Family time... is a slice of heaven...

Balancing Gus while the apple corer pealer is twirling and David is "helping...." takes a lot of concentration, but grandma loves the resulting photo in Ruth's beautiful new kitchen. 

Now Gus is in the Johnny jumper as the ever helpful Davey is there to "help."

Aunt Ruthie found some shades for Gus... he is in the sun part of the time, so...

Gus prefers lying on the floor in the midst of the action, and really likes when Davey comes and gives him hugs and kisses, or just some attention from that cute big cousin...I can read Gus's mind..."He loves me a lot... He's always smiling at me, and giving me a lot of hugs and kisses... He makes me smile!"

Simon and Mary come home and they get some time with the corer pealer... Simon is a pro as he has run that "turning thing" since he was 2!  For Simon... anything that turns is the BEST!

Mary discovered that slicing an apple this way... it tastes really good!  "Mom, can we just leave them out so that we can cut our apples this way every day?"  "No, sorry."

Such a beautiful day!  Let's go for an adventure!  "Yes!!!!!"

Gus really likes the idea..."Let's GO!!!"

Down the path to the pasture... the boys bring their bikes.

Cats too... they like to go for a walk on a beautiful November day too!  "What happened to the water in the creek?" 

That's what 4 months without rain will do... it is called a drought, but we still love the beautiful weather day after day!

Walking on a cow trail in the shadows of the late afternoon sun...

The farm boys are excited to harvest some corn that they missed from the field by the pasture...

Very serious about their farming!

Our pasture adventure leads us to a huge cottonwood tree that had been blown over, roots and all, by the storm on July 1st!  Quite a sight and fun to explore. 

Cute Gus smile and all the other activity.  This is the only way this tree could ever have been "climbed."  Too bad, but kind of special for our "adventure."

I like the goofiness and craziness of this one... it speaks of the continual motion of life and how unpredictable it all is... So true of our day to day lives and especially when you have 4 under 7 a part of it! 

A wonderful gift of a day and family time together!

Grandpa's hat and hand...

You know how much I love clothesline pictures... but with Gus and Nancy helping... heaven!

It's a bit windy and cold on little hands, so mom warms them... Let's go see the calves and the bales!

The bales... you've seen one... you've seen them all.  But...

the calves are pretty darn interesting and they smell interesting too!

Or is it the calves that think that Gus is the interesting new and different thing?

"MMMMMMMMMMMM  He smells interesting too!"

Gus, you look kind of peaceful and comfortable in that feed bunk, or are you just praying for protection?  Just don't put that hand full of feed in your mouth.  Lord, thank you for this last day with our daughter and her son... how we love to share our wonderful life on the farm with them canning food, going for adventures in the pasture with cousins, sharing meals with grandpa, going out to put clothes on the line in a breezy cool day and then the cows and calves at feeding time, but most of all the time that we can laugh and visit and get to know this newest member of our family, and the beautiful LIGHT he is!  We are so blessed and carry forth the warmth of the love and sharing of FAMILY, FAITH, and FARM!  Jesus, we are so grateful for our lives and the beauty of our domestic Church - our family, and this slice of heaven here on earth!  Jesus, we trust in you!  Amen and Halleuia!

Bless-bless, Barb

Psalm 8

ALL: O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth! * You have exalted your name above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you have fashioned praise because of your foes, / to silence the hostile and the vengeful. When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, / the moon and the stars which you set in place: What is man that you should be mindful of him, / or the son of man that you should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, / and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, / putting all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, / yes, and the beasts of the field. The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea, / and whatever swims the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, / how glorious is your name over all the earth! Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost, As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be / world without end. Amen.
Antiphon
ALL: How manifold are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have wrought them all; / the earth is full of your creatures.

A light to the world...

After finishing the pie filling job.. we had to get out and enjoy the glorious day.  Gus beamed at grandma from his mother's arms with the harvested field behind them and the fall landscape... truly a light to our world!  Lord, thank you for the gift of Nancy's little boy, how she waited and prayed for him for many lonely years!  He is very wanted and loved!  He knows it and his happiness and contetment is flowing out over the world around him!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless

"he set it on his shoulders with great joy." The lost sheep!

Last night before we left to teach faith formation... I was drawn outside by the setting sun, and once again this morning the rising sun set the shadows on the buildings... I love the shadow world!  It is the sun painting a portrait of life.  Today pondering the way the Lord pursues us to come to him in our weak state... the lost sheep we are!  Jesus, never let us go... lost in the desert...

We cast large shadows in the rising sun... we are his with all our burdens!  The beginning of each new day brings hope to us.  Many times during the dark of night - the weight of the world seems too much and we toss and turn in our hardships.  Many times we drift off to sleep and are surprised to wake and discover that those huge weights are now much more manageable in the light of a new day.  We are propelled into action and charge forward into the battle of life armed with our spiritual armor!

The soft colors of late fall in the rising sun... the heifers in the front pasture breathing their clouds of breath into the frosty air... reminding us of the precious gift of life - so precious to God!  I am reminded of the psalm ...56: 8"You have kept count of my tossings;[a]put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?"  So in keeping with our knowledge of how He watches over us in all that life gives to us!

Thank you Lord for all the magesty that meets us in your world.  We ask that the same beauty and peace may come to us within our domestic church - our homes!  Today our prayers were met as Ruth went in for an ultrasound and saw her newest gift of life is perfect "with little arms and legs and heart beating."  We are filled with wonder and awe!  Maria, too, has called us this week with news of a new life coming!  Now Nancy and 5 month old Gus are on their way to spend 24 hours with us... safe travels, Lord! Guardian Angels watch out for them!  We trust and praise you!  Hallel reminded me that this would be a year of praise for me in all things!  Praise YOU, I love you and give you  my life and all my fears!  I am your lamb, and I love to be carried upon your shoulders as you rejoice in my staying there always!  Jesus, I trust in you!  Amen and Halleluia!

Bless-bless, Barb

"Brothers and sisters:  None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.  For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord: so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.  For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.  Why then do you judge your brother or sister?  Or you, why do you look down on your brother or sister?  For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of God; for it is written:

As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall give praise to God."

Romans 14:7-12  The first reading in the Church today!  We shall all come together in eternal joy in His Presence!  Jesus, we trust in you!

Thinking of Lisa...

My thoughts and prayers are many times throughout the day with a 23 year old girl in her last days of life.  This is a picture that I entered in a hospice photo contest and I wrote about how hospice allows familiies to help their loved ones walk pain free into the sunset of their lives.  Not only pain free, but also freeing the family of many fears and burdens so that they can spend quality time with their loved one at the end.  Then there is that most important spiritual part that enters in... Lord, hold Lisa and her family in the palm of your hand.  Jesus, we trust in you!  Calm the storm and bring peace.  Amen

Purgartory is REAL!

This lamb is on the front of the altar at the Cathedral Church in New Ulm... of course it takes my thoughts to Hallel and her community, but it also reminds me of the sacrifice of Christ and that He asks us to follow his example... in order to obtain eternal life we need to give all and to live according to His Word of Truth!  That is hard to do always, or even most of the time.  We fail a lot!  So as Pope Benedict points out on this All Souls day... we had better hope and pray that there is truly a Purgatory, so that we can be with HIM in eternal life and find True Happiness!

Quoting our wise pope..."Today people have become used to thinking: what is sin?  God is great, he knows us, so sin does not count: in the end God will be kind to us all.  It is a beautiful hope.  But both justice and true guilt exist.  Those who have destroyed man and the earth cannot suddenly sit down at God's table together with their victims.  God creates justice.  We must keep this in mind... Purgatory... for me is an obvious truth, so evident and also necessary and comforting that it could not be absent..."

"A great many of us hope that there is something in us that can be saved, that there may be in us a final desire to serve God and serve human beings, to live in accordance with God.  Yet there are very many wounds, there is so much filth.  We need to be prepared, to be purified.  This is our hope: even with so much dirt in our souls, in the end the Lord will give us the possibility, he will wash us at last with his goodness that comes from the cross.

"In this way he makes us capable of being for him in eternity...  Therefore, we must also speak of sin and of the sacrament of forgiveness and reconcilliation.  A sincere person knows that he is guilty, that he must start again, and that he must be purified.  And this is the marvelous reality which the Lord offers us: there is a chance of renewal, of being new.

"The Lord starts with us again and in this way we can also start again with the others in our life.  This aspect of renewal,of the resurrection of our being after so many errors, so many sins, is the great promise, the great gift the Church offers but which psychotherapy,for example, cannot offer....  WE can be healed.  Souls that are wounded and ill, as everyone knows by experience, not only need advise but true renewal, which can only come from God's power, the power of the Crucified Love.  I feel that this is the important connection of the mysteries which in the end truly affect our lives."  Pope Benedict XVI

I would like to share how I pray for my dead... I use the chaplet of divine mercy that has been given to us from the Lord through St Faustina....there are many sites I found to help you learn how to say this prayer on your rosary beads...  http://www.catholicity.com/prayer/divinemercy.html 

I pray for my dead, and I also find it hugely powerful to lift up all those that have died or are dying, who have no one to pray for them!  Jesus, I love you and thank you for this beautiful Truth - Purgatory - It reveals to us your unconditional and infinite LOVE for us.  We are sinners and need your forgiveness, to overcome our sin, and come to you as pure as we should be to enter into your presence, and live with you in eteranl joy in heaven!  May the continued praying for those that we have loved on this earth and have gone before us... lift us past our selfish sinful ways and keep our eyes, hearts and minds on heaven!  We love you and long to be with you for eternity with all of our family around us!  Jesus,we trust in you!  Amen and Halleluia!

Bless-bless, Barb

"I would go so far as to say that if there was no purgatory, then we would have to invent it, for who would dare to say of himself that he was able to stand directly before God.  And yet we don't want to be, to use an image from scripture,'a pot that turned out wrong,' that has to be thrown away; we want to be able to be put right.  Purgatory basically means that God can put the pieces back together again.  That he can cleanse us in such a way that we are able to be with him and can stand there in the fullness of life.  Purgatory strips off from one person what is unbearable and from another the inability to bear certain things, so that in each of them a pure heart is revealed, and we can see that we all belong together in one enormous symphony of being."  Pope Benedict XVI

WE take heart in the Gospel for today... Jesus speaks these words to our hearts and spirits today in John 6!

"Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.  For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life,and I shall raise him on the last day."

John 6: 37-40

The two grandkids now are living in Texas with their army dad, and stay at home mom... just got word that they are expecting a new baby after their loss by mischarriage in May... Jesus, we trust in you and lift the baby up to you for safety.

Words of the saints to us...

Hungry hungry heifers standing at the fence in the sun...They appear to be hanging on every amazing word that comes from the mouths of the saints!  This is All Saints Day... just back from a wonderful mass at the Catholic School in which our 1st grade grandson, Simon, had a part.  In our morning and evening prayer book... see www.magnificat.com ... there is a section in which many saints are quoted and I picked out some to bless us with on this their special day!  It is also little sister Hallel's feast day..."Mom, on all saints day... all the beloved of God are around their throne praising him to the highest heavens - Halleluia!  So that is why this is the day that I have been given for my feast day!"  Happy feast day, Hallel!

"Jesus must increase; I must decrease." St John the Baptist

"I have see the Lord!"  St Mary Magdalene

"The greatest grace God can give someone is to send him a trial he cannot bear with his own powers - and then sustain him with his grace so he may endure to the end and be saved."  St Justin Martry

"To die for Christ is not to sacrifice one's youth, but to renew it.  Jesus Christ returns a hundred-fold for all offered him, and adds to it eternal life."  St Cecelia - virgin martyr

The little family had to come to see grandma,while she worked at the nursing home last night.  They made grandma and the residents happy! 

"Every soul who has believed both conceives and generates the Word of God and recognizes his works.  Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you to magnify the Lord."   St Ambrose

"What is more delightful than this voice of the Lord calling to us?  See how the Lord in his love shows us the way of life."  St Benedict

"May I feel in my heart, as far as possible, that abundance of love with which you, Son of God, were inflamed."

St Francis of Assisi

"When we love something we don't care what sort of abuse or injury or pain we might have to endure to get it; we are concerned only with satisfying our desire for the thing we love." St Catherine of Siena

"Be joyful for there is someone who loves God as he deserves, who knows him as her only Son." 

St Theresa of Avila speaking about our Spiritual Mother, Mary

The first grade sings... The Saints go marching in... There was a beautiful opening to mass where about 10 of the children each presented a life of a saint from St Rose of Lima to St Francis... after that we were reminded that the Lord is asking each of us to become saints and to do something great in the world for the kingdom of God!  It was so special, and really made all of us think!

"You considered that one hair fluttering at my neck; You gazed at it upon my neck and it captivated You."  St John of the Cross

"The soul whom God wants to draw to deepest union with him by means of holy prayer must pass through the way of suffering during prayer."  St Paul of the Cross

Jesus, how blessed we are to have the saints with us on our journey here on earth.  May we gain wisdom and insight in how to humbly follow after you carrying our cross.  Jesus, we see how our lives can be transformed and the world changed by serving you with all we have! Jesus, use us to your honor and glory.. may be decrease so that you may increase and fill the world with your LIFE and LOVE!  Jesus, we trust in you!  Amen and Halleluia!

Bless-bless, Barb

"Jesus, I trust in you."  St Faustina

"If the soul longs for nothing else than to love its God, then don't worry and be quite sure that this soul possesses everything, and it possesses God himself."  St Pio of Pietrelcina  All you saints pray for us!

The other grandkids were not with us for Halloween... 5 month old Gus was a prized Pittsburg Steeler football player, but mostly just a sweet loving baby boy that loves to smile and coo..

Therese told me on the phone today, after her mommy told me that she was expecting a new baby... that she was a" mommy" for Halloween.  I don't have a picture of that, but I do have a picture of a small tub like pool in the back yard of their home in Texas... I am invisioning many hours spent cooling, and playing many adventures here in the hot Texas weather year round.