Foot washing... the little ones allow us to do this spring-summer-fall on the farm!

Pig tails thanks to grandma is this sweet little daisy in the garden of LIFE!  Grandma gets mornings with her Joy each day as Ruth is needed outside using her nursing skills to care for the calves after this most challenging spring. 


In the Gospel today from John 13 we are reminded of the way Christ washes our feet in his LOVE for us... He is God yet He is there to serve us without counting the cost.  He showed that to us beyond the shadow of a doubt, by hanging and dying on the Cross for our sins!  Through the Resurrection he which we celebrate for 50 days of Easter... He gives us the Spirit if only we die to self so that he may live and work and evangelize through us!

A study of Joy Jean this morning... she is a delight for grandma and brings smiles as we return her smile.


I am struck by the beauty of The Church's call to us to be open to LIFE and raise them as LIGHTS!  Joy was reaching out to a picture of St JPII on the wall of her home with the blessing Ruth and Paul were given a few days after their wedding in Rome..."That is Saint John Paul II and it is because of him that you are here!"
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html


We can allow God to be in the picture of our family and each new life is a gift and supposed to be here.  Those little ones are constantly out playing in the nice spring/summer/fall and sometimes maybe winter and they get muddy all over and most especially their feet.  We are called upon to care for them and wash their feet and probably every inch of them.  We care for their needs and think less of self and more about them as we are needed to serve them!

Joy senses how special this is, and seems to appreciate St JPII!  This man was so huge for me for the first 27 years of my marriage... He is my champion for LIFE and family!  I know that he is hard at work from heaven, and his blessing of Ruth and Paul has blossomed powerfully in their marriage..."Please bless us with a happy healthy family."  from Paul has been answered for sure!


I noticed Luke's two large dump trucks in the mud in the pasture.."Yes, grandma, I was hauling mud to make clay."  The trucks were covered with mud and it looks like the play was intense with older brother, David.  I am sure the boys and their clothes were equally mud from head to bare toes! 


Ruth planned her remodel with a big central bathtub, which is filled with little ones before bedtime!  How I loved my kids in baths and going to bed clean, after playing in the tub!  Pat recalled just the other day when we were with Hallel... how he would come in the basement from work at night to hear her and John playing and splashing overhead in the bathtub, and the water would be dripping into the basement!

So many blessings and such a special gift is this little girl... #6 child!!  Thanks, St JPII, whom I know is smiling on her and her family from the feet of Jesus in heaven!  St JPII was certainly a faithful servant of Christ, and did a wonderful service to The Church by his Theology of the Body and so much more! 


I recall reading with so much overwhelming JOY and excitement the encyclical St JPII wrote concerning the Eucharist!  https://www.ewtn.com/library/encyc/jp2eucha.htm  If you have a chance read it for yourselves... so amazing!!!


Here is a taste of his out of this world words... I read this years ago and it echoes in me as a memory that is so sweet to me! 
8." When I think of the Eucharist, and look at my life as a priest, as a Bishop and as the Successor of Peter, I naturally recall the many times and places in which I was able to celebrate it. I remember the parish church of Niegowić, where I had my first pastoral assignment, the collegiate church of Saint Florian in Krakow, Wawel Cathedral, Saint Peter's Basilica and so many basilicas and churches in Rome and throughout the world. I have been able to celebrate Holy Mass in chapels built along mountain paths, on lakeshores and seacoasts; I have celebrated it on altars built in stadiums and in city squares... This varied scenario of celebrations of the Eucharist has given me a powerful experience of its universal and, so to speak, cosmic character. Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world. It unites heaven and earth. It embraces and permeates all creation. The Son of God became man in order to restore all creation, in one supreme act of praise, to the One who made it from nothing. He, the Eternal High Priest who by the blood of his Cross entered the eternal sanctuary, thus gives back to the Creator and Father all creation redeemed. He does so through the priestly ministry of the Church, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. Truly this is the mysterium fidei which is accomplished in the Eucharist: the world which came forth from the hands of God the Creator now returns to him redeemed by Christ."

Joy and grandma having lunch out on the porch yesterday... she cleaned her entire plate clean.  Such a delightful girl in every way!


How's this for us?  I love how he includes Mary as she is with me throughout each day!
6." I would like to rekindle this Eucharistic “amazement” by the present Encyclical Letter, in continuity with the Jubilee heritage which I have left to the Church in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte and its Marian crowning, Rosarium Virginis Mariae. To contemplate the face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the “programme” which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium, summoning her to put out into the deep on the sea of history with the enthusiasm of the new evangelization. To contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize him wherever he manifests himself, in his many forms of presence, but above all in the living sacrament of his body and his blood. The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by him she is fed and by him she is enlightened. The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a “mystery of light”.³ Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Lk 24:31).  "


Generally St JPII is so intelligent that I struggle to grasp his meaning and it is so deep, but there is something about this encyclical that just speaks to me with each word as a bell ringing in my soul!

Roger was disappointed and didn't get any of her lunch...

They did share yogurt however!


Jesus, the wisdom of The Church is always there to guide us to heaven forever with you.  We are called to die to self so that your Spirit may dwell in our hearts, minds and souls, and so that we may give of ourselves to others without counting the cost!  As we are open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS we are called to give of ourselves and wash the feet of those in our domestic Church/family with each day!  When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them:
"Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master
nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him."  John 13:16
May I be your humble messenger and give you all the Glory!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Pink sweatshirts and eating lunch on the porch!  I am truly blessed by my 15 going on 16 grandchildren, and our 4 in heaven, too!  They along with my 7 children in heaven keep our eyes focused on heaven and our goal to be there someday!  How I love to gaze upon his face with His Mother, Mary Most Holy, each day in the rosary prayer!   Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke

Me and my little sunbeam of LIGHT/JOY! 

Oh my!!!!  Grandma got to do little girl hair this morning... her day is off to a great start!  My favorite thing under the sun after having my 4 girls "and then you had that boy!"

A side pony with flowers for this Halloween of Hawaiian theme... grass skirts out of corn leaves... we left such a mess everywhere we went, and came home with a waistband minus the skirt.  Good thing we had shorts on underneath!  Oh yes, I had to join in and the precursor of my topknot of today... as I say I was a flower child!
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html

Just put the skirts on and before we climbed into the car... Good thing I snapped this!
The Year?  Fall of 1986 or 87...  Ruth has adopted sewing costumes over the years... hers are much more ornate, but I still can take some credit for her themes over the years!

4 years ago... Luke is the Big Bad Wolf sewed by Ruth and Dominic is in a lion costume we had around here!

Little Red riding hood was 4 years ago!  Yes!  Ruth took it to a whole new level!

Happy Feast Day
Our Lady of Good Counsel
Feast Day: April 26

Our Lady of Good Counsel is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary after a miraculous painting. Tradition has it that during celebrations on the feast of St. Mark, in 1467, in Genazzano, Italy, a cloud descended on an unfinished wall of the church of Santa Maria, amid “sweet music.” When it dissipated an image of Our Lady appeared; ...18” square, no thicker than an eggshell, suspended in the air. Many pilgrims visit the church including Popes UrbanVII, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Saints Aloysius Gonzaga, Alphonsus Liguori and John Bosco. Miracles continue to occur, even today.

Psalm 89 from mass today!




This makes me smile!  Rose is now 5 and a few years back at the Easter Vigil she heard her name during mass - "Rose again!"  She still beams when she hears those words during the Creed!  She was wondering where her mom's name is in mass... "I know!  Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my Ruth!"  LOVE!  There is nothing better than our sharing our faith as a family!  I love how the kids are aware and listening and involved and at home at mass and in our church and the chapel in the Catholic School!  Sharing our Faith with JOY!

His love for us in neverending and unconditional! 




“The risen Christ is really present in the Eucharist with His risen body which is placed in our hands to draw us out of ourselves, to incorporate us into His immortal body and thereby lead us to new life.” — Pope Benedict XVI



Then we have Pope Benedict XVI with his beautiful words and insight!

Defend us Mother:

Mother of Jesus, be our protector and defender against all that is harmful or evil. Bring our needs before Almighty God, that we may be surrounded by God’s Holy Angels, and give us the grace to conquer every danger and overcome all that would threaten our health and well being.

Be for us light in times of darkness, strength when we are weak, wisdom in our confusion, healing in ...times of illness, and courage to work through life’s problems and difficulties. Give us joy when we are sad, bread to feed our hunger, and eternal life to defeat the power of death.

Virgin Mary, guide our life-journey, so that we may always walk safely together with you and your Divine Son, Jesus Christ in God’s loving friendship.
Amen.

I cannot understand how they can stand in the way of him getting help to live! 

 April 24, 8:20 PM EST:

In a dramatic statement to media outside the Alder Hey hospital this evening, Alfie’s father Tom Evans showed resolve amidst grief and righteous anger at the hospital’s decision to refuse to allow the parents to take baby Alfie to Italy where he has been offered hospital care. An emergency appeal of the recent ruling forbidding the couple to t...ake their son to Italy has been granted.

Exhausted and haggard, Evans said that Alfie’s 22 hours of breathing on his own after the ventilator was removed has surprised but also frustrated doctors who he says want the child dead. Evans reveals that he had to fight for six hours to get the hospital to allow Alfie hydration but they have refused to allow the child nutrition.

“They don’t want to see him come out of it, they want him to die, they want him to deteriorate in the next couple of hours so then they can say ‘oh look we told you’, but in fact in reality I stood in the court case and they told me he wouldn’t last longer than five minutes, he’s lasted 22 hours,” Evans said.

Describing his disgust with the attempt to starve his son he said: “It’s disgusting how they treating us, they're starving him, they wouldn’t do this to an animal.”

And we are called to serve and love without counting the cost!

The wedding plans are flying as we are 5 weeks away... give us peace and joy, O Lord, with each step.  John was overwhelmed when the Doctor, who got us to Mayo and took a huge personal interest in John over the years... Dr Brian O'Neal... bought their vacuum cleaner from their registry site!   "Every time we use it over the years... I will remember him and all that he did for me!  It is so special!"  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Dr Brian!

Biographical summary

Brian P. O'Neill, M.D., is a neurologist who specializes in brain cancer and neurological complications of systemic cancers. He has over 30 years' experience in the field and has had administrative and research leadership roles nationally.
Dr. O'Neill is currently the co-leader of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center (MCCC) Translational Research Program in Neuro-Oncology ("the program") and overall principal investigator and program director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Brain Cancer.
Mayo Clinic's clinical activities are enterprisewide with expertise and relevant clinical research at all three Mayo campuses. The clinical activities of the program are managed by specialists in neurology, neurosurgery and oncology (medical, radiation and pediatric oncology), and are supported by experts in neuropathology and neuroradiology.

Interests

• Primary central nervous system lymphoma
• Neurological complications of systemic lymphoma

John had Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma!  He has been cancer free for 8 years now!

Danielle Rose - True LOVE/The Cross!

Danielle Rose - See you in the Eucharist

Ginny Owens - If you want me to