"there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create..." Isaiah 65

With my rosary beads and Our Mother of Heaven and Earth with me loving and caring for all of our Family!

Over 4 years ago with newborn Bernadette, just back from a month in El Paso for the birth of her cousin, Patrick.  They are now 4 1/2 with soon to be 6 new siblings/cousins since.  Rose will have her new sister on Friday, with her brother Luke between them.  Bernadette has her brother, Dominic (2 1/2), and her new sister, Josephine, born last May.  And Patrick has his brother, Romeo (2 1/2), and his new sister, Evangeline born on November 1st.  Welcoming new little ones from the moment we know that they are in the womb with so many prayers, and soon to have our newest little one safely in our arms!  We have experienced the words of Isaiah 65 in the first reading today often along with the love that only grows bigger, and is not stretched more thin!

Lo, I am creating new heavens and a new earth;... There shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem(Bernadette, Patrick, Rose, Luke, Dominic, Romeo, Josephine, Evangeline, and our newest little granddaughter on Friday, and of course all those 6 older ones) to be a joy and to be a delight, I will rejoice in them and exult in my creation...

Yes, this is the kind of JOY we are experiencing with each new life!

 Patrick and Bernadette dancing in sleepers when they were about 2 months old!  Over 4 years ago!

Now Rose, who is 6 months older joins the dance of new life!  This day they are cousins that love to play together...

 Rose and Patrick just in from the trampoline, and Rose is watching a cow having her calf on cow TV..."She watches and lets us know when the calf is born."

A watercolor I came across of Therese when she was just a bit older than her sister, Evangeline is now... they look so much alike!

It is so hard for grandpa Pat to leave his sweet little baby girl in the mornings!  He is a true baby lover!  I think that missing her will get him on the road for the 3 day trip to Tacoma sooner than later!  Although he will have a new baby here on the farm to get his baby holding time in.  There is certainly evidence of "rejoicing and happiness in what I create around here!"  When Ruth got pregnant she pointed out that we would be in the thick of calving when she arrives.. so much LIFE all around us!

His huge hands were made to hold those sweet little ones!  He is not happy unless any baby in sight is in his arms!

http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

A sentiment shared by Pope Francis today, and reminding us that our love for all life goes so much deeper!   We must cherish and protect all life from conception to natural death!

Uncle John will soon have 15 nieces and nepehews!  It was so wonderful to share Psalm 30 in morning prayer and the readings from mass today.  John and I shared it on the way to one of his talks a few years back... John drove and I read the office including the 30th Psalm - written just for him!

"To you, Lord, I cried,

to my God I made appeal:

'What profit would my death be, my going to the grave?

Can dust give you praise or proclaim your truth?'

The Lord listened and had pity.

The Lord came to my help.

For me you have changed my mourning into dancing,

you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.

So my soul sings psalms to you unceasingly.

O Lord my God, I will thank you forever.

I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me."

Although John's path has brought him to a new job in the Tracy HS this year... he still longs to share his story above all else!  A talk last week and again this weekend at a TEC retreat... brings him joy and praise to Jesus for how he rescued him and now he has been saved from the grave to proclaim the Truth of Jesus and His Bride, The Church! 

http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html

Talk about the most perfect lover of all babies--- Therese Marie!  She embodies what  one who will always be rejoicing and filled with unending happiness at what the Lord creates in each new life!

Jesus, we are deep in prayer and excited anticipation to meet our new little LIFE/grandchild #15!  We trust in your protection of them both and the plan you have for her as she grows nourished by the LOVE of her family all around her like sunlight and rain nourishing the seed planted to bear much fruit!  Open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS for the world!  This is what our wise Church asks of us and we respond and find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT more and more in our lives/families/domestic church!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen

Walking the Way of the Cross reminds us of how are called to die to self so that The Holy Spirit will use us to the honor and glory of The Truth in this world of darkness!  We embrace The Cross called having many children, which leads us to sacrifice of ourselves.  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke with my 7 in heaven praying for me and keeping my eyes on heaven, and the 5 with me leading me ever deeper in my Faith!  I need a lot of help to become the saint that is just me!

Danielle Rose - The Saint that is just me

Yesterday we were midlent and got this wonderful encouragement! 

 Love this!  Soon they will be together in KC with Hallel here for Easter!  Hallel will be traveling here to the U.S. from Rome on Wednesday!  Our wonderful get together is on the horizon!

How powerful is this in the light of a new member in our family?  Always a joy and delight thanks to Jesus bringing LIGHT into the world!

Farmgirl Mary learning to give pills and shots to calves to keep them healthy!  In a few days she will be a big sister, too!

Life is rich and full of adventure for this sweet girl!

Thinking and praying for life in the womb this day!

If we are the Body - Casting Crowns

What we can't see is what is the best for our souls!

So special to now have traditions that have come to us through Hallel and her Community/Family of the Lamb!  Early in our time with them we were introduced to their special desert train of children with candles desserts and smiles marching around the outside of our gathering.  We now have adopted similar processions at special celebrations in our family... most recently the 9th birthday celebration of our Therese!

Blowing them out took more effort than we thought as some were trick candles that kept on relighting... lots of fun and giggles!


How I wish I could remember a statement Father Paul made in his homily today about how things that we can see are distractions and can mislead us while the things that we cannot see... the Trinity, The Saints, Our Mother of heaven and earth to name a few, are what it best for us to hold onto!
I hope that you get the idea...  Father mentioned that we are so busy working on our exterior.. when it is our interior that really matters.  In my current state of old and fat this was good for my ears to hear, but I do know that we are called to take care of our temples also.

On the one year anniversary of our new home... a wall of pictures in our new office!  How I love to use my pictures and it makes this place feel like HOME, and that is where my heart is!  This is very large, but we fill it up regularly and it is very comfortable even with many adults and close to a dozen kids here!  How we love to have it full of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!

Time for Mary's grade to work the morning rolls, so the Lanoue bunch were cleaning and helping.  Such good lessons in service!  How we love our caramel rolls after sharing mass together!


The Gospel was the amazing one from John 9 today about the man born blind, who was healed by Jesus after he made clay with his saliva and put it on the man's eyes...."I am the LIGHT of the world."  Yes, we cannot see Jesus as the blind man was unable until he washed off the clay and he could see, yet once we have encountered Christ we see him at work in our lives with eyes of Faith!

Grandpa and his sweet baby girl, Evangeline Mary, who is loving her time in the huge hands of her grandpa Pat.  On Friday a new baby girl will join the family, and she will no longer be the baby in the family!

Ruth can thankfully sit while her kids are busy doing the clean up...


We are soon to gather over at Ruth's for a good old wonderful farm Sunday dinner!  Carrying forth our joyful wonderful Sunday!  I need to pull some food together!  Jesus, how we love to have your Holy Spirit alive in our hearts, minds and souls!  "Do you believe in the Son of May?" Jesus asked the healed blind man..."Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"  Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking to you is he."  He said, "I do believe, Lord," and he worshiped him... Wow!  Such amazing story that we can see in our hearts and hold dear there!  I do believe, Lord!  I do long to worship you with my all!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barb

The "YES" that saved the world/Stations of LIGHT/"bright ray streaming towards her womb"

Evangeline and mom light 14 candles for our family stations of the Cross last night.  "I have learned that kids pay more attention if they know that there is a candle to blow out with each station."  Maria wisely shared.  A special time shared in prayer on a Friday night.  We had discussed trying to get to Stations at Church, but with hungry kids right at supper time we decided to have tuna, egg salad, and tomato soup at home and gathered up 14 candles to light and blow out with each station.  My thoughts were drawn to a dear friend, who suffered  a miscarriage yesterday.  How the feelings of grief flood me with memories of my many losses on our journey called being open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS!

http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

Ready to begin... Romeo had cars and was making a lot of distracting noise until he was invited to come and blow out the candles...

All I could say to my friend, was that I was there with her, our families share our grief, and that when we share the pain of the Cross of miscarriage and still birth that it brings us closer together and the value for all LIFE runs very deep!  I have witnessed the bond and respect for all life and the LOVE we have one for another, and value for all LIFE from conception to natural death.  Life is to be cherished and protected no matter the cost!  Yes, through sharing The Cross in this way we have received such a bounty of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!

Patrick was a wonderful bearer of Christ on the Cross as we traveled through The Stations of the Cross with Jesus. 

"We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you."

"For by your Holy Cross you redeemed the world."

On bended knee and bowing low!  Little 4 1/2 month old, Evangeline, sharing in her first Stations!


Today is such a powerful day... The Feast of the Annunciation... the "yes" from Mary that brought our Savior into the world!  This most beautiful image filled me with great awe...
A ray descends from heaven, sometimes emanating from the dove of the Holy Spirit.  And there in the bright ray of God's presence streaming straight toward the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  And there is this detail : on his shoulders he carries his cross.  Fr James Sullivan, O.P.
To shift gears in the middle of Lent is difficult, but we are aware of the Cross even here!  It reminds me of Patrick having the cross placed on his shoulders in the womb at his birth 3 1/2 years ago.
http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-story-of-little-lamb-grandson.html

Therese helping her 2 1/2 year old brother, Romeo, blow out the 4th station... Jesus meets his Mother.
I recently was able to act out this station at a retreat... the pain I experienced as all the swords that pierced my heart were there before my eyes as I witnessed my Son, the Son of God, there before me beaten and bloodies and carrying the source of his torture and death upon his shoulders!  "My Son, never did I imagine that this is what would have to happen to you!  My Son, I love you and long to take this cross from you, yet I know that it must happen to save the world.  Help me to have the strength to stand by you, and at the foot of your Cross to watch you die.  There you give me to all to bring into their homes.  There I will teach of your LOVE and bring all to YOU as I reveal you to them and bring all their petitions to lay at your feet.  Jesus, I trust in you."

The 13th station - the body of Jesus is taken down from the Cross and laid in his mother's arms.  So powerful to have this at the end just before he is laid in the tomb!  Imagining all the suffering is finally complete, yet the many swords that have pierced his mother's heart!

The Crucifixion/A Mother's song by Danielle Rose
It is hard to get through this without weeping... comparing how she held his warm body in her arms at birth and then at the end of his agony!

Holding his LOVE for us/The Cross deep in our hearts!


It is kind of hard to find this deep place of the Cross this day of The Annunciation, yet the beautiful words of The Angel, Gabriel, the words we repeat for the Rosary throughout our days..."Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you."  "All that our heart cries out for became flesh in Mary's womb.  When we repeat the words of the angel by praying the Hail Mary, the Word of God germinates in our soul.  Christianity is this never ending event of encounter with God made present in the maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary." see www.magnificat.com

How we are enjoying our baby girl.. in less than a week she will no longer be the littlest of them all.  Ruth is due to have her baby girl on next Friday!  So many prayers!  It was a year ago today - on Good Friday last year which landed on The Annunciation...  that we switched places, so both of us were moving on the same day!   It was kind of hard and crazy and good and perfect to do it on Good Friday!  This year to celebrate Easter still 3 weeks away and to have The Feast of The Annunciation all by itself yet in the midst of Lent still brings the fact that this beauty of LIFE in her womb - The Son of God still led to The Cross where our Salvation was paid for with his Body and Blood!

Looking around at my wonderful new home - a year today!  I have been blessed now with all new bathrooms and went with a "beach theme" in the two downstairs that we remodeled.  I had too much fun yesterday getting out the watercolors I have done while on the beach with my family over the years!  I think I have painted one for every day I have been there, and the love of The Big Lake and sharing it with my family pours out!  It is sad to know that our wonderful times will be ending with the sale of our special place in the U.P.  It fills me with a lot of bittersweet feelings as I find myself making this my HOME these last days.   Today our first anniversary is one of great interior celebration!

The older sketches are from 1997, our first summer at the cabin, and the others are 2015s... Love it!


Jesus, I think Mary's prayer to you on the Way says it all for me!  How I love to have you in my home after Jesus in his last moments of earthy life gave you to bring into our Homes!  I am so happy with my new peaceful home, and having the young family loving and living on the farm!  Now with a new little one soon to join them!  Ruth and I both had a new baby a year after moving on the farm there in that house!  It fills me with awe to see with eyes of Faith the way that Ruth has been given my life to live over again.  It was great for me and I sense the same JOY in her!  I am filled to overflowing with YOU, my Jesus!  I say "YES!" to all that you ask of me!  Jesus, I trust in you.  Amen

My mother's artwork and family photos at The Big Lake!  Does it show how much I love this and how deeply this has been planted in me?  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

My sister, Cheryl's, wonderful watercolor of the lighthouse in Manistique, MI!

"In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You." Saint Augustine

Nancy's Jesus tree for Lent!   Love how they share their Faith with JOY!

And coming to her, the angel said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

"Unseen, I answered you..." Psalm 81 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart..."

I am enjoying having my 9 year old Therese around and the joy of doing her hair each day.  Yes, our time together is narrowing down, but we still have about 2 months to carry forth with this daily fun.  Over the years it seems that they are with us for a month here and there while Joe is being trained, so this is an oldie from about 6 years ago when they were here with us. 

About 6 years ago... a lot has changed since then.  Most especially the decline and now passing of Pat's mom, who was a huge part of our lives!


 I have been in a bit of a nesting frenzy around here, and it is kind of surprising until I realize that it is the one year anniversary of our move tomorrow.  Last year it was Good Friday which trumped the Annunciation, which is back in it's proper place this year.  Getting our bathrooms completed a few weeks ago and kind of triggered my decorating and putting up things that are reminding us of our home, which is now filled with Ruth and her family!

It really felt like home when I put up my grandmother's plates, which we had up in our farm house.  It just feels like our roots are planted here with familiar homey touches.

Pictures are always huge for me, and this is fresh and new using old wonderful pictures of which I have boxes and boxes!  Enjoying generations of pictures... John noticed that I put my hunky husband in the center.  Well...

An oldie in front of the picture window 6 years ago, the window still is here with a different couch in front of it!  This cat is now living here with us, and Mary is at home in the farm house! 

Emotions are running high today, and this is spiraling in some tangents.  There are projects calling to me, and distractions all around.  The words from the mass readings today spoke to me, yet they are distant now.  The Lord certainly continually has touched my life and answered me in unseen/yet obvious and powerful ways!  "Unseen, I answered you..."  Yes!

http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html

http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

One of my distractions... so fun!  Clothes basket, little girl. and doggy and froggy! 

Jesus, I long to love you more completely with all my heart!  May I serve you without counting the cost!  Jesus, I trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barb

Snuggling babies, Farmer Pat, and cow TV - 5 calves overnight... we have almost reached 100/98 officially this morning!  Ruth predicted that we would reach 120 by time the baby arrives in one week from today!  Three a day is highly likely and she is a pretty good farmer/mother of soon to be 6/farm wife/nurse/Creighton model instructor/wonderful daughter and sister!