Chocolates that melt my heart!

Those big brown eyes are so familiar - my little Eskimo baby - Nanuk of the North!  Augustine has his momma's chocolate brown eyes - so big and dark brown and so ready to close at breakfast after mass... that is until grandma started feeding him his first pancake with syrup!  He realized how wonderful big people food is, and perked up before our eyes!  I think I mashed up almost a whole pancake and fed it to him... Yummy! 

Blowing bubbles even looks cute with those big brown chocolate eyes and that smiling teddy on your sweatshirt and your face!  You melt me Augustine William!  Such a gift to your grandma!  Bless-bless

Godfather Paul thinks that you are pretty great too! And it is nice that you had a clean face this time too... 

Reflecting on the glowing sunset, and the beautiful chocolate eyes at sunset!

Just an ordinary Sunday...

The sun was setting and beckoning us outside for some photos with the two little boys and a kitty stuck in Davey's pocket...  Too fun!  I am still a bit foggy after switching back to being up and around on days.  I realized that I missed mentioning the Gospel from Saturday, which was the same one that was read on Father's day 2009 - the day that we took John into the ER here in Marshall and found out that there was something "abnormal" in his brain!  It is the story of Jesus in the boat sleeping in the stern of the boat - thinking about how exhausted he was leaving the crowds on the shore and crossing over to the other side!  One thing that I am noticing as we read through Mark these last few weeks is that there are always huge crowds of people around him - pushing and shoving and he is healing and preaching the Gospel of Life and healing to them!  It always seems like there is hardly any way to move and he is always in the midst of this huge need!  "Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus in the boat just as he was."  Does this mean that he was staggering tired after all the ways that he ministered to the crowd?  No wonder he fell asleep and was not aware of the storm, and to suddenly..."They woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?'  He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Quiet!  Be still!'  The wind ceased and there was a great calm."  Mark 4:35-41 

We experienced that feeling as though Christ were sleeping and not caring about our welfare... we were reminded by little sister Hallel in France - we called her to give her the news of this shocking revelation before we headed down to get another more precise scan in Sioux Falls.  "Mom, do you remember what the Gospel was today?"  Little Sister Hallel asked me..."Well, this is the storm and Jesus is in control."  He cannot be defeated by darkness or the storm!  Jesus, can command all those forces that are trying to overwhelm us or pull us under!  Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

"Then they came to Capernum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.  The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority.."  Mark 1: 21-28 The Gospel for today reminds us that Christ is the Word come to earth to show us the path to eternal life!  How we love to listen to His Word with our hearts, minds and souls!  We never stop growing or learning!  Thank you, Lord!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vj0qKthCgg&feature=related... this U tube story is amazing the testimony of a atheist professor, who had a near death experience and went to hell - he forever changed and is now a minister!  This made me take to heart to pray and truly work hard to help those in my life that do not believe!  I need to be more serious about this prayer and more!  Watch this and see how he cries every time he remembers the experience with the demons!  So powerful!

ST Thomas Aquinas and family!

While I have been working overnight - Pat has been in charge of Ruth's kids and now Nancy, Bill and Augustine along with John are home to take over.  So with family to go and see... I just wanted to share this amazing link about St Thomas today -

http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/444/Why_the_Cross_Exemplifies_every_Virtue__Thomas_Aquinas.html

So powerful and wonderful!

Silly jumping picture...  I can't resist using the amazing words of St Thomas to share the key to happiness ..."The Cross is a remedy, for, in the face of all the evils which we incur on account of our sins, we have found relief through the passion of Christ. Yet, it is no less an example, for the passion of Christ completely suffices to fashion our lives. Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue.

If you seek the example of love: Greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life for his friends. Such a man was Christ on the cross. And if he gave his life for us, then it should not be difficult to bear whatever hardships arise for his sake.
f you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth. Therefore Christ’s patience on the cross was great. In patience let us run for the prize set before us, looking upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before him, bore his cross and despised the shame.
If you seek an example of humility, look upon the crucified one, for God wished to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die.
If you seek an example of obedience, follow him who became obedient to the Father even unto death. For just as by the disobedience of one man, namely, Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, many were made righteous.
If you seek an example of despising earthly things, follow him who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Upon the cross he was stripped, mocked, spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns, and given only vinegar and gall to drink.
Do not be attached, therefore, to clothing and riches, because they divided my garments among themselves. Nor to honors, for he experienced harsh words and scourgings. Nor to greatness of rank, for weaving a crown of thorns they placed it on my head. Nor to anything delightful, for in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."

Jesus, we embrace your Most Cherished Cross and realize that through it we find LIFE and learn to LOVE as we are called to as followers of you!  Thank you for the beauty of the Tree of Life - the Cross - it is covered with fruit of every type and color, leaves and branches as we allow the seeds to be planted  in fertile soil and to grow 100 fold!  Jesus, we trust in you!  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

"In a similar way man puts no measure in his faith, his hope, and his charity, but the more he believes, hopes, and loves, so much the better man he is.  That is why it is said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength." Dt 6: 5" 

ST Thomas Aquinas (1274) Doctor of the Church...

more quotes

" Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand."

" How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God."

Upside down world...

Finding these gift pictures taken a year ago of Mary out with her Snowball.  She was easier to find as she was with just another 20 heifers in a seperate lot... now she is with over 120 cows waiting to have their calves in about a month.  It is quite a job for Mary and I to find her, but a few weeks ago we did.  I promised a friend that I wouldn't whine about working overnights at the nursing home, I am such a person that goes to bed early and loves to sleep at night... that it is hugely hard for me to turn my world upside down by working all night and sleeping in the daylight!  I just don't feel normal again for quite a while.  I give my sister, Paula, huge credit in all the years she has worked full time nights as an RN in a huge nursing home up in the Cities.  She has weekends and days off and has managed to come and join the living during the day without any signs that she is having to regain normalcy!  Paula you are amazing and I wish that I could be half as accepting and adapting as you are!  The title of this entry - upside down world - could be something much more major than working nights and sleeping days... many people have much more major things turning their world upside down!  I have a bad habit of watching the celebrity news that comes on after the news at night... and they live a false and screwed up life- filled with empty values and throw away friendships and marriages!  The children that are born into this priviledged and false world have so much that keeps them from the TRUTH!

Why are we so interested in these sad cases of lives out of control?  It makes me curious but sad to watch how fame, wealth, beauty, and all the things that the world tells us will bring us happiness... is the wide road to the total opposite, complete and utter misery - hell, to be blunt!  I will never forget that Pat confronted this head on lately and also our speaker on Sunday - Mary Ann Kuharski..."No, I don't just want my kids to be happy!  There is false happiness!  I want my kids to get to heaven!"  So wise and so true!  Jesus, thank you for the Truth that leads to eternal life!  I pray this night for all those that are blinded by celebrity and are living for the false happiness and all the attempts to find happiness in things and appearance.  That is the main reason that I found such happiness working as a hospice nurse - it takes everything false out of the picture- when you are dying all that matters is your faith and your family!  All that truly matters in this world!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

The Seed that Grows

"God's omnipotence always works through compassion.  It is precisely God's Glory that makes him the Father of the destitute.  His glory becomes their shelter, their home, their destined abode for all eternity.

Our business, then as Christians and as contemplatives

-perhaps our only business- is to work tirelessly at becoming destitute and needy orphans and widows who rely only on the mercy, goodness, and power of God...

Christian life is at bottom about being continually rejuvenated and re-created by the power of the Spirit; but this cannot happen automatically: we must  want to be made young and new again and cooperated in this process...

The authentic Christian is the person whose heart is perpetually open like the good earth to receive all these seeds of the Word into itself and to water them with tears of love and compunction and desire, in order to allow them to come to full harvest in the Lord's sight."

E. Leiva-Merikakis... Brother Simeon

Happy 2nd birthday John Patrick!!

Happy second birthday dearest John!

Just before we headed to Rochester for John's stem cell - we gathered as a family to see the new little David Joseph baptized!  I am working overnight at the nursing home tonight, and know that I won't be up to posting in the morning on John's 2nd birthday as the result of his stem cell transplant after dropping the bomb on his immune system - he had to take his baby shots over!  So I went back to our enties in caringbridge for the day of his transplant.... so I have added them to share our feelings on this monumental day... now 2 days later without cancer we know that the seeds were good and were planted on good soil - the prayers are watering the seeds now and always! 

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 6:17 AM, CST


"The guys are in John's room on the transplant station here in Methodist hospital... trying to sleep for a few hours as the IV fluids run in... John is showing his nerves in unconscious ways... his usual amazing ability to sleep any and all the time escaped him during the night. "I didn't sleep at all!" greeted us when the alarm went off at 4:45a.
We prayed in his room and blessed him with Lourdes water... when his dad blesses him... he pours the water on his head... morning prayer with each of our prayers voiced out loud... some tears when we prayed that the stem cells may "joyfully reenter his body" and head staight to the bone marrow and start the healing John needs and wants... "for the end of the cancer." brought a flood of tears... also when John prayed that he could leave "jumping and leaping and praising God!"
The picture today will be of a very beautiful and peaceful scene that Pat and I came across yesterday... we traveled over an hour out of Rochester almost to Wisconsin... Pat had been looking at a used tractor on line, and so we took a trip to see it first hand. We have a new appreciation of the river bluff area you pass through to get to Caledonia, Mn.
Very beautiful with the white landscape and the hills rising up as a backdrop and charming farms nestled in the landscape. This one with its picturesque red barn and horses in the back... always have an eye out for those for granddaughter, Mary... age 3 1/2. She is starting to save nickles, dimes and pennies to "buy a horsey". Our favoite book... Cowardly Clyde... it went from the fast version to the actual reading of the words only in the last year...
Tears shed also as we talked about the wonderful times that I was allowed to have with the 3 grandkids that live close to us in Marshall... how much I love them and they love grandma... Now they are blessed with Paul's mom (grandma Lanoue) watching them when Ruth has to work.... and I have heard that Mary is read to to her heart's content...I told Pat...."I bet I cried like this when our kids grew older... those young years are so precious and special!" I guess you could say... I am feeling emotional!
John will have IV fluid til about 9:30a... he will get some premeds at 9a, and then the stem cells will be returned taking about an hour... So around 9:30a-10:30a special prayers for the stem cells to "joyfully" enter his body and go to work... returning John to LIFE... life without cancer, and many years ahead to a ripe old age! His new birthday of resurrection to new life... Jesus we love you and ask you to hold John in the palm of your hand. Raise him as you did your friend, Lazarus!
In morning prayer the beautiful picture of our Lord as the good shepherd... From Isaiah40..."Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; In his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care." The three of us need you to carry us, Lord, through this dark valley of the unknown. Jesus we trust in You. Amen and Alleluia! The Verlys
In thinking about granddaughter, Mary.... A humorous story to lighten our moods and hearts... Our daughter, Ruth (Mary's mom) was talking to Pat on the phone one day. Mary was walking past her and Pat could hear Ruth say: "Mary what are you up to?" "Don't worry about it mom." was her responce as she walked towards her bedroom with a handfull of cookies. "Talk on the phone mom." ONe of those times as a parent that you hear the words you say yourself... come back to you in the voice of one of your children. Needless to say that the cookies were rescued after Ruth got off the phone... but has discovered that Mary has little secret places for "staches" in her room...
When all the candy canes were missing off the Christmas tree the first morning after they were put on their... as high as a 3 and 5 year old could reach... and one was stuck to the 1 1/2 year old's PJ... a pile was eventually found in Mary's room. Hope this family antics lighten your day as they do ours... Maybe Mary thinks she can sell her piles of goodies for money to buy her horsey? I think it is called a "sweet tooth" however!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:55 AM, CST





The "seeds" have been planted! Every last one of the 4.94 million are carefully returned to John and they "home" into his bone marrow and produce...."bear fruit thirty, sixty and a hundredfold."Mark4:20....How joyfully we exclaimed when two different nurses called his stem cells "seeds". The whole thing took only 15 min!
At 6a this morning we read the Gospel of the day together... Mark 4:1-20 The sower and the "seed". Now we truly know that our Lord... the Savior Farmer is with us and in control of the planting for John's good health and long life! Jesus we trust in You! Thanks for all of your amazing support... You all are our angels! Pat, Barb and John at Methodist Hospital in Rochester "

Thank you Lord for the healing of our son... we lift him up to you and ask that you show him the path to follow as he carries the banner of life forward!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

The two Davids two years ago...

The Gospel for today - Jan 27. 2012!!!!

Jesus said to the crowds: "This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.  Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.  And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come."

He said, "To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?  It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.  But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky dwell in its shade."

Mark 4: 26-34

Yes, Lord!  The seed has taken root and flourished!  WE thank and praise you on this the feastday of NEW and RESURRECTED LIFE! 

The lamp on the lampstand!

Looking back two years with a big reason!

Maria had just given birth to little Dave a month before... as we were wrapping up John's 6 weeks of radiation as we stayed at their house each night. 

There have been 3 new grandchildren since this taken 2 years ago... two are in heaven and one is with us, and two new ones are on the way...

grinding snow through the front tire of the tractor... it was a snowy winter two years ago...cold and white!

So pretty!!!!!!!!  I think this was just before we headed to Rochester knowing that we would possibly be there for up to 2 months with John's stem cell transplant.  Tomorrow is John's second birthday - the tests were over, the collection of stem cells was done, the chemo was wrapping up today, tomorrow we checked in and the very BIG occassion happened - John's stem cells came into the room in a small innocent looking bag... along with 3 nurses!  This was a big deal!  This was the rebirth of John!  So many prayers were being prayed that day! 

This morning I was curious to go back to caringbridge and remember the kind of day we had - getting mentally and spiritually and physically prepared for our stem cell the next day!  Pat was there too!  I cut and pasted our entry for the 26th...

"It is a different day... Pat took John in this morning for his usual check up. It is nice to have a day off from the running, and Pat takes the role of the caregiver today. John continues to feel well, and ate a good breakfast along with the numerous antibiotics and antifungals that he takes morning and night. He is as of this morning off of steroids once again, so his energy level will drop along with the increasing damage to his cells from the chemo... so far we are enjoying the "good" days with him.

Pat will also be here in the morning... when we head in at 5a for the stem cell transplant... His new birtday arrives bright and early... I have a bunch of birthday candles in the cupboard for a week from now... but I might have to break out a few for tomorrow! Please prayer warriors ...we need you with us tomorrow for the big day of "resurrection"!

John prayed for all of you this morning; "Bless all the people praying for me. Give them the graces that I have been blessed with along this journey." Those graces include: HUMILITY, compassion, gentleness, humor, acceptance, courage, trust, loving attitude, calm, peace, willingness, strength.....

Once again morning prayer was shared by the three of us sitting in our comfortable living room after breakfast... after the guys had read an article about the Twins on line...

The morning meditation titled... How to do the Will of God by Dom Augustin Guillerand, O Cart. (1945) - a French Carthusian monk and a revered spiritual author.

"Be calm, infinitely calm, both in soul and in body. Do not attempt too much, but what you do, do well and gently....We must make use of all that Divine Providence sends us: reverses, falls even; bearing always in mind the good that the Holy Spirit wants to draw from these things.... The Holy Spirit also makes use of reverses to correct our faults and set us on our way again. Use everything, then, with this end in view; in all weathers, keep your compass pointing to God; make Him your aim."

The last day of John's radiation - he had rung the bell marking the end of his daily radiation of his brain and was gifted(?) with the personalized mask he wore so that he wouldn't move and get the affected areas with the radiation!

Continuing with the entry from caringbridge - Jan 26, 2010...

"The "storms" of life toss us around, O Lord. You are there walking across the water to us... calming the storm... teaching us to trust in You... no matter what... our faith becomes stronger at these times of trial and "reversals" from the path of life we think we are going down and then it all changes... So many graces comes to us as we follow you into the dark valley. "If you want us to... we will follow you there." Jesus, we trust in You! Bless-bless, Pat, Barb and John Verly... the Three Muskateers.... united we stand in Rochester!

John and Pat just walked in the door... His WBC's are down from yesterday... dropping from 2.9 (normal is 3) to 1.6 today... It shows that the chemo is at work... Prayer needs to be mixed in for it to work at its optimum and protection for John. Everything else is going along OK... John is resting on the couch... resting on this day of rest!

Thanks Marcia and all you prayer warriors back from Guatemala... John went there with a group of youth from Marshall the summer before his senior year... mentioning your "prayers on the mountaintop"... brings back for him the beauty and simplicity of life in Guatemala. Thank you and blessings! "

Our family Christmas was around New Years that year due to all the weather and treatments etc!!!!!!  But it was a memorable one with the fun crowns made by Nancy and John.  Little did we know that it was a party for NO Cancer ever again!

Lord, it is so good to look back to this very huge time in our family - the final step in John's healing and defeating the giant once and for all!  We were forever changed by the Cross called cancer/healing, and there were so many that shared the power of prayer with us!  How we depended upon all of those that prayed us to healing!  John came to know you through this journey - he is the new and different John and is now willing to share his light as the Gospel of today - Jesus said to his disciples, "Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing secret except to come to light.  Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear."  How I love when you speak to us, O Lord!  Your words have the key to everylasting LIFE!  Thank you for the JOY and HOPE of this anniversary of John's resurrection to new life!  We hold it close to our hearts and souls - knowing that you have great ways that John will be used in this world.  Looking at how his cancer journey alone and healing touched so many - most especially his family!  Jesus, we trust in you!  Amen and Halleluia!

Bless-bless, Barb

"I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?'  'Here I am,' I said; 'send me!' " Isaiah 6:8

St Timothy and Titus pray for us on this your feastday!  We love and need all the amazing prayers we can get!  We rely on them and they are the air that we breath and the wind beneath our wings!