The Pat and Barb Verly family and their 5 children, in laws and grandkids along with many prayer warriors have been drawn together by John's cancer... sharing daily for 8 months started this blog- Family Soul Story - Our faith, family, farm and now our cancer journey called HEALING have colored and deepened our world. WE continue to share and depend on the support of our prayer warrior community, that has lowered us into the Lord's presence for His healing!
4 of the 8 on the plane to Minneapolis! Picture proof that we are really going to see our family tomorrow! I didn't realize just how much I was holding my breath that will really be able to get his leave and fly with his family here. But seeing them in flight is setting my heart free to soar to the highest heights! The huge excitement is building and preparations are underwiegh here on the farm!
On the way to the airport in the shuttle this morning - dark there as they are 2 hours earlier than we are. Seeing this filled me with JOY! It is for REAL! We are famous for having fake plans with our years of having our family and knowing how plans change - we call any plans we make "fake plans" until we see them actually happen.
Really waiting to board the plane! I asked for photo updates and I am overjoyed to be getting them and following their journey to be with us! They will be picked up by friends at the airport, spend some time with them, get a ride over to spend the night with Nancy, and then come to the farm tomorrow!
Then all the work of getting ready for our first ever VCC/Verly Christmas Camp weekend will be put into motion! The heated shop will become our gathering place for meals and dance and Santa and crafts and rosary and all things Catholic - as John says; "I want this to be a crazy Catholic camp!"
More of the travelers heading to be with our family! Our Domestic Church/family will be only missing one member - our nun, who is in France for the year. A paper Hallel might just have to reappear to make it complete!
Guess who got to have time with my namesake, Birdie Barbara, yesterday? How I love to see the many Birdie faces and she makes me laugh with great JOY and gladness!
So happy and precious! I know that her big cousin, Therese, will want to spend lots of time with her sweet baby cousin. How she loves the babies and is such a wonderful care giver of little ones. The fact that her mom is expecting #7 - a baby girl in the spring - is pure joy for Therese! There is no doubt that she will teach her younger sister, Evangeline, the art of caring for baby girls.
There are plans for pack and plays to be in the heated shop and Ruth's quieter house for the babies to be able to nap while we have precious family time. Pat even put a stove in the shop for meals, and we have a washer and drier, shower and bathroom. Oh, we also have 13 chickens in there and they lay their eggs daily to keep us with the eggs. There will be puppy, kittens, goats in the barn next store, and 19 grandkids from 16 to 8 months.
The many faces and expressions of Birdie make me smile!
The first reading from mass today continues from I John 4, and it is all about True LOVE! Where do I find this LOVE? By having my family together and the fact that we share our Faith as a family without any that don't love Jesus and His Bride, The Church, with no reservations! All that the Church asks of us we agree with and follow! That is LOVE in my heart, mind and soul!
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for 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. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Kissy face with a attitude...
The Gospel today is spectacular! Jesus feeding the 5,000! Reminding us of how very much he loves us, looks after us, and feeds us with His Word, Body and Blood so that we may be more and more His and die to self so that The Holy Spirit is in charge of our lives and our family and our Domestic Church! Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit we know God and He is LOVE!
A picture of JOY!
More than my usual 3 - but each one is a different attitude and look and I love to share them and ponder them. I think she will be held most of the weekend by one or another of her family... even her older cousins. Holding the babies is always a big part of my CCC - Cross Christmas Camp. This year they missed out on getting to know our newest Birdie Barbara, and they really missed a super sweet wonderful baby girl! Next year she will be running with the toddlers, but might get nabbed in some Great Aunts arms anyways.
A huge work of LOVE from Rose and Bernadette! A patron saint for all 31 of us! Even the new life in the womb will have one!
The two main artists - we take our Saints very seriously! They were huge for our nest years with our kids around us in our early years. We had a saint book and read the kids about the lives of saints when we would gather for prayer. What do they show us? How with Christ we can persevere in our faith journey and find our goal of heaven forever with Jesus, Mary and all the angels and Saints!
The family is very excited to see snow.. there is alot more up in the Cities, and just a small amount here for sledding and winter fun.
Birdie napping on grandma even though I was singing my "Jesus " songs to her...
From my Protestant days... I love to sing this for my grandkids! I even taught it to the Little Sisters of the Lamb. Little sister Alma told me on the phone from France that she taught it to her nephew in Austria..."His first English song."
Birdie and I matched yesterday... she is a special gift! With each new life our LOVE grows more - not stretched more thin!
LOVE to start the day still in prayer with my dad and mom! Today dad pointed out to me in morning prayer that his prayer for me is that I may have a "fuller participation in your divinity." I certainly am praying for that for both my parents as they died this past year only 7 months apart!
Another sweet sharing from dad's man, Brother Victor Antoine! So important to shine that light on our hidden secret darkness that we need to get rid of so that we can be ever closer to our Lord and Savoir... Mary helps us, too!
Thanks, dad for your assistance from heaven as I stagger down the narrow path carrying/dragging my Most Cherished Cross.
Now St John Henry Newman! LOVE how he speaks to much about The Church and how it assists us to follow Jesus!
Jesus, we trust in you. Thank you for all we are given as we journey sharing our Faith as a family! Bless-bless, Barbara
Rose Again is ready to take a break from coloring with markers after working on patron saint pictures for our family of 31! She is holding the sweet picture of Ruth with Naomi of Old Testament fame as today is her wonderful mother, Ruth Ida's birthday!
Happy Birthday to our oldest and very special daughter, who is the best mother, sister, daughter, farmer, nurse, natural family planning instructor... it seems that all she touches becomes special and wonderful! And in the midst of all that she is humble and sweet. A sure sign of the Lord at work in her heart, mind and soul.
3 years ago... Big Dave is asleep and being held up by dad. The next day he heard that he had missed out on Ice cream birthday cake, and we showed him that he was indeed a part of the celebration. Dave's early rising and early falling asleep is a part of our family story.
Grandpa back to pick up Rose and I yesterday and get some special snuggles from his beloved 22 month old George. Pat can't take the time to be there for days like I can, but he loves to make the trip up and back so that cousins can share time together and he can get an hour of family time with Nancy's family just 2 1/2 hours from our farm to their home!
After hours of work on these stunning saint pictures for each one of our family... Rose and Bernadette show them to grandpa.
Grandpa spots St Patrick, who one of his patrons as well as grandson, Patrick, who will be flying here with his family tomorrow for our big family celebration here on the farm! So many prayers for safety and good health!
Amazing and truly a work of art from the heart for us to be reminded that we always have the Communion of Saints with us as we stagger down the narrow path carrying/dragging our Most Cherished Cross! How we love our Saints! In all this work and labor of love... the girls have shared their love with the family gathering in a few days.
Our trip home as the sun was setting over a stunning white landscape... all had a perfect white blanket of snow covering all the fields and landscape. Down here we have less snow and warm temps have turned the fields mostly black. We are hoping enough snow for the Washington family to have fun in the snow. Theirs is gone in just a day there on base.
The view out the window as we traveled through the countryside towards home... we were praying our rosary together for all those on our hearts... 3 facing cancer and the debilitating treatments that almost kill them in an attempt to save their lives.
"Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."
8 year old Rose led 3 of the decades of the Glorious Mysteries in the back seat. She is praying for one of the teachers at HRS, who is back at teaching after fighting recurring cancer. It made us realize how important and powerful and loyal are these students from the Catholic School for their teachers.
The first thing when Rose pulled up to her house... her new puppy, Teddy, came to greet her and give her lots of kisses! "I miss my baby Teddy!" Well, he seemed to be so happy to see her, too.
Rose was such a great girl to have along at Nancy's. She fit right in, and kept the other kids occupied, and shared hours of coloring the saints with mostly her cousin just 6 months younger, Bernadette, and 4 year old ine, was sitting there with the big girls, too!
St Luke and St Rose of Lima close up... such special and intricate work, and meaning so much more than just going out to buy gifts!
Hours of hard work sharing some beauty to add to VCC - Verly Christmas Camp 2021!
John and I overlapped in the middle of the night of Adoration of Jesus! I found him in front of Our Lord singing and weeping. We mentioned that we had just entered Ruth's birthday as midnight was here. John led Benediction for us... how deeply was I touched by the "Blessed bes..."
Blessed be God. Blessed be His Holy Name. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. Blessed be the Name of Jesus. Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart. Blessed be His Most Precious Blood. Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy. Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception. Blessed be her Glorious Assumption. Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother. Blessed be St. , her most chaste spouse. Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints. Amen.
May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.
All were powerful to repeat with a deep sense of Truth! John and I share our Faith deeply as a result of my being his mother, and his answered prayer when he journeyed through brain cancer and found his faith! When we speak of Mary - Our Lady of Lourdes is standing there with her loving arms wide to hold us close to her Immaculate heart! John also has very much turned to St with his fears for his brain and damage from the chemo and radiation.
John's story continues to this day. So many prayers needed and appreciated.
Such a powerful time of prayer shared with Jesus and John so humbly on his knees trusting that the Lord's plan is for him to be a good husband and father is truly going to happen. Jesus, has a plan, and is in charge!
The first reading today from I John 3 speaks of our relationship with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity! John and I are kneeling before our Lord Jesus in Adoration and as we gaze upon his face there we are seeing God at work in us. We are experiencing the Holy Spirit at work in our inner temples as we pray in The Spirit given to us at Confirmation and the laying on of hands.
Beloved: We receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit whom he gave us.
Maria took 7 years to complete her Romeo's stocking... he will have the joy of a long wait next year for Christmas. It teaches us patience and makes our JOY more complete to wait for special keepsakes.
St John goes on with a warning...
Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist who, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world. You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them. We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.
How do we recognize the Truth? The Church holds out to us the Way, the Truth and the LIFE from Jesus and His Bride, The Church!
From my dad today in morning prayer! We are so loved by Jesus! Are we worthy? No, but we are unconditionally loved and forgiven by Jesus, and we are asked to return that love to all those around us most especially those in our domestic Church/family!
Nancy and Bill's launching of The Domestic Church Project - from them today in email
We took our family through the DCP Bootcamp this summer. We joke that we are the very first family to graduate from the program 💫.
Now, you might think that as the creators of the DCP Bootcamp, our family didn't need to go through it.
Um, wrong.
(our "saints in the making" in All Saints Day...and evidence for why I will never be a sensation on IG)
We needed the DCP Bootcamp, big time. In fact, we plan to take our family through the DCP Bootcamp again starting next week. We are eager to continue the work we started during our first pass.
Because, here's the thing. It's not just that the DCP Bootcamp was "good for us".
The DCP Bootcamp made us, as parents, aware of all we THOUGHT we were doing...but actually weren't doing at all.
We went into our family's experience of the DCP Bootcamp thinking that this would be really good for our kids. But it ended up being, above all else, challenging and transformational for us as parents.
You see, after all the research and months spent creating the DCP Bootcamp, we knew just how important it is to:
Speak about the Faith in the home.
Share your prayer life with your children.
Be open with your children about your own struggles with temptation and sin.
And I thought we were doing a pretty good job on all of these points.
But, when we were forced to slow down and follow each step of the DCP Bootcamp, we realized that we was just barely skimming the surface. God's plan for our family was so much deeper and more beautiful than what we had been able to establish on our own.
The DCP Bootcamp stripped us of our pride. At the same time it showed us a better way.
Here is what we realized from our first journey through the DCP Bootcamp:
"Talking about the Faith" in our home was more like just answering questions.
It wasn't really a conversation. Turns out, I didn't know HOW to have a conversation about the Faith with my kids. It felt uncomfortable. But, reading through the discussion questions included with each lesson of the DCP Bootcamp (which were written by our incredible content manager, Megan!) I felt like I was finally able to understand the way my kids thought. Gradually, night after night, I was trained to ask my kids the right questions that are capable to getting a beautiful conversation started.
Next, I realized that the only prayer life I shared with my kids was the stressed-crabby-mom prayer I showed them while wrestling toddlers during family prayer.
My private prayer life I kept to myself, and it felt strange to talk about it. But DCP Bootcamp gave me the moment and the kick in the pants I needed to share my prayer life with my kids and it's amazing how sharing this has inspired them to invest in their own prayer lives!
Finally, I realized that I had never clearly shared my own struggle with sin with my kids.
One of the most powerful moments of our DCP Bootcamp experience happened during the 2nd week as we prepared to go to confession as a family. During our post-lesson conversation we talked about yelling, something that Bill and I do more than we should in our home. For the first time, Bill and I spoke about our own struggle with sins. From the looks on our oldest two kids' faces it was clear that they had no idea sin was a struggle for us too. Hadn't we been open about our struggles with sin and temptation before??--I guess not! In the end we were all crying as we shared in the beautiful truth that we are all sinners and yet God is ready to welcome us all into His mercy.
Guys, I could go on and on. The DCP Bootcamp changed us.
(our best shot on Christmas!)
One thing I've reflected on since we graduated from the DCP Bootcamp is this:
Why was this experience so powerful, not only for our family, but for each of the families that went through the Beta experience as well?
After all, I've read all the books on the Domestic Church. I've listened to all the podcasts and watched all the videos on Formed. Everything was good, but nothing transformed us like this.
Here is exactly why the DCP Bootcamp is different:
The DCP Bootcamp works because it is something you do WITH your kids.
The DCP Bootcamp has the power to transform you as a parent because you go through it AS you parent. Nothing is hypothetical or just a bunch of ideas. The DCP Bootcamp teaches while you sit with your children and practice the love of a parent.
The DCP Bootcamp is unique because instead of talking about the Domestic Church, this is the the actual Blue Print for building and leading your Domestic Church. One lesson at a time, you will build your Domestic Church as you go through the Bootcamp.
It works for any Catholic Family. Whether you are a single mother, married to a non Catholic, have big kids or little kids, it will work for you.
This is your invitation to take your family through the Domestic Church Project Bootcamp and allow the Lord to transform you as well.
The DCP Bootcamp is available exclusively inside of our app. We will be closing enrollment on January 6th at midnight. Please, don't miss this opportunity.
And, if you have been meaning to talk to your husband about doing this in your family, this is the time. Stand up, go over to him and talk about it RIGHT NOW.
We pray with all our hearts that 2021 is the year of the Domestic Church in your home.
In Christ,
Nancy and Bill
Sharing mass and prayer each night with Nancy and Bill as they are taking very seriously raising saints/lights for the world! The family is where we share our Faith with JOY!
Jesus, we are yours and we long to love and serve you without counting the cost! May we die to self so that your Holy Spirit may use us as your hands and feet and voice of Truth. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
I will be adding a page to my blog about my parents in this last year of their lives. I need to process the Lord's hand in it all and share deeply from the heart in one spot that I will be able to refer to easily and often as it is burned into my heart, mind, and soul. Bless-bless, Barbara and family soon to gather and share Faith/Family/Farm
Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you.
Get up and take care of your mat." - Acts 9:34
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton received great solace
by bringing her sorrows to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
and speaking heart to heart with Him there:
"How sweet, the presence of Jesus
to the longing and harassed soul!
He is instant peace and balm to every wound."
St Elizabeth Ann Seton
United States ~ 1774-1821
200th anniversary year of her death
Convert to Catholicism Three basic points led her to become Catholic:
1) belief in the Real Presence 2) devotion to the Blessed Mother, 3) conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the Apostles and Christ
Mother, Widow, Educator, Musician, Linguist, Religious
Established schools and orphanages
Foundress of Sisters of Charity Two great devotions: 1) Abandonment to God's Will 2) Ardent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament
Feast Day - January 4
"The accidents of life separate us from
our dearest friends, but let us not despair. God is like a looking glass in which souls see each other. The more we are united to Him by love,
7 years ago - 1 year old Bernadette with her Uncle John/Santa at our beloved Cross Christmas Camp 2013. There has been much mention of this wonderful family tradition while I have been here with Bill, Nancy, and children. The excitement is building as we approach our first ever VCC - Verly family Christmas Camp.
Now 2 1/2 year old Gus, who is now 9. So much has happened in these 7 years... including a wife and two children for John, and Nancy has added 3 children to her own family along with 3 losses. Many children to share her family life here with and also a growing number to keep her eyes focused on heaven and meeting her stillborn son, Maximilian, and her other two Peter and Catherine.
The number of children is 7 for me, and now 6 grandchildren added to that number of little ones praying for their old grandmother on her journey!
5 years ago after mass with John, Ruth and Maria with their families. Much has changed to add up to 30 with one in the womb! Maria has added Evangeline and Hector with baby girl on the way in the spring. Ruth has added Joy. John has added his wife, Bobbi, and his two babies, Jude and our youngest 8 month old Birdie Barbara. Our LOVE grows bigger with each new member!
So much excitement is building as we will all be together on the farm only missing our Little Sister Hallel!
Stunning works of art as the girls are busy making a patron saint for each of us to welcome us to our Camp! "I want it to be so Catholic that it is ridiculous!" spoke John
I think we are off to a good start with St Luke and St Rose to only name a few of the 30 saints that will be with us in the Communion of Saints that we so love and look up to and have as companions on the journey and Companions of The Son!
The amazing artists have toiled hours over the Saints that will welcome us to our Farm Verly Christmas Camp 2021.
Other Catholic activities we are planning - a daily rosary, attending mass as a family with a joyfilled brunch to follow, a living Nativity, A dance to express our happiness and JOY!
Love what our man, Brother Victor, wrote about JOY today!
I have experienced that kind of JOY! Usually it is when I am allowed to share Faith as a family! I think that is part of the reason that CCC has become so beloved for my domestic Church/family! That is when we are all together sharing all the activities including mass and meals and dancing and sharing ourselves with a larger circle of my family. That always was a special time for my children and grandchildren to spend some close days with my parents. This last year they both died within 7 months of each other! To now have camp without them was to be most difficult and sad. It could not happen due to the pandemic, so time will tell how this will be experienced next year as we hope and pray that we will return to the new normal - Christmas Camp for our family in memory of my wonderful parents!
From my dad this morning and St Leo the Great... Let God be known in the whole world, as these kings came from the world over to recognize the Christ child born of a woman... Son of God!
May we be part of the grace that invites all men to find Christ! May we die to self so that Christ may shine through us. and shine as children of the LIGHT! How I pray, O Lord, that our family gathering may be filled with health, faith, growth in love and truth and serving one another without counting the cost. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Mary, the Mother of God, is our spiritual Mother and how we love her and bring her into our homes! She will be with us as we gather, bringing unto us her peace, joy and love! The gifts of the Holy Spirit poured upon us by her Son Jesus Christ! The Saints are so very wonderful and important to us each and every day of our journey down the narrow path carrying/dragging our Most Cherished Cross towards heaven forever! Bless-bless, Barbara
Over our hearts on the Tshirts from Santa/grandma - Baby Jesus, who made all our families holy as he made his family holy and we look to them to intercede and assist us to be a better domestic Church/family where we grow in our Catholic Faith! So many prayers for Nancy and Bill as they are now launching their Domestic Church Project these first days of the year!
The desk from which Nancy does her world renowned Catholic Sprouts podcasts with a stunning bouquet that arrived to rejoice at the beginning of Nancy and Bill's launch of The Domestic Church project where our homes become the place where our faith is shared and the seeds are watered and grow.
I am currently here to assist with the kids and meals so that they can do the work of evangelization. So important that they won a competition from Our Sunday Visitor for innovational ideas! Now for the work reaching out to families that long to love Jesus, Mary and The Church!
Sharing mass yesterday in a beautiful country church for the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God. Dominic noticed St Dominic right away! How we love to have our Saints with us on this journey! On the other side of Mary is Rose's Saint, St Rose of Lima. Rose is here from the farm too. We love for the grandkids to go back and forth and share family and Faith!
St Dominic, Our Lady with Jesus and St Rose of Lima... the saints have been huge for our family/domestic Church in our nest years and continues on with our kids and their families! We had a Saint book which we read from each night we would gather for family prayer and we would share their stories of persevering no matter what we face with the help of Jesus, Mary and the Saints!
Beautiful gifts in progress by the kids for our family Christmas next weekend. There is goals to have everyone's saint picture on large poster boards for a welcome! These are so special - ST Luke and St Rose!
Hard at it just next to me! We are listening to Disney music and guessing what they are from.
Trying to get some smiles... almost!
Smiles with a tongue... such amazing workers and the excitement is building for our first ever VCC/Verly Christmas Camp!
So much beauty to start the new Year with Mary, the Mother of God! The title she most loves and the most meaningful and wonderful and glorious and All light and life and LOVE! Our Mother, who loves us and brings us to her Son!
A reminder that my mother held close to her heart and was in the beginning of her Pope Benedict XVI daily meditation book. How we share LOVE for The True Church - I know they are at work in heaven to keep the True Church on the right narrow path to heaven forevver.
Over our hearts for our VCC- the baby Jesus in the straw... I just wrapped 30 gifts for all our family in our family pictures! Those will happen!!!
Handwritten by my father today this prayer now answered by St John Henry Newman...
Support us all the day long of this troublesome life, until the shadows lengthen, the burden of life is past and our work is done. Then in your great Mercy, grant unto us safe lodgings, a Holy Peace, and rest at the last through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
