Nothing more powerful - A Mother's Prayers!

Pat and I attended a family wedding with 2 grandkids in tow, and met our youngest one, Augustine, there as his parents came down from the Cities.  We had a wonderful time just enjoying our precious little ones, and when they needed to sleep at bedtime...we cuddled them and kept watch over them.  It was all we really cared to do!  We were happy and content.  Today being the feastday of St Monica - the mother of St Augustine ( his feastday is tomorrow, and that seems so appropriate in that he owes his conversion to the prayers of his mother!)  I am deeply touched by the few dances I got later with John.

The joys of Pat's life at this stage is truly and without reservation - His grandkids!  If they are a part of the mix - he will wholeheartedly make a way to be there!  Sometimes the farm won't allow it, but he will make every attempt to be where they are and spending time with family is what gives him the most happiness, and when he is happy and excited to do something - so am I!  After we had sent our grandkids off with love to the Cities, I had a chance to dance with my son, John!  How wonderful was that?  It was to the point that I get teary thinking about it!

Dancing in the circle with John and some of my siblings to some "soul music" - it doesn't get any better than that!  Then a slow dance, and John voiced to me his appreciation for all the ways that I have shown him love over the last 2 years and our united fight against a sudden discovery of John's brain cancer..."You show me so much love, mom, and I don't show you that much in return."  I had to point out to him that his willing and cheerful attitude to come home and help his dad and I when he can, and his great attitude as we faced the stresses of going to France for a week... that means the world to me and shows me how much he is appreciative and willing to show his love in a very real way!  A way that has given me so much help in dealing with the day to day stresses of family life on the farm in the midst of a busy and challanging summer.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart, John!  You have shown your love in a real and much appreciated way!

I know that much of what John remembers is the physical things that I did for him, but the underlying prayers kept us from being too overwhelmed and gave us the strength to face all that came with this cancer with trust and hope and determination!  I have always felt that my foremost job is that of being a mother and although they are grown and gone - I take my vocation as a mother, who is praying for all of my children, children in law, and grandchildren.  I feel this is the most important thing that I do each and every day!  I see the results and hear the appreciation from my children - knowing that they are surrounded by my prayers - no matter what they face!

Dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ... we love you and thank you for the joy of prayer and the power of prayer.  The wonder of sharing with you in this profound and personal way gives us all that we need to go forth into all that life holds for us in our families.  Thank you for the miracles we see around us as a result of prayers.  They make us always know in our hearts,minds and souls that you are a loving and forgiving God - always walking with us or carrying us when we are weak.  We praise you and glorify you now and forever!  Jesus, we trust in you... we look to your mother and other saintly mothers - like St Monica - to see how we are to love our children and give them over to YOU!  Amen and Halleluia!

Bless-bless, Barb

"What a lioness was your mother, a lion of lions!  Among young lions she couched to rear her whelps.  One whelp she raised up, a young lion he became."

Ezekiel 19: 2-3

"Give her reward of her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates."  Prv 31:31

"Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the fruit of her womb?  Even should she forget , I will never forget you."
Isaiah 49: 15

What would life be without PRAYER?

This day in France - John and Sue/Hallel were playing childhood - brother/sister games with their mom... They were running away from me, when I wanted to take some pictures of the two of them together... Little did they know that now they are in some running-away-pictures, and I think that they are cute and fun and remind me that no matter what - they will always be brother and sister, and revert back to their silliness, and there will be laughter shared on the inside jokes that just come with growing up with someone in the same house, going to the same school, and living on the same farm, and of course being next to each other in age at the end of the Family Verly!  I had no idea that they would be my last two children at the time... I had two losses in between them, and then I had 3 after John!  It was the only way that the Lord could handle me,and I have tremendous peace knowing that I will meet them all someday!

What joy I have at seeing these two siblings together as they love each other so much, and the respect they have for each other is HUGE!  Yesterday John and I were shedding some tears at how much we love and miss Hallel!  "Why does He have to take the very best?"  John asked - meaning in taking Susan out of reach in our day to day lives.  Yet, there is so much power and peace in knowing that all her time each day spent in prayer and medication -chewing of the Word - that her family and for sure her brother is very much a part of that!  How we felt them yesterday... as we were once again in Rochester having the 3 month check up! 

Hallel is the virgin with her lamp lit... today's Gospel just came to mind... Matt 25: 1-1... The 10 wise virgins.  Here she has 2 bagettes under her arm... as we were to gather for a meal together.  She is a thing of beauty to behold no matter what she is doing... in her mother's eyes!  Yet, how she waits for her Lord with her lamp lit and always asking and obeying the call she is given to serve, and to LOVE, and to PRAY.

Starting with prayer put to song and smiles and laughs!  Today we are feeling light with relief and joy to know that the cancer continues to be gone from John's brain.  Meeting a friend and fellow warrior in the battle against brain cancer by chance - one that we have followed her journey that began almost exactly a year after John's... they also had good news yesterday and we are filled with happiness for them... it all is very miraculous to see the Lord's fingerprint on both John and JoAnn!  How we fall on our knees in prayer and adoration....marveling at His loving care, and concern for his sheep! 

The meals in France were a lesson on how to spend time together in a relaxed way, and to enjoy the food and visiting, and sharing, and always beginning with song and prayer!  The simple food would come in courses and seem to go on and on... It was a delight and a lesson to us as we eat in shifts and inhale our food alone or to get on with the work of the day... The other day we had a visit from a priest friend and there were 8 of us around the table together for a fun and relaxed noon meal... it was a wonderful gift to have!  Thank you Lord! 

The feast was so joyful... there was a procession with the deserts starting with the children!  They know how to make meals a special celebration time with FAMILY!  If only ours here at home could be even a bit more like that!  We do start with prayer and this morning John and I shared "morning prayer" and that is about as good a start to the day as it can get!

He also was in rare and joyful form coming down in his suit and tie and the glasses that he got before he found out that it was a tumor in his brain causing the changes in his eyes and not the old eye injury.  "I think they make me look nerdy and more intelligent."  We laughed together and rejoiced together and he allowed me to take a few pictures... the title of this one... JOY at a continued newness of LIFE!

Jesus, thank you for the answered prayers that we are surrounded and healed by!  WE are so light and happy and joyful today!  To have that load off our hearts and minds - leaves us acting like silly children... children that secure in the love they have been showered upon them can run and laugh and have light hearted fun together!  You have showered your mercy and love down upon us and we are rejoicing and playing together!  Jesus, we thank and praise you and know that prayer is our sharing with you in such a deep and important way!  Jesus, we trust in you!  We place our all in your hands and know that we are surrounded by ALL LOVE and LIFE!  Amen and Halleluia!

Bless-bless, Barb   Yeah, like I said silly!

"Love Prayer



God, my Father,

May I love You in all things and above all things.

May I reach the joy which

You have prepared for me in Heaven.

Nothing is good that is against Your Will,

and all that is good comes from Your Hand.

Place in my heart a desire to please You

and fill my mind with thoughts of Your Love,

so that I may grow in Your Wisdom and enjoy Your Peace.



Amen."





~~~~~~



Love Prayer

We are breathing a sigh of relief... No Cancer!

This is the view that we are seeing today... minus the little one year old boy. These were taken about almost 2 years ago now in late October... John's cancer had come back, and we gathered with him to speak to the doctors about what next... There were tears and fears - today there is rejoicing and a nice meal with the people that gave our family a home away from home while we were in a state of shock and fear...planned here in town after we meet with the doctor that got us here.

Another sweet one year old that reminded us of the many blessings that we could count on at the time of questioning the Lord - "Why?"   Why would brain cancer strike our healthy 21 year old son?  We see how He touched many through this journey - cancer/healing!  Family was so important to get us through and continues to be huge in the HOPE we continue to have as we come back to such a familiar place in good and hard ways... We also are so happy to have so many members in our new family of faith that carried us along and continue to be there as we need them to lift us up. 

Jesus, we love you and thank you for all the blessings!  WE have much joy and happiness to know that the cancer is gone, and as the time passes we are encouraged to Trust and Hope and Go forth with you carrying our Cross - cancer/healing.  Jesus, we trust in you! 

Bless-bless, Barb

"Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy."  Psalm 90:14  From mass today!  St Jospeh Calasanz pray for us!

Back to a familiar place filled with memories....

Rochester was so familiar to us as we lived there for 5 weeks for his stem cell, and traveled there daily for radiation for 5 weeks, and before that we stayed in the hospital for chemo for every other weekend for about the days it took to get the chemo in and then to quickly get it out without doing harm to his body... just to kick cancer's butt!  Yes, Rochester is like returning to a home away from home.

Tomorrow we go back for our 3 month check up and to see the two doctors, who were with us on the journey.  One was the reason that we ended up coming to Mayo from the U of M, where we were about to start a type of chemo that would be put into the brain in the OR!  It was scary and we last minute decided to come to Mayo!

I was envisioning this time today... the time that John's cancer came back through the chemo and it brought all of his sisters back to support him.  We will go up to this floor in Gonda tomorrow to see the doctors that we met this day too... there are good memories and hard scary tearful times too.  But most of all there are... for the last year and a half the good news that the cancer is gone!  WE rejoice and trust that the news will continue to be good tomorrow!

John knows that his sisters are all with him - prayerfully holding him up in prayer. How he depended on that love and support from his family and the prayer warriors that prayed for him by the thousands!  Jesus, we trust in you and thank and praise you!

Bless-bless, Barb

Please lift John up in prayer from 9a-10a as he will be having his MRI at that time!  The view from this floor is one that reminds us of ups and downs... but for the last year and a half it has been only JOY!

Psalm 100 - Make a joyful noise to the Lord

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into God's presence with singing!
Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him, bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever,
and his faithfulness to all generations."

~~~~~~



Psalm 100 - Make a joyful noise to the Lord

"Like John the Baptist, he decreased to nothing so that Christ might increase."

Adoration of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  Today John, Pat and I gathered for morning prayer... St Bartholemew today and all of us remember the statue of him holding his own skin as he was martyred in that way... Graphically showing how he was willing to give his all and suffer a horrible death for his love for Christ and His Gospel.  "Bartholemew is one of the anonymous apostles: all the personal details of his life have disappeared behind the Gospel he proclaimed."  See http://www.magnificat.com/ What really spoke to me this morning as we were praying together.... each for a good report tomorrow as the three of us head to Rochester together for John's 3 month check up... "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?'  'Here I am,' I said; 'send me!' " Isaiah 6: 8

I wholeheartedly say that to my Lord!  I have already experienced the arrows that are fly at us from the enemy... nothing to the daily attacks and eventually death that the apostles experienced as they took the Word and the Truth out to all the world!  How very hard, beyond imagining, was the lives of those that armed with the Spirit and the Truth... went forward to share the Light with the world that was covered with darkness!  Yet, I envision how amazing was the JOY of those that saw the Light for the first time!  I just finished the coversion story of one of my most favorite writers... C.S. Lewis... his was a very cerebral coversion, yet in the end he could no longer hold out against the Truth, and we all know from his books - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe et all - the Narnia tales... that he came to love and know our Lord very well indeed!  Christ - Aslan - has a very personal and deep understanding through the eyes and talented writing to Lewis! 

Wo wonderful to see ST Joseph enshrined in his own beautiful space with this wonderful landscape behind him... it allows us to go to him in a very powerful and real place as he stands at the feet of Christ... interceding for us and for families.  Last evening I so needed to spend some time before him... beseaching that he protect marriage and the family from the attacks that are being done out of misguided "love."  It looks to be such a loving and needed thing to allow same sex marriage, yet it is truly hurting all that it touches.  St Joseph, hear our prayers and petitions for Truth to reign!

And Our Lady... presenting her Son to the world for it's salvation... We pray to you to intercede and convert the hearts, minds and souls of those that are misguided and misled.  Yes, you are there with open arms to one and all... wanting them to find the narrow path to heaven and true Happiness here on earth.  The Church is there for us, and all we need do is look to the Wisdom of the Church in all these tricky issues that present themselves in our lives... sex before marriage - cohabitation, same sex attraction, contraception, abortion, in vitro fertilization, so many more that seem to come up daily.... The heirachy of the Church spends countless days, hours, months, years reseaching all of these issues and praying over them and putting the best minds to work on them... they have two goals in mind for us, foremost...
#1  That we all go to heaven forever with Christ.       #2  That we find True Happiness - embracing our Most Cherished Cross - here on earth!

How we can totally and without reservation put our entire Trust in The Church, and without any holdbacks believe and follow every last thing that they hold out to us!   We are not called to be "shopping cart Catholics" we are called to be Catholics totally and that is how we will, with the Word and the Sacraments, become "saints" and find our way to heaven!  Jesus, Mary and Joseph...we turn to you and ask that you use us to the honor and glory of the whole world!  "Here I am, send me!"  May we say that and mean that and follow through with that no matter what!  Give your armor and strength in the battle, and go with us tomorrow as once again we face the battle of our lives - Cancer/healing.  Jesus, Mary and Joseph we trust in you!  Amen and Halleluia

Bless-bless, Barb

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,"

—Ephesians 6:10-18

Ruth Ida Rose has a feast day...

It was fun to have Ruth busy with an alfgan while we were in Michigan... she learned how to crochet from her grandmother Verly in high school and made one alfgan after another for year after year.  Today is the feast day of her patron saint - St Rose of Lima.  It struck me that St Rose did embroidery to earn money to help support her family. 

Happy feastday Ruth Ida Rose... we love you and are very warm with all the wonderful and beautiful alfgans that you have made for us with love!  This one was left at the cabin to be used by one and all that come week after week.  We see and feel your love and caring for us!  Jesus, we trust in you!  Bless-bless

The life of ST Rose of Lima

"Her days were filled with acts of charity and industry, her exquisite lace and embroidery helping to support her home, while her nights were devoted to prayer and penance. When her work permitted, she retired to a little grotto which she had built, with her brother's aid, in their small garden, and there passed her nights in solitude and prayer. Overcoming the opposition of her parents, and with the consent of her confessor, she was allowed later to become practically a recluse in this cell, save for her visits to the Blessed Sacrament."  St Rose pray for us!