The Pat and Barb Verly family and their 5 children, in laws and grandkids along with many prayer warriors have been drawn together by John's cancer... sharing daily for 8 months started this blog- Family Soul Story - Our faith, family, farm and now our cancer journey called HEALING have colored and deepened our world. WE continue to share and depend on the support of our prayer warrior community, that has lowered us into the Lord's presence for His healing!
Joy comes - grandpa's first Tea Party/Cow TV with 2 calves overnight - first night baby Thomas sleeps with cows
An old picture of Pat and I working a retreat together. How we long to return to those days of sharing our Faith and love for Jesus and His Bride, The Church, through Together Encounter Christ - TEC retreats.
Our 3 oldest girls made their retreat around 2000 and each asked us to go - after the 3rd one we could no longer say that we were good with our Faith. Prayer became powerful and REAL! We have worked numerous retreats in the last 22 years, so it has been a long dry spell now with covid. Lord, may we share our Faith once again in this wonderful way!
3 month old Thomas with cow TV and his pretty pretty mommy. They had 2 calves overnight..."It was the first night we had cow TV in our room, so we will see if Tommy continues to sleep all night." Ruth might be up nursing him once again during the night thanks to cow TV - the light and the sound disturbing their sleep.
Tommy's first calving season has begun, and it is so very cold! Please Lord, give us nicer weather for our newborn baby calves.
Two new moms - one had hers in the evening and the other at 2:30a - Paul sacrifices sleep this time of year and we are so grateful that the older man can get his night's rest. He has put in his years of getting up night after night, right honey?
4 different camera angles so that we can have eyes on Pat's 160+ cows - all due to calf in the next months. So far we have 5 calves and we aren't supposed to start for a week. Pat calls these the "early birds."
Tommy looks lovingly at his big strong baby loving grandpa Pat. Pat is talking about moving the pairs of cows and calves over to a horse barn a mile away where they can be together and warm in this cold weather.
They like the idea as does little Tom Tom.
We are spoiled by our Cow TV - watching them from the warm house covertly. If you walk out there they all get nervous and stand up. This way they are acting natural and we can help them calf if they need help.
Overnight guest, granddaughter Joy, in the jacuzzi with Ignatius watching her. She came to see "the kitty". He was one of their wild barn cats, but he is now very tame and spoiled. Grandpa told her that she should add "fat cat" to his Iggy.
She keeps her swimsuit hanging on the doorknob so that each time she visits she can "swim in the big tub."
We have certain things we do when she visits... swim, water color - this time she drew her own picture of Joy with her baby brother. Pink became very much loved and used, she runs around the circle and this time with a belt that Iggy chased and she laughed with glee, go to the freezer in the garage and get her "ice cream treat".
The last time she was here - she opened a drawer and found a tea set that I had totally forgotten about. So a new tradition has begun - the tea party! Grandpa shared that this was his first ever tea party! Grandma on the other hand has had many with her mom and aunts and also with her sisters and cousins!
Even Iggy came and wanted to join as he smelled yummy milk in the creamer.
Joy will be 5 in a little over a month! She will be going to Kindergarten next year, and is now a big sister for the first time with baby Thomas. It was very special and right that she would give grandpa his first taste of going to a tea party! We even toasted with clinking our tea cups together!
Joy and grandpa have a very special relationship - he steps in the house each morning when he goes over to the farm to get a hug from his sweet JoyJoy! She comes running with the hugest smile and arms wide for a big hug as grandpa lifts her up in his huge arms and hands! "She is such a sweet happy girl!" says grandpa and it is so true! Her name is the Truth about Joy Jean Jellybean!
I would say that grandpa and grandma have many tea parties in our future, and that is a special time we will spend with our Joy!
Give Tommy another year and he will more than likely have tea with his sister and grandparents! Our Lady approves too!
Jude and Birdie on Super Bowl Sunday playing in grandma's warm bubbly tub for the first time after running around the circle with the kitties. Tea parties with Joy after water coloring will certainly be a new event for them at grandma's too!
Cousin friends - Joy and Josephine are both going to be 5 in a month! Joy talked about her cousins while she was here and how they share and play - tea party will now be part of that fun!
Two weeks ago Thomas was baptized after his oldest brother, Simon, was confirmed into The Church! That allowed him to be Godfather to his baby brother, along with his oldest sister, Mary, who will be confirmed next year! Double blessing that continues to make me smile with great delight at the Lord's blessings and graces that are poured down upon us!
Almost 5 years ago as Joy was just a few weeks old - Fr Paul baptized Joy in the midst of the First Communion mass of 50+ kids including her brother, David! His point - "I baptized your child 8 years ago, where have they been? Bring your children to church as a family to receive Jesus in His Body and Blood. He loves you and longs to witness your love for him by coming to mass each Sunday."
Ruth and Paul with 2 double blessings as their children share The Sacraments in The Church! Our greatest JOY in our domestic Church/family is sharing our Faith/Family/Farm! Nothing can compare to Jesus and His Bride, The True Church!
Our family Christmas - even Hallel is there! All 33! A friend wrote "you fill up the church!" Yes! United in our love for Jesus, Mary, and The Church!
The fun one with love on both ends, goats and nerf guns and a whole lot of crazy!
Mom left me behind a daily meditation with Pope Benedict XVI - so good today and always so rich in wisdom and Truth. Thanks, Mom
Now dad's man, Brother Victor, shares the beauty of their prayer throughout the day. Dad and I shared this for the 6 months he lived here with me on hospice. We did The Prayer of The Church - morning and evening prayer and at 3p we would go out on the porch for an entire growing season on the farm and pray the rosary and chaplet of divine Mercy! Such a blessing to me to share in my dad's religious life! A Permanent Deacon for 44 years!
Happy are those who live in your house/ever singing your praise. Yes, Lord! How I love you and long to dwell close to your altar gazing upon your beauty and LOVE for me! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
"For myself, I believe that were it not for holy Mass,
the worldwould at this moment be in the abyss,
unable to bear up under the load of its iniquities."
- St Leonard of Port Maurice
Hidden Treasure: Holy Mass
“O Jesus, present in the Sacrament of the altar,
teach all the nations to serve you with willing hearts,
knowing that to serve God is to reign.
May your sacrament, O Jesus,
be light to the mind,
strength to the will,
joy to the heart.
May it be the support of the weak,
the comfort of the suffering,
the wayfaring bread of salvation for the dying
and for all
the pledge of future glory. Amen.”
Pope St John XXIII
I borrowed this from another article from The Leaven.... the first day that The Little Sisters came to the US! Looking out at a nest of baby robins in the old rectory they lived in for their first years.
This was 2008, and at the same time they were making this old Belgian Rectory into their Monastery complete with chapel, which Hallel helped to construct... she told us that she would be joining The Community of the Lamb in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe there. A couple months later she flew to France...
From the article...It was in June of 2008, and this Little Sister is standing in the dilapidated former rectory of St. Benedict Church, her new home, gazing at a nest of baby robins in the eave above the balcony.
There is nothing remarkable about this photograph; but for me, it is an extraordinary image because it captures the first step on a journey of faith that has produced fruits beyond measure.
The robins are long gone now; the building is gone, too. But in its place is a sacred monastery and beautiful chapel built solely on trust in divine providence.
July 2008 in Kansas City! Little Sister Marie and Fr Jean Claude were there to witness our JOY at Susan's answering the call with "Yes!" to Jesus calling her to enter The Community of the Lamb!
The Community of the Lamb is a mendicant order. They came here with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a mission to share the Gospel as they went begging in the streets.
I have taken hundreds of pictures of the community since that day. I’ve followed them through their journey of faith that has transformed this broken neighborhood into a place of welcome and love.
I’ve chronicled the building of two monasteries and a beautiful muraled grotto known as a place of miracles.
The article continues... I too have taken hundreds of pictures as our journey has started with their arrival up to this day!
This was left behind in her room along with all her earthly possessions as she left for France in 9-11-2008! It caused me to weep for JOY to see the True LOVE that Susan had for her spouse! What an amazing wonderful calling is this deep personal call to be his spouse/beloved!!
I wanted all my children to consider a call to religious life as it is so very special to be his beloved in such a special sweet way! I had considered that the Lord could be calling me and it led me to coming with great anticipation into The Church 50 years ago with my entire family! Unknowing that my husband, most Cherished Cross, was praying for his Catholic wife...me! As a result of hearing my call - I now have my nun. I made sure that my daughters and son could witness nuns in habits and their Joy!
Susan listened to this over and over before she left - leaving her car and keys behind and this in the CD player - how I wept at the LOVE for Jesus her spouse and his Most Cherished Cross!
A letter from Hallel to her sister, Nancy, at the occasion of her engagement to Bill in 2010
Nancy, Look I am writing you a letter... aren't you impressed? Well, you better be because both you and I know how often this happens. I am writing to tell you now extremely excited I am about your engagement to Bill. I have to admit, when I got the news I wasn't really shocked but that night as it sunk in during adoration and the next day during mass I was so happy. My heart overflowed with joy for you. How beautiful to know that you have found your... most cherished cross. While I have never had the experience of being married, from what I hear is that he will truly be your cross. But not your cross as human eyes look at it, as a thing to run away from, as a thing of torture but rather as that which is truly the tree of life. It is only when clinging to the cross that one can truly live, it is the source of all life and of all love. Your marriage to Bill will be this, not something to run away from when it gets hard and when it hurts, but something to hold tight to, especially when it hurts because it is in this that you will find life and love. Know that it is through your marriage that Jesus wants to show you his great love for you and also that the best example that you can give to the world of Christ's love is a marriage lived in truth. So, in other words, know that I am so happy for you and that I love you a whole lot. Know that you are in my prayers during this crazy time of wedding planning; that you may not go crazy but rather learn to love each other better and that you may both have great joy and great peace. Remember to pray for me too! God Bless, Your little Sister Hallel
So wise and taking me deeper and deeper are my children! Bless-bless, Barbara
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