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 watching the gate while grandpa feeds the orphans their feed. Barefoot and comfortable with helping outside at 4 is a great accomplishment and says so much about how the new young family is embracing with enthusiasm their farm life! It is a life with constant work at keeping the world fed with crops and livestock, and this young family is up to the task.
St Paul continues today in I Corinthians still in the first chapter... how he jumps in with both feet and no pussy footing around! The word "foolish" I find a bit harder to take than weak or humble or lowly, but then I think about how jarred I am by some of the things the world puts out there as gospel and I long to continue to be "foolish." What would be an example? An article brought to my attention about parents making a young couple a nice meal and then sending them off to have good and safe sex in their home... teaching them how to enjoy and have safe sex. What next? Nothing is sacred any more and I long to be the foolish one to believe that there is a moral line that cannot be crossed!
Grandpa sure loves his helpers on a wonderful evening on the farm.
According to the world's standards I am foolish to believe that the cross is something to embrace and cherish in my life. I am filled with the Truth each day and much of it is a reminder that I am weak and lowly and am asked to be humble in the face of all that comes my way. I am asked to be foolish in the eyes of the world and how I long to be just that! It is a challenge to hold off all the bad influences which grey our outlook on good and evil. Black and white - not gray! All the feel good stuff the world throws our way to dim our vision of right and wrong!
Luke is so strong for his age and loves to share his 2 1/2 year old thoughts, which are a delight!
When he shows his muscles, which he loves to do often, he holds out his elbows to impress us!
Luke with his adorable muscles!
Lord, how I long to be as foolish as I can be when it comes to the lies of this world! I long to hold onto the Truth and strive to always have you foremost in my life and yearning to be forever in heaven with you. Jesus, I trust in you. Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
I have been struggling with the internet all day, so I have lost a lot of this and want to get it published before it is down again!
Unexpected wonderful sweet corn on the porch for supper.
Luke and Rose taking the cobs to the chickens - Family time is the Best!
Pat's mom pondering the green and brown eggs from our hens. She had laying hens for many years herself. Now her granddaughter has turned me into the chicken lady with her laying hens now at my home/formerly her home.
An old blog post from 2011 came up today using the same Gospel for today - the 10 Virgins - 5 of which were wise with oil for their lamps and lit for the Bridegroom...
We were just back from a good checkup at Mayo and giddy with the good news!
Hallel and John joking around with their slow fat mom... running away from me when I wanted to take a picture! I got them by taking a running away picture.
How delightful and exciting to not only have the Gospel of the 10 Virgins, but to start having the first reading at mass being from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians! He jumps in with both feet today by speaking of the stumbling block we have in The Cross! The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. I Cor 1:20
Paul asked if I wanted to change the sign on the barn... no, I love to continue to share this message of Truth! Today I have Rose and Luke, and they are great to have - good eaters and now quietly taking an afternoon nap...
Well, two of the 3 are... how grandpa loves to snuggle with the little ones and catch a nap!
"Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."
St Paul in 1st Corinthians today... I cannot improve on his words, so...
John out to get the eggs with Luke and Rose on a beautiful day!
Lord, how I love you and know that it is through the cross that we find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT in our lives. May I embrace my most Cherished Cross and follow after you. I am weak and lowly and humbly ask that you give me the strength to go forward and give without counting the cost. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Sharing a French meal in Saint Pierre 5 years ago for Hallel's first vows. The wise Virgin with her lamp lit greeting with JOY her Bridegroom! Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
My good friend!
My companions as I go out to the mailbox on our quiet gravel road. Our spectacular cottonwood tree is quite a beautiful specimen with lovely shade.
I know that I shared this just a few weeks ago, but it is so classic in our memories of juggling the little ones that the good Lord gives us... when we are open to LIFE. There is no way that we are in control in these years, and I am a prime example of how the Lord had his own plans for Pat and I. I call our nest years the most wonderful and most difficult/painful/filled with agony and grief! http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html... here is the whole story in much more detail than I will share today, if you want to know the WHOLE story!
I was in tears just the other morning praying with John, as we reveled in the news of someone having their 6th child. "How I asked the Lord to let me have that 6th child, so that the world wouldn't look at our family and think that I quit because we had our boy! But it was not to be." I still have people make that comment from time to time when they hear of our family of 4 girls and "then you had that boy!" Sometimes I will correct them and fill them in about the 2 boys buried at the cemetery that I carried for 5 months each after John, but sometimes it is just too much to share at the time or circumstance!
Nancy's precious 3 youngest looking more rested and relaxed and cooperative. She shared that she tried to get just Josephine, but Dominic and Bernadette wanted to join her for this one. The thing about little ones... you can never predict what they will do except maybe to be contrary to what mom wants.
I just had a wonderful conversation with my mother, and she was in a quandary in trying to name her web site... We shared that C.S. Lewis has such powerful and wonderful names for his books and writes so grippingly. We threw out there Mere Catholicism and my thoughts went to my Most Cherished Cross as my maiden name was Barbara Lynn Cross. It fills me with great appreciation and JOY at the Spiritual Journey my parents and I have shared over my lifetime. So amazing and I am filled to overflowing with each day in The Church! My mother has a chapter in a book by that name - Spiritual Journeys - about our conversion story! http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html I am so lucky to have girls with beautiful cameras, and the ability to borrow their pictures! A new beautiful brown eyed girl in our family... we got in touch with how good a baby she is while she quietly watched us put in two huge days of canning one after the other!
Now a sweet brown eyed boy... Dominic is starting to talk and that is so fun.
There is so much coursing through my heart, mind and soul this day in which the Gospel is reminding us that we know not the time, but we need to always be prepared... more than that we need to be doing the right things in our lives and turning away from evil and laziness and sinfulness and selfishness and all the ways that we indulge ourselves and reject giving of our time and talents and gifts and all the love and forgiveness and mercy we have been shown - we are to give it away in return! The Master needs to come and find us doing as we have been commanded, and where would that commandment come from? Starting with the 10 commandments would be a good start, as well as the first two - LOVE of God with all our heart, souls and minds and loving our neighbor as ourselves!! That about covers it.
Good to contemplate how we are to be "the faithful and prudent servant." Matthew 24
Jesus, I am so filled with humble thanksgiving for all you have showered upon me! Once again in mass today we are blessed with the Hallel Psalm of total praise in Psalm 145! "Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable. I will praise your name forever, Lord." Your unconditional LOVE and Mercy, Lord, is truly beyond my understanding and "unsearchable" to me. Yet, I know that I am asked to give it to all those around me in return. Help me, Lord, to give without counting the cost. May I take up my Most Cherished Cross and carry/drag it down the narrow path til I am forever in heaven with you, your Queen Mother, Mary Most Holy, all the Angels and Saints! "Blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing so - distributing food at the proper time to the household." Yes, may we give and die to self so that you may live in us in our domestic Church/family. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
I realized that in all the hectic times... I didn't share some of these special pictures of the coming into The Church/Baptism of our newest granddaughter, Josephine Frances! There is no greater joy in my life than sharing our Faith as a Family! Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
United in Faith/Family/Farm!
At the foot of the Cross - through the Cross we find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT! Jesus is in control!
May we be childlike and humble in our lives this day.
Fill us with your LIGHT! http://www.lifenews.com/2016/08/24/our-abortion-culture-steals-the-grief-of-miscarriage-says-woman-who-lost-her-baby/
Yes, I can see this is true. Read it and weep!
My wonderful friend, Scott Hahn. loves the Church as I do!
I haven't looked at Maria's blog for a very long time, and found some treasures to share with this post! We had a huge disappointment in not sharing Michigan with them, but it looks like they had fun in Wisconsin with their grandparents and parents.
Pat and I shared morning prayer, and shared it with the Apostle, Bartholomew, as it is his feast day today. John was quickly off to help his dad, so we just shared a bit about this great Saint, who disappeared so that Christ would become more and more as he became less and less. Why do I say that? Because there is next to nothing about him in The Word. John shared that he is one of his favorites... He is very prominent at ST Paul outside the walls where there are huge statues of the Apostles all around the sanctuary... he stands there holding his skin as he was flayed and beheaded! Quite a sight to behold and leaves a huge impression on us. The Gospel today from John 1 speaks of the faith Nathanael/Bartholomew knew when Christ recognized from the inside out!
Maria with her youngest, Romeo, but not for long... soon he will have a baby sister around November 1st! So a trip to be with my family is just around the corner, and a new baby to welcome!
It was great to share time with a local prayer group last night, and share a bit about how I pray with the Word. I have learned so much at the feet of Hallel's order - The Community of the Lamb. Her love of Jesus in The Word led her to join them, and they spend much of their day contemplating the Gospel for the day starting the night before. I have adopted this and find great excitement filling me as I go to the next day and read the readings. I went to be last night already celebrating St Bartholomew on his vigil and that the Psalm for mass today was an Hallel/Psalm of total Praise of the Lord at mass today - Psalm 145! Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord, and let your faithful ones bless you. Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call upon him, and to all who call upon him in truth. Your friends make know, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Romeo loves animals at the county fair!
I am so in LOVE with The Church, and have no reservations at all! I am not a shopping cart Catholic, who picks and chooses, but I love and embrace all that The Church holds out to us. I truly feel that The Church is there to help us down the narrow path carrying/dragging our Most Cherished Cross as we follow after Jesus in our weak and limping way. Sharing the readings from mass each day along with every Catholic Church from St Peters to the smallest country church is so powerful for me! To think of those sacred words from the Living Word being prayed, studied, preached from millions of pulpets, and taken into our hearts, minds and souls as we ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us and show us His will for us.
A few more from the wedding on Friday... I will be spending the afternoon with mom, and have heard that she has been doing fine since her big day away. Quite the amazing lady!
Today in Revelations John sees a vision of "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." How I love her! Each day is filled with so much to help me on my way... more than I can ever take in. I find my beads and as soon as I start to pray - peace washes over me. My Queen holds me close and each one of my kids, with their spouses and children and my husband and my Godchildren, and our families and our Church are all prayed for as I ponder the LIFE of my Lord and use words from The Gospel - the rosary is my life-line!
Bloom Lake Barn is very stunning!
Jesus, with your Queen Mother, St Bartholomew and all the Saints rejoicing this day as we turn to you in our sinfulness and our weakness - we love you and need you - you are in control in the midst of the storms of life! The Lord is near to all who call upon him, and to all who call upon him in truth.
I truthfully need you, O Lord, and I love you with all my heart, mind, and soul! May I die to self so that you may live and move and breath through me. May I be your hands and feet this day. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
I loved watching the delight on Ida's face! So many prayers were answered in such a joyful way! Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
Those smiles of JOY and a dream come true!!
Is this a dream?
A hand to hold is always her wish.
Another view of the large crowd!
And the beautiful setting.
My special friend through the first 25 years of our marriage is now a Saint in Heaven and helping me to get there! What JOY!!!!
Love her, too! The Saints fill each day with help and wisdom and Truth!
Mondays bring us 6 pails of tomatoes for two weeks now, and a day of putting our canning machine into full throttle. I was able to pray our morning prayer with Pat and mention to John with tears in my eyes that 7 years ago we were miraculously in France for Susan to become Little Sister Hallel on the vigil of the Queenship of Mary! How I burned to share my deep JOY with all, but not to be... due to our big day of family work.
Ruth's huge tomatoes make the job go quickly, but it still took a lot of juggling to get all 90 quarts of spaghetti sauce into the jars and processed.
Today we find another special feast day for our family as it is Ruth's patron Saint - St Rose of Lima! Her daughter, Rose Ida, is named after her and Ruth Ida Rose. So to the two of them - Happy Feast Day! This young woman certainly is a wonderful Saint in heaven to look to and model our lives after as she lived a life of prayer and service!
Happy feast Day Rose Ida! You are learning how to pitch in and work beside your mom and grandma.
So true for us to recall this day...
"Today is the #FeastDay of St. Rose of Lima, the first native-born saint from the Americas. She imitated the example of St. Catherine of Siena, living a life of virtue and penance as a Dominican tertiary in the home of her parents. St. Rose used to love to repeat, "If human beings knew what it is to live in grace, no suffering would frighten them and they would gladly suffer any hardship, for grace is the fruit of patience." St. Rose of Lima, pray for us!
How I cling to this throughout each day. Looking to her example of humility and trusting and having her with me through my rosary each day. Yes, my hands were occupied with lots of canning yesterday and I was unable to have my beads in hand, but she still filled me with so much JOY recalling the wonderful celebration in France John and I experienced as our daughter/sister took her huge step in becoming his Bride!
The celebration on the hillside of the Green Cathedral kept coming to me as I worked yesterday. Sitting at the wedding of Corey and Julia last Friday was so reminiscent of the gorgeous Cathedral with glorious tree tops forming the roof over our heads. It took me back there in my heart, so with this anniversary of our celebration on the hill in France 7 years ago... it warmed my heart and soul throughout my day of work with John and Ruth. Yes, I tend to wear blue more when I am with Hallel and her Community!
I will have the gift of spending a week in Kansas City at the Little Monastery, Lumen Christi, in about a month! How I am so blessed by the vocation of my 4th daughter to be a bride of Christ! Through her "yes" I am given times that I can answer my heart's love of the contemplative LIFE!
John reminded me that we had Krusties pancakes every morning and I missed my chance to truly celebrate our anniversary!
Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae writes of this Glorious Mystery of her Coronation:
“Christ was raised in glory to the right hand of the Father, while Mary herself would be raised to that same glory in the Assumption, enjoying beforehand, by a unique privilege, the destiny reserved for all the just at the resurrection of the dead. Crowned in glory – as she appears in the last glorious mystery – Mary shines forth as Queen of the Angels and Saints, the anticipation and the supreme realization of the eschatological state of the Church.”
Love my Queen!
Canning with two of my children is a blessing. Soon John will be gone for his new job in Tracy as a para and coach. The Lord has opened another door, and we are filled with hope and Trust!
All our containers are full of our bounty.
No room to spare - that is a 40 quart container and we filled it up twice and then some! 90 quarts of spaghetti sauce for 6 families for the next year might be enough.
Partially done, but still more to make.
Jesus, how we are blessed to share Faith and family values as we do our jobs/life on the farm. It is wonderful to go back to my old home and find there a young family excited and hard working and in love with the good things the farm has to offer them as they care for the land and the animals. As they feed the world! It is so good to have a young and happy healthy family bringing new life and excitement into our farm. Guardian angels, the Saints, especially St Rose of Lima this day, our Qeen of heaven and earth and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior continue to be the center and most important part of our lives. If we place you ahead of all else - everything will fall into it's proper place. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Always room at the big farm sink for little helpers. LIFE is a gift from conception to natural death! Lord, our country needs to protect and cherish all LIFE! Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
Ruth is starting to decorate with her pictures in her new home. John took both of these for his final year of 4H! So wonderful!
In the bathroom -one of mine and one of Ruth's - both precious!
The space where our TV used to be - much better!
The shop clean and empty after the neighborhood party - first in 50 years! A new tradition has begun thanks to Ruth and Paul and family! Can't beat C.S.Lewis with a stick!
