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!
Prince John the Villain and Rose the skunk who saved Robin Hood out in the bright sun after their great performance! "Ridiculous" with a hand to the head was pretty funny, Simon!
Joy watching the tractors getting ready to pick up the 600 bales of corn stalks Ruth and Paul baled. Paul loaded us up in the field and Pat unloaded us in the yard... Ruth, John and I had hay racks and every round we picked up 29 bales! Round and round we went for 8 hours of smooth work!
The little ones in the house helped by Mary and Bobbi. Kids to put on their final play and making a meal for all of us to grab on the fly...
Pat sent the boy out to count the bales in the long pyramid... 58 rows of 6= 348 bales in the pyramid! Most of the day was beautiful with bright warm sunshine. Windows open and door open on Pat's kitty cat...CAT payloader that he loves!
Paul loading up John... we sure appreciated John coming out and helping and Bobbi running the kids and helping in the house!
Filling up Ruth... lots of bales as far as the eye can see!
Bobbi was able to watch Robin Hood's final show... Rose was the lead skunk, and
Simon was the villain, Prince John. "Ridiculous" with his hand to his head.... LOVE!
Bobbi took Ruth's nice camera and grabbed a few out in the sun for keepsake of their great performances!
Great Job you two!!
A great day's work... thank you one and all for the great team work and the pleases and the thank yous and the serving one another without counting the cost. It will make my knee replacement in a week and a half much more peaceful knowing that this big job will be done and I was able to be of help...
Jesus, we are yours and we like to share family jobs where we are peaceful and respectful of each other. Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barb
Newborn Susan Angela on September 18, 1985... My mother holding her and her older sisters, Maria and Nancy admiring her. After watching my belly get big and talk about a new baby... they are able to see her face.
It is kind of crazy to be able to pick up the phone and call KC and have Hallel answer the phone..."Hi dad!" After 10 years of being in Europe, it is such a gift to have her only 7 hours away. We have fake plans to go for the dedication of the Little Brothers' Monastery, Light of Mary, the Mother of God. We love our time with our daughter, Nancy, and her family there, and our family of the Lamb!
Me and my sister Paula, getting to know our 3rd sister, Paula, over 60 years ago. I am the oldest of 11, and Pat is from the family of 10, so there were many new faces that have become family and familiar and loved by us!
Today in the Psalm it speaks of how we long to see the face of God and love and follow his "call" to us! St Paul today speaks of that call in powerful and moving terms... "to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace; one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:1-6
Nancy's baby is much hoped for and prayed for! She has had 2 losses in the last year, and that pain makes us appreciate and long for this one to join us and fill our empty arms! We long to see his face, O Lord!
How do we see the face of God and listen to his call in our lives? Spending time in prayer is huge and just listening with our hearts to how he speaks to us in The Word and the stirrings of our hearts.
I am just back from my hour in church praying for Father Denny in front of the tabernacle. As I was walking towards Jesus in the tabernacle glowing in the front of church... I looked over at the 10th station of the Cross/Jesus is stripped of his garments, and stopped...
This station was where Susan knelt each morning to do her Holy Hour before mass in the dark church... Why? I asked her, "is it because of our need to ask for humility, which this is revealing?" "No, mom, it is because it is the last row with a kneeler and I don't want people to see me crying." She had just returned from the discernment house in St Paul and did not know where the Lord was calling her.
The door opened to her heart's wish to join The Community of the Lamb when they within a short time came to the U.S. to start their first foundation in Kansas City!
Sitting by the 10th station, and seeing the face of Jesus in the glowing tabernacle...
Surrounded by proof of your Truth and True Presence,,, seeing your Face, O Lord. Joining me in the church for my hour were 2 men. One was bent over in prayer in a humble and pleading fashion for most of the time I was there. The other arrived towards the end of my hour and speaking to himself and singing in Spanish walked forward.. In front of Our Lady of Guadalupe he wept, and then knelt in front of the tabernacle with his hands out in the shape of the Cross. Both men intent upon Jesus in the tabernacle and His presence very Real and True before and around us!
"When we are weak is when we turn to Jesus." Hallel to me after my hip replacement. And very evident with those coming to his feet in church throughout the day. His presence is REAL!
My thing... making pies! I probably have made thousands over this last 40 years! What am I missing? My girls beside me on a chair, or John with his matchbox cars making roads through the flour on the counter while I roll out the crusts.
A bumper crop of squash is part of the reason.... one way that Pat will get his squash in this form.
One apple and two squash/pumpkin... not much left already... it is fun to spoil my husband after so many long hours. We shared supper last night and watched some TV together... to bed early though for the hard working man.
It looks like tomorrow will be picking up the 600 corn stalk bales, or get a start at it! It looks like a busy day. Jesus, may I see your face in all those that are around me and may I be a willing and patient and cheerful worker. bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace;
In other words... returning the LOVE I have been given, and be your face to the world around me! Bless-bless, Barb
John with our two dogs a few years back in the calving barn... both dogs died within a month of each other this summer after sharing many years on the farm. A cat of long years with us has also gone and it thought to be dead.
It looks like we are to welcome the new... Ruth and Paul have a grown pup, Katie, and some kittens that are through to the juvenile stage... always new to replace the old, but when they were with you for so many years... there is an ache of loss from time to time, yet somewhat comforting to know that they are all together wherever pets may be in the great plan of God our Father of heaven and earth. In our small human mind of animals we love... it is comforting to see this and recall how they shared so many years together on the farm and now death...
My family at "the farm" in Wisconsin about when we joined the Church... all 13 of us!
The first reading today from Ephesians 3 speaks of the family and that always catches my eye! "I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love..." His Spirit in our inner self is how we can have a small slice of heaven in our domestic Church/family! We die to self so that His Spirit may use us as his hands and feet and we may serve others and not be served! Sharing our Faith as a family with JOY is how we pass it on from one generation to the next and share our Faith!
Pat in the middle of his family in age and in this picture probably taken in the mid 60s...LOVE!
Pat the middle of 10 and I the oldest of 11... it is no surprise that there are over 200+ when I put our two families together and I do that in Adoration when I put each member of both of our families in the monstrance with Jesus! I add our family at the beginning of my family and in the middle of Pat's as we are members of both and I love to pray twice of our 29, which include 3 in the womb to join us in Feb/March! I find great JOY and smile out loud when I can add a new member in the monstrance with Jesus! Surrounded by prayers from the moment we know of the new life!
Only missing Hallel and now 3 to join us... Nancy #5, Maria #6, and Bobbi #1.
When Jesus speaks today in Luke 12/the Gospel about setting the earth ablaze with such radical and selfless love of the innocent Lamb giving the supreme sacrifice to cleanse us of all our sins... How I long to set that fire of cleansing love in my own home and that of my extended family! How? It seems that we are called as wives and mothers to do constant over and over small things with great love!
In France for Hallel's wedding/final vows at the end of the summer! She had 21 family come to celebrate with her! LOVE moved the mountain and we learned at the feet of the Little Sisters and Little Brothers about how we do those small things with great love!
"I promise unto death!" That takes doing small things with great love. As Hallel describes her life as prayer and dishes...
The 10 year olds... Therese and David in the rain in Lourdes! How I rejoice knowing that our 3 new little ones were with their mothers while in Lourdes! Our Lady loves all life and is pouring her gaces upon our 3 new little ones! Prayers continue with each new day!
We have been named by our Father in heaven as His and His Spirit animates our work, our play, our worship, our ups and our downs, our rising and our setting, our frustrations and our peace, may the fruit of the Holy Spirit dwell in and with us in all that we undertake.
Pat and I aglow in France after spending an hour of deep prayer in Adoration with our nun and her Community in Trinity Cathedral in France...
It was such a longed for gift to have morning prayer with my husband this morning thanks to the rain overnight. We are just days away from having all the crop out and with long hours and frustrations to deal with in the process... it was very special to share morning prayer and the readings! Part of that each time is our personal intentions that we share out loud after the petitions and before the Our Father. He listens and we lift up our family and each other asking to do better at loving each other most especially when we are struggling to feel the love. "Wounded, I will not cease to love." the motto of our Community of the Lamb and our prayer to live out as we proceed into our 41st year of marriage.
Those 40 years are so often mentioned in the Old Testament as Moses wandered 40 years in the desert and all that happened in that time... crossing the red sea, water from the rock, manna from heaven, the serpents of death and the one lifted up to be looked at for healing, the 10 commandments and worshiping the idol of gold in the shape of a calf... Maybe our 40 years have looked different from the Israelites, but we have had our big and hard moments, too!!! We have made it through, though, and it feels like a milestone.
This last Christmas... the Christmas letter is already out and the fake plans are flying around! LOVE to be together!
Yes, Pat, I would love to think that we have reached our promised land, and that our love with only grow and not be tested. May my new knee allow us to share more, and may our world be ablaze with LOVE for Jesus and each other by doing small things with great love! Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barb
A very big year of our 40... fighting the giant/cancer with John!
Danielle Rose - Small things with great love
Going through old pictures... Grandpa with John and Brad... 6 weeks apart growing up on the farm
Our 2 boys after John... both carried 20 weeks. Our child bearing years were filled with loss which made us love LIFE from conception to natural death, and love each other as we cherished those we were allowed to share our journey with! A close family due to sharing the pain of loss! http://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html
Ruth at it again!!! Pouring her time and energy into the family theme for this year... Circus!!!
In our house move... the attic was cleaned out and this costume which Susan had worn in 1991 blizzard Halloween when she was 5 is being worn this year as Rose is the tight rope walker! I now will go nuts trying to find Susan in it!
Looking through my pictures... the bums in 1982
With dad in the leaves in Taylors Falls in 1989
Farmer Pat steps into the Indian bunch in 1983... papoose Maria Theresa!
The 1991 Halloween blizzard... John was a boy/dog and Susan was a tooth fairy that I have yet to find... the search goes on!
In honor of harvest on the farm... this classic one of Maria and the Big Carrot in 1985 at 2 years old and bunny ear muffs. too!!
Yesterday Ruth helped me get the equipment for my knee replacement from the hospice house just a block from mom's house. I got teary and missed her and we talked about how much they miss her after all the ways she was involved in their lives on the farm, at the Catholic School, at church, and in their day to day lives! This was taken in 2003 when Maria returned from studying in Rome for a year! How they loved their grandma Ann!
Well, I must give up on my search for Susan in 1991 Halloween, but I am on a mission when I finish this up for today.
Luke the adorable elephant...
I have a very special place in my heart for Isaiah! During Advent he is always the first reading, and when my dad was reading Isaiah 55:1-2 at an Ignatian retreat the Holy Spirit told him to come into The Church with our entire family - all 13!
This from the Psalm for today taken from Isaiah 12
You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.
It so aptly describes the flowing of graces that surround me each day of my journey in The Church! The readings starting the night before, morning prayer and evening prayer, and sometimes i share the Divine Office of readings with my dad, mom or son! The Saints are so huge for me and my companions on this journey... they give me hope and courage no matter what i face! Our Lady/My Mother of all Mothers,who is the Queen of heaven and earth is my #1 best companion on my journey and her rosary fills me with hope and is a constant prayer without ceasing throughout my day! So much to overflowing... the Holy Spirit alive and well and at work in my heart, mind and soul!
Those springs of Salvation are crystal clear, cold and refreshing and life-giving as we all need to drink to live!
Joy in a bubble sink after playing outside on a beautiful fall day... dad getting ready to go out and bale more corn stalk bales!
I am getting a lot of time with the farm kids... my last few weeks leading up to my knee replacement are filled with the help i am able to do... care for the kids, the evening meal and running kids to activities. A step back in time for sure. I come home tired but happy that this window is still open for me to be of help. November 7th is coming up quickly, and I find that i am less worried than I thought I would be. Lord, I am yours!
It gets dark about 6:30 now and that moon is something isn't it?
Jesus, how I long to be ready for anything that you ask of me! I know that I will soon be weak and need to depend upon others to manage as I slowly recover. I recall with my hip replacement I was complaining to Hallel about how weak and worthless I was. "Mom, when we are weak is when we turn to Jesus." Yes!!!!! I want to be always looking to you my Lord! Humble me and I will give you may all... dying to self so that you may live in me. "Wounded, I will not cease to love. " Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
Ruth's beautiful house, porch and the harvest moon! Ruth's vision for her farmhouse gives me so much joy and happiness when I spend time there. Joy and I had time outside on the beautiful day on the porch and in grandpa's wonderful shop. "Dad is happy when he is working in his shop on equipment." said Ruth. Yes, he loves his new shop and he is a mechanic at heart and a good one at that! Bless-bless, Barbara Mary Luke
Unloading corn straight into the bins as now it is dry enough... all the bins on our farm are now full! Bumper crop... "Rain makes grain!" Pat Verly
John's groom supper in the shop on June 1st... Ruth and i were talking about all the work to clean but all the JOY of having amazing family times in the shop. The beauty of it is that we have all the little ones, who could not be taken to a restaurant and have an enjoyable meal. This way they can ride their bikes, play in the sand pile and run around together while the adults can visit and eat steak, and wine and beer too.
There are some fake plans for a Verly family Christmas in the shop... it is heated and we have Nancy in KC and Maria in Tacoma, WA... so it is definitely a "fake plan!"
Some of the 15 going on 18 in March! Simon is the oldest at 14!
All ages share in the fun!
Grooms supper with Father Craig!
Breakfast with the newly weds and our family the following weekend! With our numbers approaching close to 30 with 18 of them kids... our shop is big crazy fun!
Beauty and Truth!
“Real love is demanding… Love demands effort and a personal commitment to the will of God. It means discipline and sacrifice, but it also means joy and human fulfillment.” - John Paul II
Yes, it is the air that I breath with every breath that I take!
A good one!
