Lots to discuss today/Mom's final hours/The harvest is abundant- pray for more laborers

 Dad here for 12 weeks now.  He got weighed yesterday and that has not changed in his time here.  With the struggles we have had with food over that time... it was a nice way of feeling that we are not failing at our journey of keeping him safe and as well as can be one day at a time.

 An awkward picture of me with my parents at the beginning of March... two weeks later mom died in a day!

 A most cherished picture now that I only see mother's soft and good look.  Pat commented this day that mom was so good - she looked good and was very much her old self as we visited and shared together.  Such a gift to have had that final time with her now, and this most precious keepsake of her.

Dad has been going to her final hours a lot these last few days.  He was only there for the last hour of her life, thanks to the hospital loosening the covid rules of only one person.  There were 4 of us siblings and father there for her final peaceful breath of life.  Looking around we realized that it was the 4 that had kept them in their home for those last 8 weeks before we moved them into Assisted Living. 

 Thumbs up with the masks we were gifted with by a family member, who works for the Twins!

Dad had not realized that mother had suffered most of the 10 hours from when she fell in front of him and broke her hip and called out to him in her agony; "Help me Robert!" Till I arrived at Methodist hospital at 2p and my sister, Paula, and I met with the doctor discovering that she was indeed dying.  Mom begged me to "Help me Barbie, I cannot breath and I am in so much pain!"  Thankfully Paula had gotten her Last Rites/Anointing of the sick and she reported that mother had been aware and took part in the Sacrament.  Dad hadn't realized this either and was very comforted to know this, of course.

 Watching Pat and Paul bale the other day. 

I shared with him how mother was in such a state of suffering that any touch or saying anything to her or tears were not something she wanted to deal with.  She would tell tearful me to leave the room... And any touch was not desired.  At the same time begging me to help her over and over.  Paula and I decided with the doctor that we wanted her comfortable and must of the extra measures were ended, but the pain and anxiety meds were begun... mom became peaceful for the first time since she fell! 

It was then that 2 brothers, my sister Paula, and dad arrived to find mother peaceful.  They could touch her, kiss her, pray with her the chaplet and rosary, dad brought the Blessed Solanus Casey relic, and siblings called in to tell her their final goodbyes on speaker phone.  So important for them to be able to do.  With 9 living siblings... I had to go down the list and discovered that a sister, who was at work had not called yet.  I knew we were getting down to the wire, so I called her son and he handed her the phone just as she walked in the door.  Just in time to say her tearful goodbyes!

 Paula and husband, Bill, here for the 4th of July with dad.

A nice visit... now plans are underweigh for mom's funeral mass the day after what would have been mom's 91st birthday.  We are having it where my parents attended mass in Taylor's Falls, MN.  It will be a 4 hour trip for us one way and will involve a overnight with my brother in town.  It is nice to have a fake plan and to have my dad in a reasonably good place at this point 1 1/2 weeks out/11days!  My mother's birthday is July 17, and her funeral mass is at 1p on July 18th with a reception following at my brother's place in town.   

 Gathered around dad as he shared with us his happiness at the wonderful care he has been getting from hospice for these 3 months.  Mom has been gone for 4 months, so there was only one month when he was very much alone in The Assisted Living with no family allowed to visit. 

A routine trip to Vets for a doctor visit turned into a few days there, a new tube, and a "no' from his Assisted living... "we don't have the nursing care for him to return here."  So his prophecy of living with me after mom died turned into The Truth of our new life - living on the farm with Barb while on hospice. 

 I called dad the morning of March 16 as I hadn't checked in with them for a week or so..."Did you hear about mother?  She fell and they took her away in an ambulance."  Calling my sister, Paula, who is an RN and was with her.  "It doesn't look good, Barb, she has a broken hip and is not a candidate for surgery, and her BP is crashing."  I jumped in the car and arrived 3 hours later to a situation of covid restrictions, but they loosened when mom was actively dying.  Thank goodness!

 I told my mother; "mom, you are dying."  I prayed with her the chaplet and knew that she was preparing to meet her maker and her most Tremendous LOVER!

 Dad arrived and my brother, Dan! 

 Her final breath was soft and peaceful and we were there at her side - the day before my sister, Mary's birthday, who had died from cancer 34 years before.  We were comforted knowing that they are now together! 

When dad and I pray the chaplet each day on the final decade I see mom, Mary and my brother, Lincoln walking, talking and laughing together surrounded by all mom's wonderful big dogs that she loved so much and the beautiful flowers all around them that she grew wherever they lived. 

 As dad says - "She left us quickly but not suddenly!"  I was able to stay with dad for an overnight the next day, and to see her things left there and her not returning was shocking and painful and final!

Our Lady to Guadalupe over their bed... now dad looks up at her on the dresser in his room here when we pray the rosary together.

Jesus, just 4 months has passed with most of that time here with me for my father now left alone after 70+ years of marriage to my dear mother.  She is very much with us on this journey of walking into the sunset of his life.  Each new day with the sunrise and sunset of morning and evening prayer we are reminded of mother now more perfectly loving us from heaven.  We place our trust in you, O Lord, and know that you are in control.  Jesus, we trust in you.  May we do "the work" of prayer we are given and my we be laborers for your abundant harvest.  Bless-bless, Barbara

The Gospel today is powerful and filled with the Lord's message to us!
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Matthew 9:32-38

 We are getting some rain and the zinnias are grateful!

 Thanks to Ruth and the 6 my garden has a row of flowers!

 Pulling weeds with the help of my kitty- he prays with dad and I on the porch daily!

 Special flowers thanks to Ruth planting them years ago.

 A fresh rose in the flower boxes Ruth planted for Birdie's Baptism.  Yes, my Ruth is amazing in so many ways - she is much like her grandmothers before her in gardening.

Another one of her touches - Yellow rose seems to like this hot humid weather and the rain.

Hills and Valleys

Danielle Rose - A saint that is just me

O God beyond all praising