soup - the biggest canning ever! 

This morning after sharing morning prayer and the readings on this Feast of St Monica with John at breakfast... John broke into a cute song including the words of the Gospel today.  It made me smile and laugh through my tears - as we were doing our intentions for some reason (probably joining with St Monica's tears) I wept through all my prayers.  "Stay awake!  Be ready!  We don't know when the Lord is coming!  Stay awake!  Be ready!  The Lord is coming soon!"  "We would sing this at Holy Redeemer all the time at mass and we would pound on the pews and stomp the floor between the phrases!  I haven't sung it since 8th grade!" 

 I just had a great conversation with my mom and she admitted that she missed the boat by not having us help her in the kitchen.  She sees that it is a wonderful thing how we all work together on these big projects in the kitchen and even making meals with helpers - I now have grandkids here a lot and they love to help make meals or mix cakes or breads.  These are cherished "Family times" in our farm life!

The Gospel for today... Jesus said to the Disciples:  "Stay awake!  For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.  Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.  So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."  Matthew 24 

 These big family canning days are very joyful and filled with visiting and covering a lot of things we are wanting to share with each other, but with the busyness of life we don't get a chance.  I  could share about our whirlwind week away with Maria and her 4...  There are many big days we do on the farm from putting up food to caring for the animals.  Canning days are much more relaxed as you aren't dealing with thousand pound animals and all the frustrations that come with that, so they are the fun family time days.  And now that my kids are grown... it certainly is a gift and delight to have some of them and their kids now here to help with all the work.  It seems to get more and more, but we are now making food for 6 families including our Community of the Lamb!

Ruth's kitchen is our canning central as she has lots of play places and toys and the kids that play with them.  When Nancy is here with her 3 little ones this really makes it more doable!

Emotions are running high today, and it is so special to have St Monica right there with me!  One part of her ministry of bringing her family to Christ that really struck me this morning was how she "kept peace" in her family by facing "rages with meekness and kindness."  She won her husband and his family to The Church in this way, and then her son, Augustine, with earnest "tears, prayers, plaints, and laments."  I can say that we are well matched in the tears and the prayers department, but I definitely need to do better with the meekness and the kindness! 

 Our first tomato soup day with Nancy a few weeks back...Once again having two of my girls and their kids to share the work and the enjoyment of working shoulder to shoulder!

In a wonderful long sharing with my mom on the phone... she shared about the homily at mass on Sunday in Stillwater - St Michael's Catholic Church.  It was on the reading - Ephesians 5:21-32 on wives beings submissive to their husbands.  This is so special as this reading was to have been read at Nancy and Bill's wedding and tomorrow is their 5th anniversary!  Part of it was accidentally left out by the person reading it, but my dad was unaware with his poor hearing and preached on it anyways!  Too great and a funny special memory of the day!  Mom shared that the young newly ordained priest made mom want to shout "Hallelujah!" as he shared that these difficult readings and teachings of The Church - "You need to come to Jesus and have him show you The Truth!" 

 Feeding many young and old during our big days of work!  I had a lot of joy last night feeding Ruth and Paul's 5 kids while they were teaching Faith Formation... Many hungry kids cleaning their plates and my husband commenting over and over what a great meal it was... it doesn't get much better than that, does it?

 These two girls so enjoy growing up together and sharing our family times on the farm!

Jesus, I am so filled with wonderful joyful thankfulness for all the ways that we are allowed to share our Faith one with the other.  The Catholic School for all of our kids and now grandkids and the seeds that are planted there and nurtured by sharing our Faith in our home... we share morning prayer most days, the readings of the Day and Find Christ in His Word and Gospel guiding and directing us towards heaven.  We share the Saints for each day and today St Monica is helping me to see that I need to be more meek and kind and bring about more moments of Faith and Truth with sugar rather than with vinegar!  Tomorrow we honor St Augustine her son, who came to Faith through her tears and prayers.  I am encouraged by this knowledge and continue to carry both forth into my LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!  There is so much to fill each of our days through Jesus Christ, His Mother, Mary the Mother of God, and The Church!  Jesus, we trust in you.   Amen and Hallelujah!!!!!

 These are the pictures I cherish as they tell the story of Faith/Family/Farm!  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

This is what makes the work all worth it!

This speaks to my heart filled with much this day!

A mother's tears and prayers brought this blessing to us! 

End this now!

Shared by a friend today... so true!

Newsboys - We believe

God's not dead - Narnia by the Newsboys