Mary is the 'safest, easist, shortest, and most perfect way" to Jesus.../On our knees!

 How I love refection pictures and those with precious babies and my hunky husband give me the utmost of JOY!

2 1/2 years ago Maria lived with us while was in training for being a on the East coast!  Baby Evangeline Mary spent wonderful time together with her Grandpa Pat, and they got very close!  My husband is my champion for LIFE and family and openness to LIFE and raising them as LIGHTS!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

A precious reflection picture from 6 years ago of baby Bernadette, who will be 7 in a month so here she is 11 months old sitting in her blanket in my sink.

Beautiful babies and reflections of them is twice the specialness!

 Diving back into pictures from a summer of 2017.  Rose with Mary our Mother of heaven and earth.

Saturdays are devoted to Mary and after reading morning prayer in The Magnificat and many special meditations and even the Gospel for today which has a woman in the crowd recognizing Mary's role in bringing Jesus/LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT into the world through her womb and caring for his every need as a helpless infant..
While Jesus was speaking,
a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,
"Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed."
He replied, "Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it."
Luke 11

He is speaking about  how Mary brought The Word/Jesus into the world with her humble and total "yes"!  She embraced the Truth and now we can all be brought to her Son, through her intercession!

 Summer of 2017 was our last home visit from Hallel!  We hope for another visit this next summer.  A mother can have fake plans can't she?

Three of my children now have their arms full of baby boys!  Nancy has George, Maria has Hector and John has Jude!  The Lord makes us smile with the gifts of LIFE which makes our love grow more and more not stretch it thin!

I love these words today in morning prayer from St Louis de Montfort..."We would do well to entrust all our cares and our very lives to Mary, for she is 'the safest, easiest, shortest, and most perfect way' to Jesus and to sanctity."

 Lilacs... my most favorite flower and Jesus in the monstrance which is the best hour I spend all week!  My rosary prayer is a huge part of how I pray, and she takes my needs to Him!  Those words of St Louis ring so true for me and how Mary is so close to me and brings me ever closer to her Son!

 We always go over to Mary and join her with our love and devotion!  Our Spiritual Mother, who gave us New LIFE after our earthy mothers gave us life!

 Beautiful new life!  Ruth with her two youngest daughters about 2 1/2 years ago!  Joy in the dress worn by her big sister, Rose about 5 years before!

Little orange slice, Rose again, about 7 years ago!  I am having too much fun with old pictures today as I watch the snowflakes coming down on this October 12th!  Oh my, so early, Lord!

Another memory from 7 years ago today!
Today little Patrick thrilled us with his eyes opening to look at the world. Tomorrow the little cool cap will not be on his head, and we will be able to see his brown hair and sweet head. Each step is celebrated! John's Crown of Thorns mystery used to pray for his healing from brain cancer is now passed on to Patrick that his MRI of his brain will show a beautiful healthy brain! Join us in our HOPE and FAITH that Patrick will continue to find health carrying his Most Cherished Cross. We truly rejoice in this beginning of the Year of Faith in our amazing glorious Church! Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless

Today our Miracle boy, Patrick, turned seven 3 days ago, and is healthy and happy!  I am reminded of some prayer needs that are heavy and keeping me on my knees today, and one being John as once again we are at a Crossroads of where the Lord is directing him... I told him today that my concern for him keeps me on my knees!  How we both look to Mary and love her!   John fell in love with Our Lady of Lourdes when he bathed in the waters 10 years ago when we miraculously went to France for Hallel to take her habit and then on to Lourdes! My 5th decade of the rosary each day is for John and all his family and those battling with cancer end up there, too!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-story-of-little-lamb-grandson.html

Also from October 12th, 2012 of Patrick holding onto Maria's finger.  It must have marked the beginning of the year of Faith, and how prefect?!?
May this image give us all the FAITH we need to pray constantly with HOPE, and TRUST that Jesus is healing little Patrick and Maria! The year of FAITH began for us with the most beautiful gift - an elderly man's loved and prayed Rosary! No better gift could we receive! Your prayers of FAITH will move mountains!!! Jesus, we pray for a perfect healthy brain in the MRI in a few days. Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless If you want to follow with updates go to my blog - http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/

The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Psalm 97 today promises us that with our trusting and humble prayer without ceasing those mountains/huge obstacles and needs that loom over us will truly be melted like wax!!!  Yes, Lord, we trust and hope and pray with every breath that we take and every beat of our hearts!

 4 years ago in KC... the icon in the chapel of Lumen Christi/LIGHT of Christ monastery.  One of my favorite icons are those where Jesus is eating Mary's chin with LOVE!  I have seen my grandkids do this to my daughters - "I love you so much that I want to eat you up with LOVE!"

We cannot love Mary too much.  We can never love her more than Jesus did!

 Over our heads in the cupela of the monastery is this powerful motto which Hallel and her Community of the Lamb live by - "Wounded, I will not cease to love"

May this dwell always in my heart and soul and may I live this in my life!

Some beautiful words about Mary from the Meditation of the Day by Fr. Victor de la Vierge (1990)
In his Servant, God offers us the model of humility, in the Virgin, the model of abandonment.  And she who brought God into the world received the mission of bringing us into the world of God and of forming in us the child she was, and the Child she bore.  Without doubt we shall never see Jesus more clearly than through the eyes of her who called him, my Son, the first-born of a multitude of brethren.

Baby Josephine in the chapel in KC 3 1/2 years ago.  How Nancy misses her Holy Hour there each week!  We plan to head down there this week for MEA break!

Jesus, how we love to spend each new day with You, your Mother, the Saints and your Bride, The Church!  We are given so much for our journey.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

There are 4 chickens out there about ready to start laying eggs!  Just in time for them to freeze before we can eat them.  Rose with eggs about 4 years ago.  Bless-bless, Barb

John sent this of Jude in his jumper for the first time today and loving it!  "He is blowing bubbles!"



Our Bishop Terry Brandt sent pastors this prayer today. Pray it with me please. “Gracious God, O God, The rain and snow is falling. The costs are up and prices are down. For many, the payments are due and there is no money in the account. Lord, use us so that those who are struggling don’t feel alone or like failures in their efforts to steward your creation. We know there are those who feel the harder they work, the worse it seems to get. Strengthen those who have lost, laughter, joy or hope. Hold our farm families close as we do out best and act accordingly to you will in the days ahead.” Bishop Terry Brandt. Eastern North Dakota Synod of the ELCA (Lutheran). Thank you Terry....I’ve been there and barely survived. Thank you farmers....Hold on! Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.

Lord, you saved him and you have a plan for him!

Ryan Stevenson - eye of the storm

Jeremy Camp - Dead man walking

One canner of applesauce/Remembering mom and thinking about my mother with her changes

 A memory from 4 years ago...  a year from when we lost Pat's mother!

Mom was so much a part of our lives, and we think of her often and miss her a lot!  Mary standing behind her prayed for her great-grandmother with great feelings and compassion.  It was hard to watch her fade away from heart failure and old age for the almost 2 years she was on hospice.  We were very involved in her care and needs and spent most Sundays with her as we would bring her communion and spend time her after.

Pat's mother would have so enjoyed meeting our Joy Jean!  She gives this grandmother so much love and charms my socks off!

We are off to a neighbor's funeral soon.  The readings today are tough ones to truly understand.  The Gospel is Jesus' warning about when an evil spirit is cast out from us and returns to find our soul swept clean and in order and goes and brings 7 other spirits to make it so much worse!  What is this telling us about when we are in the confessional and leave the evil and sinfulness there - forgiven and wiped clean?  We then need to fill our inner temples with goodness, not leave it empty but fill it with all that we are given each day of this journey by our beloved Church, Jesus, Mary and the Saints!  When we pray without ceasing there dwells in us The Holy Spirit and Our Mother bends down and lifts our needs to her beloved Son!

New happenings on the farm/Prayers of healing in my heart and soul/Ask and recieve...

Yes!  We need a 2 year old to help cover the pile of sorghum silage today.  Pat, Paul, Ruth, I and Joy are the crew to cover our huge pile of sorghum!  No age limit on the old and young helpers!

 Singing her ABCs to grandma with her adorable smile in between putting the huge tarps on.

One is never enough of this cuteness during our day in and out in the drizzle rain.

The men were saying that the piles are always covered in the rain.  Pat even was speaking about when he was a kid covering the silage piles of old!

The chopping of the sorghum and blowing it into 4 trucks that went around and around for about 8 hours!

The neighbors giant payloader up and down the pile packing it down!

Humungus!!!

One of the trucks advertised the beef that they grow and us on a much smaller scale.  One of my best friends, Teresa, drove this all day.  She amazes me!

All hands were used today even little sweet helper Joy!

So many thoughts and prayers for people asking for prayers as they battle cancer!  It brings me back to our battle with John 10  years ago!  How we looked to Our Lady of Lourdes, Blessed Solanus Casey, JPII, and our family of the Lamb as well as the hundreds of prayer warriors around the world.  We have an fighting with us - as Jesus tells us today in the Gospel - Ask and you will receive!

Nancy's Amazing Saint T-shirts are coming out soon!  LOVE!  How we are joined by the Saint in heaven!

Paul ran ragged today climbing up and down the pile as we covered it!  This was 5 years ago as the shop next to the house was going up.  Now this family with the addition of Joy are living there and are the resident farm family!

About half the pile we covered today!

 Last few loads at sunset yesterday. Started about 10A and around and around from the field to the pile!

 Close up look at the silage - it smelled quite nice today and was pleasing to the eyes as well.  The cows should be happy eating it through the winter!

Huge tarps and two thick over the feed which will ferment.  I wonder if it is like a good wine for the cows and calves.  They will be HAPPY!

Jesus, prayer has followed me through this day on the farm in the misty rain.  So much is calling me back to all those Saints that followed us and fought the battle with us against cancer.  Such an amazing we have to fight with us - we ask and we receive your peace and comfort!  "When things look bad and you are losing heart repeat these words; Jesus, I trust in you."  Bishop LeVoir when John's cancer grew back through his chemo and we had to do whole brain radiation!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barb
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html

Fortified by prayer Jesus goes forth to heal and proclaim!/Patrick is 7 today!

Yesterday was Hector's 7 month birthday and so Maria spoiled me with a picture of him in the midst of his loving family!  It also gave me a special one to use today of birthday boy, Patrick!   He is 7 today joining his cousin, Rose again, and in a month Bernadette will make it a threesome!

Hector looks like he loves his toes and his loving siblings all around him! Patrick looks like he is happy and healthy in his America T-shirt.  We shared so much 7 years ago, including an emergency Baptism in the middle of the night in NICU... that this day each year marks a day of great celebration and JOY!

So soon after our battle with John fighting his brain cancer with our prayer warriors and all the Church gives us in the way of Prayer, Sacraments, Jesus in The Word, and also the Saints with each day, and Mother of heaven and earth to intercede for us and hold us close to her Immaculate heart... we were on our knees again for our precious little Lamb, Patrick!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-story-of-little-lamb-grandson.html

Just as John's battle with brain cancer taught others to pray and the power of prayer, a few years later Patrick's traumatic birth brought us to our knees!  How I love to find Jesus in prayer as he is today before he teaches us about the Kingdom, or how to pray the Our Father, or healing the sick brought to him by the hundreds!
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."
He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test."
Luke 11:1-4

Jesus is so grounded in prayer and is such an example to us of how we are to be on our knees in our inner chapel throughout the day, in order to go forth and love and serve without counting the cost!

 Hector in a love sandwich!

How lucky is he to have these brothers and sisters on this journey called life with him?  So much better than things or stuff or money is siblings!  There is no comparison to family helping us down the narrow path, and yes sometimes we are tripped by them, but we forgive 70x7 times and go forth together.  How often are we allowed to live this?  "Wounded, I will never cease to love."  This is what the Cross is and means and what Jesus is asking of us if we take up our Most Cherished Cross and follow after him!

 The s always have to do a silly one... kind of cute and funny.

Just the birthday boy!  We love you Patrick!

 I am always with my parents these midweek days, so I am thinking about them a lot!  My brother sent me this picture of them looking settled in.

Nancy stopped in yesterday for about 20 minutes and found them still adjusting with where they want furniture and things they left behind.  They said that they liked the food and claimed a table right across the hall from their room in the dining room.  Mom didn't talk about going back home, and so it looks like she is more accepting and content.  Nancy had her 3 youngest with her, and reports that they were good for the time she was there.  "They didn't seemed surprised to see me, and seem to be accepting and liking that more people are close and will be stopping in.  So good to be close to more family!

 Yes, we are combining beans now... Pat just called to report that bean combining is going on as well as making sorghum silage!  Rain is on the horizon again, so there is a big push going on.  Jesus, keep all the farmers safe and sane!

The corn has a ways to go and the heat units of these 70 degree days along with the wind must be helping, but it is cold coming right around the corner.  Such a crazy year that has kept us praying without ceasing for the crazy year like no other - 2019!

Jesus, we turn to you in prayer as you modeled for us so beautiful and powerfully today!  You gave us the words to pray and so we lift up our needs to your Father!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah!

Soon there will be three 7 year olds!  They are best buddies - a Patrick sandwich is good!  Bless-bless, Barb

Time with Jesus in the midst of our anxieties of LIFE...Martha outside and Mary inside!

Sitting on the tractor on the first day of harvest praying for the safety of my husband, who just turned 65 and continues to be the climber of the bins.

Fear and anxiety are coursing through me as I watch him up there!  Also the rosary beads are in my hands, and I am praying and trusting that there are many angels all around him protecting him and assisting him.

Talk about angels!!!

6 years ago it was our last day of beans and this year it is our first!  Nancy riding along in the truck with  Pat and her two little ones, who are now 8 and soon to be 7.

This has been a messed up year with so much rain that only half of our corn ever got into the ground and that was a month later than usual.  The farmers have had to trust and go forward down a new path, and we still don't know how it will all play out.  It seems that the corn needs another month of warmth and that is not likely.  The beans are starting to come out when they usually are coming to an end and we are on to corn!

 A better perspective of just how high it is!  I was asked to climb up one early in our marriage to help get a bolt in place.  I couldn't!  Pat had to have 4 year old Ruth go up ahead of him and put her small hand in there to hold the bolt where he needed it!  Talk about high levels of worry and anxiety!

The Gospel today is obviously from Luke 10... Martha and Mary!  There are many different areas of our lives we are juggling at the same time and they cause us to worry and raise our level of anxiety!  Much like Martha... we cry out to the Lord and want him to help us or bring the help from around us. Yet, he reminds us that we can find peace and the ability to give up the stresses and missteps if only we place ourselves at his feet and give heed to all that we are given with each new day by Jesus, Mary, and the Church along with all the Saints!  So much!

 Ready to climb up to the very top, open the lid and direct me to lower the auger into it just right!  Beans from the field will soon go in.

 Worried and anxious on my part, but he seems to be calm and assured of his steps, strength, and safety!  Trusting and strong!

Yes, I am feeling the anxiety build, but I truly can find peace and acceptance if only I give it to Him in prayer/the Rosary is my constant companion turning my eyes, heart, and mind to Jesus as I lift up my kids, husband, Godchildren, my family, Pat's family, and my beloved Church!

But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; 42one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10

There is need of only one thing!!!  Dying to self and allowing Jesus to live and move and use us to His honor and glory!  How He loves us and cares for our every need!

 Bright sun and strong winds today here too!  Hector is 7 months today!

 Such a happy healthy boy!  He is adored by his big sister, Therese, who cares for all his needs except feeding... although now that he is eating baby food, I am sure that she is loving that, too!

Bernadette at her first Mary's Crown meeting of the year at her St Maximilian school and I just spotted her sister, Josephine there too!  LOVE this so much!

Nancy was so excited that her girls would have exposure to the Schoenstatt sisters of her youth.  I so wanted my 4 girls to see nuns in habits that I sent them to Schoenstatt camp an hour away in Sleepy Eye, MN!  They loved their week there in the summer so much!  Maria didn't want to come home one summer, she loved it so much, and Susan told me on the way home from her week when she was about 11 or so that she was thinking about being a nun!  10 years later she left for France and now is a totally professed Little Sister Hallel!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/susan-angela-agneslittle-sister-hallel.html

Susan in the summer of 2008 when The Community of the Lamb came to KC!  She told us in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe in their chapel that she was going to leave for France and join this Dominican Community!  Little Sister Marie is their founder and Fr Jean Claude is their spiritual director and his Franciscan!

 In France a year ago for Hallel's final vows!

The seed was planted in Hallel while she had a Girl's camp week at Schoenstatt 20 years before!  I had to pull the car over to wipe my eyes, and the Holy Spirit was moving me deeply when I heard her words of Truth!  "Mom, I am thinking about being a nun."

Jesus, how I love you and that beauty of my life as a wife and mother, who discerned a call of my own which led to my embracing your True and Only Church!  When I parents came into The Church with my younger siblings I was allowed to choose for myself.  "I want to be a nun, so I want to be Catholic!"  This was not the plan for me, but because of my call I now have a daughter, who was called and said an enthusiastic..."Yes!"  We are blessed so richly and now our grandchildren for which I pray daily!  How wonderful to see them now experiencing the Faith in The Church shared with JOY and with Truth by the Sisters!  My cup overflows!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html

 John and Bobbi with Hallel in Saint Pierre!  Yes, John discerned the seminary for a year, and decided that the studies were too much and the call faded.  We now see the Lord's plan was for John to marry a most amazing woman, who had prayed him through brain cancer and seminary and so much for those over 10 years from their years in high school til he asked her out after seeing her at mass one Sunday!  How she trusted and prayed!  Bless-bless, Barb

 Hallel's Lamb that marks her final vow!  "I promise unto death!"  The wood from which it was taken is given to her parents and is inscibed the motto The Community of the Lamb lives by - "Wounded, I will never cease to love."  How hard is that? Jesus, help me to surrender my worries like Mary and find Peace!

Brought back Lourdes water for my parents... they now are in their new home and so many of my thoughts and prayers are heading in that direction!

Full circle!!!  Each day I pray that all of my grandchildren will discern this amazing option!

8 years ago with Pat's apple tree!  How I thank the Lord for my nuns in my life!  A daughter is such a gift to give us her family of the Lamb!  Who says that we lost family due to her vow of celibacy?  No we gained hundreds!  The prayer power is huge, too!!!

John's journey continues to this day!  Faith through brain cancer and now battling the effects of radiation... continue to lift him up!

Danielle Rose - Pursue Me

How I cried tears of deep wellspring of emotion when I read this in Susan's room when she left for France on Sept 11, 2008!  So much LOVE for her spouse, and He for her!

Danielle Rose - True Love/The Cross
Susan listened to this over and over and left the Cd in her car.. I would listen to it and weep happy tears!

The sisters from KC visiting the farm in Oct 2008... 4 year old Simon's famous words as he looked around the table..."We are all family!"  LOVE!

"When we work hard, we must eat well. 

What a joy, that you can

receive Holy Communion often!

It's our life and support in this life --

Receive Communion often, 

and Jesus will change you into Himself."

St Peter Julian Eymard