Mary the first tabernacle/The Visitation/My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

I found this today from Maria in Washington... big sister, Therese, made 2 1/2 year old Evie a flower child!  LOVE!  As I call myself a flower child from the 60's.
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html

Another flower child...Bernadette in the climbing tree with full blooming lilacs last evening... first campfire of the year while the kids played in the sand pile.  

Grandpa is so happy that they are having quality time together on the farm.  He loves to see the kids together playing and playing and playing.  It has convinced Nancy that she is going to dig a large hole and put a truckload of sand in it!

My two assistants going out to feed and check on the chickens this morning.

There are plans to a end of the school year party with the 11 kids, Ruth and Nancy at our state park this hot afternoon!  Many frogs will be caught, and swimming will occur.  Summer seems to be possible but the farmers are still unsure about how to proceed this late and this wet.

Still some really wet muddy places to navigate to the chickens.

Dominic spots the crippled chicken.  We helped him to the feeder to eat.

They like to help, and grandma likes their company too!

It was a nice surprise to find that today was the Feast of the Visitation.  About 3 months from the annunciation... Mary would be 3 months pregnant with the Son of God, while Elizabeth was about 5 months, when you feel the baby moving.  Not only did John move in her womb... he jumped for JOY!

 Mary stayed with her about 3months, and by then she would be feeling the LIFE in her womb moving... so amazing for the first time and so exciting and fulfilling to feel that realization of new LIFE!  As someone, who has had numerous losses, there was so much comfort and yes... JOY... when the baby moved in my womb!  My two stillbirths were at 5 months, just when I would have felt them move, but not to be.
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

Evie, the flower child with her baby brother, Hector!  He seems to love his sister's attention!

So sweet and so much love!  Maria describes Evie this way...

Do know there is a real thing called "cute aggression" where you want to squeeze, 

pinch, or even bite small cute things like babies, kittens, puppies and the like?

It is true, and EV has it BAD towards Hector.

Kisses and squeezes are allowed and Hector is good with it!

I loved the way ST JPII spoke about the Visitation today...

 “Mary also anticipated, in the mystery of the Incarnation, 

the Church’s Eucharistic faith.  When, at the Visitation, she bore 

in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a ‘tabernacle’ – the first ‘tabernacle’ in history – 

in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, 

allowed Himself to be adored by Elizabeth radiating His light 

as it were through the eyes and the voice of Mary.

And is not the enraptured gaze of Mary …

that unparalleled model of love which should inspire us 

every time we receive Eucharistic communion?"

Pope St John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 55

Good hug!!!  A little boy that knows he is loved a lot!

These two are going to welcome their fellow little girl, Evie!  How excited is grandma to have all the grandkids together?

Words cannot express how much I am praying and making many fake plans including a grandkid picture with matching shirts!  Then the different groups... the two older girls, Therese and Mary, the 3 older boys... Big Dave, Little Dave, and Gus, the 3... Rose, Berna, and Patrick.  Next we have the 3 girls in about 10 months... Josephine, Evangeline, and Joy.  Finally we have the 3 new boys... George, Hector and Jude born within 6 weeks of each other and getting together for the first time!  Simon is the lone oldest.. now entering high school, and he will probably join Mary and Therese.  It makes me smile inside and out!

Little urchin girl with lilacs...  Joy is adorable even at the end of a long day of play and eating... chocolate bar on her face.

Jesus, Mary's words today in the Gospel... the Magnificat... gives voice to our own gratitude for your presence in our lives in so many ways!  May we receive you in the Eucharist and then carry you forth into the world!
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.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name...."
Mother Mary intercede for us with your Son, and may we share His LOVE/LIGHT/LIFE with all those we meet... most especially those the closest to us in our domestic Church/family.  Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah

I love lilacs and it was delightful to share them with 6 year old Bernadette.  Her dimples are a delight and hereditary from her mom and grandpa Pat!  Bless-bless, Barb

“Is it not this also the joy of the Church, which receives Christ

incessantly in the holy Eucharist and takes Him to the world

with the testimony of active charity, full of faith and hope?

Yes, to receive Jesus and to take Him to others is the true joy of the Christian! Let us follow and imitate Mary’s profoundly Eucharistic

soul, and our whole life will become a Magnificat.”

Pope Benedict XVI

31 May 2005

"Let Mary's soul be in each of you to proclaim 

the greatness of the Lord. 

Let her spirit be in each to rejoice in the Lord. 

Christ has only one mother in the flesh,

 but we all bring forth Christ in faith." - St Ambrose

Blessed Mother Mary and St Elizabeth, pray for us!

Danielle Rose - Jesus within you/the Visitation from her Rosary album

Take me to the Holy of Holies - Kutless

Nothing compares to you - Danielle Rose

Grandma's shoes with the chickens and left behind in the mud/your grief will become joy!

Oh my!!!!  Such a happy beautiful memory from 6 years ago!  Ruth with her two girls... she now has 3 girls and 3 boys!


Some special pictures of Hector snuggles in Washington to start my day today... smiles from 2 1/2 month old Hector and 2 1/2 year old Evangeline... Patrick sharing in.

In about 3 weeks they will be flying into Minnesota and Wisconsin for family time!  LOVE!

Berna out to see the chickens last night after supper...

 Grandpa arriving for supper on the porch!  With the heat and the sunshine over these next few days.  All meals will be on the porch!  We love it out there.

Jo Jo walking around the outside of the porch is fun and adventurous!

This morning Berna came out to see the chickens... she put on grandma's shoes!

 Grandma's shoes... I always had a thing about little kids in my shoes.  Too cute, but hard to get around.

 Letting the sunlight in and turning off the heat lamps... it is supposed to get into the 80s today, and we are ready and excited for it to dry up!

She didn't step on any, but some stepped on her.  "That doesn't hurt, but if I stepped on them it would not be good."

Nancy had hoped to get a few chickens, but it looks like they will have them here on the farm instead.

Chicken farmer Bernadette in grandma's shoes...

This would have been Ascension Thursday, but it has been moved to Sunday now.  The readings speak of Jesus coming back to dwell in us after He ascends to heaven.  Praying with Pat this morning we felt sadness and grief at the horrible lies accepted by the world from Satan... the culture of death and darkness of sin and death which has become the false truth that people profess and follow!  How contrary that the Truth has now been trampled and we are looked down upon if we uphold morals and values which Jesus instituted along with His Bride, The Church!

In the Gospel from John 16 today... this is the promise of Jesus to us!
"...Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy."

Thinking of the cheer that went up in New York when they passed the bill allowing the killing of those that had survived abortion and performing abortion up until birth!  Those that love ALL LIFE weep and mourn.  As a dear friend spoke last night, who has been a sidewalk counselor for 40 days for life... "This brought many to see the Truth and have left behind the taking of innocent life!"

Love this amazing glorious memory from 6 years ago.  Mary was 7 and Rose was 1!  Ruth has since had two more children!   Talk about JOY in a picture!  How we rejoice with each new life and with every life that is saved through sidewalk counselers witnessing to one woman at a time!

I have been involved with Birthright for my married life - I learned how to do a pregnancy test and discovered that I was pregnant with my first child, Ruth Ida!  40 years of meeting one to one with girls in crisis as they face an unplanned pregnancy.  I know of one girl, Amanda, that is now about 30 years old, who was saved!  So powerful and fulfilling to follow her growing up and to hear so many thanks from her mother over the years!  A light that was allowed to come into the world and make a difference!  So many have been extinguished!  Her mother's grief became JOY!

 After school on the farm last evening... on the pile of lime!  It turned into wet goo like when you get corn starch in water.

 Joy joined in the fun, but the mom's had to shower them all off in the shop and put a load of very dirty limey clothes in the washing machine in the shop, too.

Handfulls of Goop!  Berna and Rose Again are best buddies and are 6 months apart in age.  Soon their best buddy cousin, Patrick will be joining in!  He is 5 months younger than Rose and one month older than Berna.  A threesome of cousins!

 Grandma's shoes left behind in the mud...

Grandma had to retrieve them and wash them off in the hydrant... will it ever dry out?  Yes, the rain is making for many messy kids and messy situations!

The heat is coming and no rain for a while!  Lord, hear our prayer for the farmers to find a way to feed the world!

Jesus, how we love you and find peace and joy and love and the fruits of the Spirit to lift us up no matter what we must face all around us.  We find Hope dwelling within us!  "Wounded, we will not cease to love!"  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Patrick, who is 6 with his baby brother, Hector, who is 2 1/2 months!

LOVE the many faces of Hector and Evie!

Mommy Maria and her snuggle buddy!  He is very much snuggled by his siblings, too!  Our arms are waiting for our snuggles in a few weeks!  Bless-bless, Barb

Her grief was turned to JOY!
So many lights have been extinguished!





Why do they call it a "rainbow baby"?

A rainbow baby is a name coined for a healthy baby born after losing a baby due to miscarriage, infant loss, stillbirth, or neonatal death. The name “rainbow baby” comes from the idea of a rainbow appearing in the sky after a storm, or after a dark and turbulent time.

Nancy's baby George is a rainbow baby after her two losses over the last few years!  Her Josephine is a rainbow baby.  Maria's Patrick is not only a miracle baby after being born dead and brought back to life, but he is also a rainbow baby after her two miscarriages.  I have Nancy as a rainbow baby with a miscarriage between Ruth and Nancy, John as a rainbow baby after 2 losses between John and Susan!  The 3 losses after John - two at 20 months and a 14 week... ended my children and there was no rainbow baby to answer my prayers for one more baby to show the world without words that I did not stop after I had my boy!!!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-story-of-little-lamb-grandson.html

John's amazing video!!!

Danielle Rose - wonderfully made - Psalm 139

Danielle Rose - Nothing compares to you

Peter Mayer - Holy now

Danielle  Rose - True love/The Cross!

Hillary Scott - Thy will be done

The Spirit of Truth/Breakfast sweetness/Grandma and kids are chicken farmers for the next month/Hallel!

 So nice to get have the little ones around the breakfast table in the morning... orange juice for colds which the kids and adults are passing one to the other.  So sweet to add to our homemade strawberry jam on muffins!

We still love to share big family times most every day.  We had a big meal on grandma's porch last night...

After the chicken house was cleaned out by this big crew, and the chickens were moved over to the chicken house and grandma is now the chicken farmer for the next month.

 The two little girls were excited at the cleaning of the chicken house...  love the sunshine that came out for us.

Today is cloudy and dreary, though. How we pray for warm sunshine to come so that we can attempt to get some crops in and for the grass in the pastures to feed and bed the cows and calves.

Joy loves her pink rubber boots and they are very much needed this wet muddy spring with rain after rain!

Gus came out with grandma and grandpa to feed and water the chickens.  He will be helping with chores along with his sister, Berna.

It is always thrilling to find an Hallel Psalm in mass or morning prayer.  Today Psalm 148 today!  A Hallel Psalm is one giving all the praise to our LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all you his angels;
praise him, all you his hosts.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,
the princes and all the judges of the earth,
Young men too, and maidens,
old men and boys.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
His majesty is above earth and heaven.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

How's that for total praise from the heavens to the earth?  Yes!  How wonderful and glorious would our world be if all were filled with His Spirit of Truth and we were all praising Him no matter the hardships from king to young boys and maidens!

Pat feeding the 75 broilers this morning... one cripple that made Gus sad to see how he had to struggle to eat as the healthy ones ran over him or pushed him away.  It led to some sharing with mom about how sad we feel to see anything suffer!

It was very heartening last night while watching the nightly news and the talk of the last abortion clinic in Missouri being closed.  14 year old Simon cheered and said that all abortion should end and all should be closed!  LOVE to see my grandchildren being filled with the Spirit of Truth and recognizing that all LIFE is sacred and to be cherished and protected no matter the cost.

 Thanks, Honey, for helping out.  We pray that you can soon be busy planting crops to feed the world.

Family jobs are more fun when many help out!  It is nice to see the chickens all settled in their new home!  Thanks for your help.

From the Gospel today assuring us that He will guide and direct our lives by the Spirit of Truth!
How we can be assured and Trust in Jesus being in control of our lives!  How I have felt the Spirit guiding directing me and My family!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-story-of-little-lamb-grandson.html

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,.."
John 16

What JOY to have Jesus here within us and we can place our total trust in Him!

Mary with her squirrel... learning to taxidermy from Ag prof dad!

Jesus, how we love you and need you with each new day.  We know that you are in control of our lives and we have so much hope for the future walking in your light down the narrow path carrying/dragging our Most Cherished Cross and following after you.  May we give our all without counting the cost.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Pray for us St Paul VI... May we find true JOY in all that leads us to heaven and not what distracts us.  Bless-bless, Barb

This prophetic pope foretold the dire situation we're in today: rampant sexual immorality, the breakdown of family, and the destruction of innocent life. He offered the solution, but 50 years later, have we listened? http://bit.ly/RC80701

Happy Feast Day
Saint Pope Paul VI
1897-1978
Feast Day: May 29

Saint Pope Paul VI, born Giovanni Battista Montini, was elected pope in 1963 during Vatican II and reigned until his death in 1978. He held various positions in the Church and helped political refugees and prisoners of war during WWII. In 1953 he became Archbishop of Milian and was know as “The Archbishop of Workers”. During his papacy he’s famously known for his encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (Of Human Life) but also for social advancements, unity between Christians, reaching out to non-Christians, establishing the Synod of Bishops and promoting world peace. He died on the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Danielle Rose - Small things with great love

Danielle Rose - Nothing compares to you

Tauren wells - Known