Sharing a young friend's insight on suffering - "To die in order to live"/Memorial day - "our dead are always in our hearts." John

 theYoungCatholicWoman - I have just learned about this young Catholic woman's sharing from a sweet young friend I had the joy of meeting at our Emmaus retreat this fall!  Her article here is very special and so important for all ages to embrace the Truth that suffering is real and important in our journeys of LIFE!

With her permission to share this - please take the time to read this great sharing!

Learning To Die In Order To Live — theYoungCatholicWoman 

Maggie and Maria a few days ago!  We are all amazed at how quickly Magdalene has healed after such a scary surgery to correct her skull before brain damage caused by her early closure of an opening in her skull which allows her brain to grow normally.

Oh, Angela, such personal insight and wisdom for your young years!  "If there’s anything I could tell you I learned from this experience, it’s that we should ask the Lord to deliver us from the fear of suffering, for it can be cathartic and pave the way for a beautiful conversion. I believe St. Faustina was right, when she said that if the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering."

  "How much more badass would we be, if no matter what happened to us, we walked through life with the absolute certainty of God’s undying love sealed in our minds and hearts? "

Jesus is with us now and forever!!!  "Go forth and share the Gospel!"  Angela certainly is proclaiming the Truth to all - how amazing to have her clear wise voice sharing with the young Catholic women and this old one too!  

Yes!  Lord we trust in you!  Jesus, we trust in you.

Our youngest farm boy - Thomas is such a gift of great JOY!  How his wonderful grandfather, Farmer Pat loves LIFE!  Open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Our marriage stories - "The world needs LIGHTS!" 

Lilacs and Mary, Queen of heaven and earth at the foot of the Cross.  Jesus gave her to us as our mother, and we bring her into our homes to find PEACE, JOY, LOVE and Gentleness.

More words of wisdom and conversion from Angela today - "Just like it takes an addict to hit rock bottom in order to seek help, every now and then, our lives have to be significantly shaken up to run back to the Lord. "

I recall when out 19 year old son was diagnosed with brain cancer - PCNSL - Lymphoma of the brain after my 28 year old sister, Mary, had died of lymphoma!!! I thought it was hopeless - I had no control! I had to give it all to the Lord!!! Those rosary beads were my lifeline and Mary was with me helping me to trust and put one foot in front of the other!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: John's cancer stories

John's Spirit Juice Video - now with wife and 2 children!  

Beautiful lilacs - one of the signs of the beauty of nature created by her Son, Jesus the Son of God!  

So powerful to hear Angela share that she does the rosary and Liturgy of the hours now with her renewed and rejuvenated Faith life!  

"Sometimes, it takes a deep existential crisis to realize that we can only find the meaning of life through He who created it; but we have to come to that conclusion on our own. God truly is the perfect gentleman. He is always on time.  He reveals himself to us when the time is right, no sooner, no later. He will not forcibly burst open the door to your heart. He will knock, and wait for you to open it to receive his unconditional love. It was through this very difficult Lent, that I was able to resume praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary. I started feeling an inexplicable peace..."

The wrinkle nose smile showing her joy and healing of our 1 year old Magdalene Rose 2 weeks after her surgery. 

Another young man, who is making a mark on our Catholic area Faith Community as he was ordained a priest in the New Ulm Diocese on Saturday!  John attended his first mass in Ghent on Saturday night and received a blessing and a thank you to John for his working at the boys camps in years past.  

John at the cemetery with Nancy and their 4 young children visiting the grave of Maximilian - Nancy's 20 week in the womb loss on Thanksgiving in 2017.  When I asked John if he wanted to walk over and visit his 2 brothers, William and Robert, who I carried for 20 weeks each.  "They are in my heart mom... I don't need to visit their grave to have them with me."  So true!

George and Jude - two of the 3 year old boys in 6 weeks.  Getting a lesson that LIFE is a gift and we respect, honor, protect and cherish ALL LIFE from conception to natural death!  

Little boys and all things that turn in the wind - LOVE!

God's children!  

A couple of God's children that are bringing so much JOY to our domestic Church/family.  Yes, there are losses along the way for my daughters and I - but as Angela shares so beautifully that has led us to a deeper LOVE for each other and for LIFE! 

One month apart and soon they will be toddling around probably in opposite directions until they are about 3 years old and then find cousin/friends!

Like Jude and George!  Nothing more precious!  

This little critter is the older of the new bunch including Birdie, Tommy and Gina!  Oh the fun and farm adventures that lie ahead!  It is so fun to see 14 year old Big Dave and 11 year old Augustine busy planting corn in the grove by their fort!  Oh my, life on the farm is always full of adventure and the imagination is allowed to go full speed ahead!  

Now a tasty strawberry in all ways!  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 51- 34 with us here and 17 in heaven including both of our parents.  Dad thinking about you today and thankyou for your service!  

LEARNING TO DIE IN ORDER TO LIVE

By Angela Pimentel

https://www.theyoungcatholicwoman.com/archivescollection/learning-to-die-in-order-to-live?fbclid=IwAR2zZpS4xys9iBEbuCZOGZjyIn_AKvM8oj1-g3cPDNe  Take the few minutes to read this!

Danielle Rose

Visiting the boys at the cemetery with Nancy, John and kids/7th Sunday of Easter - Ascension/Beans going in

Our 2 youngest grandchildren - Regina and Thomas are just a month apart, and are at such a delightful age!  Gina is now 5 months and Tom is 6 months, and smiling is their middle name! At one point they were holding hands, but you will just have to imagine it as it was too brief to get a picture of.

Ruth shared that there is a yoga pose called "happy baby" where you hold your feet - well Thomas is in that pose and is that through and through.  It would have been appropriate for both of them as they certainly are happy babies, and they share the JOY with their loving family around them! 

John's 2 heading homes for naps, but did return for our family supper and did get some fun in the pool that they are filling up for another summer now that school is officially done for the summer!  

15 grandkids gathered for lunch and supper - grandma did the food - 6 pounds of bar-b-que, and a wonderful water melon were the hits!

Nancy's kids love grandma's bar-b-que!  I have made hundreds of pounds of it over the years.  I even made it for both John and Susan's graduation receptions!

Nancy commented on the old dutch oven that I got very used from my mom when I got married 43 years ago.  It has held many roasts over the years, and large batches of Barbque!  It holds 6 pounds of barbeque very nicely, and I have it down to a science - each batch is never the same as I do not measure.

A sign of age and many happy memories with my family and now my extended family.  Hubby raising beef - we always have a freezer of hamburger - we are picking up another large fat cow now hamburger tomorrow!  

Joy and Josephine were both 5 until JoJo turned 6 a few weeks ago.  Heading out to the pool on a very hot day yesterday.

Sunscreen for the red head and all the kids baking in the hot sun - there was some sunburn reported today.

Kittens every where.  They will be looking for homes soon!

Berna and Dom said they were training the kittens to sit and roll over... wishful thinking, I think.

Unfortunately Nancy and I share something I prayed that none of my girls would have to experience - a 20 week loss.  At 20 weeks of pregnancy I lost 2 boys after John, William and Robert.  "They would have been farming with their dad putting in the crop."

Pat and I now have our plot, so I am wanting to move them there soon.  I had one more loss at 14 weeks after them, and had no more children after that.  

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Our marriage stories - "The world needs LIGHTS!" 

3 year old George is now a big brother to Regina... He came along with mom, Nancy to visit her two brothers, and then we went to the grave of his brother, Maximilian.  

5 years ago we were visiting Nancy and Bill in Kansas City for Thanksgiving and Nancy suddenly lost her 20 week old baby in the womb.  Knowing that they would not be staying that far away from home they brought Max here to bury in the new wonderful infant loss section of the Catholic Cemetery.  Her cousin, Fr Craig, officiated for our service.

Nancy and Regina by the grave of her wonderful grandma Ann!  Nancy was very close to her, and even is named after her and my mother as Nancy is the nickname for Ann, and her middle name is Anna!  

Visiting 2 of the Uncles they will meet someday in heaven along with my other 5 losses, Nancy's 3 losses, Maria's 2 losses, All of their great-grandparents, great-uncle Don, great Aunt Mary -  Pat's brother and my sister, who died of cancer at 28yo

Grab those toes Regina Maria - you are definitely a happy baby!

John comes with Jude and Birdie as we are visiting Maximilian - George's brother.  We brought him a jar of lilacs.

These two are the bookends of the 3 year old boys - they are 6 weeks apart with Hector in the middle.  It is so special to see them becoming the cousin friends that we love to see.

What a special treat we found nearbye at the grave of a young man, who had died at 20 in an accident - candy for them to take one!  Thanks, Scott!

Infant loss is special and Pat and my plot is right across from Max our grandson!

God's children - they will come and honor their cousin/brother and realize that LIFE is a gift to be cherished and protected from conception to natural death.

Birdie says "George is my friend, too."

LOVE Our heavenly mother with her baby Jesus - God and man!  Yes, our losses were hard and we suffered as a family. But I see now how it has made us such a close family and we so appreciate having each other here with us on this journey.  We also love ALL LIFE and are passionate about fighting for all to value and honor LIFE from conception to natural death!

Jesus - "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them."  Learning how priceless LIFE is!  

A study of purple with Gina and lilacs.. a minute later she reached out and pulled the flowers over and had a handful of lilacs headed for her mouth.  We call this the grabnab phase for Gina and Tom.

Digging around the farm yesterday.  Ruth made sure that all the kids were safe as well as her garden. Beans will be around the farm this year, and over here by my place they just planted corn about a month later than 2 years ago when dad was here.  Dad lived with me in 2020 for an entire growing season thanks to Covid. Teddy the dog was chasing after the tractor...

Beginning to fill the pool on a hot day yesterday - any little bit helps.

Maggie must have been having fun with costumes yesterday - a critter

Back to normal in 2 weeks!

Now a strawberry and a happy girl 

Obviously her stitches are not giving her any discomfort and Maria says that they are disolving 

Birdie checking out the new baby cousins- Tom jumping and Gina kicking on her tummy on the floor with a strawberry on her bottom.

Now in daddy's hat and the dog nearbye... we are rejoicing with her happy healing!

Pope Francis 2 years ago in a deserted St Peter's Square praying for world healing from the Covid pandemic.

St Therese dressed as St Joan of Arc in a play- They are co-patrons of France!  Today is St Joan of Arc's feast day and she is Nancy's patron Saint!  Happy Feast day, Nancy!  

St Joan pray for us.

Cows out on pasture are a beautiful sight, and it gives us a lot of joy to see them caring for the land/pastures harvesting the grass and using it to make milk for their calves.

Getting the digger tuned up for our last few fields of beans.  Lord, protect the farmers and be with our growing season which is getting a late start.  Jesus, is in control! 

Going to mass in shifts today to keep the work going as rain is predicted tonight.  It is now the 7th Sunday of The Easter Season!  There is so much JOY and so many Hallelujahs we have to proclaim that we need 7 weeks!  Today is also the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven!  

There are many ways that the Lord keeps my eyes focused on heaven forever! My children and grandchildren, now all 4 of our parents, I have a brother and a sister to meet there, and Pat's brother, Don.  The cloud of witnesses just keeps growing and I stumble down the narrow path dragging my Most Cherished Cross to be there someday.   

I was amazed to see how my aging husband has to crawl over this complicated piece of equipment.  Now I know why I need to be praying without ceasing.  Keep them safe, O Lord!

Close to the end of planting... Keep them safe and sane, O Lord.  

"Then he led them as far as Bethany, raised his hands and blessed them.  As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.  They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God."  Luke 24:46-53

Out inner temple is where we continually pray and praise!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 51 - 34 here and 17 in heaven including our parents.  

Danielle Rose