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!
Rose is notorious for taking her pony tail out after mom puts it in in the morning for school. "It hurts me." Today I really yearned to do a little girl's hair..."Rose can I put in Kateri braids?" "No." "Can I put in Bernadette braids?" "Yes." Bernadette and I came up with these names from Indian braids and French braids while I was staying with them for the month of January. I know how much Rose loves her cousin so it worked to have her say "yes" to Bernadette braids and it made me smile to be able to do my little granddaughter's hair! After 4 girls it gives me so much joy! Rose really liked her results and told grandma that it didn't hurt either!
Admiring her hair and feeling closer to her other 3 year old cousin, who now lives in KC!
We had our second calf yesterday, so we are getting our cow TV going today - it is already running up in the bedroom for our through the night viewing. For those that are wondering about Snowball's mom - she did have an all black heifer yesterday without any problems. I am sure Mary will be keeping an eye on her in the herd. How we love to be able to keep an eye on the barn from our TV and computer screen. Modern technology takes some figuring out, but we sure depend on it, too.
Two kids and 3 dogs - a lively place around here! With construction going on it is a loud and big mess!
Jesus, reminds us today that we need to be servants to all and that is a hard lesson to learn and we need to remind ourselves over and over that we are called to give without counting the cost... as a true servant would. Jesus, we are always looking to you as our help and role model for LOVE! Today the alarm went off for mass and it was tempting to roll over... this kept repeating in my heart and soul... "Jesus is coming in The Eucharist - will you be there to greet him and spend time with him and allow him to enter into you? "Yes!" Jesus, I love you and need you! Bless-bless, Barb
Catching some sun together...
A new door into the house - "This will be our house." says Rose and Luke. "I help grandpa." they say!
Ruth has been working long and hard on her remodel of the farmhouse she grew up in and now will raise her 5 kids in. It is so great to watch her kids learn from her example. They really do have that can do attitude and are willing helpers...such a great lesson to learn at young ages and carry forth into your life's journey.
With all the constant sawing drilling and hammering there is constant dirt and dust to contend with, so the words from Isaiah today in the midst of Lent - "wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes, cease doing evil and do good... Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow..." Isaiah 1 How?
Without light fixtures or outlets... getting enough light to work in the dark is a challenge. A few lights move to where the work is and cast interesting light for the eye and the camera. The final doors are getting hung today and then we await the electricians - it will be so great to get some light and electricity has been missed!
Living so humbly makes you realize that you could live much more simply... that room of stuff at Ruth's waiting for me to go through and I am dreading the thought! Most of it I have not missed and could disappear and I think I would be relieved. Once again reminding me that stuff distracts me and weighs me down and simplifying would be a huge relief and allow me to spend more time on my Faith!
A call from Ruth out in the barn - "T storm is having her calf and she is Snowball's mother. Pray that she has a heifer with a white blaze on her face and so we can have a new Snowball." "That would be so cool for Mary..." Time and prayers will tell, and it is fun to wait and hope. Will keep you posted at this exciting calving time of year!
They all want to help and mom is patient and allows them to learn and get really painty in the process.
How do we change our sins which are scarlet to become as white as snow? As Catholics we are given the wonderful sacrament/gift/grace/cleansing of Reconciliation to lay our sins at his feet and leave them behind washed in the Blood of the Lamb we shall be dazzling white as snow! It is the epitome of humbling experience to speak aloud our deepest and darkest secret sins to the priest, who is Christ there to forgive our weakness and sins. It is so hard and miserable to bring those sins into the light of day. But why try to hide them from Jesus, who knows and sees and died for us? Why hold onto that sickness which poisons us and fills us with sickness? Come to the wonderful physician, who came for us sick. This is what humility is all about and what we are called to do over and over and over and over! "You have but one Master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Matthew 23:12
It would be such a special gift for Mary to have a new Snowball in the herd...
How do we get exalted if we admit our weakness and humbly come to Jesus? The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our swept clean soul as we rid ourselves of our selfishness and sins in the sacrament of reconciliation... die to self so that Jesus can dwell in us!
We are "other Christs." Our destiny is to live the Christ-life: to bring Christ's life into the world; to increase Christ's love in the world; to give Christ's peace to the world... Caryll Houselander (1954)
This doesn't happen if we hold onto all the distractions and lies of the world!
Just because its pretty special...
Jesus, I am nothing without you. May I die to self and allow Christ to work in my life. Jesus, I trust in you. Bless-bless, Barb
I am ready to start living in our new places and get past all the dirt and work, but I think Ruth will miss it and find more to do when we are done with this! Whose daughter is she anyways?
Love is Christ in us!
Litany of humility - Danielle Rose
Hard to ask for but we are called to this!
Trust in you - Lauren Daigle
Laura Story - Blessings
Mat Kearney - Air I breath
a sweet surprise on Maria's blog today!
Fort time!
Wow!
Who needs a clothesline - nothing more fun than a secret space of your own making - maybe camping in the house!
Mary is an animal lover and is very involved in the caring for animals for her young 9 years of life. She has two rabbits and helps with egg laying chickens. Mary also shows pigs and cattle at the fair and that involves a lot of time washing, walking, feeding, cleaning out stalls and caring for them prior to the fair. Mary also has nursed and cared for quite a few batches of baby kitties and a puppy. She had a pet calf/heifer/cow, who just was sold. This first new calf of the year is a heifer/girl and it is our year of the Fs - each year starting with A 6 years ago and now we are at F which will follow each number so that we can easily remember the year of it's birth. With that in mind Mary named it not Snowball the 2nd but rather off to a wonderful start with naming her Faith! Well done, farmgirl Mary!
It sure is nice for Ruth to get such wonderful pictures with Faith and the kids and all I have to do is borrow them with the click of a button! So spoiled!
We have been struggling with our internet for a few days, and I really get in touch with a knot of stress/anxiety welling up within me and I should add frustration to that as well when I cannot get on line. Finally I picked up a Spiritual book and started to read, and that truly did help me find a better mental place. I did, however, get in touch with how hooked I am on being able to share on my blog and my pictures and it is not a pretty sight to realize how anxious I get without it. The kids say that this is my therapy or is it my downfall?
It sure is a cute bright eyed and healthy calf to start our season. The nice weather if mighty nice too.
Today is a wonderful feastday in The Church - the Chair of St Peter!
"Be sure to pray for our Holy Father #PopeFrancis today! Today is the #feastday of the Chair of St. Peter. Enshrined in the beautiful Bernini reliquary in ...St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the relic of the actual Chair of St. Peter the Apostle, venerated because it was from that very chair that the first Pope, the Vicar of Christ, imparted the Christian faith which was entrusted to him by Jesus Christ, and which has been passed on for 2,000 years, and will continue until Christ returns. The Chair of St. Peter is a symbol of the authority of the first Bishop of Rome, and, through communion with him and his successors, the unity of the Universal Church. The feast of the Chair of St. Peter celebrates the primacy of the papacy and commemorates Jesus choosing Peter, the leader of his Apostles, to be his Vicar on earth, head of the Universal Church." the heart of our Church is Jesus, who set St Peter as the first head/pope!
The thing about St Peter that helps the rest of us feel like there is hope and for sure that he understands the weakness and anxieties and stresses and failures of all of us as he was a highly emotional and man, who denied Jesus and failed Jesus when he needed him the most. Jesus, showed all of us how merciful he is by forgiving Peter and making this very human man the head of The Church! you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the nether world shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Matthew 16 The Gospel for today reminding us the rock our Church is built upon.
The 5 kids have Faith! Love it!
So much noise in the farm house today with a lot of the finishing touches going on with our remodel. I am on an island of peace at Ruth's with both kids sleeping and about an hour til the older 3 get home on the bus. My rosary and nap are calling me.
Dad surrounded by a bouquet of LIFE!
Jesus, I love you and it gives me great JOY to share here all the ways that you show me your love and all the ways that I see how weak and small I am and how much I need you with every faultering step that I take and every fall and stumble - your nailscarred hands are lifting me up and brushing me off and healing my wounds and worries. You tell me over and over in your Word that I need not be afraid/worried - 365 times for each day of each year! Your Mercy is overflowing and may I return your Mercy to those around me most especially those closest to me in my domestic Church/family. Jesus, I trust in you. Amen
Ruth's painting helpers (?) They sure have some wonderful role models in their hard working parents, who do not have "can't do" in their vocabulary. Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
I am being called to my inner chapel and I long to fall on my knees there!
Love it!
Jesus in His Word is so huge for me each day starting reading the readings the night before!
Shared by my friend Scott Hahn on FB today!
Unspoken - Start a Fire
Rhett Walker Band - come to the River
Danielle Rose - Walk on Water
Natalie Grant - Burn Bright
Building 429 - Where I belong
Jordan Feliz - The River
Can you tell I am listening to KLove while I write this?
Luke and David enjoying a 50 degree day... Dave would give Our Lady a side hug and then jump into the snow while little Luke watched. To add to the fun... their dog, Holly, was chasing her ball all around them.
So great when the kids and animals can enjoy the outdoors! Awoke today to very bright sunlight and the wind is gone after such a windy day yesterday. With the change in weather down here comes the wind. The thing about the prairie weather in Southwest MN is that it changes all the time! Ruth was reminding me of the chart that showed that one day when you think spring is here and then you have 2 more months of winter! You might call our weather peculiar - "Not ordinary or usual; odd or strange," but that is what we call normal around here. There have been many times when the temps can change 50 plus degrees in just a 24 hour period. We recall on the day of Nancy's birth - April 2, 1982... it was so hot that people were wearing shorts in the morning and overnight there was terrific wind and cold that froze the pipes in the barn! That was more like a 100 degree difference in a day!
Caught in mid dive! Dave was very wet when he came in the house - in the soft wet snow he also kept losing his boots, so his socks were pretty wet, too! What a peculiar boy he is!
The word "peculiarly" in the first reading today grabbed my attention this morning. We are to be "a people peculiarly his own...and you will be a people sacred to the Lord, your God, as he promised." How do we do this? "You will keep all his commandments." There is only one way we can even begin to keep all his commandments and turn away from sin and death, and that is by accepting the Holy Spirit and die to self so that Jesus may live and work in and through us!
A soft landing over and over! Luke was happy just to watch his big brother and laugh a lot.
Things are starting to get fun as the house is getting put back together again. We uncovered the old staircase, which has been covered up for about 6 weeks and cleaned it up... Yes, it will be covered with dust many times over still, but it was just nice to have it cleaned up for a few minutes. Ruth did keep some of her childhood home and the stairway will be much more enjoyed and appreciated now with the new open floorplan! Ruth has a wonderful vision for an open renewed farmhouse filled with kids and lots of big jobs enjoyed together in and out.
I had to go out and see the sweet first new calf born yesterday... she is a cutie! She was taking a sunbath in the morning sunrise with a bright cute look on her face...
Mom was mooing at her new baby this morning. Ruth and kids are coming over to meet her this wonderful morning, and Ruth will have her wonderful camera, so I hope to share those with you soon. It is so nice to have my kids passing me up with their wonderful cameras and photography and telling me that I am welcome to borrow their pictures. Thanks, girls! Your pictures are appreciated... mine not so much.
Even with my camera... it is pretty evident that she is very cute and healthy!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord! Psalm 119 from mass today
Yes, I am poor at following his decrees, but I do long to follow after Christ carrying/dragging my Most Cherished Cross. My sinfulness and weakness keeps me looking to Christ humbly asking him to carry this lost lamb with the wolf breathing murderously down my neck. I am peculiarly his own - a small pathetic specimen am I. I do seek him with all my heart!
Ruth and kids going out to pick eggs and check on the rabbits on a wonderful spring like day...
Lord, you commanded up to be perfect today as our heavenly Father is perfect... Matthew 5:48
May I not become discouraged but trust that you are going to answer my constant prayers that you might raise up this peculiar old weak sinful lady from the ashes and bring her into your LIGHT of Truth that I may share the Mercy I have been shown and when necessary use words! Jesus, I need you and love you and long to be your hands and feet! Jesus, I trust in you. Amen
The school bus - the weekend lies ahead!
For the men at the Emmaus retreat this weekend... Jesus, you are reaching out to each one with your nailscarred hands and they are peculiarly your own! Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
Pat will be speaking on the Sacraments - May your Words through Pat touch all those there answering your call to come closer to you.
The Cross keeps us peculiarly his own!
So true. Miraculous Rose Petal that fell from the sky at the Carmelite Monastery, Lipa, Philippines My wonderful Thomas A'Kempis! Look up Imitation of Christ, and devour it... the best! Like I said... Double wow!
Lots of time with Ruth's two youngest as the work on their farmhouse is making leaps and strides! Today the painting is done and the cupboards under the windows are in, and the construction crew is working on making the floor even... all 63 feet!
Kind of getting the idea of what our great new canning kitchen with an amazing view of the farmyard will be like! "They put my sink in there so that I could see how it looks."
Shared mass this morning after the men's group... so great to see so many men attending This Man is You. Driving home with rosary in hand - the Sorrowful mysteries today... the first sorrowful mystery is The Agony in the Garden brought thoughts of Jesus knowing he was to suffer excruciating pain and foremost bear all our sins - the spotless Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world! The worst pain I have ever had, other than childbirth, is my knee and hip replacement. The first few weeks are so hard and filled with pain both physical and mental. After experiencing both I would totally dread the thought of doing the other side. I would agonize about it! I must say that the pain of childbirth never caused me to not want the next child with all my soul, heart and soul! I have heard this saying, have you? "If I were the only person in the world, Jesus would have died for me." Jesus sweated blood in agony as he approached his total sacrifice, yet he embraced the Cross and brought LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT into the world!
The sun setting from the windows of my future home last evening. I am slowly learning about things like how to run the dishwasher...
The Sorrowful mysteries walk with me this day of prayer... reminding me of how the suffering of pain has brought JOY and healing to me. The pains of childbirth are forgotten as soon as that new life is in my arms. The pains of replacing my damaged and worn out joints leads to healing and no more pain after 6 months of work and healing! Yes, there is much in life that is agonizing pain whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual, but if we realize that Jesus is in control and we need to give all over to him... then we can receive the grace to suffer and find the gifts that come from accepting and embracing our Most Cherished Cross to find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
Came down this morning to the sight of a melting windswept world outside - nice to have the plastic off the windows again.
"People comment on the big picture window... they don't realize that it has always been there all these years. Now that it is all open you really see it and appreciate how it is a wall of window." That angel that Maria stenciled on it over 20 years ago continues to pour sweet blessings upon our farm - soon to be Ruth and Paul's with their 5 wonderful farm kids!
Jesus, there is a pain that you addressed in the Gospel today which lies in the heart- emotional and spiritual pain that we hold onto called anger/hatred towards our brother! May we forgive one another and let go of the anger and resentment and hatred for others - most especially those the closest to us in domestic Church/family. Why is it that the ones we are to love the most we treat the worst? May we recall the Mercy we have been shown and return that without counting the cost to those we encounter this day. I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in his word. My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels for the dawn... If you, O Lord, mark iniquities , who can stand? Psalm 130 from mass today. May I recall all my selfishness and humbly turn to you this day and always. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen
Ruth uncovered the banister which they have had covered for 6 weeks - a sign of progress - time to give it a good cleaning so that more dust can gather with the floor work, but it all feels like a sign of progress. There are some things about her old farmhouse that Ruth does protect and appreciate. Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
