My marriage - "Never a dull moment as we ride the Ferris wheel of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT"/Mary, the Mother of God with me...

Oh my!!!! On the Ferris Wheel for the first time in 40 years Pat claims.  I never remember being on one in my lifetime, but I could have forgotten in that many years.  Trying to take a selfie with total fear of dropping my phone and yes...  hubby was rocking it to make me more terrified.  

I think this is a good picture to go along with how I describe my 44 year marriage to my Most Cherished Cross, farmer Patrick..."Never a dull moment as we ride the Ferris Wheel of LIFE."

And for the most part those challenging parts of each day of my life - I do not do overly well with.  I was scared and he thought it was funny.

A the top and I could not look around and enjoy the view.  

I would like a few more dull moments in my life, but it never gets boring on this crazy ride of marriage.  In two days we head on the road once again to Virginia this time with a trailer full of our 3rd daughter's possesions as they move there for a year.  Yes, I am nervous at the thought.  I can find some peace with the rosary beads passing through my hands and Our Lady, Mary, Queen of heaven and earth with me for this journey.

Today is a very special feast day for Mary, the Mother of God - her Assumption into Heaven!  So much comfort knowing she is there interceding for me and as one saintly woman to another not so saintly - helping me muddle through!  

16 year old granddaughter, Mary, takes Reserve Champion in Premiere Showman at the county fair.  

Paul's parents donate to 4H.  Thanks, Larry and Phyllis Lanoue!  

All the 4H kids - I have 9 grandchildren in this picture!  How we love our 4H over our marriage!  

I need 3 of them... this is #2

A sea of blue with 9 grandkids here and there.  

Mary showing her goat at the Ribbon Auction.  

Simon with his cow calf pair with the help of Rose handling the calf and Mary with his banner.

They all did very well and are now done with the fair for 2022!  It was a great year!  

LOVE this shirt for the Ralco barn workers!  So true and it really rings true when Father prays at mass - "For the rains needed for a bountiful harvest so that farmers can feed a hungry world."

John and Pat - father and son are fair board members now.  The fair has been so important to Pat growing up on the farm, our family when the kids were home and in school, and now grandkids including Nancy's kids in Delano that had their first year sharing the fair with our farm family.  Great year! 

The fair board did a great job and enjoyed a very successful year!  

Todd Merrium brought the carnival and had a great year with lots of people.

50th  Anniversary of Pat's sister, Joyce and hubby Andy - 2 other sisters and their families ot help them celebrate this huge milestone!  Congratulations Joyce and Andy!

The official cake of celebration!  Wish we could have shared their fun, but the fair is in our blood!  

50 years and still smiling!  

These two came from the fair dirty, hungry and tired!  

His dirty face has a bubble beard washing away the dirt.

Lots of happy squeals coming from the tub.

St Max yesterday amazes and LOVED Our Lady!!!  

His famous quote - "You can't love Mary too much.  You can never love her more than Jesus does!"

She fills me with PEACE in the midst of my crazy life!  Not dull moments but definitely peaceful!  

John and I overlap our hours of Adoration with Jesus through Mary the last hour of Sunday and the first hour of Monday.  We share our needs and pray for them together.  I felt better about my upcoming trip after that.  We always end by praying together the Salve Regina - Hail Holy Queen!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 54- 34 with us and 20 in heaven.  

Danielle Rose - Hail Holy Queen

Salve Regina - the same way that Hallel's Community of the Lamb sings it each night at night prayer.  So gloriously beautiful!  

In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined Mary's Assumption into heaven as a

dogma of Roman Catholicism:

"the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed

the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven."

The proclamation of this dogma was made

in the encyclical: Munificentissimus Deus. After entering heaven,

Mary has remained active in the life of the Church.

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The Solemnity of the Assumption 
of the Blessed Virgin Mary

August 15

 

"Today, she who "belongs to Christ" by a unique, abiding, and unrepeatable privilege, the most holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, follows where He has gone, "through the greater and more perfect tent not made by human hands, that is, not of this creation . . . into the Holy Place" (Heb 9:11). Today the sacred and living ark of the living God, who conceived her Creator Himself,  takes up her abode in the temple of God." ~ St John Damascene

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 Assumpta est Maria in caelum, gaudent angeli, laudantes benedicunt Dominum!

Mary has been taken up into heaven;

the angels rejoice and, praising, bless the Lord!

"Above all, let us listen to Mary Most Holy,

in whom the mystery of the Eucharist appears,

more than in anyone else,

as a mystery of light.

Gazing upon Mary, we come to know

the transforming power present in the Eucharist.

 

In her we see the world renewed in love.

 

Contemplating her, assumed body and soul into heaven,

we see opening up before us

those 'new heavens' and that 'new earth'

which will appear at the second coming of Christ. 

Here below, the Eucharist represents their pledge, 
and in a certain way, their anticipation:

'Veni, Domine Iesu!'’” (Rev 22:20).

St John Paul II,  Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 62

Painting: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, artist unknown

(:

"And now death came; not indeed clothed in mourning and grief, as it does to others, but adorned with light and gladness. But what do we say? Why speak of death? Let us rather say that divine love came, and cut the thread of that noble life. And as a light, before going out, gives a last and brighter flash than ever, so did this beautiful creature, on hearing her Son's invitation to follow him, wrapped in the flames of love, and in the midst of her loving sighs, give a last sigh of still more ardent love, and breathing forth her soul, expired. Thus was that great soul, that beautiful dove of the Lord, loosened from the bands of this life; thus did she enter into the glory of the blessed, where she is now seated, and will be seated, Queen of Paradise, for all eternity." - St Alphonsus de Liguori

 

 

"The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the oldest Marian Feast, returns every year in the heart of summer. It is an opportunity to rise with Mary to the heights of the spirit where one breathes the pure air of supernatural life and contemplates the most authentic beauty, the beauty of holiness. The atmosphere of today’s celebration is steeped in paschal joy. “Today”, the antiphon of the Magnificat says, “the Virgin Mary was taken up to Heaven. Rejoice, for she reigns with Christ for ever. Alleluia”. This proclamation speaks to us of an event that is utterly unique and extraordinary, yet destined to fill the heart of every human being with hope and happiness.

Mary is indeed the first fruit of the new humanity, the creature in whom the mystery of Christ – his Incarnation, death, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven – has already fully taken effect, redeeming her from death and conveying her, body and soul, to the Kingdom of immortal life.

For this reason, as the Second Vatican Council recalls, the Virgin Mary is a sign of certain hope and comfort to us (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 68).  Today's feast impels us to lift our gaze to Heaven; not to a heaven consisting of abstract ideas or even an imaginary heaven created by art, but the Heaven of true reality which is God Himself.  God is Heaven.  He is our destination, the destination and the eternal dwelling place from which we come and for which we are striving."

- Pope Benedict XVI - August 15, 2008 (Homily)