"The keys to the Kingdom"... eyes on heaven forever with Jesus and Mary and the Saints!

 I am excited to announce that this picture is now outdated!  Not only is Hallel not in it, but our newest arrival, George Blaise, is now here.  I continue on here in Kansas City, so he is very much here and a part of my family now!

 Hallel singing a blessing and George taking it in so sweetly... baby basking in LOVE!

After a week of holding, kissing, observing him with mom dad and siblings, being amazed at his peaceful ways and small peeps when he has a burp or diaper change, which grandma has been able to help with, too!  George is here and we are thrilled to grow our family bigger and have more love to share as a result!

This picture is now outdated too!  We now have 16 and 17 is just a few weeks away.  This grandma feels very blessed and lucky to now be getting a ticket to fly to Washington and welcome and help with the arrival of Maria's 6th child, another baby boy!  Then a few weeks later right in Marshall... John and Bobbi will be having their little one, yet to be determined!

Our family of 13 shortly after we all entered THE CHURCH!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html

After giving my life story a few days ago to a friend, who will make it into an article on the Lord's leading our lives... the marvelous story that becomes our personal masterpiece gives me tears of JOY!  Today I am filled with that familiar feeling of jubilation that has marked each day since we came into The Church... Over the moon with gratitude for all that each day holds for me on this journey of Faith/Family/Farm!
Shortly after we moved to Minneapolis... we started going to a Charismatic prayer group at a Cenacle Convent and our exposure to nuns and their prayers for us to become Catholic along with the Holy Spirit speaking to my dad in Isaiah 55:1-2 while at an Ignation retreat led us into The Church!

Today we celebrate the Chair of St Peter... I am recalling all the times in the confessional and Jesus speaks to me through the priest... telling me that my sins are forgiven and to go in peace!  The words of Christ today in the Gospel come to life and Truth as he passed the keys to St Peter and to each Pope since and all those men giving of themselves to be instruments of Christ in the priesthood!
"And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 
Matthew 16

My dad baptizing John as he is a permanent deacon in The Church!

I am filled with awe at the Wisdom of The Church and how all that they ask of us to follow and believe is there to help us on our journey to heaven forever with Jesus, Mary, and all the Angels and Saints!  I love and follow it all!!!  I do not pick and choose not because I am blindly following the teachings of The Church, but because I see the LIGHT and Truth in all that they ask of us!

I see that contraception is taking life into our own hands and out of God's. I see that life is to be cherished from conception to natural death.  I see that there is great wisdom and beauty in being open to life and welcoming all the children that the Lord has in his plan for your family.  I also see that our plans are not the Lord's as I have 5 children with me and 7 in heaven which adds up to the 12 children we had hoped and prayed for... we must have needed many prayers from heaven to assist us down the narrow path following Jesus carrying/dragging our most Cherished Cross!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

Welcoming Susan/Hallel by Nancy and Maria... Sharing the losses along the way as a family led us to become very close and to cherish all life!  It was the right thing to be open with the ups and downs of our nest years... the best and the worst years of my life!

 My two weeks here with my two daughters could be coming to a close with my husband coming to get me home before the storm.  Either that or another 4 days here... up in the air and go with the flow is my motto after 40 years of marriage to my farmer!  "Never a dull moment" is the truth of my life.

George fits right in, and he brings a sense of peace to this young bunch... with Gus being the oldest at 7... they are close in age and all young and active as is only right.  Grandma has had lots of special times reading and painting and praying with them... I love those hugs before bed and those prayers asking how grandma is going to get home... thanks for the prayers kids... it looks like they might be answered finally!

Nancy is out and about today with the 3 younger ones... "It feels good to be doing it on my own."

Lord, how we love you and your plan although sometimes it is hard to understand... it what we look to and find peace and joy in.  We love your Church and how we are given what we need with each new day to be filled with Your Truth - LOVE/LIGHT/LIFE!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

I was hoping to attend open table tomorrow with the newborn to be loved and adored by all our Family of the Lamb... time will tell if I will be doing that or on my way back to snowy Marshall... The Lord is in charge and I await upon his plan for me.  Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke

I had better sneak some more snuggles in!

Mary is pretty excited. She got her first 1st place in speech this evening. She is in the Storytelling category and competed in a Junior High meet at LQPV school. Nice job kiddo!

Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle

February 22

The feast of the Chair of St Peter commemorates the teaching authority

of the Vicar of Christ. The Catechism teaches that "it is this Magisterium's task

to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee

them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error"

so that "the People of God abides in the truth that liberates" (CCC 890).

  Prayer over the Offerings

(Today's Liturgy)

Accept with favor, O Lord, we pray,

the prayers and offerings of your Church,

that, with Saint Peter as her shepherd,

she may come to an eternal inheritance,

for it is through his teaching

that she holds the faith in its integrity.

Through Christ our Lord.

      Communion Antiphon

      (Today's Liturgy - Cf. Mt 16:16, 18)

Peter said to Jesus:  You are the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

And Jesus replied:  You are Peter,

and upon this rock I will build my Church.

Prayer after Communion

(Today's Liturgy )

O God, who at our celebration

of the feast day of the blessed Apostle Peter

have nourished us by communion in the Body

    and Blood of Christ,

grant, we pray, that this redeeming exchange

may be for us a Sacrament of unity and peace.

Through Christ our Lord.

Claiming his healing once again!  Thank you, Lord!

Tauren Wells - Hills and Valleys