Family Soul Story - Choose Life!

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!

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Joy - "I want to go to Mass twice, grandma!"- "Heaven and earth are full of your glory."/Gus is 14, and Maria's new home - +JMJ+

This sweet girl has touched her grandma deeply! She asked me about daily mass and then shared that she wants to receive Jesus more than just on Sunday. "I want to go to Mass 2 times a week like I did when I went to mass at school and also on Sunday!. Joy is 8 and just had her First Holy Communion a month ago, so for her to want to go to Mass during the week with her old grandparents is so special and wonderful!

This morning praying after 7a Mass. She came out of the house at 6:40a dressed in her dress for Mass. She was by far the youngest there, and commented on how it went very fast with no music and a short homily. "It seemed like minutes long."

Father Denny lit the Easter candle first as it is the 6th week of Easter! Hallelujah!!

We shared morning prayer after we picked up Joy with the Hallel Psalm 148! It was also the Psalm at Mass. Hallel Psalms are filled with Praise of God!

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14

R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all you his angels;
praise him, all you his hosts.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,
the princes and all the judges of the earth,
Young men too, and maidens,
old men and boys.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
His majesty is above earth and heaven.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Joy on the occasion of her First Communion with her big brother, David. 8 years before when Dave had his First Communion - Joy was a newborn and was baptized in the midst of the First Communion Mass. Father Paul had a message to many of the parents there - "I baptized your child, where have they been? Please bring them to Jesus every week!"

Joy with her parents receiving Jesus Body and Blood for the first time! I am now seeing that she is taking this very seriously and wants to hunger for Jesus more than just Sunday!

"The Body of Christ." Amen

Up around the altar - close to our loving Lord!

"The Blood of Christ"

Her life has been changed in a closer walk with her Savior!

The sacrifice this girl had to make to get up early and go to Mass with her old grandparents says to much to me about how she has truly been touched by this step in her faith! This is what every grandparent prays for their grandkids!

My brother, Dan, shared this from daily Mass in Taylors Falls, MN. last week. Maria's 3 oldest boys serving at Mass. Maria does Catholic Homeschool which includes Mass each day. LOVE to see them taking serious their Faith also.

Joy and Tom here while the rest are putting cows and calves out on pasture. "I want them to all be out on pasture by tonight." grandpa Pat

Saving our Mother!

Out looking at the chickens now that they can go outside during the day.

A cow and her calf on the DNR land - on the back of the 4 wheeler with Pat the other night checking on how they are doing. "They look good!"

Memorial Day with John's 3 kids.

Tomorrow John and I are heading back to Rochester. It has been years for me! John is having a Neuro exam to see if there is continued memory issues after all the whole brain radiation he had 16 years ago.

John brought doughnuts and the kids to have some Memorial day family time.

Watermelon and doughnuts make for a festive time together!

Behind him on the 4 wheeler on a cool evening. Kind of a bumpy ride through 50 pairs of cows and their calves. Today the rest are going out on pasture including the one behind our place here.

Putting out a salt block in the DNR Land.

How did it ever come to this?!? May all life be protected and cherished from conception to natural death!

Jesus shows us the Way, The Truth, and the LIFE eternal!

Yes, Lord! Have Mercy on me!

6 year old Jude with our beautiful American Flag! "America, America, God shed his grace on thee. And crowned thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!"

Ray Charles - America The Beautiful

Pat and Lucy on Memorial Day - enjoying our porch.

Picture perfect!

Augustine is 14! LOVE that Major Joseph and Maria surprised him. Living just 1 hour apart means that they will see a lot more of each other!

Pool time and birthday cake - Happy 14th birthday Gus! We love you!

Surprise birthday - A table filled with siblings - 5 and cousins -7 makes for an instant party! Chinese food makes it amazing!

I have been very impressed with him, and continue to pray for him to be wise and strong defending out Church!

This is how I pray, and my rosary is calling to me!

Saint Francis!

Joy's water color of receiving Communion at 7a Mass this morning.

The Body and Blood of Christ - Amen.

From Maria's housewarming at their new home in Shafer, MN! Nancy with her Godson, Simon.

My sister, Paula, with her husband, Bill, and 2 granddaughters after planting some plants at mom and dad's grave just across the road from Maria's new home.

Sisters with mom and dad... We miss them greatly!

Praying an Our Father and a Hail Mary together for mom and dad.

I am the oldest of the 12 kids and Paula is #3. Dad and mom brought all of us into The Catholic Church 54 years ago. Each day since has been a blessing to me! A pearl of great price!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The amazing story of the 13 becoming Catholic!

Maria and her Aunt Chacha... Angela is a wonderful wife to my brother, Dan, and is looked up to by my girls as a wonderful homemaker, cook, gardener, and does everything very well! She has helped Maria getting her new home in order inside and out!

Tom and Joy are very lucky to have kittens spring and Fall. These are the batch from this spring with their eyes open! Tom always wants to show them to me and how can I resist?

Maria with her in-laws, Dave and Gail! The live just a little over an hour away and are so willing to help out in any way needed. They will be a huge help to Maria this next year as Major Joseph will be gone to Poland for a year.

Maria and Gail! She does so much! Thank you, Gail!

Maria is so happy and aglow to have her forever home with 10 wonderful acres for the dog and kids to have lots of beautiful space to grow and expand. Just a little less than 4 hours away is so much closer than the 8 from here to Fort Riley. I predict I will be there a lot!

Jesus, I love and thank you for the work you are doing in my family. How I rejoice with my JOY, who is drawn to come close to you in Communion. Such a blessing to have a grandchild asking to share Mass with her old grandparents. May she always hunger and thirst for you my Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah

Bless-bless, Barbara and the 33 plus 13 in heaven.

Then you will know the truth,

and the truth will set you free. - John 8:32

"The Blessed Sacrament is God.

Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament
is simply divine worship.

Turn it which way we will,
throw the light of love and knowledge

now on one side of it, now on another,
still the result is the same,

the one inexhaustible sweet fact
of the Real Presence.

In the hands of the priest,
behind the crystal of the monstrance,

on the tongue of the communicant,
now, and for a thousand times,

and almost at our will and pleasure,
there are the Hands and Feet,

the Eyes and Mouth,
the swift Blood and living Heart of Him whom

Thomas touched and Magdalen was fain to touch,

the Soul that ... set the prisoners free."

Fr Frederick W Faber
____________________________

O, Come let us adore Him...

Christ the Lord!

The Good Tree - Hillbilly Thomists

Goodness of God

Zach Williams - Less like me

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Excited about Pope Leo XIV!!!/Family times now as our military family are moving to MN/"I do just as the Father has commanded me."Jn 14 -+JMJ+

Therese with her Oma greet her family as they arrive in their new forever Home in Shafer, MN! Cheese and fruit unicorn for snacking after a big day on the road. They spent the night at the little sisters/Lumen Christi/LIGHT of Christ Monastery, and left in the morning for Minnesota!

The Community of the Lamb posing outside the chapel on Friday morning to bid them farewell.

Hallel with her military family - only missing the oldest, Therese, who went ahead to attend 2 proms with homeschool friends.

Magdalene is newly 4 on the 12th with her Aunt Hallel.

Hector celebrated his Feast Day with a wonderful meal outside in the garden complete with strawberry pie made from some strawberries they were given when they went begging on Mission. St Isidore is a Saint for farmers, and so appropriate for our families!

These 3 cousins were so happy to see each other! Maggie just turned 4 and the other two are right behind her by 3 1/2! They sure love to play together, and with Maria living only 4 hours away rather than 8... it will be much easier for them to see each other! Gina living in Delano is only one hour away!

Out looking over their 10 acres of land! Lilacs were everywhere! The tall girls - 13 year old Rose and 17 year old Therese! Joy and Evie are both 8!

Matching sweatshirt and lilacs on the steps going up to their pool. Magdalene Rose was 4 on last Monday the 12th.

Maria's new home is the first home they have owned as they have been living on military bases. She is very excited to have a home to live in for the next year while Major Joseph is deployed to Poland for a year..

The Gazebos are one with a table and chairs and the other has a hot tub.

The crew that unloaded their truck. Joe's parents live just an hour away in Wisconsin. Welcome HOME!

Supper their first night with Nancy and Maria's kids!

Cousin friends just half a year apart - Nancy's Gina and Maria's Maggie. LOVE our cousin groups and how they love spending time together - sharing Faith/Family/Farm!

The official portrait of our new wonderful American Pope! I am purely and totally excited!!!

St JPII in his chasuble years ago.

At his inauguration, Pope Leo XIV wore the chasuble of St. John Paul II—honoring the saint on what would be his 105th birthday, May 18, 2025.

This gesture is widely seen as a powerful tribute to continuity and to his predecessors.

Reminds me of a quote by Benedict XVI about the Church is a ship that will never sink as evil will not overcome it!

So straight and direct, and Truth!!! LOVE this so much!

The words from the Gospel today speak to me of what I see Pope Leo doing for all the world to see and hear...

Gospel John 14:27-31a

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid..."

I see that Pope Leo is a man that promotes PEACE for our world! I have heard that he is offering to have peace talks between Russia and the Ukraine. Wow!!!

Later in the Gospel we read this from Jesus - "the world must know that I love the Father

and that I do just as the Father has commanded me." - This seems to be very much a part of this man, who is Pope Leo! A man of the poor and giving of himself without counting the cost! He looks to Jesus to show him the Way to Follow! I am so filled with wonder and awe that the Lord has chosen this man! I look to learn at his feet much as I did with my Saint John Paul II! As my husband says - "He reminds me of St JPII."

LOVE this soooo much!!!! So true! How I would love to read some of the stories of those 30 years together with Mary and Joseph.

Ice cream cones in the gazebo on Saturday as we gathered to see Maria's new forever home in Shafer, MN. Family time and ice cream go hand and hand for our bunch!

It all started in our Michigan vacations years ago. Now it is a beloved tradition- nothing can beat ice cream!

10 year old Romeo with his wood burning of animals. He is very artistic!

Mary drove up our one ton truck for Joe to use for the next 2 weeks with a lot of work lying ahead!

Goodbye until next time - Tom and Gina. We have a big day planned on Saturday of a housewarming party at their place expecting 100+ people!

Praying with John - the last hour of Sunday and the first hour of Monday as our hours overlap. Prayers for our family and all the wide world!

5th Sunday of Easter! Joy with awakening baby kittens. I love how Easter JOY goes on and on. There is even a 6th Sunday of Easter next week!

After celebrating the 5th Sunday of Easter together we gather at the farm for our everything sweet and joyfilled sharing.

John's 3 sit on the bench on the end of the table together.

Sweetness in all ways!

Rose with the Easter kittens that came a few weeks into Easter this year. Like born about the 3rd week of Easter. Two white and 2 grey.

"This is the cutest one." Rose Again. The fuzzy ones are always most loved by the kids.

We are so thankful for the 2 inches of rain we have gotten in the last 2 days - a million dollar rain indeed!

Hubby helping me make rhubarb slush for the big house warming party for Maria!

I had to bring the rhubarb in to cut it - the rain poured down and the wind was crazy too!

I made rhubarb slush about 27 years ago for some graduation receptions down through the years!

Wet and wind blown, but we still needed the rain so much!

The straight TRUTH!

Tom and Neumann looking out at the rain. "He likes me!" Yes!!

Ice cream smiles!

Yes! We are having a Together Encounter Christ retreat right here in Holy Redeemer School in Marshall in June! My life was changed after my 3 oldest girls each made their retreat and invited me to go. After 3 I could no longer say that I was good with my faith. I was changed and PRAYER became so powerful and REAL! That was 25 years ago, and I have worked most of the retreats since than. It is a wonderful closer walk with Our Lord and Lady! Jesus, open the hearts of many to come and spend time with you, O Lord. May we die to self so that we may serve without counting the cost. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah

Bless-bless, Barbara and the 33 plus 13 in heaven.

The Lord's Prayer - Matt Maher

The Goodness of God

The Hillbilly Thomists - the Good Tree

This was taken on Easter Sunday in Colman, South Dakota about 12 years ago!

My dad had done the unthinkable - said yes to being a Deacon in Colman, South Dakota just 60 minutes from our door to their door of the rectory... they had promised to help out as parish administrator of a small town chuch and to help out in the other cluster churches. It was my parents first contact with living the farm life other than second hand through a visit here and there to our farm. Now they were immersed in farm life and loved it! I loved the fact that for 3 years I could jump in the car and go and hang out with them for an afternoon here and there! It was amazing! Soon their 3 years were at an end and we all gathered for a huge family celebration of Easter... we filled the social hall with our huge family... I am the oldest of 11 with over 30 grandkids! The wind of the Holy Spirit was howling as our family gathered in front of the church doors for a family photo... it made us smile to have the wind roaring at us with the fury that only the prairie can muster!

How I love the pictures of the kids in Big Shoes! Adorable!

What is it about the kids walking around the house in mom or dad's shoes? I think that it is a form of flattery... they like to see mom of dad in those shoes so it makes them feel like they are looking like their beloved parent of just acting big like them! I remember my 3rd daughter, Maria, was so in love with her daddy... she would crawl around the bedroom and drape his socks around her neck that she had picked up off the floor just as a token of her love for him. I have a group of pictures in the bathroom that are just of that theme... Wearing mom and dad's shoes. I think that it is about as cute as can be... and also a wonderful tribiute to a child's love and appreciation for their parnets. I have now seen my 3 grandchildren that live closeby and spent much time with us also put on mostly grandpa's shoes which are usually over by the door and walk around in them... I think that a lot of that reflects that love and appreciaion that they have for him and his loving sharing ways with them. Now a generation later I have watched now grandpa LOVE each one of those kids so specially by showering them with the time by taking them along outside or allowing them to sit in his lap and share his meal when he comes in late for a meal... The same scene that I saw with our 5 kids and the resulting love and appreciation and respect! Who knew wearing his shoes was a sign of love and devotion?!?

The absolutely amazing letter that Susan/Little Sister Hallel sent to Nancy about marriage...

Nancy was engaged to Bill Bandzuch on April 10, 2010... We are all so happy for her as she has waited long for her Catholic man to come into her life. She had stood by her values and as a result it was especially sweet and special when she joyfully accepted Bill's proposal! We all gathered in Maria and Joe's back yard to help them celebrate that afternoon minus her sister in KC... Little Sister Hallel. We called her and she spoke to each one of us and even her neice and nephews ! A month later Nancy found this letter from her sister in the mailbox. It was mother's day and she called me to read it to me over the phone. I was blown away and at first thought how crazy it was that a young girl,who had answered the call to remain chaste and be a little sister had so much insight into marriage! But when I realized that she is now the "bride of Christ" it now makes all the sense in the world! I would like to once again share this powerful and wise letter here... 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

Our daughters, Nancy and Little Sister Hallel/Susan, with John in Lourdes, France.

Little Sister Hallel had just taken the habit of the community of the Lamb and changed her name a few days before this taken in August of 2009... John, Nancy and I had gone to help her celebrate this huge step in her life! John had just been diagnosed with brain cancer and had just completed his second chemo and was better, so within 24 hours we decided that we would fly to France! We visited Lourdes and all bathed in the healing waters which miraculously flow from the spring where St Bernedett was told to dig in the mud! John said that the day was "very good" , and for him that is saying a lot! This past winter Pat and I were in a study group of a book written by Matthew Kelly called Rediscovering Catholicism... this paragraph on p48 is amazing and so wonderfully defends the choice of religious life but also the joys and beauty of this life! I quote: "In every age, there is a small number of men and women who are prepared to turn their backs on popular culture and personal gain to embrace heroically the life Jesus outlines in the Gospels. These people fashion Catholicism into a lifestyle, they listen attentively to the voice of God in their lives, and they passionately pursue their personal adventure of salvation. As a result, they capture the attention and fascinate the imaginations of everyone who crosses their path. Paradoxically, the modern world pities these people because it believes they are missing out on something. Never feel sorry for them. These men and women are the happiest people who ever lived. They are the saints. If the Church is to thrive in this modern era, it depends on men and women like these."

Sitting on the front porch of our home in Minneapolis - me and my friend Marge a few years after..

This was taken a few years after we met while attending welcome week at the U of M in 1970! I did not know at the time that Margie would be responsible for the rest of my life - my meeting and a year later marrying her brother, Pat... I have written many cards to her over the years telling her in every way possible that because of her I have my life. We will celebrate our 32 anniversary this summer, so she has been in my life more than not! Thank you Margie Rose/Raterra Rashana for being such a loyal and true friend... there is no doubt that you were put in my life by our loving forgiving Lord ! Your life growing up on the farm in Southwest Mn is now my life and our children's lives are blessed as a result! How I rejoice at the Lord's fingerprint on my life! Jesus I trust in You! Please bless my dear friend now and forever. Amen and Halleluia!

My sister Mary at the baptism of my daughter, Nancy Anna.. She is Godmother and my dad is baptizing

In 1982 my sister, Mary, came to help me while I was on bedrest with my second daughter... I had high blood pressure and was on bedrest, so Mary came to help me around the house with my 2 year old Ruth and help Pat milk the cows. She was a city girl like me, but fell in love with the farm and we loved having her with us! After Nancy was born on April 2 we asked Mary to be her Godmother. We realized after I was on my feet that she needed to move on, so tearfully she went up to live with my folks in TF. She eventually became a doctor's office nurse and on a blind date met her farmer, Gerry.... he was a dairy farmer in Wisconsin. They married and had a daughrer, Audrey.... When Audrey was 20 mo Mary died of Lymphoma... Gerry is now married to Cathy, who had 5 kids and her husband drowned in the river up there...

Snapping beans with the 5 klids as we are in Taylors Falls visiting my parents in the summer of 92

I was in the thick of bean harvest in my garden when I took my kids to spend some days in the summer with my parents... probably late July of 92... WE picked them and brought them along to snap at my parent's house. We have such wonderful memories of our days spent in Taylors Falls at their remodeled cape cod house up on Angel Hill. Now after 14 years of liiving on Lake Michigan in Manistique in the upper penninsula... my parents have bought a home on the St Croix River in St Croix Falls, Wi which is right across the river from Taylors... I am thrilled that now my parents will be close enough for me to go and see them for the day or for a few days much more often! I loved to go to the big lake, but so missed my parents being closer so that I could spend time with them! Thnak you Lord for this move and may they continue to be a wonderful presence in my life for years to come!

Pat's mom took this picture after milking the cows one morning shortly after we were married.

Typical old camera quality - this was after we were done milking the cows with the baby calves... with dairy calves...they are taken off of their mothers at birth so that you and I can drink the milk...they start out on a big bottle and then graduate to pails of milk. That was one of my jobs out there as well as giving each cow some protein to eat while Pat was moving down the line milking them. I also would help undo the headgate when he was done so that they could go out of the barn. Pat of the time I would sit on an upside down pail and watch him milk the cows and sometimes we would visit. I married a farmer and I found these times special to the point that when Ruth was born - I would bring her over and put her strapped in her infant seat close to the heater in the milk house... she was born Jan 4, 1980... Soon my in laws told me to bring her in the house and put her in the bed with them while I helped Pat... Ruthie got to know her grandparents really well and has early memories of waking up and seeing a certain light fixture over their bed and the warm feelings that go with snuggling with her loving grandparents morning after morning! They even took a movie of her first steps dressed in different outfits day after day that we have never seen! Got to do that someday! The early years were special for many!

Pat comes to visit me in the Cities as things slow down a bit on the farm - cross country skiing...

This picture was taken by my younger sister, Mary... she is now gone for 24 years due to cancer at the age of 28! Pat had come to visit me and we decided for him to wear one of my brother's boots and try cross country skiing for the first time! The boots were too small, but when Pat Verly is motivated to do something... nothing will prevent him! Boy, have I learned that to be a huge part of him after almost 32 years of marriage! He also likes to be rough and tumble and caused this fall to get some bodily contact and to tussle with me! Thank goodness for soft snow to fall in! The dating years were long distance and due to the demands of the farm - we dated maybe once every few weeks when he could certainly not every night or even once a week... at the busy times of the year it was even less, but Pat was very good about calling me on the phone and having long conversations about our lives... he gave me many lessons on the farm life in the middle of the nigh... when he would wake me up after he got in from work! I knew that when that phone would ring that it was my farmer! The thing about farming... similar to the Catholic Church... you never learn it all...there is always more to learn and my Patrick is very intelligent and very interested in it all!

I like to call this picture taken at our first Christmas....married 4 months....THE LOOK OF LOVE!

Her name Hallel means Joy- Halleluia.... she reflects that inner joy when she is singing...

Little Sister Hallel has shared that when others say her name they are praising God with the highest of praise and Joy! There are many Hallel psalms including the last 5 psalms - 145 thru 150 and the grand Hallels are in the center of the psalms. the word means tall in French also and Hallel being much taller than most...this is humorous to the community! As a mother I am happy for her choice to be with the community of the lamb to see her happiness and joy... her face lights up in a way that cannot be anything but genuine happiness!

Finally I leave the nest!

I loved being with my family so much that finally after I had become an nurse - 4 years of college and lived at home... got a job at Hennipen County Medical center on the Neurolgoy station... and just went along day to day at home with my family including 10 yonger siblings... One day my mom asked me if I had ever thought of getting my own place... Oh, I tought... that is maybe something I should think about. I then rented a third floor of a house just a block from my parents' home. It was great! Close to my beloved family...yet my own place!

John with Bertha at the State Fair a few years back

Bertha took reserve champion with her calf in the cow-calf division a couple times for John at the State Fair... You can always count on Bertha! 4 H was a wonderful thing for our kids... It was the one time that they learned about livestock on a day to day basis with their dad. They also learned a lot of life skills including how to present themselves in front of people... this has developed into John's future wishes for a life profession... Ag and presenting himself to large groups of people however that all comes together... Lord hear our prayer for a long and bright future for John with you always number one in his life!

Two 5 month losses - both boys born after John - buried at the cemetary

William and John would have been very close in age - about 14 months... I went in for my 5 month check up and the heartbeat couldn't be found... an ultrasound revealed that he had died... I had some scary miscahrriages, so the thought of carrying him til I "lost" him was terrifying to me. I went through a 5 month abortion procedure to deliver my son. I had a postagladin suppository inserted and went through a horrible experience with pain and chills to deliver our tiny son,William. I held him wrapped in a blanket, and Pat and I shed tears at what could have been. It was winter and the ground was frozen...we took him home in a small box and put it in the freezer.. So hard to open it and face him and have the memories and tears come flooding me again. About two years later the same thing unexplainably happened... We lost Robert the same time and way... "It looks like his cord is fatally kinked." It was earth shattering to face another loss of a son and brother for John here on this earth... WE know that we have these children to be united with someday! These and the other 4 lost along the jounrney of our "nest". I feel that they were both the best and the worst years of my life! How I prayed that the Lord would give me one more child after John so that the world would see visible truth that "no, we were't just trying for our boy and that is why we ended up with 5 children! We were open to family!" Yet I am flooded with peace and even joy to know that all our children are with us whether here on earth and in heaven! I have named each of my children in heaven... Christopher lost between Ruth and Nancy, Thomas lost when my sister Mary died of Lymphoma in 1986, Joseph lost before John, William and Robert lost at 5 mo after John, and Mary lost at 3 1/2 mo in 1994. The prayer for them of their mother is a powerful experience for me as I remember them daily and many times feel that they are up there keeping me on the straight and narrow as much as possible. All I know is that I must need a lot of help to have that small spiritual army in heaven....

John and his 4 sisters.... When asked the family he wants someday... "I want 4 girls and a boy!'

Our 9 precious grandchildren, with another one on the way

I got a call today from daughter number 3 that I needed to update my grandchildren picture - the number had doubled since... So here are the 9 together with Hallel when she visited in April. Ruth has 4 with another on the way - Simon age 8, Mary age 7, David soon to be 5, and Rose 13 months. Nancy has Augustine 2, and Bernadette 7 months. Maria has 3 children... Therese 5, David 3, and Patrick 8 months! So this is almost a complete picture except for Maria's two losses due to miscarriage, who are in heaven. We love all life we have been blessed with here and in heaven, and pray for each daily. Guardian Angels watch out for them. Jesus, we Trust in YOU.

An interesting fact about the cows and calves in the pastures... Cow trails...

These two pairs are demostrating how they all walk in the same path or trail...If you look on the other side of the hill above them you can see a cow trail that they use on that side of the pasture. When you go out and walk in the pasture... you will see these paths that are very much used to the point that they are deep and there is no grass growing in them just like a well used people trail gets to be. On a very steep hill there can be teraces of many cow trails along the side where they will go single file like these two moms with their calves following along behind... I did see some of the calves get tired of the slow pace and run ahead, but it is obvious, when you see the trails,that the cows use them for the most part to get from one place in the pasture to another. How my husband loves to see them out there in the lush grass getting fat off of the grass that grows where no crops can due to the up and down land or the creeks that run through them and are also important for the cows and calves to get the water they need just like every living creature! My husband's idea of a romantic evening is to go out on the 4 wheeler or the pickup to look at the cows and calves in the 6 different pastures that we have! The kids have fond memories of going out to look at the cows in the back of the pickup - great vacation/family time!

It doesn't get much cuter than this - Ruth Ida Rose with a forever remembered baby kitty...

The Net team stops by as they come to the end of their year of serving Catholic Youth!

Our nephew, Sam Cross, has taken a year out of his life to work on the National Evagelical Team - they are Catholic Youth in their late teens and early 20s that travel the country in a van giving retreats to youth everywhere! Their homebase in St Paul, but they have traveled from coast to coast this last year and they themselves are from many places in the country and even a girl from Netherlands! In the picture Sam is standing all the way to the left by John. He lived with us a summer and learned about the farm and was in 4 H and FFA here. He showed cattle and pigs at the county fair and then went up to the State Fair with his projects and then worked in the Miracle of Birth barn for a couple of summers. Sam is a special nephew! He also has done many TEC retreats after he said yes to our request that he make a retreat and absolutely fell in love with TEC! Now he has taken it a step further in serving on this traveling retreat team with his guitar and wonderful joyful spirit... touching many youth along with the 10 youth that are on the team with him. Just before this picture was taken... Sam had given them rides back and forth on the loader to "see" the cows and farm scenes... Sitting to the far right of the tractor in the loader bucket is a girl from Minnesota named, Sarah. We struck up a conversation in the kitchen while I was cleaning up after the meal that we had shared... She started the conversation by asking me if I had always lived in Mn... I thought that I would wow her by starting off by saying; "No, actually I was born in Boston, Mass!" Her reply; "So was I!" That was a start of the most amazing give and take between us! We share so much in common and mostly I thought that she was probably me about 40 years ago when I was a new Catholic and so in love with EVERYTHING about the Catholic Church! She shared that her family of 4 girls and one boy and both of her parents converted from Episcopal to Catholic and why would you belong anywhere but the True Church!? ! Wow! I was blown away to meet someone on this long journey I have been on that is at the same place I was at that age! All of these youth are so amazing and I hope and pray and am really confident that they have touched deeply and positively many youth on their trek across the country! I asked the girl from Netherlands about the Catholic Church in her country... I have heard that it barely exists any more and she agreed that only the old attend church and otherwise those that are Catholic like her go with their families at EAster and Christmas... her friend told her that she would do the NET as she had done ahead of her and now a young person is returning to this country without God... filled with love and knowledge of her Church - Jesus and His Mother - It was a wonderful hour and a half and gave me so much hope for the Church and how the grassroots are strong and spreading our faith far and wide! Thank you Lord for all the work that is taking place in your church and please continue to use me and all those that are listening to and answering your call! Amen and Halleluia!

John the actor and his love of the stage and being in front of people - It was a fun ride!

This was John doing the "She thinks my tractor is attractive" skit for Arts In at the county fair in 4H a few years back... It is just so fun to see him in his element and it always amazed us to see how relaxed he was up there. Not like any of the rest of us! Now he hopes to take that love of the stage and put it along with his Ag background into some type of a job for his future... It will certainly be interesting to follow along and now with a year overcoming brain cancer and all that has meant for him... it has certainly taken him to a deeper and more compassionate place... We all await what the future will bring... Thank you John for all the FUN we have had following you as you share the joy with us on stage! It has been a fun ride! Jesus we know that you are in control of John's life and have a wonderful plan just for him! Jesus we trust in You!

Oh happy day! Another fun time with John...

First with a talent show at the Catholic School doing...Oh happy day from Sister Act and then again for 4 H share the fun... Finally with chior robes that we found at the Thrift store and with his sister, Maria, and cousins, Sam and Phil Cross... we enjoy the fun at Christmas camp. John even put it on for Easter when we went to visit Maria in the monastery. We shared a meal through the enclosure and John did the entertainment for all of us by putting on a chior robe and lip sincing.... Oh happy day for all of us... it was great entertainment that was good over and over!

He who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Jn 8:12

I came across this inside of a long letter that our daughter, Maria, had written daily to share her experience with us as she went from a Poor Clare Monastery in Sauk Rapids, Mn to one close to Washington DC... It was so hard to think that she could go so far away to a cloistered monastery... where we would have to go and see her there and never get a hug as she would be in the "enclosure". It was to the point of her entering and the mother superior asked her to write a letter saying that this was the right thing for her to do... she couldn't write it and was back home! We were shocked and amazed! After saying goodbye to her life... she returned and embraced it! I will never forget her out helping put the cows and calves out to pasture and saying how wonderful it was to be out there... Now that was a miracle! So often on this journey we have been weak, depressed, scared and lost... The image of Jesus picking up the weak lost lamb is so often coming to me... This is wonderful to be able to share here with all of you that are upholding us in prayer!

A miracle! We make it to France in the midst of John's brain cancer and after a brain biopsy!

One of my favorite pictures from France...Susan helping John walk through the rain down a path at Saint-Pierre. They have always had a close relationship... Susan was 3 1/2 years older than John... I lost two pregnancies between them and it was never kept from the kids... we all grieved together at the losses. Susan was thrilled with her little brother from day one. She was constantly caring for him and watching out for him. We have a family story that Susan saved John's life... I will save that for a later date to share. John discovered in France that he could walk at a normal speed leaving his walker behind and having someone under his weak side. I think that he enjoyed the closeness also. We were in France and it was totally due to prayer!

The way of the cross - Cancer strikes our 20 year old son!

John at Lourdes with his two sisters... LS Hallel in the habit she had just received as a new member of the community of the Lamb and Nancy. From the back as they support their brother it looks like he is on the cross. After the news about two months earlier that he had brain cancer and then the ataxia on his left side as a result of the biopsy they had to do to diagnose it... It certainly a cross like no other we could have ever imagined! Beyond our wildest nightmares! Just the day before we left for France he was able to get to the bathroom by himself for the first time! We could go to France to see his sister join the community, and go to Lourdes and bath in the miraculous and healing waters under the watchful care of our most Blessed Virgin Mother of God... Mary Most Holy! John truly turned from a heavy heart to one of hope at this point in the journey.

Little Sister Hallel here for Thanksgiving and spent a week with John.

A group shot over at Ruth and Paul's place... Little Sister Hallel - Susan here for a week. Took John back and forth to radiation, and we then had a family Thanksgiving up in the Cities with her other two sisters that live in ST Paul... Getting ready to head back to Kansas City. That is where she is living for the next year in the only community here in the US... Community of the Lamb... pictured are from left to right... Paul Lanoue, Ruth Lanoue, Little Sister Hallel, her dad Pat and John Verly. In front Mary with her kitty Purrrrrrs.