Walking through walls, and life on the other side of crazy deconstruction

 Ruth brought the kids over to see the place with walls gone... walking through the walls was popular and a cheap thrill!

 David wanted to sweep and the dust flies!

 Ruth shares birthday cake with her kids a few days late.  No candle moment as they were packed and sent over to Ruth's with my stuff.

 Luke is total tractor head... He constantly talks about farming with grandpa and dad.  Here he is playing with his "poop wagon" and a tractor that was his dad's!

 While Ruth works hard and long on the house, grandma has the kids.  It was nice for Simon to help younger brother, David, with his math.  David was so much happier to have his brother help him rather than grandma.  I think they miss their mom these days.  It will be good when this deconstruction is done.

Everyone of the kids cleaned their plates and grandma sang; "Clean plate club" to each one!  Ruth's kids are great eaters and that is so nice for a grandma!

 Mary checks out the patio door...

 Rose came over in her princess nightgown and her color book.

 It is starting to sink in that this will be their new home in a few months of craziness!

Mary is a little upset about the many changes, but we are sure that she will learn to love all the changes!  Bless-bless, Barb

Hidden doorways and new LIGHT

 Almost 3 years ago Mary did this watercolor at age 6... It is so special that I have it framed over the bed in the room we are now using.  The painting is of Hallel with the then 5 bottle calves we were feeding when she came home for her first home visit in the middle of a huge April snow storm!  As she was painting it we recalled that two had died, so she answered that with angel wings on those two. 

 Also on our bed is this college quilt that went with Ruth to college.  A square made by each of us including this painting in the middle by me of our family on the hill overlooking our farm.  Now that farm is being passed on... And the family on the hill looks different with 3 boys and 2 girls but the same love for Faith/Family/Farm!

About 13 years ago Susan/Hallel and I painted this bedroom and put up the cow border as she has always had a love for cows.  Soon it will be one of her nieces or nephews' rooms on the farm.  It is in many ways a terrifying time and so overwhelming for us, but also very exciting!

 Ruth and her dad have been shoulder to shoulder taking down the walls together while I have the kids at her home in peace and some quiet compared to the pounding.  Ruth was excited to tell me about a doorway they uncovered that will be in the perfect spot for Paul's office.  It is so fun to discover the house from years past and imagine what it must have been like.

A doorway that had much life pass through it years ago, and now will be renewed and cherished by another generation!

Light and visibility is what Ruth wants from her south kitchen!  This is being designed for all our big canning days that fill a lot of our late summer fall days.  Ruth truly has embraced her farm wife life in ways I have lacked in.  It truly does make a difference if you have that in your blood for your entire life.  I was raised a city girl and that makes it more challenging to understand and fully embrace this amazing life.  I have always recognized this lifestyle as one so well suited for family.  Family is what I value most only second to my Faith!  Today from St John in I John in the first reading - The victory that conquers the world is our faith.  I John 5:4

I have never seen a patio door this big - the entire side of the house is now a window on the farm... soon she will add a covered porch for their meals.  Eating outside is huge for this family!

 

The demolition has begun again, but along with it much progress with new windows and doors!  I continue to repeat to myself that this is all in His Plan and He is in control.  Take each minute of each day as it is and add to it my constant prayer and pondering Jesus in The Word.

 Rose is off to preschool now and so Luke and I will hang out and pick her up later.

 Luke loves to constantly talk about farming and most especially about grandpa feeding bales to the cows or grinding bales.  His hands become grapple forks and he makes the motions of lifting and turning up just like he has watched grandpa over and over.

 Hard worker, Ruth. she likes to make big changes and does a lot of the work herself! 

Rose taking a nap on one of my couches in Ruth's bedroom with our double bed along the wall.  This huge bedroom will look funny with our tiny bed in it...changes should make you laugh more and not all the stress and anger, right? 

 

Jesus, in the Gospel you remind us today that you have come to show us all the healing and mercy we need to face all that comes to us in the storms of life.  May we find peace and love and joy and patience to deal with all the trials of life.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

 The trees will go next and it will become Ruth and Paul's farm.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.... Today this Scripture passage has been fulfilled in your hearing.  Jesus to all in the Gospel today - Luke 4:14-22

 A new family farm!

My mother to hold me in times of stress and worry - "Fear not!"

Her "yes" is ringing in my ears and heart, mind and soul!

Jordan Smith - Great is your Faithfulness

A good one for each day we face!  

 It was so fun and exciting to see Pat and Luke buzz by in the tractor with two bales as they are tub grinding!  The trees will go and the view will be total and complete of all that goes on from day to day on the farm!

 The tub grinder will be much more visible to all in the house!

 Ruth explains things from the old house and her kitchen to be here now.

Command central in Ruth's farmhouse - the kitchen's view in 3 directions!  Such a great plan for keeping all safe and sane on the farm!

The ghost/Holy Spirit across the raging waters of the storms of LIFE

 My view as I sit on my couch in the kitchen at Ruth's this morning.  Yes with an empty first floor of my house there are couches in about every room at Ruth's.  Luke is giving Rose a hug after an incident with a plastic baseball bat to the hand.  It is so peaceful here even with a 3 year old, 2 year old, and a dog let in briefly from outside

 2 year old boy, a dog and a plastic baseball bat... a combination for a brief storm around here.  With the constant pounding at my home... this certainly seems minor in the scheme of things. 

The Gospel combined with the first reading today makes for a true "Ah-Ha" moment!  This is a true storm I am in the midst of on many levels, and to read Mark 6 of Jesus walking on the waters as a storm tosses the disciples about in a boat... they were terrified and thought he was a ghost.  According to I John - this is how we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us his Spirit.  Yes, in the Gospel it is Jesus calming their fears and the storm, but The Holy Spirit/Ghost is also Jesus in our lives and he too will calm our fears and storms!  "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid."  Jesus says to us as we cling to the boat for our lives!

 

 Moments before the incident! 

I am watching Luke pick up bales with his hands as though it were a grapple fork on the tractor.  He just picked it up and went to feed the cows!

How do we allow the Holy Spirit to calm our storms?  By clinging to all we are given each day of our journey by The Church, which is there to help us be forever in heaven with Jesus, His Mother, all the Saints and angels.  We have The Sacraments to feed us, give us strength, clear out the garbage/sin/darkness in Reconciliation, The Eucharist, the Saints with us each day - today especially is Saint Andre Bessette, - the rosary...

The rosary is for everyone in their times of need and in the midst of the storms of life.  I found it my constant companion yesterday as we had some major tossing about by the storm!  I must say that it brings peace to me immediately and might temper my response in a more loving fashion.  God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.  I John 4

 Mr Sunshine, forever farming 2 year old Luke Paul!

I take so much comfort and find peace knowing that with The Holy Spirit walking across the waters of the storms of life towards me and getting into the boat and calming the winds and waves and storm around me.  No matter how much I am tossed I need not fear and know that Jesus is there to help me through it!  I will be a better person after embracing this Cross and finding LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!

My coffee was a hit with the 3... even Holly the Christmas dog thought she should have her turn.  Didn't happen!

 Rose caught in the act, and Holly begging - talk about pleading eyes.  It didn't work, however.

Jesus, I am reminded that when we embrace our Most Cherished Cross we find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT... give me the ability to die to self so that the Holy Spirit may do it's work of loving and forgiving all those around me just as you have loved and forgiven weak and sinful me!  It is so important to us that this is the year of Mercy in the way we can show mercy in our domestic Church/home.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

 Yes, I did get most of my coffee before it became shared property.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

 I think we are all revved up and ready to face the day with all the storms little and big!

A stop at the house to find the huge opening for the new patio door from the dining room to a future porch!  Wow! 

 Ruth putting in a day as deconstruction worker in her future home!

 Luke checking out the new spot for the kitchen where grandpa's and grandma's bedroom used to be!

The round top window is gone!  Luke can see the tractor really good!

A man who loved St Joseph!

Yes!

Casting Crowns - Praise him in the storm

Danielle Rose - Small things with great love

Yes... I am in the hallway waiting for the door to open. Can I praise him?

This is a good reminder to me in the midst of these months of hell!  Bless-bless, Barb

A charming light casting some brightness on this...

Our motto: "God will take you to it, and He will lead you through it."

 Luke arrived this morning with doughnuts for breakfast in grandma's makeshift family/TV room on the second floor.  Mom is off to discuss her kitchen cupboards while we snuggle and grandma writes here and Luke giggles at our show.  Ruth and I just tried to figure out our next few days and many times found ourselves shaking our heads in how much will have to wait for the day to wait for the moment of the day to discover how it will all work out.  How am I keeping the Faith through these trying times?  I keep telling myself the Truth... that I am sure that this is all part of the Lord's plans for us, and He is in control!

 A picture of our frigid world outside while...

 My dining room chandelier in the midst of a house down to the outside walls - awaiting Ruth's plan to make her childhood farm home into the home she will now raise her 5 kids... She knows how important it is to be able to keep her eyes on her kids out in the busy farm yard, so our bedroom is now to be her kitchen...

How I love to read St John- he is so filled with The Truth of LOVE being God!  Where do we see that LOVE?  In Jesus Christ!  God is love... In this way the Love of God was revealed to us; God sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him.  I John 4:7-10

Our cat came into our bedroom this morning after the carpenters arrived and I found him like this... How I would like to join him.  I am finding peace in realizing that this is all part of The Plan and if I trust and take one minute at a time... we will find The Way, armed with The Truth, and always filled with His LIGHT/LOVE/LIFE! 

 Our bedroom will be Ruth's kitchen on the south side of the house...

 So crazy to look through walls - opening up the house!

 It will certainly be a special new home for our new farm family with their 5 kids.  So good for them to be on the farm, and have the life that both Ruth and Paul promote their love of agriculture!

Today's Gospel of the miracle of the loaves and fish in feeding the 5,000... how much more encouragement do I need?  God will definitely lead us through whatever faces us!  May I find the patience and kindness in the face of all the frustrations that come with this up in the air life.

 Through the bathroom wall, bedroom wall and the dining room wall means looking through the entire house from one end to the other. 

 The LIGHT pours in on our chaos! 

Jesus, you are there to be my strength and answer the needs that arise on this journey of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT.  May I return to others the mercy and Truth and LOVE I have been given to see me this far in this "never a dull moment" journey I have been on for these last 37 years as a farmer's wife lover of The Church for 44 years... Faith/Family/Farm is all that matters in the scheme of things!  Jesus, I trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

 Luke loves the farm, and with 3 boys growing up here that is a gift for them and the future.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

St John Neumann, pray for us this day...  You revealed to the world that leaving all behind by embracing poverty in order to preach the Gospel without hindrance... may we be small and humble in the worldly homes and things we have.  
O my God, I have consecrated myself to you.
Do with me whatever is most pleasing to you. 
I beg of you, O my God, let me see clearly what I ought to do.
O Jesus, grant me and to all the courage to resist the evil that is in the world.
You know, O my Jesus, that I would willingly suffer and die for you, though I am unworthy of such a grace...
Take entire possession of me, O my dearest Jesus.  To you I consecrate all the powers of my soul, my body and my whole being .
Teach me your will, O dearest Lord, that I may begin and end all my actions for your greater glory.
St John Neumann (1860)