Snow day in April/Our Lady of Fatima is beckoning/"I have seen the Lord!" Mary to the disciples

Nancy with her 4 sweet kids on her 36th birthday last night thanks to her wonderful thoughtful husband, Bill!  Seeing them around their mother with each of their individual personalities in play makes for some happy smiles on grandma! 

In a few short days the 4 will be here on the farm while mom and dad head to Portugal to visit Our Lady of Fatima!  So exciting to know of this pilgrimage they are on with their hearts sad with the loss of their son, Maximilian, who would have been born at Easter.  How I recall those sad days after a loss when others had their babies in their arms... my heart would ache even with my other ones around me!  Each LIFE is a gift and we long to meet them someday as they keep our eyes on heaven!

We are in the midst of a snow day watching the world turn white as snow pours down from the sky and blows off the roof... all school called off today and with John and Paul working in Education and the kids home... we are having a close family day thanks to the weather, and the farmers, Ruth, Paul and Pat are anxious to get all the cows and calves on dry bedding as soon as the snow stops later on today!

My heart is so full and soars with Dominic to the heights of heaven seeing my Nancy and Susan together for Easter!!!!  Nancy's family on Easter with Hallel in Lumen Christi Monastery after sharing Easter mass!

Nancy wrote about her Easter in these eloquent words...

"Happy Easter from a family who celebrated (monastic style) so much we didn’t have time to share a pic.
He is Risen!
He is Risen in deed!
Christ is risen from the dead! Trampling down death by death! And to those in tombs He is restoring life!"


I was struck by these powerful words of deep meaning and HOPE for all of those that are "in tombs"... He is restoring LIFE!  How Easter is now with us for 50 glorious days at work bringing LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT into our world and our tombs!  Monastic style is to cover every moment of his death, burial and resurrection from one hour to the next through both day and night!  So close and personal and deep and powerful!!! 

I am so happy that Nancy shared our frozen sweet corn at the feast and Hallel looks excited to have some of her farm grown home cooking while living here for the year!!!  I know she has adjusted fine to European food, but it must be delightful to have a year of American food that she grew up with for 23 years... we get them our canning and freezing as one of the 6 families we make food for!  How we love to know that Hallel can have a taste of HOME while she is here this year. 


She will be taking her vows in France/her wedding day to Christ Jesus on August 15th/The Feast of The Assumption of Mary!  After that we have no idea where she will be placed... we need to visit her often and now that the Lenten season is behind us... we are allowed to communicate with her!  Pat and I have fake plans to go there the weekend of April 20th, and so we will see...

Dominic with The LIGHT which has come into the world!!  He bares the name of the Patron Saint of The Community of the Lamb as they are Dominican and beg for their food from the poor!  Nancy arrived in France ahead of us when Hallel was taking her habit, and witnessed them praying the prayers of St Dominic in the Green Cathedral... just as so very much has touched us on this journey with Hallel and her amazing Little Brothers and Sisters of The Lamb!!  His sacrifice saved us from sin and death!

So powerful after the vigil they have kept at the Cross and the tomb through song and prayer!!! Standing at the foot of the cross with Mary and John, and now Nancy and Bill will be going to Fatima in the next week armed with the prayer requests of many and Nancy still filled with her new love and appreciation for Mary, after she came to her during her loss of Max!

John is sitting here next to me due to the snow day and we are filled with JOY at this memory from 8 1/2 years ago... Nancy used this with her post about the loss of Max and coming close to Mary the Mother of God in her darkest moments!  We were just days after Hallel took her habit and we are crossing over the river into Lourdes!!!
http://www.dosmallthingswithlove.com/2018/02/mary-is-real-and-she-loves-you-2.html
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html

Just days before she lost Maximilian at 20 weeks on Thanksgiving!


Her words...
"And in that silent, dark room, the drugs started to drip in and my body started to slowly, painfully respond.  The hours ticked by and we waited, not really knowing what to expect, except that the baby inside of me was dead and that the future we had fallen in love with was never going to be.


The hours we spent waiting for Maximilian to be delivered were some of the darkest I have experienced. I wept until I was completely dehydrated and numb, and yet, in those moments I also received one of the most profound gifts of my life.


I was allowed to experience Mary.


Thanks to all I had been taught growing up Catholic, I knew to call on Mary in my pain. I began to pray the ‘Hail Mary’, aloud and silently, and when that seemed too much, I fell into simply saying her name. “Mary, Mary, Mary,” and as I did, I could feel her presence in that room. She did not come gradually, but suddenly and all at once, as if she had been just waiting for me to call.


Thinking back on those moments I can visualize exactly where she was standing in the room, just to the right of my bed, looking directly at me.  I never doubted that she was really there, right there.  But more than anything I remember feeling a deep stillness emanating from where she stood. I knew she was there gazing on me with love..."

Another prized treasure for my old eyes!!!  Grandma Ann's bunny cakes with Hallel and Nancy's kids!  A very precious memory we all hold in our hearts for this loving and special lady now in heaven...


Nancy's powerful words continue...
"My experience of Mary was really quite simple. There were no bright lights or premonitions or words from heaven. Just a feeling of peace and love, and the comfort of knowing that she was there and she loved me.


The weeks and months following the loss of our little Maximilian have been difficult, and I expect more struggles as we attempt to get pregnant and once more open ourselves up to the pain of loss.


But the gift Mary gave me in that hospital room has endured. I no longer feel her presence as strongly as I did that day, but I am left with the knowledge of who she is.


And I can honestly say that I know Mary now. I tasted her love for me. I was able to touch, for just a few minutes, her tender hand and I know now that those same hands are holding my little Maximilian up in heaven.


The knowledge that Mary is really there has changed everything. I cling to my Rosary and attempt to carry her with me everywhere.


And not just that, it has set me on a mission.


It breaks my heart to think that so many people face pain and suffering without Mary at their side, especially when she is so willing to fly to their side, if only they call. So, I am on a mission to increase Marian devotion through the Rosary.


The mission has begun with me. I have committed to a daily Rosary for the rest of my life."

At the graveside service we shared for Max... Writing Nancy's birthday card yesterday brought me to tears as I recalled how I longed and prayed that my girls would not have to experience the pain of loss that was so much a part of my childbearing years with the 7 losses, 2 of which were 20 week stillbbirths!  "I prayed that my girls would not have to suffer the losses, but I also wanted to share Mary with you all... it seems that they came together for you, dear Nancy."  


How my heart will be with her now as she visits Fatima on this 100th anniversary of her appearing there.  It is a beautiful gift to share this Truth with my Nancy Anna!!!  It truly is a deeply personal experience of seeing our Lord through the loving prayers we shower on his mother through the mysteries of the rosary each day meditating on His LIFE/Death and Resurrection all of which were deeply tied to his Mother of Heaven and Earth!!!  "I have seen the Lord!"  said Mary this day after he called her by name in John 20!

John with his oldest Godson/only Godson, David on Easter morning!


An email from Nancy asking for prayer requests that she can take along with her...

Hey friends--I hope you had a blessed Triduum and Holy Week. I spent Holy Week off-line for the most part and was blessed to enjoy many beautiful liturgies with The Little Sisters of the Lamb, who have a house here in Kansas City. It was just incredible to really enter into the Gospel and pass those hours with our Lord.

And the drama of Holy Week never disappoints. Jesus conquers death by death! Praise God!

And, in this spirit of Joy my husband and I are doing something a little crazy next week..

We are going to FATIMA!

The trip came together at the last minute and, through no really planning on our end, we will be with Our Lady of Fatima on April 11th, the day that was supposed to be Max's due date.

Mary has been so good to me this year and I am eager to say thank you in Fatima, but I would also love to carry your petitions there. Mary is our good and gentle mother. She is ready to help us, if we but ask.

So, allow me to ask for you.

If you have a pray intention, just head HERE and add it to the form.

I plan to print all of the responses and pray through them for you in Fatima. Every single one.

And, don't worry, the form is 100% confidential, even from me. I will not be able to see who shared what. However, I find it practically powerful to pray for people by name, so, if you are comfortable, please include the first names of those you'd like me to pray for.

No need is too small for Mary's notice.

Thank you for entrusting your petition in me.

Your sister in Christ,

Nancy

Love this so much!  I feel our family is complete with their loving smiles from Seattle!!!


Jesus, we are entering the Easter Season and singing our continual Hallelujahs in our heart, minds and souls!!!  Easter is so much more than a day and we cannot get over the Love you poured upon us as we can truly say... "I have seen the Lord!"  He lives in my heart never to leave!   May your Mother dwell in our domestic church/homes and bring us to you.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah!

The BEST!!!   John and I were just envisioning Grandpa Pat sitting in the house at the farm waiting for the snow to stop with the grandkids all around him and Joy on his lap!  He says every day that the move off the farm was the right thing to do, and having the young family there is right!  I agree!!  Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke

Baby Joy a year ago at just 4 days old...Joy to the world! "Hello beautiful new world!" Bless bless

Joy found the jellybeans and is eating them with her 2 teeth!  Joy Jean Jellybean is one!!!

We are an Easter People and Hallelujah is our song!

We are an Easter People

Looking at the picture from Lourdes brought this powerfully back almost 9 years later! 

"We are an Easter people, and Hallelujah is our song!!!" St JPII Nancy Anna's birthday!

Knowing that my family was together made this a most special beginning to the Easter Season!!!  And the famous True words of St JPII today ring like a bell in my heart, mind and soul!

"We are an Easter people and Hallelujah is our song!"

Nancy sent this sweet pic of her Sister Hallel with the traditional bunny cakes that came to us from our wonderful grandma Ann!!!  Today is my Easter girl's birthday!  How I wept yesterday as I wrote her a birthday card recalling that she would be having her arms filled with Maximilian at Easter, and how I prayed that she would not have to experience the loss of stillbirth, but I did want to share with her the deep love of Mary.  It seemed that the two came together on Thanksgiving with the loss of 20 week old, Maximilian. 

Easter was very special for me this year sharing photos from all of the different locations our family was together across the country... Kansas City, Seattle, and mid Minnesota... my kids know what makes me tick... Pictures!!!!

I also love to watercolor with my kids and grandkids!!!  With the Easter tree putting out leaves...I was able to make butterflies with each one of the kids, and Rose made a rainbow one through the raindrops, and her name.... Rose Again!  So perfect for her on Easter, too!

Joy and I had fun making her butterfly!  Easter JOY is for sure!!!

The LIGHT of Christ at Easter mass at Lumen Christi/Light of Christ Monastery yesterday!

Dominic will be here in a few days with his siblings as Nancy and Bill are heading to Portugal for some time with Our Lady at Fatima! 

Sharing these pictures with Pat last night along with a cute movie Bill sent of The Community singing "Happy Birthday" to Nancy after the Easter Feast... Pat commented on how comfortable and at home the kids are sharing time with our family of the Lamb!  Such a wonderful gift for our family to be a close part of this powerful life of poverty, chastity and obedience as brides of Christ!  Hallel will be having her wedding in August in France!  Lots of plans flying around as we gear up for a big family presence for this huge day!

My Easter gift from Nancy and Susan/Hallel together for Easter in KC!  We love you, Nancy, happy birthday #36!  How we love to see your ministry sharing LIGHT with Catholic women/working on loving our husbands better and having a small slice of heaven in our domestic Church/family! 

You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.

These words from Acts 2 in the first reading for Easter Monday this morning seems to be my prayer for you, dear Nancy Anna Joan of Arc!  Knowing that you have a new closeness to Our Lady after losing Max from this world and keeping your heart and eyes on the next!

It looks like Nancy took our wonderful sweet corn, and how I love to know that she got to have a taste of home cooking!!!


 Everytime I take down some of our canning or freezing, it feels great to be sharing our food with Susan while she is in America/Kansas City for the year!  The Community is one of the 6 families we can for, and so much more wonderful that Hallel can enjoy our food this year!!  We know not what the next year will hold, other than her vows in Saint Pierre, France on August 15th/Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Feast!

John and Bobbi found the Easter bunny and special times with her family after sharing Easter craziness at the farm for the candy hunt and breakfast!


The snow is falling here... so many prayers for the winter to leave us and for the cows and calves in this challenging spring! 

We are getting a new layer of snow out there quickly... my happy place watercoloring with 4 of the 6... I got Simon, David and their dad, Paul to make their butterflies after Easter dinner.  It is nice to see the green leaves popping forth even with the white cold world outside.  Lord, we need sun and warmth for our cows and calves!

My heart sings to have these special pictures of Easter!!!

Hallelujah is our song!!! For John and Bobbi filled with LOVE and Easter JOY as they come ever closer to their marriage in June!

I am sitting at the farm now praying about the weather, cows and calves, that the tractor doesn't get stuck in the field, and Nancy on her birthday today... reminded that it was the anniversary of my hero's death, St JPII on April 2, 2005.  He has been gone now for 13 years!  I can only imagine the work he is doing in heaven to protect all LIFE and families from the attack of Satan!

Watching John and Bobbi go down the driveway to have Easter with her family.  It is wonderful for them to have that option at this point of their lives. 

Now for us in our 40th years of marriage... we are content knowing that family time can be shared in 3 different locations.  Family times comes in many shapes, and we are just grateful to share near and far!  We have so much JOY and comfort being apart in knowing that we are united in our Hallelujah as an Easter people sharing our Faith in The Church!  There is nothing better than having Jesus and His Bride, The Church, first in our domestic Church family now 25 going on 26 and such a glorious tie that binds us one to the other no matter how far we are separated!  With our 11 in heaven keeping our eyes on HIM!

Talk about Easter JOY and Hallelujah!!!  From Seattle we received this gem!

"...  we are given two liturgical seasons, one before Easter and the other after. The season before Easter signifies the troubles in which we live here and now, while the time after Easter which we are celebrating at present signifies the happiness that will be ours in the future. What we commemorate before Easter is what we experience in this life; what we celebrate after Easter points to something we do not yet possess. This is why we keep the first season with fasting and prayer; but now the fast is over and we devote the present season to praise. Such is the meaning of the Alleluia we sing. ...

Now therefore, brethren, we urge you to praise God. That is what we are all telling each other when we say Alleluia. You say to your neighbor, “Praise the Lord!” and he says the same to you. We are all urging one another to praise the Lord, and all thereby doing what each of us urges the other to do. But see that your praise comes from your whole being; in other words, see that you praise God not with your lips and voices alone, but with your minds, your lives and all your actions."

Excerpt from St. Augustine's discourse

on the Psalms (Ps. 148, 1-2: CCL 40, 2165-2166)  

The Easter branch putting out leaves in the house... outside is new snow.

Ruth agrees that the Easter butterflies add to her tree!

Jesus, after Holy Week of walking your journey to our Salvation and Lent filled with our recalling your sacrifice with our own penances... How we rejoice with the Angels and saints... St Augustine and St John Paul II in singing "Hallelujah!"  We are truly an Easter People!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

Aglow with Easter JOY!!!  Nancy has had her birthday on Good Friday in the past, so Easter Monday is reason to celebrate!!  Ruth just checked out Easter next year and discovered that her Mary's 13th birthday will be Good Friday next year...   "No meat on my 13th birthday?!?" a memorable one to be sure, Mary!  Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke

Joy's first watercolor time with grandma... Brush in the mouth is the first basic step...


From Nancy today:
"He is Risen in deed!
Christ is risen from the dead! Trampling down death by death! And to those in tombs He is restoring life!"
Hear our prayer, O Lord!

Love her!!!  She nails it every time!




To all my brothers & sisters in Christ who were received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil...

Rome, Sweet Home!  from my kindred spirit/in love with The Church, Scott Hahn!

Hallelujah - Pentatonix

Hallelujah Chorus from Handels' Messiah

Easter galore!!!! Love to see my families sharing Easter JOY!

Adorableness with their two cousins in Seattle sharing the Easter JOY!

This gem from Kansas City this morning... love the wonderful matching boys and girls which is in keeping with my sewing matching dresses for the girls and even attempted to get John to match, too!  They have 11a Easter mass with Little Sister Hallel/Susan about 20 minutes away at Lumen Christi Monastery!


 What JOY to have Hallel here in the U.S. this year leading up to her final vows/wedding to Jesus in August in France!  First John and then Hallel... how they love to share the big steps in their lives it seems!  So powerful!!!

John and Bobbi joined in early Easter mass followed by candy hunt and then Easter Breakfast on the farm!  Aglow with Easter JOY and newfound love... wedding date set for June 2... just 2 months away! 

Cold and snowy outside, but inside we are warm and aglow with Easter JOY! 

With Goddaughter, Joy, who was 1 yesterday...  Jellybeans and fingers are tasting good for her second Easter...

Easter smiles with Godson, David!!!!  He will herd the 4 Goddaughters down the aisle on June 2nd!  Wedding day supreme.  Joy is supposed to be walking by then... we will see...She did get a walker for her birthday to practice.

After the hunt and before the breakfast with tombs... the marshmallow melts to leave an empty tomb... Her is risen!!! 


Gathered on the farm to celebrate life with 137 calves... soon to be 138 with one working on giving birth as we watch Cow TV.

The whole bunch in Seattle!!!  Looking wonderful to my hungry eyes and this goes straight to my heart!!!

Joy shares jelly beans with her grandpa!

Now sharing tombs... I need to wrap this up so that I can concentrate on the Easter Dinner Ruth and I are pulling together to cap off our day on the farm together.  


Ruth and Paul just headed out to check on the 137 calves... every 12 hours we look through them and treat any that look under the weather in this challenging winter that won't give up!  How we pray that the snow we are predicted to get over the next 10 days will miss us!  Lord, hear our prayer.

The hunt for candy was fast and furious!!! 

Joy loves her birthday doll given her by big sister, Mary!  I must stop this for now!!


Jesus, we are beyond blessed by this Easter JOY in our hearts and our domestic church/homes!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah! 

As Ruth said this is Rose again's day!!!  Pat and I smiled at each other at the Vigil when we renewed our Baptismal vows and heard "rose again."  We do believe and are eternally saved from our sins by the rising of Christ!  He is risen indeed!  Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke