There was some anxiety... needless of course... that Pat would be too busy to spend much time with Hallel when she was here for our precious days together. The Lord's words in the Gospel today ring true as a bell today... "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God, have faith also in me." John 14:1
Hallel had wonderful time with her dad, and some of it special sharing farm time and alone in a tractor and a pickup going to pick up seed in a town an hour away. It seemed that most days she would jump in and join her dad on his trips to town or out to give the cows a bale of hay in the pasture buckled into the seat beside him where the grandkids can now share in a lot of his tractor time. Pat would tell me that they had a wonderful visit... "She likes most of all to talk about things pertaining to her faith and The Church." We always marvel when we learn at the feet of our children!
Speaking of Joy... Pat and I holding newly baptized Joy Jean Jellybean, as her loving sister 5 year old Rose calls her, just a few hours after she entered The Church through Baptism in the midst of her big brother's First Communion mass! I have the pleasure of having her peacefully sleeping on my bed allowing me to take some time away from my gardens and chickens. Thank you baby Joy!
A fun picture of Pat pointing up to the balcony in church... to me is how he has pointed our direction according to The Truth in our marriage and now carried over into the marriages of his 3 daughters, and Hallel's "Yes" to her call to become a nun in The Community of the Lamb also. His clear vision that we are to open to LIFE and then raise those children we are given as LIGHTS!
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html
His hands are huge and calloused and strong and determined to accomplish anything he sets his mind to. I call my married life...Never a dull moment!
Pat with all of his family except for Joseph... I love these that are a snapshot of life... when you have 15 grandkids from 12 to 5 weeks... I think we have them pretty well trained!
Lots of thoughts today about Fatherhood and how important it is, and how looking at this portrait of our special family reflects to the world the kind of Fatherhood they have been given. I am so grateful/eternally so to my own father, who with my mother at his side, brought us into The Church 45 years ago. Each day since has been filled with so much to help me down the narrow path!
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html
My family shortly after we entered The Church - all 13 of us! I am the oldest of 11 and to show a picture of my family now would be next to impossible... we are over 120, and with new ones all the time we should be close to 130 by next Christmas! Life is a gift!
I am thinking a lot about my dad today as his most favorite verse is in the amazing Gospel today... "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 I love the way that Venerable Thomas A'Kempis explains this...
Simply sublime and so true!
Hallel reading books to the kids one of her last days here. Kid time was a huge priority for her along with time with her dad, siblings and her mom. I felt that for me her last few days of feeling sick allowed me to care for her as a mother longs to do. Washing her clothes, giving her meds and advise. In the morning she laid in our bed for a few hours while we prepared to leave and take her back to KC... that made me happy inside to know that she was there recouperating as though she was in her mother's arms.
How I love to hold her time close to my heart!
Jesus, thank you for allowing us to have such intensely wonderful family time in the midst of a late spring. More time with our Farmers Pat and Paul! Jesus, we look at you and see A Father, who is LOVE itself! We are so blessed with our fathers and the families which are a witness to the world of how important Fatherhood is! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Hallel's face tells it all! Too much into my pictures, but I do use them over and over and they bring me such JOY! Off to work on gardens with Ruth, and how I long for this to be over and done with. One foot in front of the other, Barb. Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
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