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!
We changed our minds about being on the road today to Kansas City... it was too cold to leave the cows with the possibility of frozen water tanks. Nancy and Bill hit the road for Pennsylvania so they are in the midst of a two day trip with their two little ones. Paul is on the way home from the Cities, so in the morning he will be here to go to mass with the family. It is getting to be a travel time of year with the holidays coming. We do have plans to travel with John to my parents in St Croix Falls for a couple of days. It is not usual for us to travel but I have been trying to get together with my parents and it looks like this is the way to do it. So with prayers for safe travels for one and all. Happy holidays to one and all. Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
Little Luke is staying home for Thanksgiving, but there are plans to travel with him to Cross Christmas in December. He is so good that we are not too worried about the 4 hour trip to Amery,WI.
Just returned from some fun over at Ruth's - breakfast, dressing my Rosie doll, holding Luke, and watching the kids play including Luke! I cut Rose out of this picture as she was screaming for the sunglasses, but Luke seemed to once again enjoy the attention - even the negative attention. There was lots of activity going on with Mary and David loading animals up in a caravan moved by a tractor with 3 wagons behind - Rose would watch them and get an animal, then she would walk over to dig in the lego box that Simon was building from, then she would go into the bedroom with the kitty they had let in the house and bring out a blanket for Luke and hand it to mommy, who was feeding Luke to put it over him. She was just very much taking it all in and involved with all that was going on!
Now with sunglasses and purring kitty on grandma's lap... she is happy and sitting still for a bit.
Her mom shared with me that the kids are already talking about the baby that they will have next year. With Rose and Luke just 18 months apart - it seems like it is an annual occurrence. "The other night they were praying for our family - for Dad, mom, Simon, Mary, David, Rose, Luke, and the new baby next year. Paul and I just looked at each other." Luke is such a wonderful baby and so naturally fits in with the family. Rose has taken to him with lots of LOVE! We were discussing that her Creighton Model Family planning kind of failed this time - but I told Ruth that it what I love about it - God is in control and he wanted this precious little boy to be here in this family on the Journey of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
I know - it doesn't get much cuter!
Jesus, it is so wonderful when our families can be happy and fun together. When we welcome all the new members with great happiness and contentment. When we open ourselves to all those to come in and enjoy a while... come and laugh and marvel at the gift of LIFE and how wonderful it is when shared within an active, loving family of YOURS! Yes, there are the tears and the arguments, but those are times that we are called to embrace and ask forgiveness and move on. How we long to bring YOU into our home/domestic Church, and in that way find a small slice of heaven here on earth. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-bless, Barb
The kitty was purring long and loud, and Rose seemed to enjoy listening plus feel his soft ears - the kitty seemed to equally like it!
"Of course, being part of a family comes with responsibility. Just as parents encourage their children to look out for and take care of each other, so too are we to watch out for our brothers and sisters in Christ. You have a responsibility to push ourselves and each other to new heights of holiness, to our final home in heaven." Matthew Leonard
Speaking about being responsible in a family - Pat called the 3 oldest around him before we left and told them to mind what their mother says and help clean up the mess when they are done playing... they wanted to know if Rose should help too... here is grandpa's answer to that
I think that Rose has grandpa around her finger. She wanted to come home with us and both she and grandpa begged and begged - I don't know who is younger?!?
Today I discovered another fellow convert to Catholicism - Matthew Leonard...
"This truth struck me deeply at the Easter Vigil in 1998 when I was received into the Catholic Church... I realized I had become a part of the family of God in a new and deeper way through the sacraments. Suddenly, I didn't feel quite so alone. This was the biggest family reunion I had ever attended."
Danielle Rose singing Give and Take - the first song we heard her sing at NCYC in 2001 - this year she shared that she had performed in front of 23,000 at NCYC 2013!
I borrowed this picture from Facebook this morning - Danielle Rose singing at NCYC in Indianapolis - she is in the middle
I think that it is pretty evident that we are huge fans of Danielle Rose and her music! We first heard her sing at NCYC in 2001 in Indianapolis!
I went back and found this in my photo album today - it says 20,000 youth in 2001. Danielle said today that they have 23,000 there this year! How wonderful that it is growing and not shrinking like a lot of youth, who get too busy with other activities and leave their faith behind!
For some reason the lettering has gotten really small... I just wanted to say that we were forever changed by our time there. For one thing we were introduced to Danielle Rose - she is from Duluth and so we had a time where Minnesota attendees all gathered in a huge conference room and she sang for us her song - Give and Take
Ten years ago today there was a big ice storm going on, and we were skating to our daughter's wedding reception in Tracy. She had married Paul Lanoue that afternoon, and the next day they struggled up to the Cities to catch a plane to Rome! Two days later they had their marriage blessed by Pope John Paul II - Paul looked up and asked him to "Please, Bless us with a happy healthy family." Well, here is the beautiful result of that prayer and I know that Blessed John Paul II is looking down with one of his huge smiles on his face! He was a champion for family and they are the picture perfect with their 3 miracle babies after being told no more children after their second child, Mary! There were tears and prayers and another Drs' opinion! So much to be thankful for!
My champion - interceding for LIFE now from heaven! I know he is holding and adoring our newest LIFE - Luke Paul in his heavenly arms!
Big Brother, David, holding brother up sitting on the bed - "I am holding him up so he can see the world better." Little Luke sure loves the attention of his big brother!
Rose also gave her new brother some snuggles!
Rose in a little movie with her brother - sweet gentle babies that are learning to love and appreciate each other! So wishing you a wonderful 10th year of marriage - now with a new little sweet boy to add to the mix. Jesus, hold this special family close to your heart burning with LOVE for them. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
A winter flower still has it's summer color although frozen in 20 degrees!
How Pat loves his little ones! He woke up this morning to an empty house, and commented on how different it would be if Nancy and her two little ones were here as we awoke. "Gus would be asking me to go outside and feed the cows in the num-num Brum-Brum. And little Bernadette would be reaching out to grandpa to pick her up and hold her on my lap while I had breakfast." He says this with a great longing for the little ones to make his life fun and joyful and meaningful. It seemed to me that he timed coming home for meals - late - so that all the kids would climb on his lap and help him eat- he always had many little hands either feeding him or themselves! Then the winter naps with the babies were about the most wonderful thing Pat could ever imagine. That is one picture I have at least once with each of our babies - Pat sleeping with the baby! He has recently had a couple naps with little 18 month Rose Ida - and he was just saying the other day that he misses her and we will have to have her come over this winter for her cuteness around the house and eating lunch on grandpa's lap and then the winter's nap! The other day she didn't think it was nap time yet, but grandpa put his big arm over her and she fussed for about 30 seconds before she was quiet and shortly asleep! That big arm makes fighting futile, so why not give up and give in to restful sleep?
I do feel a bit lacking compared to Pat - when I see the girls smile with LOVE at their dad as he cares with great diligence for the little ones around him, and the little ones continue to come! How we pray for their safe arrival every minute we know they are in the womb! That is one thing about our family - as soon as we know that there is a new life we share it openly - knowing of the importance of prayer in the growth and healthy development of that little life! Maria with her two losses - is always calling us as soon as she knows she is pregnant! She relies on prayers very much to keep her safe - now we pray for her uterus to heal and for safety with any future children!
Yes, we are for the moment - two old folks by the fire, but our home will not be empty for long. It really feels different to not have John here after his 5 months of being home looking for work. It is great that he has found a new path in Jackson, MN. We have seen him every weekend since he left due to work on the farm or family occasions - like Luke's Baptism last Sunday. This weekend he is determined to stay in Jackson and meet his new Church community there. He has been coming home a lot during the week to speak and share his story/journey called prayed for Faith/brain cancer/healing/the light went on. He is coming to the end of speaking engagements - we counted close to 20 sharings since July - now he is praying and hoping that he might begin doing this in his new Winona Diocese!
I am excited to go over to Ruth's shortly to see her little family! I just called over there and while we were talking heard that Rosie was busy with some little things she is gathering up in a collection. She told me that Luke slept almost 4 hours overnight and continues to be a very good baby. I heard that she got the older ones out to the bus before 7a in their boots and snowpants on this cold wintery day. Paul is gone for a meeting in the Cities, so she is handling them all alone! Pat said something to me the other Sunday that made me pause - "I was always there to help you Sunday morning." I found real fault with this statement as I usually had all 5 kids ready to go plus his clothes laid out so he could rush in late and leave... He then said that he was always there to help me get the kids in to mass from the car. That is true and is huge!
So you see that we are finding things to talk about here by the fire - and yes, we still are keeping busy with family, faith and farm! There is a slight possibility that we will be heading to Kansas City to see the Community in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow. To see our family there would be such a blessing on this weekend of Christ the King! Today we are surrounded by the bright LIGHT of St Cecelia, and the Gospel reminds us to clean up our temple and rid it of all that comes between us and Jesus! Come Holy Spirit and fill us with all that it Right and Good!
Our hearts melt with LOVE for the little ones - they instruct us on how to depend on HIM and give us much JOY. Each new one makes our LOVE grow bigger - it doesn't stretch the LOVE we have more thin!
Jesus, we are soaking in the quiet that fills our house this day. I listen to Pat doing business on the phone as my fingers fly over the keys. Why? I have this deep burning place within me that is a combination of Faith, Family and Farm! It is the wonderful LIFE that we have been given here. I yearn to share this long and loud with all that care to listen to me. I feel that most especially Pat's message to the world and to me, when I questioned whether it would be selfish to have a large family... "The world needs LIGHTS!" This is so important to share! This allows us to know that the Church encouraging couples to be open to LIFE is truly a call to transform our world to one that recognizes the Truth! It is a call to parents to do their most important jobs of sharing The Faith in their domestic Church/homes! That is where we teach our children that Jesus is the Way, The Truth and the LIFE foremost and without hesitation! We cleanse our temples/ domestic Church/homes of all that makes it a "den of thieves" and make it "a house of prayer." So much JOY can be found and Peace will reign when we share Prayer as a family! Each of our daughters and their husbands do this nightly - we have been praying with Nancy and her 3- 1 in the womb- each night. And when we are at Ruth's putting the kids to bed - we pray with them too! So powerful, and we see that the prayers we had with them are now carrying forth with their little ones! My sister just mentioned that dad and mom would get us up as new Catholics before school...all 11 of us... in the 3rd floor ballroom of our Minneapolis home to pray each morning - I remember learning the rosary there, and now it has been my daily companion for 42 years! What am I saying? My parents taught and led me into the most amazing journey of Faith! If you are interested in reading our story of conversion - http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html here is the page I devoted to the way the Lord touched us! Jesus, it seems that Thanksgiving has arrived early for me - I am filled with such gratitude for your chasing away all that comes between us so that we may LOVE and follow YOU in all ways - most especially in our domestic Church/family! Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Bless-Bless, Barbara Luke
"O God, who gladdens us each year with the feast of your handmaid St Cecelia, grant, we pray, that what has been devoutly handed down concerning her may offer us examples to imitate and proclaim the wonders worked in his servants by Christ your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Collect from the beginning of mass this morning
May you always grow in the knowledge and LOVE of HIM, sweet pure little girls!
Working on some of my homemade cards with the snow falling and the cold winds blowing - I decided to watch the 4th in the Catholicism series by Fr Robert Barron. To my great delight on this feast day of Mary - her presentation in the Temple at age 3... it was on Mary! The photography combined with the knowledge of Fr Barron is a delight to me! He spent a lot of time in Lourdes and in Guadalupe - both such amazing miracles that is ongoing to this day! If you have a chance to watch this - do it! So gloriously beautiful!
At the very end of the presentation Fr mentioned a wonderful poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins called the May Magnificat... He read a beautiful portion of it, so I googled it and found it to be every bit as wonderful as he said!
