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!
Love finding this loved memory of Ruth and Nancy helping (?) mom with the dishes about 36years ago! Yes, we too prayed and did dishes by hand in our early nest years of our home. I am flooded by warm wonderful feelings as I gaze upon this sight! How the little ones love to play in the water and usually get soaking wet!
The dish crew this summer when we lived with Hallel as Maria was here for a visit from Washington! Standing at the sink or wiping is a chance to share from the heart and do a chore together. So good!
Bernadette loves to put on a blue apron and join in the dishes!
One lucky girl to have her family of the Lamb all around her.. showing her how to live in Community and to love and pray without ceasing to her Lord and Lady in heaven!
Dimples of JOY in her blue! Bernadette will join Rose and Patrick at 7 years old in a few weeks! She is in first grade this year in St Maximilian Kolbe Catholic School in Delano!
Our jars looking wonderful in their pantry. When we say that we make food for 7 families when Ruth and I can... we include my parents and our Family of the Lamb with many mouths to feed!
Happy Birthday to our Joseph yesterday! Here he is with soon to be 3 year old Evangeline on November 1st! Her birthday is quite close to her dad's so they could be considered birthday buddies a week apart!
Maria called me to report that Therese had picked a wagon of tiny wild apples and so they were being forced to make applesauce... Hah!
I went over the process with her and...
The sent me this of the two girls washing and cutting the tiny apples which will be a lot of work with those itty bitty apples... Therese might think twice next time about picking them, but the way they love their applesauce around there... probably not!
Harvest has continued and it there is more down time since we have to dry it a bit, so that is kind of nice in a way. The guys are getting fairly good sleep at night, and that is great!
I found this icon in the Little Brothers in KC years ago and made my copy while I sat out on the porch with Little Sister Inez. We receive our LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT from our Jesus, who dwells within us! The spotless Lamb of God, who was sacrificed for me!
My 4 chickens yesterday after getting fresh water.. I am a chicken farmer from time to time. No eggs yet, but they will probably be leaving for another farm soon before their water and eggs will freeze!
I had the Church to myself yesterday as the tabernacle glowed with Jesus alive and listening to my prayers for Fr Todd! The sorrowful mysteries brought my eyes to Jesus on the Cross over and over.
These powerful words of St Paul to the Romans today in the first reading humbled me and filled with unending gratitude and awe to consider that the Same Spirit lives in me that made this world and raised Jesus from the dead! "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you." Romans 8
It is a small slice of heaven here with my Lord right there as I pray though the beads of the rosary to Mary, who takes them to her Son, Jesus Christ! How He loves his mother and listens to her!
Pat's sister, Joyce, here for a visit in front of my favorite window at Ruth's home - the picture window is new replacing the old one with one the same huge size. It makes you feel a part of the outdoors with the fall leaves outside.
David dressed for a Halloween party, Ruth dressed to cheer on Mary at her swim meet!
Going to cheer her sister, Mary, who swam the 500 in 7.5 minutes! Great job, Mary! Mary said that her fellow teammates gave her a lot of praise for her hard work. She loves her swim team!
At the same time Pat, Joyce and I attended a play at the Catholic School.. Johnny Appleseed. Luke was an apple seed and Rose was a drummer with a mustache!
Apple seeds stole the show!
Rose at attention...
Jude taking a nap with his thumb on his daddy's lap yesterday.
Jesus, how we love and need you and thank you for dwelling the within us. May we die to self so that you may work in us and we may be your hands and feet! Come Holy Spirit and use us to your honor and glory! Be with the farmers keeping them safe and sane. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
All the fruits of the Spirit are all around me and within me... the peace of heavenly love experienced here on this earth! Bless-bless, Barb Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Jeremy Camp - Same Power/ Same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead
After sharing mass on Sunday we gathered under the cross to take a family picture... the 8 of us had just shared 4 days with our nun, Little Sister Hallel in KC! So much filling our hearts and Jesus dwelling in us richly through Body, Blood and The Word!
Nancy lived just 20 minutes away for 3 years and we would stay with her and visit The Community for meals and mass and adoration. Nancy had an hour on each Wednesday which she would bring her kids, not in school yet, along with her. How she missed her time with The Community as well as special friends through church. As it turned out we had most of our time with Hallel, and she only had a small window with friends with their busy lives. A new normal of staying with them and living their lives of prayer and dishes has been lived out by our family... we now stay with our family of the Lamb!
George, you don't know how special you are to stay in the Lumen Christi Monastery as an invited family guest. To you spending time living with the Community will be all you know. How Nancy and Bill miss their close ties there... attending mass a lot of Sundays, and dropping in each week for Adoration. Hallel even came to their house from time to time for a meal or to visit after the arrival of George in February.
We realized that we could be part of the family sharing in each new day. I was in the kitchen cooking for the workers on clean up day, and Hallel gave me her wish list of food... "Mom there are some big cabbages you can chop up and I would really like some of your ramen salad." It thrilled my mother's heart to take to them our canning for one of our 7 families and to cook for my daughter! After 10 years with the Community- this is only her 3rd year in the U.S.
Corn harvest has begun much later than ever before! After 2 1/2 inches of rain less than a week ago, this is a surprise. The corn is yielding well and dryer than they thought possible, so the Lord is smiling on the farmers at long last.
I smiled when I read the beginning of the Gospel today as the farmers are always interpreting the weather and live by it! Now with very precise weather on their phones, I sometimes think to myself... why not just look at the sky or the conditions rather than on your phone? But the Lord's words are ringing so familiarly to this old farmwife after 41 years.. Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain–and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot–and so it is..." Luke 12
Fall view all around me... The point of Jesus in the Gospel today is as St Paul shares in the first reading from Romans 7... We need to realize that we to die to self so that Jesus can work in our lives and we can accomplish the good in our lives, families, jobs, each moment of each day loving and serving Jesus and returning the LOVE and unconditional forgiveness and Mercy we have been given to those around us! This is impossible without constant prayer to Mary, Jesus and the Saints, reading The Word each day - starting the night before with The Community is so amazing and powerful! These words from the Psalm today really crystalize this..."I am yours; save me..." Psalm 119
My view last night after supper... a house full of family gives me so much JOY! To have Pat's sister, Joyce, here visiting for a few days say to me; "You have a wonderful family, and last night was great to reconnect and meet Jude." made me smile with happiness. I loved these words from St Paul to the Romans today... is there anything more wonderful than starting with St Paul? Such a powerful example of leaving his misguided sin behind and embracing the Truth/Jesus Christ! "For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self..." That inner temple was very holy and filled with Jesus and His Mother, Mary, for St Paul, too! That is where the LIGHT/LIFE/LOVE shines forth and where it dwells and goes forth to those around us!
Joyce and I were agreeing that to live according to this motto - "Wounded, I will never cease to love." is hard yet so true when we are called to forgive and forget our injuries and LOVE!
It is wonderful to have some of my family close at hand and very much a part of my day to day life. We miss those that are far away, but are united in Faith.
Fall leaves and Mary this bright morning! I am off soon to pray for Fr Todd with 7 Sisters! LOVE my time in prayer in front of the tabernacle! Last week I was in Lumen Christi and love that deeply spiritual beautiful place as I was able to pray with my daughter, who said "yes" to Jesus calling her to be his bride!
Bernadette in blue helping with dishes!
George and Hallel sharing prayer in the chapel where we stayed before bed. A special family time each night!
Loving her Lamb!
Row houses, petunias and sweeping grass off the sidewalks after mowing.
Praying for Fr Todd and our family a week ago... now to our tabernacle which gleams with His Presence, too! Jesus in dwelling so powerfully and REAL in all the tabernacles around the world, and our inner temple tabernacle!
Time with her Tremendous LOVER/Jesus!
Jesus I love you, save me! As St Paul says... I do what I don't want to do and don't do what I should. Help me to leave my selfishness behind and allow you to work in my! Come Holy Spirit and fill my inner temple with your Fire/LOVE/LIGHT/LIFE! May it flow forth to engulf all those around me, most especially those closest to me in my family/domestic church! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
So much JOY from my mother's icon of Jesus, Mary and St John on barn wood! Framed by the golden maple out my window! Last night the table was full of family sharing a meal and our lives with one another. The men were out harvesting, but not too late thank goodness! Jesus, keep the farmers safe and sane. Bless-bless, Barb
Danielle Rose - Pursue me
Danielle Rose - The Saint that is just me
Danielle Rose - True LOVE/The Cross Hallel listened to this over and over before she entered! She embraced her Most Cherished Cross and found LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT/her spouse, Jesus Christ! Nancy was engaged to Bill Bandzuch on April 10, 2010... We are all so happy for her as she has waited long for her Catholic man to come into her life. She had stood by her values and as a result it was especially sweet and special when she joyfully accepted Bill's proposal! We all gathered in Maria and Joe's back yard to help them celebrate that afternoon minus her sister in KC... Little Sister Hallel. We called her and she spoke to each one of us and even her neice and nephews ! A month later Nancy found this letter from her sister in the mailbox. It was mother's day and she called me to read it to me over the phone. I was blown away and at first thought how crazy it was that a young girl,who had answered the call to remain chaste and be a little sister had so much insight into marriage! But when I realized that she is now the "bride of Christ" it now makes all the sense in the world! I would like to once again share this powerful and wise letter here... Nancy, Look I am writing you a letter... aren't you impressed? Well, you better be because both you and I know how often this happens. I am writing to tell you now extremely excited I am about your engagement to Bill. I have to admit, when I got the news I wasn't really shocked but that night as it sunk in during adoration and the next day during mass I was so happy. My heart overflowed with joy for you. How beautiful to know that you have found your... most cherished cross. While I have never had the experience of being married, from what I hear is that he will truly be your cross. But not your cross as human eyes look at it, as a thing to run away from, as a thing of torture but rather as that which is truly the tree of life. It is only when clinging to the cross that one can truly live, it is the source of all life and of all love. Your marriage to Bill will be this, not something to run away from when it gets hard and when it hurts, but something to hold tight to, especially when it hurts because it is in this that you will find life and love. Know that it is through your marriage that Jesus wants to show you his great love for you and also that the best example that you can give to the world of Christ's love is a marriage lived in truth. So, in other words, know that I am so happy for you and that I love you a whole lot. Know that you are in my prayers during this crazy time of wedding planning; that you may not go crazy but rather learn to love each other better and that you may both have great joy and great peace. Remember to pray for me too! God Bless, Your little Sister Hallel
"St Anthony of Claret had always been especially attracted
by devotions honoring the Blessed Sacrament.
During his school days he had been so captivated by a book
his father gave him, The Goodness of Our Sacramental Lord,
that he had committed it to memory!
Kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament,
he would pray:"Oh, my God, grant me a place
by the gates of hell, that I may stop those who enter there,
saying: 'Where are you going, unhappy one? Back, go back! Make a good confession. Save your soul!
Don't come back here to be lost forever.' "
From Hidden Treasure: The Riches of the Eucharist
Louis Kaczmarek
St Anthony Mary Claret
Spain ~ 1807-1870
Missionary, Religious founder (Claretians),
Social reformer, Queen's (Spain) chaplain,
Writer and publisher, Excellent/renowned preacher
Survived 15 assassination attempts
Great devotion to Eucharist and Immaculate Heart of Mary
Said of him..."never without a rosary in his hands"
John humoring his pesky mother yesterday with a sweet smile as we were in familiar surroundings on Ghonda 8 in Rochester. John having his MRI to check on some eye issues that have developed from his whole brain radiation of 10 years ago. They are smaller and better, so we go forward trusting with the new John as a result of his life being saved from brain cancer.
I am in a whirlwind after my time with Nancy and the kids and Hallel and her family of the Lamb, then on to my parents for a couple very pleasant days in their new home, and then on to Rochester with husband and son for a day recalling our battle from 10 years ago and the ups and downs that have come to us since. Looking back over the last week and a half.. I see the theme to be prayer without ceasing, and the gift of sharing our Faith as a family with Jesus, Mary, the Saints and The Church!
You check in on an ipad, which is different but this view is so powerful for me recalling the tears and prayers that were lifted up in this place!
October 2009 - 10 years ago we faced the regrowth of his brain cancer and after a week of prayer by our prayer warriors we started whole brain radiation which saved his life along with all the prayers and sacraments!
Anointed with the Sacrament of healing by Fr Craig before his brain biopsy... So powerful and how we were blessed by our amazing Church! https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/johns-cancer-stories.html
Time with Jesus and his bride, my daughter Little Sister Hallel, in Lumen Christi/LIGHT of Christ Monastery in KC a few days ago. So powerful and filled with so much JOY!
Today Jesus talks about setting our world on fire! I see that it is burning now with His Holy Spirit at work in our family and lives!
How I cling to this - "Wounded, I will never cease to love." This is the answer to all or our woes in this life.
If we can die to self and allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn away all our sins and weaknesses. Our pride will vanish and we will be able to forgive and forget our wounds. Who hurts us the most and with the least effort? Those the closest to us. If only we could love though the hurts/wounds that come from living so closely to those we love the most!
This sweet boy is missed by grandma today! George got to live with his Aunt and her Community and graced them with his smiles and sweetness!
Family time in KC is now looking a bit different as we get to live with Hallel, and we are greatly blessed by her life shared with us! Prayer and dishes! Being poor and living in the midst of the poor.
Our Most Cherished Cross which we embrace to find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT and the fire of the Holy Spirit!
So blessed to share prayer and meals and an overnight, and visiting and watching public TV... LOVE my time with both my parents in their new home!
Jesus, how deep is your love for us and how much we burn with the fire of your LOVE! May we die to self so that you may live in us and we may love and serve without counting the cost! Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barb
