Halloween day - dad's funeral 3 years ago and generations of memories/"... the glorious freedom of the children of God." - +JMJ+

3 years ago dad did the impossible - he got all of his 10 children together!  We gathered in Taylor's Falls, St Joseph Catholic Church, for dad's funeral mass!  The perfect sendoff for this wonderful man, who said yes to LIFE in being open to 8 children, as well as adopting 4 siblings, whose parents were killed in an auto accident!  

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The amazing story of the 13 becoming Catholic!  Add to that bringing all of us into The Catholic Church 52 years ago!  Each day since has been a pearl of great price!  The tiny mustard seed planted that has become a tree holding birds and squirrels!  

Dad lived with me the last 6 months of his life here in our "farm monastery' where he shared with me his religious life!  He was a permanent Deacon in the Church for the last 44 years of his life!  Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Deacon Robert Cross - my dad on hospice in our Farm Monastery for 6 months - 4/16/20 thru 10/23/20  the page I wrote last week about our special time together at the end of his life!  I continue to be blessed by his Prayer of The Church he left behind with much underlining and highlighting.  His LOVE of Jesus, Mary and All the Church gives to us evident and shared with me!  Thanks, dad, from the bottom of my heart!  

Deacon Robert Cross in his Deacon's robe and stole.  With the rosary that we prayed together every day on my porch at 3pm.  We also prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for many including my parents as mom had just died a month before he came here, and dad was on his final journey with the same Hospice I had worked with for 15 years!  

Many memories from years past of Halloween in the past - 2015 with Nancy's bunch - me and Bernadette, who will be 11 in 2 weeks.  Adorable 3 year old 

Dominic 8 years ago - he is 9 now.

Rose 10 years ago 

Now with boots and snow outside the big window.

I guess I started the themes with my kids!  Here they are in 1986 when Susan/Hallel was one!  I thought that I was so clever until I realized how much of a mess we were leaving at the houses of the elderly people we visited each Halloween!  We came home with only the wasteband and no leaves left!  

Yes, even me!  

Little Red Riding hood year for Ruth when Luke was just a day away from being one - 2014.  Nancy's kids were Knights of the Round table and a lion.

Baby Luke and Dominic are both 9 - Luke will be 10 tomorrow along with his cousin, Evangeline Mary on base in Kansas.

Ruth went all out 10 years ago - the year of The Wizard of Oz!  Simon was the tin man 

So much work!  There might be some used again this year - time will tell.  No longer are there themes - they just go down and get something from years past.

Ruth the Scarecrow - she had Luke the next day - the great pumpkin!  

1 1/2 year old Rose Again was Dorothy!  

With Toto!  

Rose dressed up for Missoula play - The Princess and the Pea... she was the pea!  

Luke was in it also - the river worker.  

The Princess and her best friend, the Pea!

Luke on stage

First grader, Joy, was from the frozen land...

It was a lot of fun for the kids!  

1984 - the year of the witches - tiny Susan was just a month old and she was a black cat in a sleeper that I died black!  

Cute tin man 10 years ago.  No Simon this year as he is at school in Sioux Falls!  

1983 - Maria is 2 months old and in the papoose!  Farmer Pat the big chief jumped in from harvest for a special memory.  Halloween usually did not include our Big Chief!  

Mary the wicked witch of the North 10 years ago.  I wonder if she will join in the Halloween fun this year as a senior in high school?  

Ruth even sewed a flying monkey costume!  She went all out!  

David was 5 ten years ago and was an adorable flying monkey!  

Paul must have been the Cowardly Lion!  Such an amazing and memorable year this was!  Now Joy and Tom are added and tend to have a theme with the two of them.  I am excited to see what this year will hold.  John said that Jude is Superman at Preschool today..

7 years ago - Peter Pan with Simon as a lost boy... the rest are easy to figure out!  

Tom has been napping at grandma's the last few days.  He sure loves to be here in my peaceful home with his toys and Paw Patrol..."Go, go, go, go..."

Luke last year borrowed my dad's hat from his years of service during WW2. Luke loves all things military including war planes and ships!   He will be the birthday boy tomorrow along with cousin, Evangline Mary in Kansas.

2022 Halloween theme for Joy and Tom - Marshall Tigers Cheerleader and the Marshall Tiger!  I am excited to see what they come up with this year.

So cute!  The piano we had for the girls and John to learn on is now in John and Bobbi's home.  I would love to have a piano player in the bunch!  

David the fox last year

What does the fox say?

The military birthday girl - Evie a year ago as we had fun in the costume room.  All about costumes today in honor of Halloween!  Evie will be 7 tomorrow and join her cousin, Josephine Francis!

One more for good measure.  They have amazing costumes and love to use their imaginations.  So much fun!

Evie and grandma in Charlottesville, VA with the jewels she made for me!  This year they live in Fort Leavenworth, KS, and we have fake plans to go the weekend after next and see them and also our nun, who lives 40 minutes away in KCK!  So excited!  

The first reading today from Romans 8 reminds us of the wonderful Joy we find as children of God!  The freedom to be a follower of Jesus and wherever he leads us is leading us down the narrow Path towards the greatest JOY in heaven forever!  

Reading 1 Rom 8:18-25

Brothers and sisters:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God;
for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,
in hope that creation itself
would be set free from slavery to corruption
and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves
as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that sees for itself is not hope.
For who hopes for what one sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. 

So amazing - I had to share every last word as they are a symphony of the most beautiful song of Salvation!  Thank you, Lord and Lady for all that we are given as we die to self and allow the Holy Spirit to use us as his hands and feet!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

O God Beyond All Praising!  Mom asked for this at her funeral.  So beautiful and Truth!  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 33 plus many Little sisters and Little Brothers.  

Culture of LIFE!/John and Bobbi in Rochester 14 years later - celebrating his healing/"... you are freed from your infirmity." Jesus - +JMJ+

How we love to share a culture of LIFE in our domestic Church/family and how it is supported and encouraged by our amazing Catholic Church!  LIFE is the greatest gift, and should be protected and cherished at all costs!  At our Prolife breakfast yesterday the grandkids got to see with their eyes the Truth of LIFE in the womb!

In three weeks our Thomas Robert will be 2 years old!  We are so grateful at his healing from an accident on Labor Day!  So many prayers for his safety and that of all the kids on the farm.  

Rose helping the little ones - Jude, Birdie and Tom to see and be amazed at the beaty of LIFE in the womb. 

The womb should be a place of safety and peace for the growing child.  Please, Lord and Lady, protect LIFE in the womb that is in danger of abortion.  

John and Bobbi sharing pancakes and sausage at the Prolife breakfast.  They were able to take the kids to Princess and the Pea at the Catholic School the day before!  Telling Rose, Luke and Joy that they did a good job!  

We support our Birthright and Choices Pregnancy centers!

3 year old Birdie with the models from our Birthright office.  So important to see that they are babies with arms, legs and fingers and toes, and a beating heart!  

So important for little ones to see this and recall it when they grow older and make decisions after being raised in a Culture of LIFE!  

Choices Pregnancy Center - There is a new center in town that takes it furthur by offering an ultrasound for the woman to see the child in her womb!  So important to show her the Truth that it is a LIFE! 

Choices Pregnancy Center | Redwood Falls, MN

Never a clump of cells - always a baby and a LIFE to be protected and cherished!  

A tiny baby!  

So loving of LIFE!  

Grandpa and Tom after sharing mass - the Holy Water font and the sign of the Cross!  

Peter Mayer - Holy Now

Holy water - "swimming in a sea of it!"  

What sign are you?  The sign of the Cross - taking up our Cross and following after Jesus!  

Culture of LIFE began with Mary saying "yes" to Jesus coming into this world as an infant!  

Open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS for this world!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Our marriage stories - "The world needs LIGHTS!"  Our marriage story that is now carried forth into our next generations.  The Culture of LIFE growing!  

John and Bobbi are in Rochester today.  2 appointments today and 2 tomorrow!  "There is nothing pressing... just checking my ears and my eyes."  I encouraged them to celebrate John's miraculous healing now 14 years later.  As someone said yesterday at the breakfast; "And he has 3 beautiful children!"  That was never supposed to happen, and now we smile at the Lord's amazing plan for them.

Tonight they are having supper with his doctor and wife and son!  Celebrate John!

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

His Spirit Juice video continues with wife, 3 beautiful children, and healing for 14 years!  

St Mary's Hospital where John started with his Biopsy and then treatment for Primary Central System Lymphoma.  They met with his Doctor while there on rounds today.  Now out to supper tonight .

Today in the Gospel in Luke - Jesus heals the woman bent over and unable to stand up on the Sabbath.  His words to us - "You are healed of your infirmity." rings like a bell for us that have felt the Lord touch us so powerfully and each time we celebrate Mass - so true!

Gospel

LUKE 13:10-17

10Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity." 13And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. 14But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day." 15Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it? 16And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" 17As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

Joy with 9 month old Lucy Marie at our breakfast yesterday.  Joy sure loves the little ones!  

Precious LOVE of LIFE!  

"I really like your jewels, Joy!"  

Oh my!!! I am over the moon excited for Deb and her new husband and their sweet little new girl, Clare Marie!  I shared on my blog a year ago about how special their finding each other in their mid to late 30's!  Here is my blog post from Sept 13, 2022 - Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Huge progress with so much hard work!/Romance is in the air!/"The sheep of his pasture - God has visited his people"

Over to greet Mary, the Mother of God, on my way to the YMCA.  A sweet friend stopped to ask me to pray for her daughter, Deb, who is getting married this weekend.  Her story was so wonderful and romantic and shows how the Lord does answer our most heartfelt yearnings.  Deb is 36 and had always yearned to be married, but was resigned to being single.  She had never met anyone.  She got a new job that she absolutely loved and did not want to lose it by dating a coworker, who kept asking her out.  Finally she said "yes" to going out for the day on the 4th of July with him.  "She called me after the date and said  he was everything she had ever wanted in a man and more!"  He is 38 and never been married either!  Deb told him that she would only marry a Catholic, and he informed her that he was a lapsed Catholic and was wanting help getting back to church!  They are marrying in The Catholic Church and are going to Italy for their honeymoon and getting their marriage blessed by Pope Francis! 

I was in tears at the beauty of this story and how the Lord answered her prayers and waiting made it that much more amazing!  Talk about praying for your future spouse and trusting in His Plan!  Yes, Romance is truly in the air!  

From my blog a year ago and now they have welcomed a sweet baby girl!  Such a wonderful story of trusting in the Lord's plan and finding true love late in life, when all hope was lost!  

I love how Deb was open to LIFE - they even had a miscarriage first and still were open and trusting - now they have welcomed Clare Marie!  

Our first bit of snow is only in the shaddows now.  

Some Halloween Memories of John - Kindergarten with mom.

Bog - part boy part dog on Halloween 1991 - the blizzard!

With Susan/Hallel - many years John would dress up like a woman with the wig and all!  Our dog Rusty and the farmyard reflected by the garage window.  Susan was the tooth fairy!  Tomorrow there will be an outpouring of Halloweens past.  

Jesus and Mary, thank you for the beautiful ways you touch us and free us from our infirmities!  May we die to self so that we may love and serve you and those around us without counting the cost.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barbara and the 33 plus many Little Sisters and Little Brothers.

Hallel called and we have fake plans to go to KCK with 6 chickens not this weekend but the next!  Getting excited!  To see 2 of our daughters! 

 "The best prayer is the one

in which there is the most love."

St Charles de Foucauld

 

 

Prayer of Abandonment

 St Charles de Foucauld

 

Father, 
I abandon myself into your hands;

do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you:

I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me,

and in all your creatures.

I wish no more than this, O Lord.

 

Into your hands I commend my soul;

I offer it to you

with all the love of my heart,

for I love you, Lord,

and so need to give myself,

to surrender myself into your hands,

without reserve,

and with boundless confidence, 
for you are my Father.

Excerpt from the writings of Fr Rene Voillaumeon
on the Blessed Sacrament and Charles de Foucauld:

 

"You will always be right in imitating the attitude of soul—which is so simple, so logical, so full of love—of Frere Charles of Jesus towards the Blessed Sacrament. Our devotion to the Eucharist must be profound, honest, totally embraced as essential. When one has acquired the disposition of receiving this gift of God with the soul of a child, one is upset by the reasoning of certain people... who dispute the devotion towards the Eucharist and sometimes question its legitimacy on liturgical or historical grounds... Why not, in the simple logic of faith, love the Eucharist with all the love with which we love Jesus himself? That is what filled Father de Foucauld with the spontaneity of a child."

Danielle Rose 

Danny Gokey