The Pat and Barb Verly family and their 5 children, in laws and grandkids along with many prayer warriors have been drawn together by John's cancer... sharing daily for 8 months started this blog- Family Soul Story - Our faith, family, farm and now our cancer journey called HEALING have colored and deepened our world. WE continue to share and depend on the support of our prayer warrior community, that has lowered us into the Lord's presence for His healing!
It just struck John and I in morning prayer that this gathering of their families around them for this exceptional event where they become one united with Christ in faithfulness until death do them part... is truly "a visitation is an encounter that carries within it a meaning that is exceptional!"
One of my favorites that is on the wall in my kitchen with the wall of family!
Not much time for this today as the list is long to accomplish including setting up for the reception this morning. It is wonderful to have the amazing words from Mary's Magnificat in the Gospel and reminder of how the Lord blesses us and lifts us up if we die to self and come to him with a humble "yes" to what we are asked to do. Jesus is in control!
John took Mary into HRS last night for a games night with the 6th grade class... two of their teachers walked out (John and Bobbi were classmates for all 13 years from Catholic School through high school), so he chatted with them about his marriage in 2 days. "In 6th grade what did you think that the chance was that Bobbi and I would get married?" "1%" they responded!
JOY!
And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant..."
Luke 1
John and Bobbi are saying similar wonder after the Lord has looked with favor upon these lowly servants!
Dear Lord, we love you and thank you and place all the comings and goings and preparations and celebrations and emotions and excitement and stress and family dynamics with our huge families coming together and know that you are in control! We leap for JOY with St John in the womb as we encounter Christ in control and at work in this beautiful story of John and Bobbi beginning in just 2 days! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
See the wind... we live on the prairie after all!!! We are so happy that they have come back to their home in Marshall area and have a home to live in together after their marriage. LOVE! Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke
Have you ever sat and reflected on Mary's journey to visit her cousin? She had just been asked and consented to being the mother of Jesus, so, newly pregnant, probably experiencing the common discomforts of those early weeks, she leaves it all to go help Elizabeth through her final months of pregnancy and (probably) early weeks of motherhood. May we all hasten to help those in need, despite any pain or discomfort we ourselves may be experiencing.
“No matter how sinful one may have been, if he has devotion to Mary, it is impossible that he be lost." -Saint Hilary of Poitiers
One of the Saints so powerful on our journey will be the cloud of witnesses for John and Bobbi, I am sure!
St Joan of Arc yesterday - Nancy's patron saint!
Danielle Rose - The Saint that is just me
Danielle Rose - Jesus within you/the visitation
Danielle did the entire rosary to song!
One of my favorite pictures from this past year of having our Little Sister Hallel in Kansas City, USA for the last year! Nancy made the bunny cakes that her grandma Ann made each Easter, and there is no doubt that it made Hallel smile in her heart to share in this tradition with Nancy and her family!
Hallel's invitation and announcements are flooding our family now for her final vows/wedding day to happen in France on August 15th/the Feast of the Assumption! The tears flowed like a river this morning her Godmother, Pat's sister Mary, shared with us the note Hallel wrote on her invitation! "My big day until I will be faithful to him unto death."
Cherished family pictures with our Little Sister Hallel! Easter 2018! Dominic is being held by Hallel, and was named after Nancy experienced the beauty of their Community of the Lamb which is a Dominican order and St Dominic is their patron Saint! Domo has gotten to know her Aunt very well indeed this year!
Hallel continues in her note to her Godmother, Mary... "I know that to promise to be faithful unto death is beyond human strength, but I put my trust in God, for whom all things are possible. I believe that God's faithfulness can become my faithfulness." Your Little Sister Hallel
The tears were a river as John and I read this during our sharing morning prayer/the office this morning. May God's Faithfulness become our faithfulness in our marriages to Our Most Cherished Cross!
Ruth and Paul went down over New Years to spend some time with Hallel in KC!
"Mary, you will be with me in a special way on this day because you stood up for me as my God-mother when I became a child of God and my final vows is just a continuation or a completion of what was started on that day, November 24th, 1985. Thank you!"
With Mary's permission I am sharing this today as I am so moved by the depth of the meaning and Truth she is in touch with. There will be 18 from our immediate family going over there, and her God-mother is also considering being there in France! It will be out of this world amazing in every way!
Hallel with her oldest wonderful sister, Ruth! They have Nancy and Maria between them. Hallel will be unable to be here for the wedding in 3 days, but we know that she is with us in her heart and soul and spirit and that we will be flooded with so many prayers!
John shared that she wrote to Bobbi and John about how they are sharing weddings this summer. Yes, John and Hallel seem to share much on their journey of Faith/Family/Farm!
Hallel has always had a special place in her heart for our oldest grandchild, Simon! Their birthdays are just 2 days apart and she prays for him specially due to his struggles and challenges with being in the autism Spectrum.
It was powerful to realize that there was an Hallel Psalm used in mass today! Psalms 145-150 are Hallel Psalms we discovered shortly after she took her habit and changed her name to Little Sister Hallel in August of 2009... just a month and a half after her brother, John, discovered that he had brain cancer! We were puzzled by her name, but now realize that every time we say her name we are giving total praise to God! These words leapt out to me... "Glorify the Lord... Praise your God. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem." Psalm 147
This is an Hallel day with all the excitement around her special invitations to her wedding that are flooding our family with LIGHT and JOY!
So special that she has gotten in touch with this sweet wonderful new girl in our domestic Church/family... Joy!
Jesus, it is such a time of great excitement as you call each of us to total faithful unto death in our lives with you and with our spouse. I will always rejoice at the knowledge that Patrick is my Most Cherished Cross! These words of wisdom from Hallel on the occasion of Nancy's engagement ring like a bell of Truth!
"I am writing you a letter... aren't you impressed? Well, you better be because both you and I know how often this happens. I am writing to tell you now extremely excited I am about your engagement to Bill. I have to admit, when I got the news I wasn't really shocked but that night as it sunk in during adoration and the next day during mass I was so happy. My heart overflowed with joy for you. How beautiful to know that you have found your... most cherished cross. While I have never had the experience of being married, from what I hear is that he will truly be your cross. But not your cross as human eyes look at it, as a thing to run away from, as a thing of torture but rather as that which is truly the tree of life. It is only when clinging to the cross that one can truly live, it is the source of all life and of all love. Your marriage to Bill will be this, not something to run away from when it gets hard and when it hurts, but something to hold tight to, especially when it hurts because it is in this that you will find life and love. Know that it is through your marriage that Jesus wants to show you his great love for you and also that the best example that you can give to the world of Christ's love is a marriage lived in truth. So, in other words, know that I am so happy for you and that I love you a whole lot. Know that you are in my prayers during this crazy time of wedding planning; that you may not go crazy but rather learn to love each other better and that you may both have great joy and great peace. Remember to pray for me too! God Bless, Your little Sister Hallel "
Yes!!! WE find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT through our Most Cherished Cross... "Sacrificial love" as John so wisely calls it! The perfect Lamb... St Peter today in the first reading from I Peter 1
" with the precious Blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished Lamb. He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
O, my Jesus, may I die to self, so that you may live and be at work in my life. Amen and Hallelujah
A treasure indeed for us to share in her amazing journey of loving faithfully her Savior, Jesus Christ, until death and then to join him forever in heaven! Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke
Colossians 3:1
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Danielle Rose - Small things with great love
A dear friend reminded me about this beauty this morning! LOVE!
A cool picture on a hot day yesterday ( around 100 degrees)... our shop all cleaned out for the big gathering around John and Bobbi.. our first ever grooms supper as our only son is getting married in just 4 days.
With all 15 grandkids together and lots of other kids ... it just made sense to have it in the shop with kids able to play and be free to be loud and have fun, which would not have been possible in a restaurant.
John on the outside and Mary on the inside doing the power washing waltz!
Joy enjoying our carry over from Michigan tradition of ice cream cones with all kinds of wonderful ice cream flavors! Cherry Cheesecake, and Salted Caramel were the options... Whenever I mention Michigan I get sad along with granddaughters, Rose and Mary. Sigh!
My day is quickly passing by... this will be quick today. I am feeling emotional and humbled and that is a difficult combination.
The Gospel today is coming to life before my eyes...
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first." Mark 10
I am to give up on trying to control and help and TRUST. So... Jesus, I am yours and I long to die to self so that you may live in me. Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke
Oh, oh... cute baby girl and kittens with their eyes open!
LOVE!
Luke and a grey one joins the two redheads!
Yes!!!
Luke is a talker and loves to talk about monster trucks and tractors and Bobbi was a wonderful patient listener to him. I think she will be a beloved aunt to Lukey tookey! We are just 5 days from their wedding and the shop has two power washers going right now with orders that I come over and finish up the bathroom.
You would think that washing out toilets is my most hated job, but I came to the realization after cleaning out 3 refrigerators in 2 days, scrubbing showers and stoves... that these rank as my most horrible chores! I am a frazzled mess with lots of time cleaning in the heat - 101 in our yard yesterday - and with constant thoughts about my parents and the edge of the cliff they are finding themselves now. I am helpless to be there with them and that is really causing me a lot of emotional turmoil!
12 year old granddaughter, Mary, loves goats. She is taking care of some goats just a mile down the road and she showed me around on a hot afternoon yesterday while to owners are at a goat show.
I must keep this short today and I am called upon to be cleaning for the wedding... It is a lot of work and I find myself stressed with all the different factors and emotions. It was a help to talk to family with level heads reminding me to let go and let God when it comes to my parents precarious position now. It also was good to hear from a very important man to me when I was a new Catholic 47 years ago... Thomas Merton speaking about how when we leave all behind and follow after Jesus, as he asked the rich man in the Gospel today to sell all he had and follow Jesus,
"As peace settles upon the soul and we accept what we are and what we are not, we begin to realize that this great poverty is our greatest fortune... we become aware that the whole meaning of our life is poverty and emptiness which, far from being a defeat, are really the pledge of all the great supernatural gifts of which they are a potency."
The neighbors are so lucky to have this wonderful girl to help them out in their need! She will be showing a goat of theirs in 4H this summer, too!
I know that when I die to self in total poverty and smallness and weakness... I was just sharing with my sister-in-law this morning that I love how he mother would talk about "dragging her cross" down the narrow path... I am so weak that this is how I would get my cross from point A to point B, by dragging it unable to carry it due to my weakness and unphysicalness! Yes, it is not hard at all for me to see myself as one in total need of Jesus and His Holy Spirit to be in charge of my small mess of a life!
I think she said that this is a goat that looks like a funny kind of sheep!
Jesus, how I long to leave all the world behind and not be so tied into all that is going on around me. May I die to self so that you may live in me! I pray that I can be your hands and feet this day...serving without counting the cost! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Joy is such a good girl - two fisting icies while mom works hard on getting our shop ready for the Grooms supper in just 4 days!!! Pat wants the tables in on the immaculate floor today! He has two - John and Mary powerwashing walls and floors and everything in their path!
Using kid helpers today... they have some school left for the rest of the week before summer vacation started off with the big family wedding! Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke
Love this! Deuteronomy 4:39-40
Know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other. You must keep His statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today.
Our gratitude to all who faithfully serve our country. Have a blessed Memorial Day!
John and Bobbi this morning after sharing mass and breakfast on Ruth and Paul's beautiful porch with the green pastures as a glorious backdrop... we are just 6 days out from their wedding!
The topic of conversation was asking 6 year old Rose if she knew what Bobbi's last name will be a week from today. "Bobbi Verly will be my name." Rose looked very surprised and after 40 years of being Barbie Verly by Pat's family... it is like an echo from the past! LOVE!
We stopped to pay our respects to our special dead at the cemetery this memorial weekend! David got to see Max's special marker for the first time and posed for grandma with some lily of the valley I picked after church.
I was blown away on this Trinity Sunday by this from morning prayer..."God is exalted in mystery and majesty, triune and one in glory, yet nearer to us than we are to ourselves through the divine indwelling. What can we offer but praise that dares to go beyond the small boundaries of our finite understanding into the realm of light inaccessible." www.magnificat.com
God of the universe "nearer to us than we are to ourselves!!!" Wow!
LIFE is a gift no matter how small!
Such a beautiful and comforting monument to Motherhood supreme!
I am distracted today... we just had a family job of cleaning the garage and Bobbi did a bunch of gardening for me... pulling weeds and putting down mulch! Thank you to John and Bobbi for taking time out of their busy day to help us! I had just come into the house and my dad called me and told me that mother had fallen in their home and her ankle was swelling... Being 4 hours away... all I could do was to call my many siblings and after about 6 calls my sister in law answered. Mom is now in having her ankle xrayed and I am praying and holding myself back from jumping into the car. Lord, be with my parents.
A stop to see Pat's mom , brother, dad and our two boys, William and Robert...
Our monument was damaged when they buried Pat's mother in the winter and did not know that this was at the foot of their grave. I would like to move them next to Maximilian... I carried them for 5 months like Max and they seemed to also have cord injuries. John would have had 2 brothers close behind him. Life would have been very different with them, but not to be. Jesus, we trust in you.
A wonderful family tradition of Sunday breakfast shared after mass/worshiping as a family and receiving Jesus in his Word and Body and Blood!
Today it the Gospel Jesus sends out the disciples:
Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." Matthew 28
Jesus, you are with us and are closer to us than we are to ourselves as you show us the Way, The Truth and give us the LIFE we need to go forward down the narrow path carrying/dragging our Most Cherished Cross and following after you! May we die to self so that your Spirit may dwell in us and we may strive to be the Saint that is just me. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Lots of wonderful yummy fruit and Joy up to the table with the family!
LOVE the porch!
Thank you John and Bobbi and we are so excited for your special day! May peace reign in all the preparations! It is thrilling to have another Verly girl again! Bobbi and Barbie Verly... and my folks did call me Bobbi from time to time, too! I think that the Lord is having a giggle on us... in a good way! Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke
Ecclesiastes 5:2
I am not rash with my mouth, and my heart is not hasty to utter words before God.
