A flurry of Family over this Lent/Easter around the snowy corner, but first the holiest of all Weeks!

Pat's dad with John and Brad about 29 years ago!  Both Pat and Ed had boys within 6 weeks of each other, and overalls with grandpa was a special memory to be recorded.

John recently becoming a dad for the first time got me finding baby pictures to compare indeed.  What is a snowed in old lady supposed to do?  Cut rags and look at pictures and pray and try to blog on this slow computer due to the weather interfering with our country internet.  Yet, I plug on...  I am grateful that we did not lose our power as many did in the near vicinity.  I was prepared in case, as were Ruth and Paul and the kids.  I was all ready to go over and help out this morning and they called off school, so Pat had many helpers and grandma was not needed last minute.

Another one that makes me smile... Susan and John in mom's shoes!  There is something very sweet when they want to wear their parent's shoes..."Our mom is wonderful, and we want to be just like her!"  A mom can read into this sitting her listening to the snow falling off the roof and the branches falling from the trees!

A family treasure with little Susan in an late fall snow storm in 1987 just before we moved to the farm from our little cozy house on Hwy 59.  The nest years!

Our Lady of the April snow storm... the farm is a bustle with moving snow and bedding with dry bedding the wet snowy cows and calves as quickly as possible.  Lots of "Hail Marys" as they work that all will come out of this storm healthy and safe.

The tracks that Pat made leaving this morning and our pretty red barn surrounded by trees laden with snow and ice... broken branches and downed power lines in the area.  People without power for 15 hours a few towns down the road!

These days of storm with little contact other than my husband coming home for a few hours here and there... Such a difference from the FAMILY that has filled my Lent for the most part.

Birthday picture with my kids at 40!  Yes, I had a busy home with lots of companionship and crazy farm life, too!  Much like Ruth and Paul now.  "Never a dull moment." is how I described my life....

It's Palm Sunday in two days and Lent is quickly moving into Holy Week!  These quiet days due to a spring snow storm are unusual for this Lent!

Just as we approached Lent... I was with Nancy and Bill welcoming baby George their 5th for over 2 weeks... Pat came to get me and we spent wonderful time with both daughters at Open Table and mass the following day before we headed for home!

Ruth and I had a baby shower with both sides in the frigid weather leading up to Lent with snow storms making getting around challenging!

Ash Wednesday/my dad's 94th birthday began Lent in a most special way.  Also marked my leaving for Maria's and the arrival of Hector 2 days later!

Lent begins in a most special way!

The girls with Hector!  Maria was a wonderful example to her old mom... getting me to Reconciliation the day before she had Hector, and praying with her family and mother daily!  Grandma did spoil them with carbs... bread and butter!

Home for a few days before we welcomed John's first born - Jude on his due date, March 26th!  Getting over there as often as possible.  These two snow days we have not seen him, but here that he is cozy in the arms of his mom and dad for his first snow!

The following weekend found us in KC with Nancy and family and got a dose of springtime with the green grass and budding trees.  Grateful for a break in calving so we could make a crazy trip to KC and so that there were less newborn calves trying to get through this storm!

Time with Hallel and The Community and the farm boys got to meet their new cousin, George, for the first time!  Even though we are not to be too much in touch during Lent with Hallel… we would ask for prayers when they would be giving birth and let her know of the safe arrival of the two that have been born during Lent.  We can share mass with her, and have fake plans for John and Bobbi to get there with Jude soon after Easter!  How I long to be able to take them down or just be a tag along... #1 to share in Hallel's Joy at meeting her newest nephew and #2 to be able to spend some precious time with my 2 daughters that live there!

Joy turned 2 and got baby kitties for her birthday.  I am sure that their eyes are open now, but have not been able to see them.

The gift of some days with my parents... sharing prayer and good conversation and an important visit with a psychologist looking at mom's memory loss and what it might mean for them.  So far they can continue to live together in their own home!

We shared the 5th Sunday of Lent together and now I am home, snowed in with the rare time of isolation and quiet except for the sound of crashing snow and branches.  This Lent has been so filled with the zigging zagging family times and places and I cannot say that I have focused well on penances and fasting, but the prayers have been there and so powerful when shared with my children and their families and my parents and time to time in the middle of it all with my Most Cherished Cross/husband Pat!  My chapel on wheels has been a often place where the prayers are all prayed and the Spirit comes to take me deep!

We are now 131... yes, I did a head count and realized that I was about 10 ahead of the actual count.

Yes, we are now approaching the most Holy Week of the year!  So much filling me with JOY and excitement as we will many gather around our newest boy, Jude, as he is Baptized into The Church at the Easter Vigil!

Nancy and Bill with their 5 will be here from KC and no more will I be alone or will things be quiet.  The snow will be gone and green grass will reappear we count on it!  Travel will be no issue and we will rejoice together after we have wept at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday and recalled his suffering on Holy Thursday and had our feet washed by our Lord as He was the slave of all -

Jesus tells us today in the Gospel... "Believe  the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father."  The Son of the Father/Jesus Christ loves us with a burning love, and kneels down to wash our feet to show us how we are to love and serve without counting the cost!

Evie with Hector... Love their sweet round faces!

We're thinking a lot like his Uncle John!

Jesus, Palm Sunday is here!  Lent has been so full of very special prayerful full of LIFE family time!  How we celebrate how you gave us the JOY of LIFE all around us.  Be with the farmers today and keep them safe as well as all the new baby calves and their mothers!  May we follow you on the way of the Cross and die to self so that you may work in us. Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barb

Yes!

how I pray and feel about things that don't happen the way we think they should.

Danielle Rose - The Agony in the Garden from her Sorrowful mysteries of the rosary

The Carrying of the Cross - Danielle Rose

The Crucifixion/A Mother's song - Danielle Rose

Crown of Thorns!