47 years celebrated with our Families- TEC and farm/Hubby home safe with the 8/" let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation." -+JMJ+

Gorgeous flowers greet us as we enter and leave our beautiful Church for Mass each morning! In the morning sunlight they filled me with great JOY! 

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
    let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R.    If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.  Psalm 95 from mass this morning!  

Our marriage had just been blessed by our friend, Fr George and Fr Andy and Fr Denny!  We are aglow with great JOY to have our 47 years given a blessing as we go forward into our 48th year together!  We were surrounded by many of our TEC family!  Including our farm family!  So blessed!  

The prayer of the blessing was much speaking to the Truth our marriage is based on... being open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS!  

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Our marriage stories - "The world needs LIGHTS!"  

Us now and 47 years ago in the Basilica of St Mary in Minneapolis - my home parish!  I am the oldest of 11 and we lived in a huge house behind the Guthrie in Kenwood by Lake of the Isles!  Our entire family of 13 came into The Catholic Church in 1971 - 54 years ago!  

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The amazing story of the 13 becoming Catholic!  

Pat brushing 4 year old Madalene's hair after her bath.  After having our 4 daughters then John... He has discovered that he likes to brush girl's hair and he must be gentle because they don't complain.

Precious time with the big softie!  

The morning of our Anniversary on Sunday August 3rd.  Granddaughter, Therese, took our picture for us! 

The 9 returned late Friday and Maria recorded them dirty and safe and sound.  No injuries and lots of big memories shared and talk of returning next year!  It must have been good indeed.  They took along the prayer books to do morning and evening prayer and did not miss Mass... they went on Saturday night and got a blessing as a sendoff!  

Pat was away from his phone for the week, and even spent time with me by our campfire the night before our Anniversary.  Hot dogs and sharing together.  

Our fire ring is a new thing for us, and we chat and share with a few cats lounging around in the grass and an occasional moo from the pasture all around us!  Wonderful close time without the distractions of the TV or our phones!  LOVE!  

Pat shared how peaceful it was there and beautiful.  These are some pictures - Pat is in the yellow hat, so he was easy to spot! 

The 2 seventeen year olds, Therese and David with 11 year old Romeo in the middle.  Lots of sharing and growing close!  

A symbol of Mary and Jesus to mark their campsite thanks to Therese! 

An Island campsite they stayed on for 2 nights!  So beautiful and peaceful.  Pat says that the kids played games and talked endlessly. "I stayed out and let them along to be kids.  I would have liked to have a good book to read.  I read the Magnificat from cover to cover."  

The Island camp had huge rocks you could jump off of and they swam alot! 

A plate sized pancake!  They did not go hungry!  

Darn boys hiding from the selfie!  

Got to take them from behind - I have learned this lesson over the last 47 years.  

Lots of time to reflect on our lives and take a break from the farm for farmkid, Big Dave!  

Gus, Luke and Romeo silouettes.

Rock for their table and chairs.  Pat did say that he missed a camp chair, but when you have to carry everything on your back - you cut back!  

The first reading and the Gospel today are having to do with our Rock of our Salvation!  The first reading from Numbers is the water -  "Moses struck the rock twice with his staff,
and water gushed out in abundance for the people
and their livestock to drink."  They were in the desert with no water, so this truly saved them and from the ROCK!  The Gospel is from Matthew 16 

Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Our Church rests upon the Rock of St Peter, and now Pope Leo XVI

Ready to go on a journey!

2 months apart - Dom is 12 and Romeo will be 12 in September! 

Romeo sits like this as does his big brother, Little Dave.

Up high on rocks - Big Dave looks like he has a topknot.  Pat says that he really did a lot of heavy carrying of canoes!  

Ready for a portage - they made many!  "Everyone stepped up!"  

Calm waters and beautiful weather - a bit hazy from the smoke from Canada.  

Our blessing sealed with a kiss. 

JOY!!!  

Yesterday was the Feast of the Transfiguration

Mass at the Nursing home with Joy on Monday.

Praying with John the first hour of Monday when our hours of Adoration overlap.  How we share a deep love for Jesus, Mary and all the Saints!  John knows that he is a living Miracle and therefore his 3 children are each one a miracle also!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: John's cancer stories  

John's Spirit Juice Video - continues now with wife and 3 wonderful children!  

Getting ready for a canoe race off of the Island where they stayed for 2 wonderful days!  

Ready set go!!!

They are off...

Speed!!  

A month from now!  So exciting for these young men becoming Saints for us!  

I love this world so much - so much to make us wonder at the creation of our God!  

So powerful and so many prayers to end the horror of abortion!  LIFE is a precious gift to be cherished and protected from conception to natural death.

I had the powerful experience of sharing with one of my hospice ladies that I bring communion to each week and is on her last part of her journey.  That all those hundreds of thousands of times she has prayed to Our Mother of heaven and earth on each Hail Mary - "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death."  "She is answering those many prayers and holding you close to her Immaculate Heart now, Mary!"

Lord, so many years I have been blessed with Faith/Family/Farm shared with my Most Cherished Cross, Patrick Verly.  May I die to self so that I may serve without counting the cost.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barb and the 33 plus 13 in heaven.  

Hallel called last evening and it was so wonderful to hear her voice.  How I long to get down there to see her soon.  Pat mentioned maybe Labor Day weekend.  

"Receive Communion often, very often ... there 

you have the sole remedy, if you want to be cured.  

Jesus has not put this attraction in 

your heart for nothing... " - St Therese of Lisieux

"My God, Jesus my love,

uncreated goodness, what 

would have become of me if You 

had not drawn me to Yourself? 

St Gertrude

Salve Regina - Hail Holy Queen as the Little sisters sing it - Dominican 

I noticed that it is St Dominic tomorrow a huge Feast day for our daughter, our nun! 

Matt Maher

Danielle Rose - Small things with great love

 

 

Journal for Pat while he is away...Sunday July 26 thru Sunday August 3rd - our 47th Anniversary!

We had thunder storms starting about 8p-midnight  = 1 and 1/2 inches of rain.  I was still able to mow early afternoon on Monday.  It helped the cow tracks in the grass from when they got out last week.  Pretty smooth for mowing.

There were only 7 of us at 8a Mass on Sunday, so we went out to Perkins for breakfast!  John and Bobbi had a late night so they went to Mass in Ghent with Dale and Lila.  Rose was at a beef show, and you and the boys were in the Boundary waters...

Fresh mowed grass even after 1.5 inches of rain 12 hours before.  It was another hot day today and there are supposed to be rain and thunder storms again tonight!

The bales all picked up and covered in time for the Sunday night rain and here comes the Monday rains - they even closed the Adoration chapel at 5p till the morning due to the forcasted rain!  

Rose and Joy joined me for mass on Monday evening.  Joy for her second mass for the week and Rose as she went to a beef show and missed Mass on Sunday.  We went out to Taco Bell after for supper, as a fun treat for them.  Joy's first time and she thought it was "good."

I am thinking and praying for you all when I saw this!  Tomorrow my usual routine begins with Mass at 7a, and then swim aerobics at the Y.  John and the kids are coming over for lunch and probably the creek to see how the water is with the rain.  Pictures coming.  Tom and Joy are going to grandma Phyllis.  Joy thought she had seen a lot of me, and wanted to see the other grandma instead.  Sounds good!  Till tomorrow...

LOVE you and prayers for you without ceasing.  Oh, your sister Joyce called to hear about your trip, so you need to call her when you get back and share all your stories with her!  I told her you would!  They got a bad storm last night and have no power till tomorrow!  

I check your chickens after mass and swimming each morning.  The electric fence is working around 5.2 on the fence tester.  

Baby barn swallows joined their parents swooping at us.  

Just days after Nancy and Bill and the kids were in Rome - the Jubilee for youth with hundreds of thousands of youth celebrating with Pope Leo!  

LOVE this from St Teresa of Calcutta this morning.  You, who are carrying all on your backs are realizing how we are tied down by material things in our lives.  I know that you want to share prayer with these 8 grandkids!  

Jubilee for the youth!  

All 7 of the grandsons along are altar servers!  How they love Our Lord! 

Back to daily mass at 7a - Tuesday the 29th - St Martha, Mary and Lazarus!  2 of my sister's feast day!  

Monday night mass with Rose and Joy.  Rose missed mass on Sunday as she had a beef show.  She stood last of her class and her calf pushed her around.  But she said it was a good experience.  

Joy did not go to Mass the nursing home, as since they flooded there is no mass.  She likes to come Monday night as it is easier than going at 7a. I treated the girls to taco bell supper.  It was the first time for Joy.  She thought it was good.

There were storm warnings both Monday night and Tuesday night, but they thankfully missed us!  We got a very light rain on Tuesday - only .1 in the guage in the morning.  They were talking about horrible winds that could have knocked down the corn... it did not happen!  Thank you, Lord!

Monday the 28th was the Feast day of Blessed Stanley...  Thinking of how powerful he was for you in Guatemala!  

Ready for a play with cousins and friends.

Yes, that is Gina!  Nancy came down on Wednesday to see Rana, who is here visiting her family.  Nancy brought along her 3 youngest as Berna had play practice.  We had supper at the farm and Rana's 2 girls joined us in the pool, and enjoyed the animals.  

I am sure the present moment is huge for you away from all technology and screens!  

Hopefully there was kindness and smiles shared in your week with the 8!  

Tom in they flying monkey costume Ruth sewed 12 years ago - it was worn by David, and now by Tom for their play

Planning their play... All the littles including Rana's 2 girls! 

Unicorn and ice cream cones for Tom and Gina after our wonderful meal on the farm Wednesday night!  

We love our ice cream tradition - soon Michigan!  

Ruth did her pork chops on the grill with pineapple.  Rana and girls are vegetarians... we had cabbage salad, cukecumbers, beans, and corn on the cob.  There was plenty for them!  

I took St Ignatius with me for Adoration at 4a!  It was his Feast Day on the 31st! Nancy had just blessed this icon and it is now a 3rd Class icon! I can get very emotional thinking about how his Exercises brought our family into The Church 54 years ago!  And the now 4th generation of our family that know and LOVE Jesus, Mary, the Saints and The True Church!  

So many prayers for you, and grateful to have this special time to join St Ignatius and thank him along with my parents for this amazing journey and blessing!  

Out to see the chickens with Nancy's 3 this morning.  They are all healthy and well and the fencer is working.  The barn swallows are swooping at us!  

George and Riley 

Gina acted up quite a bit this morning and would not pose for me in a picture with St Ignatius. I wanted to record  how now 4 generations later we continue on with the LOVE of Jesus, Mary, the Saints and The Church!  

the 3?  Gina really was acting up!  

I wanted Nancy to be there as she does so much for Catholic Families with her catholic-sprouts | Catholic Sprouts  and carrying over into her home!  

I am pondering more and more sharing in my Family and Friends talk about how each one of our kids has taken me deeper in my Faith journey!  Ruth with her love and forgiveness and LIFE-giving in her marriage,  Nancy with her love of  the Saints and ministry, Maria with her homeschool and protecting her kids from the world, Halle with her life of prayer and dishes, and John with his miraculous cancer journey!  

"We are created to share in God's LOVE and LIFE for eternity."  St Ignatius of Loyola  

Bless our family especially those away in the Boundary Waters!   

Our family wall fills me with so much JOY and HOPE for each one of the 33, and the 13 that keeps our eyes on Heaven forever!  

This is happening today on the 31st!  

Sure do love our new Pope!  Hope all is well with you all!  Maria just called to say that Dan once again helped her with her air conditioning.  It sounds like you did not have it working the night before you left, and had a restless night.  Added stress for you all!  I can't wait to hear that you are out and about all the adventures!  

This made me smile yesterday from dad with his special Saint Ignatius!  The name!  

I am very excited to see my garden producing with all the wonderful rain!  I even brought in my first cherry tomato!  

The cukes are very sweet!  

Friday morning mass - Fr Denny is back from his vacation with Fr Andy.  I heard they went to Duluth.

Beautiful flowers coming out of church this morning.  The Parsonage has occupants.

I thought this was too cute!  I know a few on the farm that are catholics!  

The last 2 days have been perfect weather - I hope for you too!  Had to have my salad on the porch with 2 cats.

No meat Friday so far. 

Added one for St Joseph!  That would be for Susan/Hallel!  

They are out!!! Yesterday at 4:40p my phone rang with the "Dad" on the top!  I was so amazed,but right off the bat they were yelling at me about Pat breaking his ankle and that they needed me to convince him to go to the hospital.   "Are you guys kidding me?"  "NO, grandma we need you!"  Soon the truth came out that they were all playing with me!  All were dirty and well!  I see a lot of dirt and fatigue!  But they are all healthy and safe!  

The big feasts for August!  Hallel took her final vows on the 15th in France with 24 of us attending!  She took her habit and changed her name on August 22 with John, Nancy and I attending in the midst of John's brain cancer in 2009 - 16 years ago!  

Saturday - today the Immaculate heart of Mary.  I went to First Saturday Mass and went to Reconciliation with Fr Denny.  Every month would help me get some better habits about my sins!  

Bobbi and her kids and flowers!  

How we are going to celebrate our 47th Anniversary tomorrow!  With Maria's 3 girls in tow... Therese, Evangeline, and Magdalene!  

Us and Jesus - the 3 of us have made it this far...

Just out of the BWCA with 8 grands - this is TRUTH!  I bet Blessed Solanus was one of the Saints watching out for you all!  So glad you are back - I missed you and therefore I kept this Journal for you to answer all your questions about what happened here while you were gone. 

It was very quiet around here, and I did miss you and the noise that goes along with you.  I did pray long and hard for your safety, good weather, and growth in your Faith with your 8 grandkids!  I think all were answered.  Thanks, Blessed Solanus, Jesus, Mary and all the Saints!  Bless-bless, Barb

Pope answers questions from pilgrims at Jubilee of Youth - Vatican News  I listened to this tonight!  Good and great is our new Pope Leo!