"The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back..." Ezekiel 34:16

John has brought his niece and nephew into the theater world with him... Mary and David joined John in the summer musical, The Addams Family!  I think Mary is hooked, and we are not sure about David.  I attended with a young friend, who asked me about the "theater bug" biting John's siblings.  It was fun to ponder this and recall all the plays both John and his sisters have been in over the years.  The only one would be Ruth, who was in a few plays in Holy Redeemer and then not, yet about a year and a half ago when she presented her love of farming to a national audience... she showed a very poised and winning young farmer to the world and the team of Ruth and Paul took first place and won a pickup!  I guess I am trying to say... she would have been up to the stage, too!  This has been a love of John's from 2000 when he was Oliver in the musical Oliver, and there are not many summers he has missed.  He loves the stage!

Just before heading in for the play last night I could see that one of the cows had her calf, and in short order it was standing up and nursing!

Pat left this morning saying that the new calf would be baptized today by the rain, and so it was!  Going out to stand under the cottonwood tree to watch it... all seemed to be fine.  From the warm wet world of the womb to the cooler wet world of Marshall, MN! 

 

My friend came home for an overnight, and joined John and I for the office/morning prayer this morning!  It is the solemnity of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus today!  Such amazing readings we shared and prayer to reach the heavens.  As my friend shared a motto her family has;  "Look up and believe in miracles."  Basically saying that if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus and put him first, He will guide and direct us and get us through the challenges we all face daily!  He is the Good Shepherd from the first reading in Ezekiel...  The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal..."  Ezekiel 34:16

Then the 23rd Psalm and how we all groaned in pure ecstasy to be able to share these wonderful words of love, and mercy, and comfort, and promise of being forever in heaven with Jesus, Mary and all the Saints.  How about this last verse?

Only goodness and kindness follow me

all the days of my life;

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

for years to come.

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

One last cow to calf...

I am soon to head over to be with Pat's mom for the afternoon.  How we cherish our time with her! 

Baptized by Mother Nature on it's first full day of life! 

Today in the Gospel we find The Lost Sheep!  How we can relate to that ourselves when we have been lost and alone and sick and suffering and weak and down in the depths with the waves crashing over our heads... He reaches out to save us, He calms the sea, He forgives our sins in the confessional and the priest speaks his words of love and forgiveness and "go and sin no more" to us.  He carries us on his shoulders and rejoices at bringing us back into the fold away from the raging wolf/Satan set to devour us!  His Sacred Heart filled with LOVE and forgiveness!

The acting bunch is growing!

How I also long for many of those "lost sheep" in my life to "repent"  and come to know where True Happiness can be found!

How I love this!

Jesus, I am so filled with Huge JOY at this special day of celebration - The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!  May you use me to bring those, who don't know or love you closer to your Heart burning with love for them.  May I die to self so that your Holy Spirit may touch those lost sheep in my life.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

The final act...

It is fun to see the family sharing their time and talents to give others JOY!  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

Kind of a challenging costume for Cousin It/Dave!

 Love these!

"O most holy heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins I offer you this poor heart of mine. Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to your will. Grant, Good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you. Protect me in the midst of danger. Comfort me in my afflictions. Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen."

Yes!

Romance!

Love this tradition from Maria's house... Patrick is an adorable model of the Sacred heart of Jesus!

I don't think they were around much after this was taken!

"Love is a verb." John quoting DC talk

Beautiful flowers, adorable kitten and blossoming young girl... a work of art and pulling the heart strings!  I told John that I should be taking notes while we did out prayer intentions during morning prayer today... there was so much wonderful deep and amazing things that came out of his mouth and heart one after another!  He started praying for his parents' marriage and speaking about how love is not a feeling it is an action!  Wow!  I know that I have heard that before, but we so quickly lose track of it in the ups and downs of life and the frustrations that come with each day. 

Love is a verb by DC talk.  John mentioned this song to me as I reacted to his prayer this morning, so I thought I would look it up... "Love is a word that requires some action.  Love is a serious word.  Love is a verb." 

There were kids and kittens over here yesterday!

Pondering the Truth that we need to work at love and not just sit back and expect these amazing feelings to carry us along.  I think we all have discovered that we need to get away from out selfish feelings and needs and die to self in order for love to grow and survive!   The Gospel today really echoed in my heart as John was speaking about love being an action.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength... You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  Mark 12

What does that love look like?  It looks like giving til it hurts with all that we have... time and what we have and work and giving of all we have! 

http://www.faithit.com/richard-paul-evans-how-i-saved-my-marriage/

Here is an article I came across this morning - "What can I do to make your day better?"  How often have I thought I should say that to Pat each day, and I don't?!?  Wouldn't that make him happy and make a difference between us?  Yes, but I am selfish and hurt and resentful and afraid that I will have to step out of my comfort zone, and so I keep silent even when my inner voice is telling me to say the words..."What can I do for you today, Pat?"  Lord, help me to be better about acting out my LOVE for you and for my neighbor most especially those in my domestic Church/family!

This kitten was an orphan and seemed to think that a bigger black animal could be mother material... it was cute to watch.

At least Lilly was kind to the kitten and would sniff it and then move away.

Too bad kitten... I guess there is not much hope there for you.

Love is an action/verb for us to bring into our daily lives!  When we are asked to change our selfish plans and serve those that ask and need our help!  I might say "yes" but serve poorly and with the underlying anger and resentment and that "poor me" attitude that I am so good at.  I am very much feeling down on myself today, yet that accomplishes nothing.  I need to dust off myself and do better!

I love the imperfections of these... when you try to get kids and animals all looking wonderful you end up with a picture of LIFE! 

There was so much John prayed this morning, and I should have taken notes!  Another gem was his speaking about "humility" and how we minister to others much better when we speak to them from below/humble and not from a prideful place/above!  So true, and so familiar to John with his family at his side as life brings him to a place of humbly asking "what next" over and over and over.  We trust!

I take so many that it is almost like watching a movie of motion and LIFE!

Words from the Psalm today ministered to us...

He guides the humble to justice,

he teaches the humble his way.

Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Psalm 25

Yes, Lord, we look to you and know that you have a plan for each of us and we will find that path if only we look to you and put you first in our lives.  "If we have died with him we shall also live with him.." St Paul to Timothy today in the first reading 2 Timothy 2  How we long to love and serve you better with each new day.  May we give and not count the cost and die to self so that love may be a more constant action.  May we give and give and give somemore!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Kitty snuggles are the best!  This is so much like Ruth, their mom, was when she was a girl!  They are now even living in the house that she lived in at this age.  I am in awe of how the Lord works and how all this happened!  Yes, it was very hard for a few months, but now it is a blessing in most ways.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

He loves us with unconditional love and forgiveness!

This is so amazing and fits with today... so once again this food for thought!

Jesus Freak - DC talk

A more familiar one and so true!

Danielle Rose - Litany of Humility

Francesca Battistelli - If we're honest

Gregorian chants... peace flowing all around us

Happy 9th Anniversary Maria and Joseph!  How we love you and look for some great family time coming up!  Daily we pray for Joseph's passing the Bar!  Jesus, we trust in you.  bless-bless, mom and dad and family!

"stir into flame the gift of God... according to his own design." 2nd letter of St Paul to Timothy 1

There is s joke in the family that if someone is missing... I will add them, or if someone is not up to par in appearance they could be covered over with a better image.  Well, here is a prime example of about 3 1/2 years ago when Hallel came to KC for Thanksgiving and Maria could not make it, so to make the picture in my mind, heart and soul complete... I added her!  It is kind of like imagining our family all together and how I pray that this can happen at some point in the not too distant future, but with Hallel in Rome and now two others from 7-10 hours away, and Maria in the and moving according to orders... it seems like it would take a miracle for my wish to come true.  I do believe in miracles and do have HOPE to see it happen!  There are some fake plans out there that we will all go to France for Hallel's final vows in the next few years, but with the way our family continues to grow with little new members this could be a far reach, but my prayer and hope is up for the challenge! 

Usually I have to add Hallel as she cannot just pick up and come to family events! 

I guess I used this image a few times, but it seemed to fit... with that big hand on her shoulder helped her join our happy group... together in my heart and mind!

I am remembering one miraculous time when we were all together minus one son-in-law!  It was Susan's home visit 3 years ago!  Now she has yet to meet a nephew and her new niece, Josephine!  The picture will never be complete with all the new arrivals, but I am happy to always have a new goal to get us ALL together!

An image I just came across of St Josephine Bakhita, who is the namesake of our new granddaughter. 

A computer glitch brought the kids, Ruth and baby kittens over just shortly after I had picked strawberries.  Rose approved!  Just getting back to my blogging and John and I are both sharing my computer today, so...  I am trying to wrap this up!

Kittens soon were out in the playhouse.

On their way out to the playhouse for a while.

A couple lines grabbed me this morning from 2 Timothy - the first reading today.  The words that bring a image to mind was "stir into flames the gift of God."  How often do we become lax in our reading of The Word or other spiritual reading or in our prayer?  For most of us it is a constant battle to carve out that time each day!  Yes, a lot of days my rosary time becomes a dosing off time, or it is taken away with this demand or another.  If I am in the car - that becomes my chapel on wheels, and the radio is left off and the beads are traveling through my fingers and the peace fills me.  It seems that John's decade/the 5th as I have 5 kids and according to age they are prayed for on the 5 decades.  John being the youngest - he has #5.  It seems that many are prayed for on John's decade right now - whether it is a battle with cancer, or someone his age, or someone that he has worked with at a retreat... I remember them on those 10 beads.

The roses are blooming and time to get a bouquet for their namesake, Rose Ida!

I guess I was writing about my heart's desire for our family to be together before this big visit and break in my day...  Next thing I knew I had the 5 farmkids here with kittens in tow!

Lunch out on the porch... all those eggs we get every day makes some yummy egg salad for lunch with the added beauty of roses!

Yes, we need to stir into flame our love for Jesus and his Bride, The Church!  We need to use the Sacraments to keep ever aflame with his unconditional LOVE and forgiveness and therefore humbly willing to serve without counting the cost.  St Paul also mentioned to Timothy

"He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel,"

His own design... meaning the plan that Jesus has for each of us and how we beg and plead to know that plan throughout our lives!

Out for rose, kitten and daisy pictures by the barn....

The pleading for the revealing of his plan is especially felt in our family now as John finds himself at another fork in the road.  One thing about the almost yearly changes is that it keeps us on our knees and always looking to Jesus in prayer!

And here I was feeling like I had no pictures to share today.  You know not what is around each corner.  Girls, kittens, a red barn and green garden, daisies and a beautiful first day of June on this feast of St Justin!  Now that is a lot when things were looking pretty down this morning.  I love this kind of surprises!

In a way looking to Jesus and asking his plan is exciting and good for us, although the humiliation that comes with it is very hard, and even that humiliation is exactly what we are called to over and over again in The Word!  We trust!

One squinty smile and Simon was out of here!

Luke also was not interested in pictures today.

So we got these 3 and the dog and called it good for today!  A lot more than I had ever hoped for this morning!

Lord, I am wanting to keep the flame burning brightly in my heart, mind, and soul!  I am filled with so much each day that I cannot hold it all within!  May it flow out from me to all those around me... most especially those in my domestic Church/family!  May I serve without counting the cost, always asking for you to reveal your plan for us and humbly embracing my Most Cherished Cross and following after you, my Jesus.  My constant prayers rise through Mary to Jesus!  St Justin we look to you this day, and ask that we may love as you did with your intercession!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Girls, roses, daisies, and kittens!  Life is good!  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

Lilly has learned to be nice to kittens?

Now red barn, cows on pasture, girl with adorable kitten. 

Girl, flower, and kitten!

Yes, I took many of these dream pictures!

I must end this!

My table filled up suddenly today and it was great!

Love this!