Faith like no others!/Clouds and prayers and trip with hubby

 Dad and I on the porch at 3p each day to share a rosary and chaplet and look out over the panorama of our prairie landscape.  The sky is what gives us much to ponder as we prayed the sorrowful mysteries yesterday.

Dad observed clouds like "the Trinity" yesterday - 3 clouds united in one.  We share our quiet time of prayer.  Our job and our JOY to pray for many that are ill or recently died on our chaplet.  A young man named, Robert, is still prayed for on our 4th decade, and it brings me to pray for my father also, who is slowly walking into the sunset of his life with the help of prayer and hospice and my humble stumbling help.

 The view before us as we pray... the corn fields around us seem to grow with each new day!  This heat and humidity after a wonderful gentle rain will truly make it grow like crazy!

 I am blessed with some pictures from my farm family, who are on their way home after a wonderful week away all the way to Washington and now coming back through Montana!

Mary and her father, Paul, made it to the Pacific!

 So humbling to witness the grandeur and power of God's creation! 

Reading the Gospel today which includes the scripture we repeat just before we go to receive Jesus in the Eucharist and after the Consecration of the priest...  “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof; only say the word and my soul shall be healed” (based on Matthew 8:8). which is the Gospel today!  

 Feet in the Pacific - looks cold!

The words of Jesus to the centurion today really struck me as to why these words are repeated before we receive Jesus!  When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.  Matthew 8

May we also have that kind of amazing Faith and realize that the creator of Heaven and earth is coming to us so personally in His Body and Blood, and he heals all our ills!

"...When it was evening, they brought him many
who were possessed by demons,
and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick,
to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:

He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases."

 A rain forest in Washington?  Yes!

 On the road with a statue that has escaped the destruction we see everywhere on the news!  Looks like George Washington? 

 Able to go for a short trip with hubby for a part last evening... under the clouds!  The sun low on the horizon cast our shadow as we sailed along on the road and on the ditch beside us.

 Cows and calves on grass as the evening was coming on. 

 Stopped by Paul's corn field at sunset.  Elbow height, but too muddy to go into the field.  Almost out standing in Paul's field.

Lord, may we have the faith to embrace you as you come to us!  May we go forth sharing your LIGHT/LOVE/LIFE with all we encounter - most especially those in our domestic Church/family.  Give our farm family safety in their travels as they return to the farm in these next few days.  Our prayers are surrounding them as we trust in you.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

A year ago - Pat with the group of girls - They are all the same age for a few months - at this point Joy and Evie are 3 and Josephine has now turned 4.  Pat loves his girls and boys!  He is my champion for LIFE and family! "The world needs lights!"  Open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

 Our prayer partner getting some toe rubs - my father puts Ruth's afghan over him while we pray.  Ruth crocheted this for my parents and was on their couch at Lake Michigan.  It looks like the waves on the lake and is so special to see my father use it when we sit on the porch now!

 A phone call from Maria and Therese asking me about adopting my 4 siblings back when I was in high school.  Therese was wondering about how it all happened, so it was good to share how the Holy Spirit directed my father to add to our 7 with 4 new siblings - 11 kids!
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/the-amazing-story-of-13-becoming.html

Shortly after they came into our family and we introduced them to Michigan!  Carol still has the cast on her leg from the injuries she received being in the front seat with her parents, who were both killed.  Horrific for them.

 Clouds, flag, 3 eggs from my 3 chickens, asparagus, and mulberries. 

LIFE is good on the farm, and we pray for all our loved ones and our world which is in such turmoil and confusion!  We share the Truth here and whenever we can!  Bless-bless, Barbara

A friend, who also shares beauty and Truth - wrote this yesterday.. This stunning crucifix is along the highway in a field we pass on our way to the Cities... LOVE

In my lifetime, I remember tipping 3 hayracks over.
One was unhooked in front of my house, and it rolled down the driveway, and into the ditch.
The other 2 were on the curve of 19 east of us.
Yesterday, we baled on the curve......I wasn't worried about dumping a rack, and we didn't....
We had Someone watching over us.  Mike 

O Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke thy most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying. O Purest Mary, O Sweetest Mary, let thy name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady, to help me whenever I call on thee, for, in all my needs, in all my temptations I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name, Mary, Mary.

O what consolation, what sweetness, what confidence, what emotion fill my soul when I pronounce thy sacred name, or even only think of thee. I thank God for having given thee, for my good, so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely pronouncing thy name: let my love for thee prompt me ever to hail thee, Mother of Perpetual Help.

💦💙A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE SYMBOLISM IN THE ICON OF OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP - Feast Day - June 27th

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Pope Pius IX, associated with a celebrated Byzantine icon of the same name dating from the 15th century.

This icon has been in Rome since 1499, and is currently in the church of Sant’Alfonso di Liguori all’Esquilino. The image has become very popular among Roman Catholics in particular, and has been very much copied and reproduced.

▪️(1) This Greek initial stands for Mother of God.
▪️(2) Greek initial for St. Michael, the archangel.
▪️(3) Greek initial for St. Gabriel, the archangel.
▪️(4) Mary’s mouth is small for silent recollection. She speaks little.
▪️(5) Mary’s eyes are larger, for in all our troubles, they are turned towards us always.
▪️(6) Star on our Lady’s veil means she is the star of the sea who brought the light Jesus into this world.
▪️(7) Red tunic is the color worn by virgins at the time of Christ (AD33).
▪️(8) Christ’s hands turned palms down into His mother’s indicate that the grace of redemption is in her keeping.
▪️(9) Mary’s left hand supports Christ possessively. That means she is His Mother. It’s a comforting hand for everyone who calls on her.
▪️(10) Dark blue mantle – the color worn by mothers in Palestine. means Mary is both virgin and mother of Christ.
▪️(11) The entire background is gold representing the Heaven
▪️(12) Golden crown placed on the original picture as a token of many miracles wrought by Our Lady invoked under the title of perpetual help.
▪️(13) Greek initials for Jesus Christ.
▪️(14) Foot with falling sandal represents Christ’s divine nature, barely clinging to earth. The human nature is symbolized in the other foot to which the sandal is more firmly bound. This simply means that Christ has two natures, Human and Divine.

O God beyond all praising 

Elbow high corn/Dad back at his desk/Beautiful rain/"I will do it. Be made clean." Jesus

 A request from our daughter in Montana of how tall the corn is today got hubby getting his shoes muddy after a beautiful half inch of rain overnight.  I never would use elbow high to describe the height of the corn, but as he walked through the rows - that was where the corn brushed his huge farmer arms.

 He stands 6 feet tall so that is probably at my shoulders as I am 5 inches shorter than that.  The corn is refreshed and will grow like crazy now with the heat and humidity!  Corn growing weather as the farmers hope and pray for!

 Farmer Pat out standing in his field and that is true in all ways!

 Lots of grass for the cows and calves - chest high grass on the cows and nose high on the calves!

 Nothing more peaceful than this sight to us.  A lot of our summers going to check on the cows and calves on pasture in the evenings was our family vacation.  We would pile the kids in the back of the pickup and just go out there and watch the cows and calves eating grass, nursing and drinking out of the creek.  A scene and verse right out of the Psalms!

Last night dad and I read this verse in Evening prayer and both were rejoicing at how that is lived out by us here on the farm!
"Let our barns be filled to overflowing *
with crops of every kind;
our sheep increasing by thousands, †
myriads of sheep in our fields, *
our cattle heavy with young,"
Psalm 144

 Back out on the porch for our rosary and chaplet at 3p!  Truly this is our happy place together as we watch the clouds overhead and the corn fields all around us grow with each new day. 

 Dad leading our prayer - we have it all down to a shared prayer where he leads and I follow and then on to the chaplet where we pray for our dead and for those that need special prayers for healing!

Today in the Gospel from Matthew 8 - Jesus heals the leper...
When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I will do it.  Be made clean.”
His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one,
but go show yourself to the priest,
and offer the gift that Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”

So true that Our Lord does not allow social distancing to keep him away from us!  Leprosy was not to be touched, yet he did touch him and heal him.  Jesus, loves us so much and approaches us if only we ask him with no reservations or hesitation.  "I will do it.  Be made clean."  He awaits us in the confessional!

 A sign of dad doing OK for  now - back at his desk handling his finances.

 Farmer Pat doing his morning routine before we got the corn field pictures for Ruth.

 Ruth's chickens this morning - looks like lots of eggs for their family in a few weeks!

David's ducks make such a happy sound in the fresh cool water that Pat filled the pool with for them.

Jesus, thank you for the rain for the crops and our life on the farm feeding the world.  Thank you for your undying love for us and how you reach out to us in our sinfulness and weakness and need.  May we find ourselves washed clean as we hear you speaking to us through the priest.  "I forgive you of your sins.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of The Holy Spirit."  Thank you, Jesus!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

 Fox tails on the way to the chickens each day - I call it kitty grass and find it quite special.

 Kind of beautiful to this city girl now a farm wife for 42 years!  Each day of our marriage is described as "never a dull moment!"  Bless-bless, Barbara

ANXIOUS? PLACE YOUR CARES IN THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

She fills me with peace as the beads are always with me and flood me with her help and concern for all my needs on this crazy journey I am on!

My rosary each day is for my children and their children!  Always on my heart and so blessed to learn at their feet!  thank you, Jesus!
https://catholicsprouts.com/virtue-of-the-rosary/?fbclid=IwAR2kW9YsO-j6Bibh4XWq-OCEkgSpzyt8ULjYrO-Sx8nzvweT4uoO6kroTag
Nancy's virtues of the Rosary!

Tauren Wells - God's not done

Tauren Wells - Known

Prayers for Safe travels with my father- R&P heading across Montana/built on rock not on sand

Each day my father prays for those that are traveling, and since he is aware of our farm family's adventures - he is lifting them up at prayers we share.  His first decade of the rosary is for safety in travel and we are grateful that the recent "serious accident" of my sister-in-law was leaving her with a long recovery, but there is a good prognosis at the end.  So many prayers!

A year ago we finally got the 3 boys together!  Now a year later it looks like we can have them walking/running in 3 different directions at the end of August!

 Roses in the middle of the night by The Immaculate Conception statue of Mary in St Mary's chapel at the Catholic School where there is perpetual adoration going on since the beginning of the month of June.

I love to see her honored and adored as I love her and look to her on my journey down the narrow path, which has been a bit shaky and rocky this last week with my father.  He took a fall on Monday, and is getting weaker and more of a worry for me.  Thankfully he did not seem to get hurt in his fall backwards - the guardian angel kept his head from hitting a sharp corner - just the bare wall.  But no more falls allowed as we won't be so lucky next time.

 She has given me so much comfort through my 42 years of marriage sitting at her feet as they crush the serpent!  St Therese and I give her roses of Thanksgiving as she brings us small and weak and lowly to her Son, Jesus Christ!

 Genesis 3:15 says, “I will put enmities between thee [the serpent] and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.”

It is a frightening sight to me, who hates snakes!  But it is a hopeful sight as we are in a horrible battle for our lives against the forces of evil.

 Mulberries galore while I was mowing yesterday!  Sweet and sticky on me and my lawnmower and plenty into the mouth!

 Mulberries for me and the birds!

Dad ate one to humor me... just growing on the tree a minute before.  Full of God's goodness!

 Oh my Jesus!

Today the Gospel was shared by father and I... the building of our house upon the rock rather than upon sand.  My father did build a house upon sand over 22 years ago on the shores of Lake Michigan.  He was mentioning at breakfast that he did have a home inspector mention that to him in the course of living there.  Our faith must be built upon the Rock!

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

When Jesus finished these words,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.  Matthew 7 - the Gospel from mass today read all around the world in every Catholic Church - so powerful!

 Jesus in monstrance and tabernacle loving us and hearing our pleas from our hearts and souls.

 Beets and lettuce from Ruth's wonderful garden.  A year ago I would take mom and dad beets and beet greens and tomatoes from Ruth's garden... how both my parents loved them!  Dad asked mom today to help him with all that he faces with his weakening condition and all.  "Nancy help to love me with the prefect love you now have with Jesus and Mary in heaven."

 Beets and Beet greens and a BLT last year when I was often spending time with both of my wonderful parents!  How I miss my mother, and my father's better appetite!

 Doing the dishes after supper was his job a year ago!

 A wonderful 4th of July meal with my brother a year ago!  Dad just talked to Dan this morning on facetime and asked him to help him out more.  Dad is realizing that he is stepping back and not up to doing all he has been doing.

 Learning about hospice a year ago... not yet, but here we are about 7 months later on hospice and mom gone now for 3 months!

 Dad bounced back quite well, but he knew that he needed more help for the two of them so after a family rotation of 8 weeks keeping them in their home, we moved them into an Assisted Living in New Hope for 5 months and then all heck broke loose!

 Mom died quickly in a day - fell at 7a and dead by 5p, and dad ended up with kidney failure and refused dialysis, and is now living with me on the farm for 10 weeks on hospice.

 A year ago today!  The three boys in 6 weeks!  Jude is the youngest of the 3 and now has a baby sister, Birdie Barbara!

 Grandpa and JoJo with her brother, George, cousins, Hector and Jude!

 Oh my!!!  Evie showing grandpa her bug bite.

Jesus, life is an ongoing journey down the narrow path as we carry/drag our Most Cherished Cross and follow you.  We are nothing without you and when we are weak is when we turn to you.  May we die to self so that you may live in us!  Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of our earth inside and outside.  Built on the Rock to weather the storms of LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

 My champion for LIFE and family!  "Open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS!"  Bless-bless, Barbara
https://familysoulstory.blogspot.com/p/my-most-cherished-cross-patrick-gerard.html

A poor one from a year ago - humble pie

 How I loved my beets and beet greens for supper last night and fresh garden lettuce for my salad at lunch.  I am just sad that dad cannot join me now.

The blood of the Lamb - our Community of the Lamb on my heart and soul and mind!  "Wounded, I will never cease to love."  Help me, Lord, to be more loving and patient with those the closest to me in my Domestic Church/family.

Holy of holies - Kutless

Danielle Rose - True love - the Cross

Tauren wells - Hills and Valleys

His journey to healing and beyond!

Nancy's book of virtues!!!

catholic sprouts