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!
I am off to get my dad and the petitions of many are on my heart this day... a 3 hour trip in the car alone with my rosary in hand to pray is filling me with great anticipation of His LOVE and Mercy flowing all around me. Jesus, I love you and Your Word just shared with my husband in morning prayer is filling me with your Truth - including the prayer of Tobit - the first reading from our wedding mass! Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
Rose ponders the cows and calves in the pasture - making sure that there is a fence between her and them. She has gotten a lot more brave with age and watching her older sister, Mary, and her love for the cows. There is so much going on always on the farm - I call my life "never a dull moment." Along with all that comes many frustrations working with large and unpredictable animals. All the yelling to get them to do what we want - I sometimes need to shut the windows to keep it more calm in the house. It is so peaceful and nice to have them out on our 5 pastures eating grass and drinking from the creeks - now refreshed with a inch of rain this morning! So much work goes into getting them out there, but there is peace now. Today our last cow calved and she had twins! No more cow TV until next year!
Tomorrow I am going up to the Cities in time to pick up my dad and bring him home from the Veteran's hospital a week after he had his valve replaced with a bovine/cow valve! It is helpful that I am a nursing home nurse and I can get all the orders and new meds and take dad home and get him settled in and on the road to get better at home. My sister, Paula, who also is a nursing home nurse in the Cities and I agree that the best place for dad to get better is at home. We are determined to get him there, and be sure that he is getting all he needs to return to the new normal. He should be less short of breath and have more energy after he gets over a few glitches. It will be a bit of a whirlwind for me as I need to be back to work at the nursing home for the weekend, but it is well worth it to help my aging parents get back together and on the road to mending from this big deal for my dad!
We are so happy with a wonderful inch of rain this morning and then some nice heat to keep the crops and grass growing! Thank you, Jesus, and thank you for getting my dad safely though this experience. It is crazy that he can undergo such a big step at 90! It is quite an amazing world we live in. Give me safe travels and a good and healing time with my parents. Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barb
Luke hoeing and Rose washing off the 4 wheeler yesterday... kids are happy to help when they are given praise and having fun. There is nothing better than working/playing with water. Rose had a boot half full of water and a wet dress when she was done, but a smile on her face. Luke will probably have many hours with a hoe over the years - it is good to handle one when you are 19 months old!
Reading the first reading today together from Tobit - Pat said that he had never heard it before. Concerning Sarah, who had gone through 6 husbands and was ready to hang herself - instead she prays this amazing prayer, which it is good for us to take to heart! Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God, and blessed is your holy and honorable name. Blessed are you in all your works for ever!"
After praying this the Angel Raphael came to rid her of the demon that had killed all her husbands and heal both she and Tobit of his blindness! All we need to concentrate on is the reality that if we acknowledge God as deserving of all our worship and praise that our prayers will be heard and answered!
A great picture of Patrick from Maria's blog today! He is now 2 1/2 and will be 3 in October! A picture of health and happy!
Jesus, we are your works and we give you all the praise - the highest praise for how we are loved and forgiven! May we return that Mercy and unconditional LOVE to all those in our lives most especially to those the closest to us in our domestic Church/family. Why is it the ones we love the most are the ones we treat the worst? May we find healing through our worship of You even in the midst of our suffering. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Therese and David are looking wonderful to these grandma eyes! Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
In every life there are many secret resurrections. In our sin, we are the tombs in which Christ lies dead, but at the first moment of sorrow for sin he rises form the dead in us, the life of the world is renewed by our sorrow, the soul that was in darkness radiates the morning light. In the moment that we are forgiven, the world is flooded with forgiveness.... It is not just the poor sinner licking his wounds and limping on crippled by the past; it is Christ risen, alive, and whole. Caryll Houselander (1954)
fun with Luke! Giving Lilly a surprise bath and then...
Lilly got wise and kept out of his way...
Super cute Rose in her kitty shirt and cork screw ringlets in her hair!
Out hoeing before the wonderful rain this morning with our kitten now cat playing in the tomato tires!
Pat it thrilled with the wonderful rain! The crops, newly seeded grass and the garden agree! Lilly is waiting for the asparagus for her to eat. The dogs eat my vegetables! They have learned what it good!
Photos thanks to 7 year old Therese for the event of her parents 8th Anniversary! I am so amazed at the great pictures of my granddaughter. She sure has an eye for photography, and that gives me great delight!
Maria shared that they are going on a date to celebrate... "What is MORE amazing even than that? We are going on a DATE tonight!
And... wait for it... it is going to include Adoration WITHOUT children in tow! Wowie!
Can life get better? I. Think. Not."
I love that they are including time with Jesus for their Anniversary date! Their wedding 8 years ago was totally centered on Jesus and His Bride, The Church! The many young people there- their friends from the Catholic Studies department and the seminary loudly answered the Latin responses - it was powerfully amazing statement of the young people on fire for the Church and leaves us with the HOPE that the future Church is alive and well and coming to LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
Another beauty for Therese for her parents wonderful Sacrament of Marriage - open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS for the world!
Such a testament to Anniversary #8! A family centered upon their Catholic Faith!
We love you Maria and Joe and thank God for your work evangelizing the Faith in the ! So important to bring the LIGHT into world of darkness of sin and death. Happy Anniversary and many more! Jesus, we trust in you.
Engagement picture taken 8 1/2 years ago... together forever! Bless-bless, Barb
Suddenly all these pictures appeared on my computer as if from heaven... then I saw the small devise sticking out of the side of my computer. Ruth's camera does take beautiful and amazing pictures and it was such a gift to see them last night, so I will be using some today along with some from the cattle going out yesterday.
There have been 3 grandsons added since this was taken over 2 years ago now. I love the beautiful setting in the small Ghent Catholic Church where we had gone to find a mass on Saturday for Hallel and our family to share. Daily mass is a most important part of Hallel's LIFE and LOVE for her spouse, Jesus! It worked out for me to get to mass last night before I worked at Birthright. It was wonderful to see so many there for a daily mass- young and old and us in between. I have to take in Simon for a half hour of reading this morning along with his two youngest sibs, and I am toying with stopping in to say "hi!" to Jesus in adoration with the 3 of them for as long as they will give me there. My Tuesday time with Jesus is so important to me! The best hour I spend all week, and the thought of introducing these 3 to this special presence and importance and PRAYER beyond the normal is very tempting to me. We will see how it all works out with a 10 year old, 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old to deal with, and then there is the 6 year old we need to get home for when he gets off the bus from summer school at noon. Mary will be going with mom and dad to Pipestone to sell some cows, hence the grandma time.
It is fun to let these two share some farm experiences together... some of my fondest memories with Pat are going in the pickup to sales with him... usually with a little one in the carseat between us. Today it will be 9 year old Mary along with them, and she is a farmgirl through and through.
In the first reading today from Tobit - I am reminded of the dynamics of family with the mishap of Tobit's blindness and his mistrust of his wife, and her frustration with him and harsh words. Don't we all face those frustrations in our domestic Church/family? Yes, the ups and downs of life are challenging. My mom was so hopeful that dad would be coming home yesterday, and suddenly he came down with a temp and not feeling well, so a monkey wrench was thrown into the works. I just talked to them and the offer is on the table for me to come and be their nursing home nurse. Time will tell.
Saying goodbye to the cattle yesterday. They had 15 months from birth to fully fed out for feeding the world.
Blending the new and the old in the journey of Faith/Family/Farm! Jesus, we place our lives in your hands- after all you are in control and we aren't. Bless-bless, Barb
From Maria's blog on Memorial day - in a ocean of red, white, and blue... so many that put their lives on the line for me and you! I just noticed the patriot dress of the family... Maria does carry on the theme in dressing after all. It is a bug we have all caught and it makes for wonderful pictures right?
I was surprised to find that there is a St Justin celebrated today fully - he is not optional! He seems to be a man around 100, who went from worldly knowledge to that of The Truth shared with him through The Word and the LIGHT of Christ's Truth! This calls loudly to me as I, each day, find so my Jesus in The Word shared throughout the world in the readings for each day. I find tremendous ties to the universal Church in the way, the Truth and the LIFE we encounter in sharing The Word and the Sacrament of LIFE in the Eucharist celebrated every day around the world!
Paul reading the first reading from mass yesterday morning as we shared a Eucharistic celebration with Pat's mom.
I smile every time I think of the time John was in college at the U of M and was at his Fraternity with his brothers..."There was this guy, who was so excited about his faith and so in love with Jesus. He said to us...'Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could go to church and worship every day of the week?' Brad and I looked at each other and said; 'That already happens in the Catholic Church!' " How it makes my heart sing to realize that this is a reality for all of us who hunger and thirst for Jesus - he is there loving us and dying for us and giving himself to us each and every day in our amazing Church! I truly find JOY at the banquet of God's word and a banquet it truly is! Jesus, teaches us and guides us and directs us and ministers to us in our need, and gives us great doses of humility, comfort, hope, love, the ability to give without counting the cost, and seeing the world in the LIGHT of His Truth!
Eucatastrophe is a made up word by JRR Tolkien...I coined the word "eucatastrophe": the sudden happy turn in a story that pierces you with a joy that brings tears... It produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint suddenly snapped back. It perceives... that this is indeed how things really do work in the Great World for which our nature was made.... The good catastrophe, the sudden joyous "turn"...this joy is sudden and miraculous grace... It denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat... giving a fleeting glimpse of joy. Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief. JRR Tolkien
I can sure relate to this Truth in my LIFE! So sudden and like the Hand of God on you in the midst of the storm!
The best, and the amazing thing is - it was really this green and dreamy! Talk about a picture of "Eucatastrophe"! Bernadette had just walked ahead with her hand out to touch the electric fence and get a huge shock. We called out to her to stop and she did in time! That is why we are ever vigilant with the little ones and pray to their guardian angels every day!
Jesus, much fills my heart this day with so much shared by Word and by those that are wise filled with your Truth, and by St Justin's example of discovering the Truth and never letting go even in the face of death for YOU! We have so much to leave behind so that we may love and serve you without counting the cost - give our all/dying to self so that The Holy Spirit may work and live and breath LIFE to all around us! Being open to LIFE is what we are called to, and it helps us become less selfish and more giving. We see that you are in control in the midst of the storms of LIFE, O Lord. You allow us to turn those catastrophes on our journey into "eucatastrophes" as you reveal your plan to us and show us the JOY that can come if we embrace our Most Cherished Cross and find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT/Jesus/ The Way, the Truth, and the LIFE! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Always look to Mary- she will help us bring Jesus to the world and take all our needs to him so that we may experience the happy turn in our stories of LIFE - "eucatastrophe!" Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
Christ is my world inside and out!
May we be LOVE in the heart of our family - how? By allowing the Spirit to rule there in our domestic Church/family!
