Family Soul Story - Choose Life!

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!

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Making soup like 90 years ago/Bean harvest begins/The parsonage across from the Church/The poor on our doorstep

Have I mentioned too many times how glorious it is to step out the front door of "the parsonage" and see our beloved Church right there? It is such a JOY to see it there in the bright sunlight today after sharing mass as a family of 11 and then caramel rolls in the church basement.

It is so fun to have 2 of the grandkids stay behind to help clear tables and they can just walk across the street to go home with the family. Yesterday, Rose went to server practice and Ruth was working on the house and so she could just walk across the street when she was done.

I have been informed that next weekend it will be Rose serving with big sister, Mary and brother, David. And Simon will be cantoring. "Lanoue family serving at mass!"

Getting a tour of the changes at the house slowly happening. Tomorrow some "construction guys" are set to come and help. Pat and Tom found the only place to sit...

Tom bathed in the light of the window - loves the pretty doorknobs. He and grandpa are dressed alike again today.

Paul put up some sheetrock in this bedroom after the electrician put in some outlets.

Recessed lighting in the dining room is done and now putting up the ceiling will complete the job before painting the walls and new windows.

Roughing up the walls so that tile can be laid there and then the sink and cupboards can come back, and the kitchen start to take shape.

Sweet Joy Jean had to come and show grandma that she wore her Little Sister blue dress for mass. "Grandma likes me to wear this dress because it reminds her of The Little Sisters." Yes, Joy!

The Gospel today really touched our heartstings when Fr Shawn reminded us that we need to be aware of and help out the poor on our doorsteps. Yes, the Gospel was Lazarus, the beggar covered with sores laying at the doorstep of the rich man, who totally ignored him and had more than enough of everything. Father reminded us to be aware of these in need of us to give from our gifts and all we have.

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man's table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham... Luke 16

Thirsty and beautiful mums.

Pat and I discussed how this poverty - being poor can be actual needs for food and shelter, and can be not knowing Jesus and The Truth but blindly going down the wide path to destruction as the rich man did in the Gospel. Yes, he too is poor in his Faith and living the Gospel! Lord, help us to be aware of those we are called to give of our plenty!

Tom playing with the canning rings on our huge canning day yesterday! 12 hours from picking our 6 1/2 pails of tomatoes, cleaning them and juicing them, cooking 3 canners of vegetables - carrots, celery and onions, and blending them and putting them through the colendar. We have learned that we need to follow precisely the 90 year old recipe we have.

Pat's mother overheard it on the party line when she was a young woman. Lately we have been having some go bad on us, and we realized that we have been cutting a few corners, so we went totally by the book yesterday! Pat was there to keep up honest and get the soup to a rolling boil and fill to the top of the jars and lid them right away! "I remember mom being very precise about these steps of canning the soup." Yes, honey and thank you for all your help yesterday even when they started combining beans across the road!

We have 6 canners and we still ran out of room! I had to go and buy 2 brand new pails at Runnings for juice in order to get the vegetables mixed together with the juice! They will be washed and kept with our canning supplies from now on.

Ruth is saying that she only wants to plant 10 tomato plants next year so that our canning days are less crazy! Time will tell.

Bean harvest has begun. Prayers for the farmers to stay safe and be nice to each other.

Pat learning that a watched pot never boils especially when there are 15+ quarts of soup in it. He was the keeper of the recipe to the dot!

The first 72 quarts and then we had 50 more! A total of 122 in one day! A new record and hopefully our last record as Ruth is wanting to back off a bit and have more reasonable canning days!

Grandpa and Tom having tomato soup and grilled cheese for supper on our canning day. The kids said it was good!

Tom's first soup, and he liked it!

Tomato soup face and smile in the arms of his big wonderful hard working grandpa Pat. I was really tired, and Pat said that for him it was an easy day. I guess that says something about the physical workout he gets every day on the farm.

Another 50 jars - that will do for this year! The Little Sisters love our soup, and hopefully Nancy and I have fake plans to go there for MEA! How we love our fake plans!

So special to see this memory of sweet Romeo's Baptism day 8 years ago! How I love to see 2 year old Patrick in his white shirt on his brother's Baptism day! I was the one that Baptized Patrick after his traumatic birth in the midst of NICU in El Paso, TX! He was not dressed in white, but in his birthday suit as he was one of the sickest babies in NICU. He got better daily and is a happy healthy boy to this day!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The story of little Lamb - grandson Patrick

Happy 8th Anniversary of your Baptism into The Catholic Church Romeo Joseph! Another day of new birth!

I borrowed these great pictures of Adoration for the youth this week! I was deeply moved at mass to have Ruth's family behind me singing with great conviction and joy at mass! It so reminded me of our girls - their mother and siblings singing like Protestants. Yes, I was raised Presbyterian and we sang out loudly - and it has now carried forth into the 3rd generation! LOVE!

Jesus!!!!

So intimate and special as Jesus deserves all our praise and glory! Hallelujah!

"My Lord and My God!"

Oh wow!!!

Farm kittens are found! Simon showing me the one he has chosen as his special pet.

Luke likes the black one!

My wedding present from Pat's siblings 44 years ago. The handwriting was on the wall! It has canned thousands of quarts over our 44 years! Just this year alone we have done about 300 quarts and more to do with apple pie filling and more tomatoes to can!

Ruth's command center looking out on the farmyard while we toil in her canning kitchen with my wonderful wedding gift! I doubt there has been many others that can say they have used a gift this much!

Yes one of the lid handles is gone, and I do not pressure can with it anymore. Just hot water bath of 7 jars at a time over and over! The icon is from Hallel's Community of the Lamb - "Wounded, I will never cease to love." So true of married life, right?

Full of an entire 5 gallon pail of tomatoes and probably over a dozen quarts of juice.

Thanks, Melvin, Grace, Joyce, Ed, Margie, Paul, Don, Mary and Ida. And thanks from the bottom of my heart to Pat's mother, who taught me all I know, and got us our wonderful 90+ year old recipe for soup on the party line. A lady known as being a good cook! We agree!!

Ruth's farm sink full over and over.

David and Luke helping run the colendar and making juice. We have learned to put them in the blender first to get every last bit of goodness. Pat was sharing how hard it was to put the carrots, celery and onions through without the blender help. So much easier now and much less thrown away!

Grandpa and David team...

5 year old Joy takes her turn, too!

It certainly is a family project and we enjoy our time visiting and working to make food for our 6 families including our Little Sisters in KCK! It makes me so happy deep down to think that our nun daughter can taste some of our homemade food made with love!

Pope Benedict XVI on Marriage today .

So sweet from Brother Victor today - Fall is busy on the farm, and also beautiful all around us. Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barbara and the 54 - 34 with us and 20 in heaven.

Danielle Rose

Friday, September 23, 2022

"It is under the cross that one learns to love." St Pio/Praying in the dark - vigil light reveals Jesus

Time on the porch with Tom and my dad's Army WW2 hat which is now on a shelf collecting dust. your great-grandpa served our country at a difficult time.

Your future lies ahead of you Thomas Robert as you carry forth your great-grandfather's name. It would probably be right for you to inherit his hat someday.

He liked grandma's pink socks and the feet that wore them. Lots of time with this sweet boy in my future. I am lucky!

6a found me alone in the dark church to pray my hour for Fr Denny with 7 Sisters. Pat was at This Man is You, so I tag along to do my prayer before mass.

I was able to pray the Office of Readings and Morning prayer on my phone in the dark.

iBreviary

A great appropriate reading about priests as that is what St Pio was a priest!

SECOND READING

From the Decree on the Life and Ministry of Priests of the Second Vatican Council
(Presbyterorum Ordinis 3, 12)

The vocation of priests to the life of perfection

Priests are made in the likeness of Christ the Priest by the Sacrament of Orders, so that they may, in collaboration with their bishops, work for the building up and care of the Church which is the whole Body of Christ, acting as ministers of him who is the Head. Like all other Christians they have received in the sacrament of Baptism the symbol and gift of such a calling and such grace that even in human weakness they can and must seek for perfection, according to the exhortation of Christ: Be you therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Priests are bound, however, to acquire that perfection in special fashion. They have been consecrated by God in a new manner at their ordination and made living instruments of Christ the Eternal Priest that they may be able to carry on in time his marvelous work whereby the entire family of man is again made whole by power from above. Since, therefore, every priest in his own fashion acts in place of Christ himself, he is enriched by a special grace, so that, as he serves the flock committed to him and the entire People of God, he may the better grow in the grace of him whose tasks he performs, because to the weakness of our flesh there is brought the holiness of him who for us was made a High Priest holy, guiltless, undefiled not reckoned among us sinners.

Christ, whom the Father sanctified, consecrated and sent into the world, gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse for himself an acceptable people, pursuing good works, and thus through suffering entered into his glory. In like fashion, priests consecrated by the anointing of the Holy Spirit and sent by Christ must mortify the works of the flesh in themselves and give themselves entirely to the service of men. It is in this way that they can go forward in that holiness with which Christ endows them to perfect man.

Hence, those who exercise the ministry of the spirit and of justice will be confirmed in the life of the spirit, so long as they are open to the Spirit of Christ, who gives them life and direction. By the sacred actions which are theirs daily as well as by their entire ministry which they share with the bishop and their fellow priests, they are directed to perfection in their lives. Holiness does much for priests in carrying on a fruitful ministry. Although divine grace could use unworthy ministers to effect the work of salvation, yet for the most part God chooses, to show forth his wonders, those who are more open to the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, and who can by reason of their close union with Christ and their holiness of life say with Saint Paul: And yet I am alive; or rather, not I; it is Christ that lives in me.

The tabernacle glowing in the dark faintly - the red glowing vigil light shows us the Truth that Jesus is there in the tabernacle and we are very close to Him! How Jesus loves for us to come and worship and adore Him!

R. (1) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
my mercy and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I trust. Psalm 144 from mass today says it all so powerfully!

Fr Denny at the foot of the Cross lifting up Jesus - Body and Blood at the Memorial Mass for St Pio this morning. "Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor are yours, for ever and ever.'

A quote from St Pio today is really touching my heart knowing the suffering that he endured with the stigmata for 50 years! "It is under the cross that one learns to love." We join Our Lady there as she suffered with her Son of God as he died for our sins. St Pio also had a very deep love for Mary and her rosary prayer! Jesus gives us Mary as our Mother at the foot of the Cross and we bring her into our home to bring the fruits of the Spirit - Peace, JOY, LOVE, gentleness, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control!

I feel the peace flow in and around me as I take up my beads of rosary prayer each day!

Grandma always puts the table scraps out for my kitties and the kids like to watch them become the kitties' food.

A sad day for 3 year old Hector and their family as their beloved dog, Princess, was hit by a car and is gone. Even Maria, who seemed not care much for her is shedding tears since.

5 year old Evangaline feeling sad. A dog truly becomes a member of the family after years of caring for her and taking her for walks on their military base a few times a day. Princess you were a sweetheart and you are definitely missed by your family.

John home from seminary 10 years ago - tilling the field for his dad. He did not continue to become a priest and is now married with children! His wife, Bobbi, prayed for John through brain cancer, seminary, and girl friends as she was told when they were both seniors that she would marry John Verly.

Here is her amazing story! She shared this with all those gathered at their wedding reception and all were amazed!

After being classmates for all 13 years for them to come together 10 years after graduating is kind of special. She shared to the 300 family and friends gathered at the reception in her sweet humble way about how John Verly popped into her head and heart when they were seniors in HS as her future husband. Time and time again the same answer came to her through prayer and roses from St Therese and opening her eyes to see him right in front of her at WYD in Australia... When we consider what John experienced over those 10 years... brain cancer, seminary, girl friends, ups and downs and how disheartening it probably was and how powerful her prayers were for him!!!! Amazing!!! And how patient and trusting and prayerful and waiting and praying for John, this sweet girl was!

A St Pio pearl of great price!

Tom sure loves his wonderful grandpa! My champion of LIFE and of family!

Tom cried when grandpa left. Pat shared that last evening he was going to scrape the yards with his beloved pay loader. "I took Tom and Joy and Tom just squealed with delight! When I honked the horn to get the cows to move., he thought that was super exciting, too!" No wonder he makes the "brumm-brumm" sound when he is in grandpa's arms! Lucky farm kid for sure! Lord, keep him safe!

8 years ago - sweet baby 8 days old Romeo gazing with LOVE at his pretty pretty mommy! Just 2 years before I had been with Maria for the traumatic birth of Patrick, who was born dead and brought back to life while his dad was deployed to Afghanistan.

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The story of little Lamb - grandson Patrick

It looks like the first day of fall in Manistique, MI where we had our family cabin for about 15+ years! I sure do miss the Big Lake!

How he joined the Lord's suffering in such a personal way and for 50 years! Father Denny told us that he was a healer, could read people's hearts in the confessional, and could bi locate.

Novena of St Therese as we approach her Feast day in the beginning of October! The Saints are certainly so wonderful to me as they help me on the narrow path!

A great sharing on Matrimony today from Pope Benedict XVI! Self-giving love one to the other!

The Bell ringing has returned to our mass here in Marshall! LOVE!

Dad's man, Brother Victor, today is sweet and beautiful! "He is here! Get ready for him."

Now my 23 grandkids and kids in law, too! Jesus, we trust in you. Bless-bless, Barbara and the 54- 34 here and 20 in heaven. Tom is wanting to get up from his nap, so this is ending for today!

Missing dad - 2 years ago when Hallel came for a visit to the farm - she had not seen my dad since she left for France 12 years before! What JOY to share in the religious LIFE of my dad - a permanent Deacon for 44 years and daughter, a fully professed nun! LOVE!

Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: The amazing story of the 13 becoming Catholic!

Casting Crowns

"Prayer is the oxygen of the soul." - St Padre Pio

"Kneel down and render the tribute
of your presence and devotion to Jesus

in the Blessed Sacrament.

Confide all your needs to Him,

along with those of others.

Speak to Him with filial abandonment,

give free rein to your heart,

and give Him complete freedom

to work in you as He thinks best."

St Padre Pio of Pietrelcino

Priest, Stigmatist, Mystic

Italy ~ 1887-1968

Patron of Eucharistic Adorers

Feast Day - Sept 23

"When I am close to Jesus

in the Blessed Sacrament,

I feel as if my heart

is bursting out of my chest."

St Padre Pio

___________________________

O Blessed Rosary of Mary,

sweet Chain which binds us to God,

Bond of love which unites us to the Angels,

Tower of salvation against the assualts of hell,

safe Haven in the universal shipwreck,

we shall never abandon you.

Petition to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii,

often recited by Padre Pio

__________________________________________________

Click here: St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina - YouTube (2:30 mins)

Click here: St. Padre Pio - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: 12 Quotes from the Great Saint of Pietrelcina | TOM PERNA

St Padre Pio, pray for us!

This was taken on Easter Sunday in Colman, South Dakota about 12 years ago!

My dad had done the unthinkable - said yes to being a Deacon in Colman, South Dakota just 60 minutes from our door to their door of the rectory... they had promised to help out as parish administrator of a small town chuch and to help out in the other cluster churches. It was my parents first contact with living the farm life other than second hand through a visit here and there to our farm. Now they were immersed in farm life and loved it! I loved the fact that for 3 years I could jump in the car and go and hang out with them for an afternoon here and there! It was amazing! Soon their 3 years were at an end and we all gathered for a huge family celebration of Easter... we filled the social hall with our huge family... I am the oldest of 11 with over 30 grandkids! The wind of the Holy Spirit was howling as our family gathered in front of the church doors for a family photo... it made us smile to have the wind roaring at us with the fury that only the prairie can muster!

How I love the pictures of the kids in Big Shoes! Adorable!

What is it about the kids walking around the house in mom or dad's shoes? I think that it is a form of flattery... they like to see mom of dad in those shoes so it makes them feel like they are looking like their beloved parent of just acting big like them! I remember my 3rd daughter, Maria, was so in love with her daddy... she would crawl around the bedroom and drape his socks around her neck that she had picked up off the floor just as a token of her love for him. I have a group of pictures in the bathroom that are just of that theme... Wearing mom and dad's shoes. I think that it is about as cute as can be... and also a wonderful tribiute to a child's love and appreciation for their parnets. I have now seen my 3 grandchildren that live closeby and spent much time with us also put on mostly grandpa's shoes which are usually over by the door and walk around in them... I think that a lot of that reflects that love and appreciaion that they have for him and his loving sharing ways with them. Now a generation later I have watched now grandpa LOVE each one of those kids so specially by showering them with the time by taking them along outside or allowing them to sit in his lap and share his meal when he comes in late for a meal... The same scene that I saw with our 5 kids and the resulting love and appreciation and respect! Who knew wearing his shoes was a sign of love and devotion?!?

The absolutely amazing letter that Susan/Little Sister Hallel sent to Nancy about marriage...

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

Our daughters, Nancy and Little Sister Hallel/Susan, with John in Lourdes, France.

Little Sister Hallel had just taken the habit of the community of the Lamb and changed her name a few days before this taken in August of 2009... John, Nancy and I had gone to help her celebrate this huge step in her life! John had just been diagnosed with brain cancer and had just completed his second chemo and was better, so within 24 hours we decided that we would fly to France! We visited Lourdes and all bathed in the healing waters which miraculously flow from the spring where St Bernedett was told to dig in the mud! John said that the day was "very good" , and for him that is saying a lot! This past winter Pat and I were in a study group of a book written by Matthew Kelly called Rediscovering Catholicism... this paragraph on p48 is amazing and so wonderfully defends the choice of religious life but also the joys and beauty of this life! I quote: "In every age, there is a small number of men and women who are prepared to turn their backs on popular culture and personal gain to embrace heroically the life Jesus outlines in the Gospels. These people fashion Catholicism into a lifestyle, they listen attentively to the voice of God in their lives, and they passionately pursue their personal adventure of salvation. As a result, they capture the attention and fascinate the imaginations of everyone who crosses their path. Paradoxically, the modern world pities these people because it believes they are missing out on something. Never feel sorry for them. These men and women are the happiest people who ever lived. They are the saints. If the Church is to thrive in this modern era, it depends on men and women like these."

Sitting on the front porch of our home in Minneapolis - me and my friend Marge a few years after..

This was taken a few years after we met while attending welcome week at the U of M in 1970! I did not know at the time that Margie would be responsible for the rest of my life - my meeting and a year later marrying her brother, Pat... I have written many cards to her over the years telling her in every way possible that because of her I have my life. We will celebrate our 32 anniversary this summer, so she has been in my life more than not! Thank you Margie Rose/Raterra Rashana for being such a loyal and true friend... there is no doubt that you were put in my life by our loving forgiving Lord ! Your life growing up on the farm in Southwest Mn is now my life and our children's lives are blessed as a result! How I rejoice at the Lord's fingerprint on my life! Jesus I trust in You! Please bless my dear friend now and forever. Amen and Halleluia!

My sister Mary at the baptism of my daughter, Nancy Anna.. She is Godmother and my dad is baptizing

In 1982 my sister, Mary, came to help me while I was on bedrest with my second daughter... I had high blood pressure and was on bedrest, so Mary came to help me around the house with my 2 year old Ruth and help Pat milk the cows. She was a city girl like me, but fell in love with the farm and we loved having her with us! After Nancy was born on April 2 we asked Mary to be her Godmother. We realized after I was on my feet that she needed to move on, so tearfully she went up to live with my folks in TF. She eventually became a doctor's office nurse and on a blind date met her farmer, Gerry.... he was a dairy farmer in Wisconsin. They married and had a daughrer, Audrey.... When Audrey was 20 mo Mary died of Lymphoma... Gerry is now married to Cathy, who had 5 kids and her husband drowned in the river up there...

Snapping beans with the 5 klids as we are in Taylors Falls visiting my parents in the summer of 92

I was in the thick of bean harvest in my garden when I took my kids to spend some days in the summer with my parents... probably late July of 92... WE picked them and brought them along to snap at my parent's house. We have such wonderful memories of our days spent in Taylors Falls at their remodeled cape cod house up on Angel Hill. Now after 14 years of liiving on Lake Michigan in Manistique in the upper penninsula... my parents have bought a home on the St Croix River in St Croix Falls, Wi which is right across the river from Taylors... I am thrilled that now my parents will be close enough for me to go and see them for the day or for a few days much more often! I loved to go to the big lake, but so missed my parents being closer so that I could spend time with them! Thnak you Lord for this move and may they continue to be a wonderful presence in my life for years to come!

Pat's mom took this picture after milking the cows one morning shortly after we were married.

Typical old camera quality - this was after we were done milking the cows with the baby calves... with dairy calves...they are taken off of their mothers at birth so that you and I can drink the milk...they start out on a big bottle and then graduate to pails of milk. That was one of my jobs out there as well as giving each cow some protein to eat while Pat was moving down the line milking them. I also would help undo the headgate when he was done so that they could go out of the barn. Pat of the time I would sit on an upside down pail and watch him milk the cows and sometimes we would visit. I married a farmer and I found these times special to the point that when Ruth was born - I would bring her over and put her strapped in her infant seat close to the heater in the milk house... she was born Jan 4, 1980... Soon my in laws told me to bring her in the house and put her in the bed with them while I helped Pat... Ruthie got to know her grandparents really well and has early memories of waking up and seeing a certain light fixture over their bed and the warm feelings that go with snuggling with her loving grandparents morning after morning! They even took a movie of her first steps dressed in different outfits day after day that we have never seen! Got to do that someday! The early years were special for many!

Pat comes to visit me in the Cities as things slow down a bit on the farm - cross country skiing...

This picture was taken by my younger sister, Mary... she is now gone for 24 years due to cancer at the age of 28! Pat had come to visit me and we decided for him to wear one of my brother's boots and try cross country skiing for the first time! The boots were too small, but when Pat Verly is motivated to do something... nothing will prevent him! Boy, have I learned that to be a huge part of him after almost 32 years of marriage! He also likes to be rough and tumble and caused this fall to get some bodily contact and to tussle with me! Thank goodness for soft snow to fall in! The dating years were long distance and due to the demands of the farm - we dated maybe once every few weeks when he could certainly not every night or even once a week... at the busy times of the year it was even less, but Pat was very good about calling me on the phone and having long conversations about our lives... he gave me many lessons on the farm life in the middle of the nigh... when he would wake me up after he got in from work! I knew that when that phone would ring that it was my farmer! The thing about farming... similar to the Catholic Church... you never learn it all...there is always more to learn and my Patrick is very intelligent and very interested in it all!

I like to call this picture taken at our first Christmas....married 4 months....THE LOOK OF LOVE!

Her name Hallel means Joy- Halleluia.... she reflects that inner joy when she is singing...

Little Sister Hallel has shared that when others say her name they are praising God with the highest of praise and Joy! There are many Hallel psalms including the last 5 psalms - 145 thru 150 and the grand Hallels are in the center of the psalms. the word means tall in French also and Hallel being much taller than most...this is humorous to the community! As a mother I am happy for her choice to be with the community of the lamb to see her happiness and joy... her face lights up in a way that cannot be anything but genuine happiness!

Finally I leave the nest!

I loved being with my family so much that finally after I had become an nurse - 4 years of college and lived at home... got a job at Hennipen County Medical center on the Neurolgoy station... and just went along day to day at home with my family including 10 yonger siblings... One day my mom asked me if I had ever thought of getting my own place... Oh, I tought... that is maybe something I should think about. I then rented a third floor of a house just a block from my parents' home. It was great! Close to my beloved family...yet my own place!

John with Bertha at the State Fair a few years back

Bertha took reserve champion with her calf in the cow-calf division a couple times for John at the State Fair... You can always count on Bertha! 4 H was a wonderful thing for our kids... It was the one time that they learned about livestock on a day to day basis with their dad. They also learned a lot of life skills including how to present themselves in front of people... this has developed into John's future wishes for a life profession... Ag and presenting himself to large groups of people however that all comes together... Lord hear our prayer for a long and bright future for John with you always number one in his life!

Two 5 month losses - both boys born after John - buried at the cemetary

William and John would have been very close in age - about 14 months... I went in for my 5 month check up and the heartbeat couldn't be found... an ultrasound revealed that he had died... I had some scary miscahrriages, so the thought of carrying him til I "lost" him was terrifying to me. I went through a 5 month abortion procedure to deliver my son. I had a postagladin suppository inserted and went through a horrible experience with pain and chills to deliver our tiny son,William. I held him wrapped in a blanket, and Pat and I shed tears at what could have been. It was winter and the ground was frozen...we took him home in a small box and put it in the freezer.. So hard to open it and face him and have the memories and tears come flooding me again. About two years later the same thing unexplainably happened... We lost Robert the same time and way... "It looks like his cord is fatally kinked." It was earth shattering to face another loss of a son and brother for John here on this earth... WE know that we have these children to be united with someday! These and the other 4 lost along the jounrney of our "nest". I feel that they were both the best and the worst years of my life! How I prayed that the Lord would give me one more child after John so that the world would see visible truth that "no, we were't just trying for our boy and that is why we ended up with 5 children! We were open to family!" Yet I am flooded with peace and even joy to know that all our children are with us whether here on earth and in heaven! I have named each of my children in heaven... Christopher lost between Ruth and Nancy, Thomas lost when my sister Mary died of Lymphoma in 1986, Joseph lost before John, William and Robert lost at 5 mo after John, and Mary lost at 3 1/2 mo in 1994. The prayer for them of their mother is a powerful experience for me as I remember them daily and many times feel that they are up there keeping me on the straight and narrow as much as possible. All I know is that I must need a lot of help to have that small spiritual army in heaven....

John and his 4 sisters.... When asked the family he wants someday... "I want 4 girls and a boy!'

Our 9 precious grandchildren, with another one on the way

I got a call today from daughter number 3 that I needed to update my grandchildren picture - the number had doubled since... So here are the 9 together with Hallel when she visited in April. Ruth has 4 with another on the way - Simon age 8, Mary age 7, David soon to be 5, and Rose 13 months. Nancy has Augustine 2, and Bernadette 7 months. Maria has 3 children... Therese 5, David 3, and Patrick 8 months! So this is almost a complete picture except for Maria's two losses due to miscarriage, who are in heaven. We love all life we have been blessed with here and in heaven, and pray for each daily. Guardian Angels watch out for them. Jesus, we Trust in YOU.

An interesting fact about the cows and calves in the pastures... Cow trails...

These two pairs are demostrating how they all walk in the same path or trail...If you look on the other side of the hill above them you can see a cow trail that they use on that side of the pasture. When you go out and walk in the pasture... you will see these paths that are very much used to the point that they are deep and there is no grass growing in them just like a well used people trail gets to be. On a very steep hill there can be teraces of many cow trails along the side where they will go single file like these two moms with their calves following along behind... I did see some of the calves get tired of the slow pace and run ahead, but it is obvious, when you see the trails,that the cows use them for the most part to get from one place in the pasture to another. How my husband loves to see them out there in the lush grass getting fat off of the grass that grows where no crops can due to the up and down land or the creeks that run through them and are also important for the cows and calves to get the water they need just like every living creature! My husband's idea of a romantic evening is to go out on the 4 wheeler or the pickup to look at the cows and calves in the 6 different pastures that we have! The kids have fond memories of going out to look at the cows in the back of the pickup - great vacation/family time!

It doesn't get much cuter than this - Ruth Ida Rose with a forever remembered baby kitty...

The Net team stops by as they come to the end of their year of serving Catholic Youth!

Our nephew, Sam Cross, has taken a year out of his life to work on the National Evagelical Team - they are Catholic Youth in their late teens and early 20s that travel the country in a van giving retreats to youth everywhere! Their homebase in St Paul, but they have traveled from coast to coast this last year and they themselves are from many places in the country and even a girl from Netherlands! In the picture Sam is standing all the way to the left by John. He lived with us a summer and learned about the farm and was in 4 H and FFA here. He showed cattle and pigs at the county fair and then went up to the State Fair with his projects and then worked in the Miracle of Birth barn for a couple of summers. Sam is a special nephew! He also has done many TEC retreats after he said yes to our request that he make a retreat and absolutely fell in love with TEC! Now he has taken it a step further in serving on this traveling retreat team with his guitar and wonderful joyful spirit... touching many youth along with the 10 youth that are on the team with him. Just before this picture was taken... Sam had given them rides back and forth on the loader to "see" the cows and farm scenes... Sitting to the far right of the tractor in the loader bucket is a girl from Minnesota named, Sarah. We struck up a conversation in the kitchen while I was cleaning up after the meal that we had shared... She started the conversation by asking me if I had always lived in Mn... I thought that I would wow her by starting off by saying; "No, actually I was born in Boston, Mass!" Her reply; "So was I!" That was a start of the most amazing give and take between us! We share so much in common and mostly I thought that she was probably me about 40 years ago when I was a new Catholic and so in love with EVERYTHING about the Catholic Church! She shared that her family of 4 girls and one boy and both of her parents converted from Episcopal to Catholic and why would you belong anywhere but the True Church!? ! Wow! I was blown away to meet someone on this long journey I have been on that is at the same place I was at that age! All of these youth are so amazing and I hope and pray and am really confident that they have touched deeply and positively many youth on their trek across the country! I asked the girl from Netherlands about the Catholic Church in her country... I have heard that it barely exists any more and she agreed that only the old attend church and otherwise those that are Catholic like her go with their families at EAster and Christmas... her friend told her that she would do the NET as she had done ahead of her and now a young person is returning to this country without God... filled with love and knowledge of her Church - Jesus and His Mother - It was a wonderful hour and a half and gave me so much hope for the Church and how the grassroots are strong and spreading our faith far and wide! Thank you Lord for all the work that is taking place in your church and please continue to use me and all those that are listening to and answering your call! Amen and Halleluia!

John the actor and his love of the stage and being in front of people - It was a fun ride!

This was John doing the "She thinks my tractor is attractive" skit for Arts In at the county fair in 4H a few years back... It is just so fun to see him in his element and it always amazed us to see how relaxed he was up there. Not like any of the rest of us! Now he hopes to take that love of the stage and put it along with his Ag background into some type of a job for his future... It will certainly be interesting to follow along and now with a year overcoming brain cancer and all that has meant for him... it has certainly taken him to a deeper and more compassionate place... We all await what the future will bring... Thank you John for all the FUN we have had following you as you share the joy with us on stage! It has been a fun ride! Jesus we know that you are in control of John's life and have a wonderful plan just for him! Jesus we trust in You!

Oh happy day! Another fun time with John...

First with a talent show at the Catholic School doing...Oh happy day from Sister Act and then again for 4 H share the fun... Finally with chior robes that we found at the Thrift store and with his sister, Maria, and cousins, Sam and Phil Cross... we enjoy the fun at Christmas camp. John even put it on for Easter when we went to visit Maria in the monastery. We shared a meal through the enclosure and John did the entertainment for all of us by putting on a chior robe and lip sincing.... Oh happy day for all of us... it was great entertainment that was good over and over!

He who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Jn 8:12

I came across this inside of a long letter that our daughter, Maria, had written daily to share her experience with us as she went from a Poor Clare Monastery in Sauk Rapids, Mn to one close to Washington DC... It was so hard to think that she could go so far away to a cloistered monastery... where we would have to go and see her there and never get a hug as she would be in the "enclosure". It was to the point of her entering and the mother superior asked her to write a letter saying that this was the right thing for her to do... she couldn't write it and was back home! We were shocked and amazed! After saying goodbye to her life... she returned and embraced it! I will never forget her out helping put the cows and calves out to pasture and saying how wonderful it was to be out there... Now that was a miracle! So often on this journey we have been weak, depressed, scared and lost... The image of Jesus picking up the weak lost lamb is so often coming to me... This is wonderful to be able to share here with all of you that are upholding us in prayer!

A miracle! We make it to France in the midst of John's brain cancer and after a brain biopsy!

One of my favorite pictures from France...Susan helping John walk through the rain down a path at Saint-Pierre. They have always had a close relationship... Susan was 3 1/2 years older than John... I lost two pregnancies between them and it was never kept from the kids... we all grieved together at the losses. Susan was thrilled with her little brother from day one. She was constantly caring for him and watching out for him. We have a family story that Susan saved John's life... I will save that for a later date to share. John discovered in France that he could walk at a normal speed leaving his walker behind and having someone under his weak side. I think that he enjoyed the closeness also. We were in France and it was totally due to prayer!

The way of the cross - Cancer strikes our 20 year old son!

John at Lourdes with his two sisters... LS Hallel in the habit she had just received as a new member of the community of the Lamb and Nancy. From the back as they support their brother it looks like he is on the cross. After the news about two months earlier that he had brain cancer and then the ataxia on his left side as a result of the biopsy they had to do to diagnose it... It certainly a cross like no other we could have ever imagined! Beyond our wildest nightmares! Just the day before we left for France he was able to get to the bathroom by himself for the first time! We could go to France to see his sister join the community, and go to Lourdes and bath in the miraculous and healing waters under the watchful care of our most Blessed Virgin Mother of God... Mary Most Holy! John truly turned from a heavy heart to one of hope at this point in the journey.

Little Sister Hallel here for Thanksgiving and spent a week with John.

A group shot over at Ruth and Paul's place... Little Sister Hallel - Susan here for a week. Took John back and forth to radiation, and we then had a family Thanksgiving up in the Cities with her other two sisters that live in ST Paul... Getting ready to head back to Kansas City. That is where she is living for the next year in the only community here in the US... Community of the Lamb... pictured are from left to right... Paul Lanoue, Ruth Lanoue, Little Sister Hallel, her dad Pat and John Verly. In front Mary with her kitty Purrrrrrs.