"so do you prepare your heart for his dwelling-place" St John of Avila

Paul was to give a talk on chastity last night at FF, and he was thinking about using a picture of little Dave sleeping under the Christmas tree - waiting for the Big Day!!!  I had Dave show me how he gets his pillow and blanket and crawls under the tree... before I knew it he was truly fast asleep in the glow of the Christmas lights in the branches overhead.  Laying on the floor to get the picture of him... he was truly under the Tree!!!... I could sense the feeling of wonder and safety Dave felt under there.  How much anticipation is building in his little boy heart and mind as he counts the days of Advent until the arrival of... probably Santa, but also the baby Jesus is promoted as the reason for the season in our family!  It speaks much of keeping yourself chaste for marriage - a Truth that is seldom heard these days!  So disheartening to read a booklet I found on marriage at the Birthright office and the way that they have to approach the questions about living together of getting married after getting pregnant... the ideas of morals and looking to the Truth... that we are meant to enter marriage as virigins saved one for the other.  Where did the world idea of sex and marriage get so warped and wrong?  How special we feel as spouses when we open that gift meant just for us... when we give ourselves one to the other, and become one!!!  The best gift in the world, and the glue that holds our marriages together as we embrace the motto of the Lamb - wounded, I will not cease to LOVE!  Ever since Hallel wrote a letter to Nancy on the occassion of her engagement - Pat and I call each other Our Most Cherished Cross with great JOY and see that we truly do receive LIFE from each other!   Not only the children we have been blessed with here and in heaven, but the rubbing away of our selfishness as Pat is the sandpaper that rubs off my rough edges!  Ouch! 

Ruth is so sweet with her little new baby girl, Rose Ida.  The two of them reveal such a special bond, and the thankfulness that Ruth feels in being blessed with another perfect gift-from-God Child after being told no more... well, that it also a special waiting and trusting lesson of allowing her uterus to heal long enough using natural methods to prevent, and then trusting with prayer and vigilance to get the baby safely here!  Ruth and Paul certainly can talk about waiting over and over in their marriage!!!  There are so many blessings we receive when we sacrifice for the Truth and for LIFE!  Jesus, shows us the Way through the wisdom of His Bride, the Church!  It brings tears to my eyes to "see" the Love that little sweet Rose has for her mommy.  She misses her when she is gone working a 12 hour shift at the hospital, and the look of sheer love and devotion that fills her face as she hugs her mom's neck is a thing of beauty to behold!  The absence makes the heart grow fonder!!!  I have great joy in knowing that all 3 of our married daughters are having the special gift and bond of nursing their babies now.  They are all having that closeness and nourishing their babies to have that big cheeks and chubby healthiness!  So special, and I have said that if I had known that John was to be my last... I probably would have had a very hard time, but as it was there were 3 lost after him, and then it was over.  The Lord wanted to draw my eyes more and more to heaven, I guess.  I guess the two brothers, William and Robert, that I carried for 5 months each after John, needed to be in heaven praying for him through his cancer/healing journey, and not standing at his bedside. 

Dear Lord, how I am filled with wonder at the ways you touch our lives with your Way, your Truth, and your LIFE!  We are so much more precious one to the other, if we truly wait with great anticipation for each gift we are given from YOU.  If we wait for each other on our wedding night - what JOY and LOVE!  If we wait for the children and are open to LIFE - we are blessed with each one, and our love grows and grows!  If we wait for the problems of life to pass, and forgive and forget, and not throw up our hands  and walk away from our spouse or family... the LIFE and LOVE will come after we embrace our Most Cherished Cross!  Through the Cross we find eternal LIFE, O Lord!  "God who is about to be born has no house, no cradle ready for him, so do you prepare your heart for his dwelling-place?  Let it be warm with love, for the Babe is chillled; but still, if it only be tepid, the shivering infant will still bring greater heat.  The more he suffers from the cold for us, the more strongly does he prove his love, and so deserves our love still more.  In the rigorous winter weather which he bore for us, he chose to wear no clothes to protect him; but naked was he born, and naked died upon the cross for us, because, both his birth and death, he manifested the greatest excess of love."  St John of Avila  Yes, Lord!  I want to prepare myself to be totally yours in all that I am.  Jesus, I love you and worship you in my holy temple within - may your LIGHT pour forth upon all those in my domestic Church/family.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

Rose giving grandpa a kiss...  we are all blessed by her presence and that of all our grandchildren!

"You must have ready a crib, then, in which to rock him to sleep, which symbolizes the repose of contemplation... He has many poor brethren, and those who love him must love them too, for his sake.  Give them your alms, for they are the brothers of your Creator.  When our Lord comes to be born in your soul, keep careful guard over him, and may he protect and save you for his mercy's sake."

St John of Avila (1569)

St Nicholas, pray for us and show the true meaning of the Season - the Child of God!!! 

"Trust in the Lord forever!  For the Lord is an eternal Rock."  Isaiah 26

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaCR24-tkWI  An amazing song by Danielle Rose called If I Touch HIM

The woman, who had the hemorrhage for 12 years - talk about waiting for healing!!!

Six years later...

Tonight I had the joy of taking some pictures in front of the tree with little 7 month old Rosie in an outfit that her sister wore 6 years ago!  So cute!!

Here is blond haired blue eyed Mary at the same age... you see just 11 days after Mary turned 6 - her new baby sister was born.  So the two girls are able to share clothes and grandma has super fun with my two sweet girls!  Another thing they share are the healthy cheeks that they get from their wonderful mommy!  So sweet and healthy and happy!  When Ruthie got home from work after a 12 hour shift - little Rose lit up like a Christmas tree, and hugged her hard with a huge smile of delight on her face! 

She seems to think that the stocking her mom stitched for her is so good that it must taste great too! 

Meanwhile Dave fell asleep under the Christmas tree!  Sweet dreams and bless-bless, Barb

PS Nancy added some great pictures on her blog of our newest granddaughter, Bernadette - BeBe

http://thegreatgusadventure.blogspot.com/  Of course Gus is super great too and a wonderful big brother to his sister - the kiss is so great! 

"I do not want to send them away hungry..." Jesus

How grandpa Pat loves it when the kids and grandkids show an interest in his cows and calves!  David spotted the 3 red steers as they stand out in the crowd of mostly black ones.  He thought that it would be fun to bring them home to pet and care for.  Not realistic with the winter around the corner...they need to stay with the rest so that grandpa can care for them and feed them daily. 

The amazing Gospel for today from Matt 15 shares this scene of glorious mountainside occurance!!!  Jesus goes up on the mountainside and great crowds are with him and they lay all the "lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute and many others.  They placed them at his feet and he cured them.  The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Isreal."  Then we find out that they have been there with him for 3 days!!!  Wow!  just putting myself there and laying down to sleep after witnessing the miracles and hearing his Words of Truth!  What excitement would fill me as I lay there in the dark and thought about how I personally have been touched by HIM.  I have been healed by him over and over in my life and within my domestic Church/family.  Everytime I go into the confessional and lay my sins and burdens at HIS feet - I am healed and leave there with great JOY.  Every time I receive his Body and Blood in the Eucharist - I am fed by HIM with Jesus!

Dave having a cute conversation with grandpa about his having some steers at his house and how they could be fed.  He is sad when grandpa tells him that they have to stay with the others and be fed by grandpa every day! 

To think to this scene on the mountainside once again... the need for food was probably overshadowed by the wonders they were witnessing and hearing as Jesus spoke to them, and taught them, and healed them inside and out!  After 3 days they were weak and Jesus wanted to feed them - "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for 3 days and have nothing to eat.  I do not want them to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way."  In like manner He is there to feed us as we are healed and whole through the sacraments of the Church, prayer and looking to our Church!  I remember that with John's battle with brain cancer... there were many books suggested and this and that, but I wanted to put my all in my Church and all that it has to offer to me - Christ and his Bride, the Church healed our son, and taught many the value of the Church and the power of PRAYER!

Learning at the feet of grandpa about the good life we have on the farm - caring for the animals and crops that feed the world.  A constant and sometimes difficult job, but for those that love it a good life.

Jesus feeds us and cares about us - He is there for us in the Eucharist and His Word always!  How He fills us with LIFE and LOVE!  Would you have slept for those nights, or would you be glowing from being face to face with God and gathered around HIM or in groups just talking and sharing those deep feelings of LOVE you have witnessed over those days?  I work retreats where you encounter Christ, and yes you do sleep at night but many times it is very fitfully and you lie awake many nights thinking and feeling and yearning for sleep.  The food is wonderful there, and plentiful too.  Although those that are serving at times are left with the remaining food and that can be less.  We give it up as a penance for those that are making the retreat for the first time.  Much time spent in prayer and penance- wheat!  Please consider making a Together Encounter Christ retreat... it is going on the mountianside with Christ for 3 days!  Truly- you will encounter HIM in all his glory and sacraments of the Church! 

Davey's special steer - Bullseye - likes grandpa because he feeds him and cares for him.  We love and need Jesus for the same reasons, and because He came to show us the path to LIFE!  Jesus, how we love you and praise you for ways you care for us and feed us on our journey of LIFE.  We are sitting on the mountainside with YOU as you break the loaves and divide the fish..."They ate and were satisfied."  Yes, Lord, we are given the food to strengthen us to leave that mountainside and carry forth your Truth and healing to all in our lives in our domestic Church/family.  We have met you face to face in the confessional and in the Eucharist and we are satisfied as we walk away from our selfishness and become more and more YOUR DISCIPLE!  May we allow our LIGHT to shine and no matter how hard life is to LOVE!  "Wounded, I will not cease to LOVE."  May we live this as the Lamb showed us how.  The innocent child is welcomed into our hearts at this Advnet time of year.  May we be childlike in all that we do.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

26 "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?"Matt 6:26-27

The sermon on the mount!!!  Wow!

Dave and grandpa find Snowball out there with the cows and they pet her and spend some time with her.  I guess that is why Dave would like to have some animals at his house - he remembers this summer when they had Snowball and Snowflake in their barn getting ready for the fair.  In a few years, Dave, you will have some beef pets to show at the fair too!

Feeding at sunset...  Always caring for the cattle no matter what the weather.  How Pat loves this open winter.  No snow?  That would make Pat the farmer very happy.  So guess who is praying for a brown Christmas/winter?  Blame Pat!

"That is the very deepest meaning of Advent.  Our holy seasons always ought to be something special.  They are really holy mysteries, and they should awaken a mystery as echo, as consideration, as prayer, in our minds and in our hearts... Indeed, after all, the ultimate and deepest meaning of this coming feast, the Christmas and Coming-of-the-Lord for which we are preparing ourselves, is that the created being, man, actually finds himself in the presence of the Absolute Ultimate.... become ready - really ready- to encounter and respond to HIM, the Ultimate, in an appropriate way, as befits a creature encountering the Ultimate."

Fr Alfred Delp (1945) was a German Jesuit priest condemned to death by the Nazis in Berlin, Germany.

http://www.riverbendtec.org/  Check out a retreat!!! You will never regret it! 

Gate watching with Bossman - Dave!

After a nice nap Dave is out to help with the cows. 

Dave spots a big red steer with two red eyes and he names his Bullseye and wants grandpa to load him up and bring him to Dave's house. 

The best picture of the two guys admiring the cute steer Bullseye!  "Load him up grandpa and bring him to my house.  I like him!"  "Well, David, what would you feed him and where would he stay."  "You have lots of hay, grandpa, and he can be outside." 

Counting our blessings - fingerprint of God!

Our cup overflows!!!  This is the view that gave me much joy while Ruth was here to work on Christmas cards with me!  Just a visable reminder of all the many blessings that we are counting this holiday season - with the 3 new members in our family, and many ways the Lord has touched us in this last year!  Able to spend some days with Hallel/Susan after her being away for 2 1/2 years in France, and John's call to the seminary are high on our list of blessings also! 

Rosie and grandpa sharing some pumpkin bread!  Our day is so bright and happy when we can share it with a little one!  They remind us of our call to be "childlike" as we live our lives.  "What is it about "the childlike" that Jesus prizes?  Jesus himself is the child, the Son who received everything from his Father.  He lives in an attitude of receptivity, taking all that the Father has given him.  His is a life of obedience.  He is not in command of his life, but he recieves it as a gift.  This is what it means to be a little child: to have an attitude of receptivity that allows you to be moved by God and by God's ways... The truly wise are those who are like Christ: little children in relation to God."  Fr Robert Barron

Lord, we thank you for the living reminder of little ones.  They are a testamony to the beauty of LIFE and we know they come from our LOVE!  May we always embrace the call to be like children in our following wherever you lead us.  May we embrace our Most Cherished Cross and find LIFE and LOVE.  We are asking to become less and less so that you may work in and with us.  May our domestic Church/family have YOU in our heart.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Halleluia!

Bless-bless, Barb

"Living together wihtout being married robs you of the glue that keeps you together even when you aren't getting along well.  No two people - married or not - get along all the time.  It takes a lot of determination to honor, cherish, and care for your mate when you don't feel 'in love.'  If you are living together, without being married, it is much easier to give up when problems come along."  From a booklet I found in the Birthright office while working last night called - Making a informed decision about Marriage-

I find it sad that it means nothing to simply say - It is a sin to live together before marriage or to have sex before you marry, and have that make an impression on couples.  It is like that it outdated and doesn't matter to couples anymore, so you have to try to reason with them in this way... so sad!  What happened to the moral fiber of our FAITH? 

Grandpa and his sidekick, Dave.  Dave is now taking a nap on the couch after grandma got to read him Cowardly Clyde!  So blessed!!!!

"The cattle are lowing"

In this beautiful snowfree weather... Pat's cute heifers are out front in the pasture in the morning overcast/sunny warm day.  They are cute and a special Christmas ornament on the tree made for a fun photo shoot.  The Three wise men came to follow the star to the Savior of the world - a tiny helpless baby laid in a manger... a manger used to feed the cow that they milked for the family, or the sheep that gave them cheese and wool, or the pig that gave them meat on the table.  A humble yet close to nature place for the newborn Christ!  Raising our family on the farm... we have experienced the wonder in the barn on a cold winter's day with the birth of a healthy calf.  I remember vividly crying on the neck of one of our pet cows, Winnie.   She had just lost her calf and I too had just lost one of my boys after John - carrying them for 5 months and then losing them mysteriously their unbilical cord fatally kinked.  The emotions are real and powerful when we live with life and death on the farm!

Sunset through the glass cross that hangs in our roundtop window looking out over our world of LIFE and death on the farm.  Death is part of life, and is not feared as we are then able to LIVE with YOU, O Lord, in eternity! 

Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barb