Independence Day - 4th of July, 2013 at Lake Michigan with Family

Miss Rose Ida Lanoue is now 14 months old, although she is in no hurry to walk, she is very happy when she can be independent and is showing us that side of herself up here in the cabin!  She is in a very independent mood today dressed in her red, white and blue.  She crawled into grandma's cat bedroom this morning and crawled up in this chair and then gave me a mega smile!  So here is my 4th of July greeting thanks to independent Rosita!!!  She is so loving to grandma and makes my heart sing with great wonder and JOY at her love for grandma and seeking me out. 

My bedroom this summer is named the cat bedroom for a reason - there are cats everywhere and Rose loved to see them all... especially a new furry one that sits on a shelf above my bed!  I was delighted when she had to kiss the kitten - Ruth shared that at home she has learned to kiss the 5 new kittens after she picks them up by their legs or neck... She also woke up between mom and dad giving them kisses this morning.  So fun to see this loving and affectionate side of our little Rosie coming out. 

 

I am sorely missing my Magnificat up here... it is on my bedside at home.  But I am discovering how wonderful google is to find the readings and even some reflections on them.  Today's Gospel is wonderful!!!!  It is Matt9: 1-7, and is about Jesus healing the paralytic - "Courage, my son!  Your sins are forgiven." ... "Is it easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven ', or to say, 'Get up and walk?' " 
"The man got up and went home."  How thrilling as we are in the midst of the time we were battling for John's life 4 years ago... we are reminded that Ruth and Maria and their families came to Michigan that year - we were tied up with John and missed Michigan that year.  Now we are here with him along with Ruth, and Nancy, and their families.  John has been working on his story and a talk that he is to give in a week in Canby church after 5:30p mass.  He is starting to tape his book to share his story with the world - "The Lord forgave my sins and I got up and went HOME to his Bride, The Church!  I believe - He gave me the Faith that I asked for!"

Mary's illustration for today of the blue roof house and birdhouse with the purple martin from my mothers' amazing story - Treasures! 

Lord, we are so basking in your forgiveness and healing!  We know that without your unconditional LOVE we would be paralyzed on the side of the road and unable to follow after YOU carrying our Most Cherished Cross!  We read that today you crossed over the Lake to find your own town... looking out at this immense lake with the waves rolling in today - we know that you are in this world today - Your Spirit is alive and well in our hearts, minds and souls.  May your LOVE wash over us wave after wave - we want to float on the ocean of your LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!  Jesus, we trust in YOU.  Amen and Halleluia

John at Superior yesterday!

Bless-bless, Barb

Miss Rose loves the Big water and sand - she independent on the beach too- parents keep a watchful eye from a distance...  She told us she was ready to go as she crawled over to the stairs and crawled up them. 

The 6 this year basking in His LOVE!

Thinking of Mary today- yet, loving the moment of the here and now!

Back from a trip to Superior - Miner's beach outside of Munising today.  It was a day of thinking of my sister and answering questions from family about her marriage, suffering, death, leaving behind little 20 month old Audrey, and a farmer husband.  At morning prayer I found the tears coming once again remembering losing my 28 year old sister as well as my 4 month pregnancy - Thomas.  I also shared with Nancy and Bill my scary time of losing the baby the night before the wake, and thinking that I would die and join my sister when they couldn't get an IV in.... finally they did.  Then the next morning I drank so much water and fluids to get my IV out and weakly and wobbly make it to the funeral home that night to begin the saying goodbye to my dear sister, Mary.

This is the today and now.  So wonderful to have these new little ones to share the glory of God's wonderful creation - the Big Lakes!  Today Superior and...

Michigan! 

Bless-bless, Barb

Life is good and the more - the more to LOVE!  Jesus, we trust in YOU.

 

ST Thomas the Apostle reminds me that it is the 27th anniversary of my sister's death/my baby Thomas too...

We are gearing up for a day away - heading north to Superior, with two van loads of half little ones and half adults.  As John and I were reading the office this morning - I could tell that it was a feastday, and when we investigated we found out that it was St Thomas, The Apostle, and immediately I recalled that it is July 3rd and the 27th anniversary of my sister, Mary's, death!  And with that memory comes the sadness at remembering the baby I lost at 3 1/2 months then - I named him Thomas.  I got a call the day she died that my baby was dead, and lost him while at my parent's house the night before my sister's wake.  I ended up in the hospital due to hemorrhaging that wouldn't stop.  It was all hugely hard in my life, and brought tears this morning with comforting hugs from my kids...

So time is limited, but we are walking on holy ground with this day of deep memory and pain, which walks with us on our journey carrying our Most Cherished Cross and following after Jesus!  "Glory, the teacher said, was like when the sun's light flashed off of the crest of every wave making the whole lake look like jumping, glittering silver.  Suz could picture it immediately, she knew how it would make her feel; it was glorious on such days.."  Treasures by Nancy Cross.  Jesus, we trust in YOU. 

Bless-bless, Barb

 

Calming the storm - Gospel for today!

Rosie loves the Big Lake - she plays in and out of the water with great ease.  It has been so fun to have so many of the readings having to do with the large bodies of water.  Today was the Matthew version of the Jesus calming the storm.  So far we have not had much wind and waves, yet we are constantly in awe of the beauty and majesty of Lake Michigan!  The clear water is a delight to all of us as we gather at the beautiful public beach for the afternoon.

One special sharing that we have started is the reading aloud of my mom's special children's story - Treasures.  As I have read it aloud my 7 year old granddaughter, Mary, has been doing the illustrations that inspire her as we go along.  This is the little cabin in the dunes with the small corale that had their horse in it.  Mary even made the treasure box with the clam shells and the crawfish claw on it.  Yes, this story takes place on Lake Michigan so that makes is really special to share here in our cabin on the Lake. 

Suz on  a ladder picking cherries in the orchard...

The small cabin they share with Uncle Joe - up in the loft with the treasure box and putting her special rock in it - "All will be good."  is what the rock means to Suz!

The priest comes to the cabin to bless the family - now with 7 in it - on the day that Uncle Joe dies from a stroke.   Mary seems to be able to get into the story and finds different parts grab unto her imagination and she pours it out onto paper!
I called my mom and told her that we were reading her story aloud and that Mary was illustrating as I read along.  My mom said that she was fighting back tears at the thought!  She loves this story very much and as I read through it I realize that it comes from a very deep and personal spot in her life of experiencing so much of this in her many years of coming to the Big Lake in the summer.  A lot of it is familiar to me from my years of coming here as a child with her and dad and my siblings - we even picked cherries at the orchard at the end of the road, and that is part of the story so far, and one of Mary's illustrations so far.  We are having a great time with this project!

The orange sandals that the kids got on sale so that they could have shoes for school a year late.  Those with their homemade blue jean skirts!  Jesus, thank you for the smiles and eyes of children that smile in the face of pain and hardship.  We love our time here!  Jesus, we trust in YOU.  Bless-bless, Barb

Bless-bless, Barb

The family of 7 going to mass - another illustration from my mom's book as made by Mary as I read a couple chapters this morning.

Day 3 on the Lake - Feast of His Precious Blood

“By the Blood of Christ we have been set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.” Ephesians 1:7

Praying with John morning prayer with a ray of sunshine little Rose joining in with her smiling face.  Many sweet babies remind us have a touch of heaven with their love and sweetness. 

Feast of the Sacred Blood of Jesus today, and I am without my trusty Magnificat to guide me through the day.... I left the July issue on the bedside at home – not remembering that there was only one day left of June. Thankfully they helped me use their I phones and read the readings for today, and John and I did the office morning and night together. I was reminded of the feeling of awe we have by this huge body of water that greets our eyes as we look out in front of our cabin – the Big Lake Michigan as John and I read morning prayer – Psalm 29...

“The voice of the Lord is heard on the seas,

The glorious God thunders,

and his voice echoes over the oceans.

The voice of the Lord is heard

in all his might and majesty.”

 

Tonight I started reading a book written by my mother to the older grandchildren – Treasures. It takes place in Michigan on the beach just as my mother experienced, I also spent summers on Lake Michigan with my family, and my kids experienced coming here since 1998 when my parents built this vacation/retirement home for us. Now my grandkids love it here, and it a frequent – almost daily topic of conversation all year round. It looks to be a place where they will come summer after summer and there are already many special things we do here year after year. Mary already has started to pick up a fossil here and there, and we have already spent two afternoons in the water swimming and playing in the sand. Ruth said today that for all the kids there are watercolors to do with grandma! Yes! I just love to paint a picture a day while I am here, and today I had three of the 4 Lanoues painting with me...even Rose painted her first picture with the help of her mom. It is something that I love to do with them! Now part of reading this story of my mom's to the kids is so that we can get some ideas and possibly work on some illustrations for it. I had mentioned this to Mary, and she surprised me with a picture she had drawn while I read the first 3 pages of their little house in the sanddunes and a pen for their horse, but also the little handmade treasure box! I am very excited to show my mother her first illustration thanks to Mary! It has officially begun, mom!

The darkness is descending, the waves are the sound of the wind crashing on the rocks and shore, the frogs are croaking, the house is quiet as all the little ones are asleep in the loft above our heads, it is a night not for visiting as many are tired or busy with projects. We are kissed by the sun and so many mosquitoes that have taken our precious blood from us. We will remember 2013 as the year of the mosquitoes. The sun has been warm but not too warm – in the 70s. We breath a sigh of relief from the heat , as the Big Lake keeps us cooler and we love it! I remember sadly how excited Therese was to get here and to escape the grinding heat of Texas for a couple weeks! How she loved to be able to be outside in her summer clothes and to be comfortable in the cool yet warm enough temperatures. She was so excited for wonderful weather to be outside and to be able to wear a sweatshirt in the coolness of the evenings. Maria has been sharing that it is over 100 there each day from early on. They are missed and I am longing to send them a little love note on the wind of this cool lake breeze that is wafting over me right now from the open widows on both sides of the cabin. Missing their time here – hopefully it will happen next year and be that much more wonderful after missing this year. That is so true of LIFE – when you have to sacrifice and give up and hurt or miss out -it makes the good things we get that much sweeter and more special. If life were all good and no hard... it would be boring and dull. The mosquitoes this year will make us very happy when they are not near so bad next year, or when the wind comes up and blows them into kingdom come!

 

Jesus, may we come to share your LIFE-giving food from Heaven -your precious Blood. We long to LOVE and serve you in all that we say and do... giving without counting the cost. It is so good to be away from all that pulls at us, and to focus on our family gathering to share many wonderful experiences in this place of beauty and many fond family memories. Keep us safe and patient with one another as we have many days of close family time. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Halleluia

 

Bless-bless, Barb

“It is good for John to write his book about what happened to him – share the emotions and the pain as well as the humor and the humiliation that changed him forever – the new John.” his two sisters

 

Day 2 - Augustine and the Jesus/Cheese Rock

Jesus Rock after supper!

We are getting to know each other - the new little ones are starting to come into their own as they grow and mature.  Augustine/Gus is 2 this year and looks at grandma so sweetly with that chocolate brown eyes and that sweet beseeching smile of his - grandma melts!

Augustine is 2 years old this year, and is having a blast here at the Big Lake! Last summer he started to walk while he was here – on his way out of Church the day before his dad was going home at the end of our first week. This summer it would be Rose, who is at that point, so we are thinking she will walk in these two weeks. We spent a lot of this beautiful sunny afternoon just a short distance down the beach, where there is sand to play in on the beach and in the water. It is nice to just walk and we had a low key afternoon with the little ones there. I felt tired when we got back, so I put my feet up on the deck with my rosary for a while. Nancy and her husband were making supper, so I was helping keeping an eye on 2 year old Gus out on the deck with a big ball. He came over to me took my finger and pointed out to the beach, and said “water” with the sweetest smile on his face. I said that I would love to do that after we all had our supper. Gus agreed with this, but he came back a few times to remind me that we had this date.

Asking grandma to go down to the beach after supper... sweet Gus knows his grandma extra well after spending almost 2 weeks with me and grandpa last month. When grandpa comes he will be so happy!

 

At supper Gus was very anxious to get his supper done, and then grandma had to clean up the dishes – we have an agreement that if the girls cook – grandma will do the cleanup. Then it was ice cream time, with the promise that after that it was time to go down to the beach and the water. Finally we were off, and we had along with us his mom and dad, sister, and cousin, Mary. It was just as the sun was starting to go down, the gulls were flying overhead and the sky was turning pink on the horizon. Nancy and I were in awe of the huge distance of water that was before us. Gus was so fun! He loved the big rocks that he would walk over to. There was one special big flat rock that he would climb up on over and over and he would say “cheese” as we took these wonderful family pictures. Gus would just love to get on his rock and dance and sing - “Cheese Rock!” It looks like we could be out there night after night in the next two weeks, so we decided to name it our Jesus Rock – Gus thinks we are saying the Cheeses rock, but we call it the Jesus Rock and maybe Gus will too by the time we make our pilgrimage out there night after night.

  Helping plant red, white and blue planters out on the deck!

Colorful project mother baby project

Mary with her first watercolor on the beach...

That old wagon is great for boy fun and for pictures in the Big Lake Michigan!
Beach beauties

another little one that loves the Big Lake!

superman Icecream just for the family in Texas!

Gus loves Superman Ice Cream too!

A picture Mary took of Gus and family on his rock!

Gus on his Jesus/Cheese Rock!

 
Jesus, we are filled with awe at the wonder of your creation. WE look out over this vast span of water... as far as the eye can see... and the color, and coolness, and so clean that you can look down and see your toes! Tonight as we were out there the gulls were flying into the sunset, and the waves were starting to roll in. Gus was so overjoyed with all that was happening around him – he felt so big to be walking around in the water, and climbing, and dancing on the Jesus Rock! Just sharing prayers with the kids... they sweetly prayed that they would be “good”. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Halleluia.

Paradise!

Bless-bless, Barb

Jesus, we trust in YOU.