Time with Jesus in the midst of our anxieties of LIFE...Martha outside and Mary inside!

Sitting on the tractor on the first day of harvest praying for the safety of my husband, who just turned 65 and continues to be the climber of the bins.

Fear and anxiety are coursing through me as I watch him up there!  Also the rosary beads are in my hands, and I am praying and trusting that there are many angels all around him protecting him and assisting him.

Talk about angels!!!

6 years ago it was our last day of beans and this year it is our first!  Nancy riding along in the truck with  Pat and her two little ones, who are now 8 and soon to be 7.

This has been a messed up year with so much rain that only half of our corn ever got into the ground and that was a month later than usual.  The farmers have had to trust and go forward down a new path, and we still don't know how it will all play out.  It seems that the corn needs another month of warmth and that is not likely.  The beans are starting to come out when they usually are coming to an end and we are on to corn!

 A better perspective of just how high it is!  I was asked to climb up one early in our marriage to help get a bolt in place.  I couldn't!  Pat had to have 4 year old Ruth go up ahead of him and put her small hand in there to hold the bolt where he needed it!  Talk about high levels of worry and anxiety!

The Gospel today is obviously from Luke 10... Martha and Mary!  There are many different areas of our lives we are juggling at the same time and they cause us to worry and raise our level of anxiety!  Much like Martha... we cry out to the Lord and want him to help us or bring the help from around us. Yet, he reminds us that we can find peace and the ability to give up the stresses and missteps if only we place ourselves at his feet and give heed to all that we are given with each new day by Jesus, Mary, and the Church along with all the Saints!  So much!

 Ready to climb up to the very top, open the lid and direct me to lower the auger into it just right!  Beans from the field will soon go in.

 Worried and anxious on my part, but he seems to be calm and assured of his steps, strength, and safety!  Trusting and strong!

Yes, I am feeling the anxiety build, but I truly can find peace and acceptance if only I give it to Him in prayer/the Rosary is my constant companion turning my eyes, heart, and mind to Jesus as I lift up my kids, husband, Godchildren, my family, Pat's family, and my beloved Church!

But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; 42one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10

There is need of only one thing!!!  Dying to self and allowing Jesus to live and move and use us to His honor and glory!  How He loves us and cares for our every need!

 Bright sun and strong winds today here too!  Hector is 7 months today!

 Such a happy healthy boy!  He is adored by his big sister, Therese, who cares for all his needs except feeding... although now that he is eating baby food, I am sure that she is loving that, too!

Bernadette at her first Mary's Crown meeting of the year at her St Maximilian school and I just spotted her sister, Josephine there too!  LOVE this so much!

Nancy was so excited that her girls would have exposure to the Schoenstatt sisters of her youth.  I so wanted my 4 girls to see nuns in habits that I sent them to Schoenstatt camp an hour away in Sleepy Eye, MN!  They loved their week there in the summer so much!  Maria didn't want to come home one summer, she loved it so much, and Susan told me on the way home from her week when she was about 11 or so that she was thinking about being a nun!  10 years later she left for France and now is a totally professed Little Sister Hallel!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/susan-angela-agneslittle-sister-hallel.html

Susan in the summer of 2008 when The Community of the Lamb came to KC!  She told us in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe in their chapel that she was going to leave for France and join this Dominican Community!  Little Sister Marie is their founder and Fr Jean Claude is their spiritual director and his Franciscan!

 In France a year ago for Hallel's final vows!

The seed was planted in Hallel while she had a Girl's camp week at Schoenstatt 20 years before!  I had to pull the car over to wipe my eyes, and the Holy Spirit was moving me deeply when I heard her words of Truth!  "Mom, I am thinking about being a nun."

Jesus, how I love you and that beauty of my life as a wife and mother, who discerned a call of my own which led to my embracing your True and Only Church!  When I parents came into The Church with my younger siblings I was allowed to choose for myself.  "I want to be a nun, so I want to be Catholic!"  This was not the plan for me, but because of my call I now have a daughter, who was called and said an enthusiastic..."Yes!"  We are blessed so richly and now our grandchildren for which I pray daily!  How wonderful to see them now experiencing the Faith in The Church shared with JOY and with Truth by the Sisters!  My cup overflows!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html

 John and Bobbi with Hallel in Saint Pierre!  Yes, John discerned the seminary for a year, and decided that the studies were too much and the call faded.  We now see the Lord's plan was for John to marry a most amazing woman, who had prayed him through brain cancer and seminary and so much for those over 10 years from their years in high school til he asked her out after seeing her at mass one Sunday!  How she trusted and prayed!  Bless-bless, Barb

 Hallel's Lamb that marks her final vow!  "I promise unto death!"  The wood from which it was taken is given to her parents and is inscibed the motto The Community of the Lamb lives by - "Wounded, I will never cease to love."  How hard is that? Jesus, help me to surrender my worries like Mary and find Peace!

Brought back Lourdes water for my parents... they now are in their new home and so many of my thoughts and prayers are heading in that direction!

Full circle!!!  Each day I pray that all of my grandchildren will discern this amazing option!

8 years ago with Pat's apple tree!  How I thank the Lord for my nuns in my life!  A daughter is such a gift to give us her family of the Lamb!  Who says that we lost family due to her vow of celibacy?  No we gained hundreds!  The prayer power is huge, too!!!

John's journey continues to this day!  Faith through brain cancer and now battling the effects of radiation... continue to lift him up!

Danielle Rose - Pursue Me

How I cried tears of deep wellspring of emotion when I read this in Susan's room when she left for France on Sept 11, 2008!  So much LOVE for her spouse, and He for her!

Danielle Rose - True Love/The Cross
Susan listened to this over and over and left the Cd in her car.. I would listen to it and weep happy tears!

The sisters from KC visiting the farm in Oct 2008... 4 year old Simon's famous words as he looked around the table..."We are all family!"  LOVE!

"When we work hard, we must eat well. 

What a joy, that you can

receive Holy Communion often!

It's our life and support in this life --

Receive Communion often, 

and Jesus will change you into Himself."

St Peter Julian Eymard