"anguish, like a woman in labor..." Psalm 48

A sweet picture shared by Nancy in honor of her little Josephine's 2 month birthday.  It is wonderful to see how much her brother loves her! 
"Josie at 2 months.
I'm so excited to watch the relationship between these 2. Dom only has a few words, but the one he's says the most is 'baby'.
He begs for Josie to snuggle with him, covers her in kisses and gets very protective whenever a non-family member gets too close to his baby sister.
For such a rough boy, who spends half the day swinging swords and toting guns, he is very sweet with baby Josie. ‪#‎dosmallthingswithlove" 


Each new child brings more capacity for love into a family!  Yes, there are ups and downs and the pain of childbirth to bring them here, but once they are in your arms the pain is soon forgotten and as the love grows more and more.

The cousins a few weeks back.  They all love to be together and have the gift of growing up with many siblings by this world's standards!

Some words from the Psalm for mass today grabbed my attention -

Quaking seizes them there;

anguish, like a woman's in labor...

How this brings the suffering of childbirth come rushing back, and it truly is descriptive of how hard it is when we are separated from our Lord.

Therese will soon have a baby sister to love, but any baby pulls her heart strings!

I am struggling with internet today, and so I will call this done for today.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

"learn to do good"..."whovever receives you receives me..."

Rushing off to Michigan with my parents and leaving behind all of my family minus only John and Hallel on the farm after a most amazing week... I am longing to relish these wonderful memories that linger in these great pictures!

This sign continues to greet me as I return home on our barn, and the most miraculous week we all had together.  A lot of great times sharing cousin time, sister time, grandpa time with his girls and the little ones, and grandma time and mom time... all were filled with peace and harmony and only time to time tired kids having minor disagreements.  Yes, miraculous!

Grandma visits and involvement in her life has been huge for Ruth for her entire life!  Now her kids see Great-grandma most every week and bask in her love and attention.  Such a great example of unconditional love!

Her year and a half on hospice has given us the gift of praying together and sharing Jesus in his Word and Body and Blood!  The words from the first reading in Isaiah 1 - "learn to do good."  Pat's mother is a prime example of how she teaches us how to do good by her actions and life, and also by in her humble helpless state of life allowing us to serve her and share our united Faith together.  There are many in our lives that can help us learn how to do good.  Usually this happens each day in our families!  Our initial reaction to be angry or hurt or hurt back or sulk or be less than loving or make others suffer along with us - "misery loves company"- or be selfish with our time and our energy or shut out others that are down and lonely or lie and in other words there are many ways that we can reject the opportunity to do good!  This happens mostly with those the closest to us and to those that we are to love the most!  So wrong! 

By time grandma jumped in with the 13 two were crying for their moms and others were tired of it all!

"Wounded, I will not cease to love."  is the motto of The Community of the Lamb.  Our daughter Susan/Little Sister Hallel is a nun with this Community.  She has traveled from Rome to Poland and will be there through World Youth Day.  She has sacrificed having her own husband and children, but living in Community is her family and has added to our family with many Little Sisters and Little Brothers.  But living closely with others in family/domestic church/Community calls for us to look to the example of The Lamb slain for us and although wounded and killed for our sins - The Lamb brought love into the world for us to take forward into our lives - The Gospel from Matthew 10 today Jesus tells us that we should take heart going forward living out and sharing the Truth - "whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me...whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple- amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."

The girls and grandma... I had the joy of doing 4 Bernadette/French braids!

Jesus, may we share you in our lives and families and communities and when we are hurt may we not react with hate and fear and anger, but continue to love.  Seeing the wonderful examples around us allow us to learn to do good.   Lord, I need you to forgive my weakness and selfishness and sinfulness, so that I may lay my burdens at your feet and although I have taken a step back that I may take two steps forward in my dance of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT/the Cross and following Jesus with the help of his glorious Bride, The Church.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Josephine/Josie/Jo Jo was a wonderful good baby to share our week with!  Therese was so loving her  baby cousin and will love her new sister coming in a few months!  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

In the playhouse with mulberry face on Berna.  Cherished cousin time!

There is a wonderful story that Little Sister Alma shared with Pat while visiting Lumen Christi/The LIGHT of Christ located in Kansas City, KN a few years back.

We were out begging for our food in a poor neighborhood, and the woman who answered the door was angry that we would ask from her when she did not have enough to feed her kids.  She had tattooed symbols of being in a gang and time in prison.  We shared the Gospel with her and prayed with her and asked for her prayer requests as we always do.  Eventually she said; 'I could get you a glass of water.'  What joy!" 

The porch of Ruth's beautiful playhouse!

Therese and her precious baby cousin!

My new home was a great and comfortable place for our growing family time!

St Benedict today!  St Benedict certainly looked to the Good, and taught us!

‪#‎SaintoftheDay‬ St. Benedict of Nursia (480-547) and his twin sister, St. Scholastica, were born to a Roman nobleman and his wife in Nursia, Italy. He spent h...is childhood with his parents in Rome. As a young man he found in himself a strong desire to escape the triflings of the world and serve God. He left his family and wealth and settled in the mountainous region of Subiaco. After three years living in solitude as a cave-dwelling hermit, he was asked to lead a monastery in the place of an abbot who had died. Benedict did as they asked, but his way of life was too extreme for the monks and they tried to poison him. He thwarted their evil designs by blessing the poisoned cup, rendering it ineffective. Benedict returned to his cave, where news of his sanctity and miracles began to spread. Soon a community of men surrounded him wanting to adopt his way of life. To house them Benedict established twelve monasteries, including the world-famous Monte Cassino, and gave them a rule of life to live by, known as the Rule of St. Benedict. Because of the organization, structure, and discipline he brought to the monastic life, he is known as the Founder of Western Monasticism. He is the patron saint of many causes, especially known for his intercession against poison, temptations, witchcraft, monks, students, farmers, and all of Europe. His ‪#‎feastday‬ is July 11th in the Latin rite, while the Benedictines celebrate his feast on March 21st. ‪#‎MorningOffering

Yes, there is so much more than we can take in each day - overwhelmed is so true!

MERCY - Myriads Eternally Representing Christ Your (Good Samaritan)

Luke spending time with great-grandma and great Aunt Joyce after mass this rainy morning.  Once again we are thanking the Good Lord for another wonderful inch+ of rain right when the corn is tassling - "It could not be more prefect!" said farmer Pat. 

The 5 with their dad picking up the branches after the storm!

The yard cleaners pose with mom and great-grandma after mass and zucchini bread shared for breakfast.

Sharing the readings and the Eucharist is a blessed time we are allowed to share with Pat's mom each Sunday.


Being away from the TV and internet for the week - we were sobered by the turmoil in our country we returned to!  So much the Gospel for today of the Good Samaritan calls out to us.  The final line of Christ to us speaks volumes - "The neighbor was the one who treated him with MERCY."  "Go and do likewise."  Luke 10:37  With the other readings reminding us of how we are to love the Lord with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves - the Word MERCY just begged to be made into an anagram!  Myriads ( countless or extremely large number) Eternally Representing Christ Your (Good Samaritan).  Can you imagine the world if countless of us would show MERCY?  If we were Christ The Good Samaritan to all those we encountered hurt and broken and stripped - each of us time to time find ourselves in this place - the world would change for the better!

Mary prays for her Great-grandma Ann each and every day!


Why is it in this year of MERCY does it seem that there is none to be found anywhere in this messed up world?   Yet, in The Church we are filled with the Truth that the Mercy we have been shown by our Savior is to be returned to all those we encounter!

Now Luke spending some time with my dad a couple days ago.  I realized that they only see my folks now at CCC - Cross Christmas Camp - and Luke has never been to their home!  It was a landmark occasion to see my grandkids there!  They are very lucky to have great-grandparents on both sides yet!

Of course some piano playing!


So it a heartfelt prayer for countless to become Christ to others in this messed up world we live in.  The first place this should happen is in our domestic Churches/our homes!  That can sometimes be the most challenging place to show mercy as we are less patient and loving towards those we love and are the closest to!  Lord, may this change and give us the graces we need to return the Mercy we have been shown!  My mother-in-law was just sharing how we are all called to sacrifice in whatever path we are on.  Marriage is definitely a challenge a lot of the time, and even for Hallel as a nun she has been called to sacrifice her having a family of her own and time spent with us her earthly family!

Since it is a rarity to spend one on one time with my folks like this we had to get an official photo with some complaints, but I think it is a dandy keepsake.


Jesus, we are needing to find that ability to represent You in our lives and our families and our world and our jobs and our neighborhoods and our Church and our every moment of our journeys.  If we can find that humble place as we recall how we have been weak and sick and sinful, then we can not pass on the other side when we see others hurt, stripped, and left for dead... we see recall our own pain and suffering and yearn to help the others we encounter hurting and needing our help.  May MERCY reign and forgiveness and caring and giving without counting the cost!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Love those big strong arms hard at work day in and day out!  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

First tomatoes!

Ruth and I both had this many green beans in our gardens!

John and I had a long time snapping these!

Tasseling corn and two inches of rain in just a few days = Perfect!

Yes!
http://www.lifenews.com/2014/12/30/black-sheriff-says-if-black-lives-mattered-theyd-protest-at-abortion-clinics/
This is sad but true!  How can we overlook the lives lost in abortion - mostly black lives!

Nancy's bunch beating the heat in KC!

Some Alone time after 2 weeks of amazing close family time

Rose climbing up the path from our cabin to the wonderful sand beach we were blessed with this summer on the Big Lake!  The weather was spectacular and the TV and internet was off and we are all very brown and Ruth's kids were a delight as they played, swam and got along well.  The disappointment of Maria not coming with her 4 lingered, but we still came away with wonderful close family memories at our beautiful Big Lake!  Today after a 12 hour trip home we are glad to be back on the farm.

We camped out on the beach in our wonderful sugar sand!  We honestly had no desire to do any of the trips around.  The weather also allowed us to be in the sand and the water.

Our amazing week with all the girls minus Hallel and all the grandkids still lingers with me as a wonderful peaceful time.  Yes, peaceful with all those little ones, but they got along, we had a comfortable place for all of them between our large home and Ruth's, and we shared making and cleaning up meals, and the kids had a wonderful time together with next to no fights or problems other than a mysterious fever starting with Simon and gradually most of them slept for 12 hours with no other symptoms.  Like I said - a true mystery fever.

We didn't even go for sunset pictures on Beautiful Beach, but took a few on the 4th in front of our cabin.  Then we oohed and aahed over the neighbor's fireworks.

We have our own sand beach!

Campfire and the sand goes all the way to China!

It was interesting for me to be without internet... I tried going in to use the internet in town, but then I just let go and it felt fine to concentrate on watercoloring  with the grandkids and taking a break.  Yes, I am busting with much to share on a daily basis, but to do my morning prayers alone without Pat or John does make it quicker and less prayerful.  Back praying with them today was great!

Cabin time!

Luke would paint with me for a few minutes here and there, but the best part was the time Simon painted with me!  Dave was the most loving with his rainbow and heart pictures, and he tried to teach that to Luke, too.  Ruth said that she enjoyed watching Luke at 2 1/2 playing with his big brother, David, who will be 8 in a week.  "It was fun to watch their relationship grow." 

The girls sharing time in the water and the waves!

Everything is beautiful with this as a backdrop!  No wonder I take way too many pictures, right?

It does feel good to have a window to be alone in the peace and quiet today and reflect on these past two weeks.  It truly was an amazing week on the farm all together... John was gone on a fabulous mission trip and missed them, though.  And it truly was a small miracle that we got our week in Michigan after all!  We were not taking one, but Ruth miraculously had this week open!  Then she drove all the way there - 12 hours with her 5 kids to make it happen!  You are one amazing woman Ruth Ida Lanoue!

Rose in the little green chairs in front of the sun, water and sand from the deck.

I burn to share here, and to be forced to take some time off... a few days... was a lesson that the world will go on.  Today the Lord tells us in the Gospel just how precious we are to our Lord - Are not two sparrows sold for a small amount?  Yes, not one falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.  Even all the hairs on your head are counted.  So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.  Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my Heavenly Father...  Matthew 10

Is there any wonder why I long to share without fail here every day what the Lord has done for me and how much I love him and long to be with him forever in Heaven?

Sitting in the water and letting the waves splash us - we had a great time getting thoroughly wet!

Rose running back and forth in the water and the sand!

Lord, I long to share The Truth of how much you love us by giving us your amazing Bride, The Church, to give us more than we need each day of our journey!  We are given You in your Word and Sacrament, your Mother to always intercede for us - how John and I adored you this morning with talk of how you were made to be the perfect vessel to bring God into the world, and all the wonderful Saints!  We love you so much Our Mother of God!  May our lives and families - good humble Catholic families change the world of sin and darkness and bring it into the LIGHT everlasting!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Luke and Rose loved to wash our feet... with all the sand it was a constant job.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

Water coloring with Simon - he found those boots to wear in the water, and was just back from a swim with Mary.

Our Michigan thing - ice cream cones on the deck after meals and other times, too!

Now that's sand supreme and three brothers loving it!

Beach bunny... well, I could go on and on, but I will call it quits for today.  The green beans, lawn mowing and the chickens are calling to me.