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!

Monday, August 28, 2023

Nancy and Bill celebrate 13 years with St Augustine, Doctor of Grace/7 Penitential Psalms? - Hallel Psalm/Praying with John - +JMJ+

13 years ago on this date - the wedding day of #2 daughter, Nancy, and Bill. On the Feast of St Augustine which is so powerful for them to share this date with. Their first born son the following May 25th is named Augustine William, so he is now 12 and is celebrating his Feast Day along with mom and dad's Anniversary!

I wrote this on my page devoted to the 3 girls - Family Soul Story - Choose Life!: Now the stories of John's 4 sisters...Ruth, Nancy, Maria, and Susan/Little Sister Hallel!

Nancy beautifully glowing on her wedding day - Feast of St Augustine August 28, 2010! How I wept as I walked down the aisle on the arm of my healed son, John! Engulfed by all that had happened in that year of Nancy and Bill dating, engaged and married on this day... John's cancer/healing journey, Hallel taking her habit and the following year her first vows - major steps in her path called Bride of Christ, and Nancy finding her Most Cherished Cross with great JOY! Maria had also welcomed her David just the December before, so new life had come in the midst of it all! Too much for one old woman to hold in all at once! Nancy's wedding - once again my dad was there to assist on the altar, and to preach on the Truth of our glorious Church and that Nancy and Bill were waiting for their wedding day! How much Joy and excitement it there when you know the couple is waiting for marriage? Complete total happiness knowing that they are pure and starting off listening and Trusting in the wisdom of The Church! All 3 girls were chaste until marriage!

Bill and Nancy in one of the engagement pictures I took for them by the grain bins. Bill's comment - "Who are those young kids?!?!"

All 4 of our married children by the grain bins - engagement pictures taken by mom with love! Bobbi made us a calendar last year with this on February - LOVE! Also Hallel with her spouses heart burning with LOVE for her!

Beautiful roses this last week speak of love and devotion to our Lord and Lady!

Beautiful! Specially there for Nancy and Bill!

Praying with John at midnight as our hours of Adoration overlap. John chose St Augustine for his Patron Saint on his Confirmation as he was struggling with finding faith. He knew that St Augustine also suffered and sinned while his faithful mother was praying for his conversion. Both St Monica's prayers were answered and mine!

Happy Feast day to John Patrick Augustine, too! St Augustine should be among those that helped you find our Faith in Jesus, Mary, the Saints and The Holy Catholic Church!

Praying for our needs together... we end with Hail Holy Queen -

Salve Regina - Hail Holy Queen - as sung by our Hallel each night before going to bed. The voice of angels!

We then repeat "Jesus, I trust in you." 3 times as in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

The complete chaplet of Divine Mercy

For the 6 months that my dad lived with me on hospice 3 years ago. We would go out on my porch each day at 3p and do the rosary and Chaplet together. So powerful and such a blessing! LOVE and miss you dad!

3 years ago hubby flew out to help Maria bring her family back for some time on the farm. His greatest desire is for our extended family to have time together - cousin time is so highly valued and he will go to great lengths to make it happen. When Nancy was looking for a husband - there was no secret that she was looking for her dad - a good communicator, and lover of family and LIFE! Billy is all that!

These two are now 6 and 4 and they have a baby sister, 2 year old Magdalene Rose! They now live in Fort Leavenworth, KS! In 3 weeks we have fake plans to go down and be with them and our nun, Hallel, who lives just 40 minutes away in the heart of the poor in Kansas City, KS.

I was reading something very powerful and interesting about St Augustine - when he was closet to death - he had the 7 Penitential Psalms in large print and placed on the walls of his cell. "He recited them for the 10 days leading up to his death on August 28,430."

I looked them up - Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. Nothing better than to join with this great sinner/Saint as we humble ourselves preparing to meet our Lord and Lady in heaven forever!

Psalm 51[a]

A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
    in burnt offerings offered whole;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar. Psalm 51

The Psalm from mass today is one of the Hallel Psalm - Psalm 149. What does Hallel mean here? It is the first part of the word "Hallelujah" which means giving God all the praise!

Responsorial Psalm Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b

R. (see 4a) The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia!
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Just back from time in my chapel on Wheels delivering MOW to a neighboring town. Enough time to pray for my 5 children and families on the 5 decades of the Joyful mysteries today!

Peace flows all around me for sure!

I didn't realize how much hubby likes chickens. He raised 25 laying hens and they are very tame indeed.

His mom raised and sold eggs while he was growing up. His job was to pick eggs and care for the chickens!

A year ago - tomato canning with then 9 month old Thomas Robert!

Sweetest farm boy ever!

Little Maeve is just about Tom's age. She came to visit with parents and grandparents and liked our neighbor cat, Riley.

They had a hard time getting her off the swings - she loved them so much - dad, Corey, pushing and pushing her endlessly!

Special prayer time for Bill and Nancy and family on the occasion of their 13th wedding anniversary! It was so special to find the Saint book that we read from at night with our kids growing up. How we loved to read about the Saints!

Open to LIFE and raising LIGHTS! Their podcast - The Catholic Sprouts Podcast - Catholic Sprouts is Nancy's ministry helping parents to raise Catholic kids that love the True Church and live faith-filled lives!

Lifting up the litany of our families by name - it takes me pretty much my entire hour to pray for the 250+ ... it is doubled prayers for Pat and my family as we are in both! So I pray for the 33 here on earth and the 13 in heaven watching over us and praying for our journey of Faith/Family/Farm!

It makes me smile to pray by name on the first hour of each Monday. Monday was the day my dad would pray for each person in our family by name! Not just first name but first and middle names! How we depended on those prayers of my parents, and now they are praying for us from heaven together. After 70 years of marriage they died 3 years ago just 7 months apart! I miss them sorely!

St Augustine and his mother, St Monica!

This book was huge in our home with the kids! The Saints teach us that no matter what we face - we can persevere - embracing our Most Cherished Cross and finding LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!

I can attest to this Truth!

So beautiful and True!

Never too often!

8 years ago in North Carolina with Maria and 7 of the grands!

Her feast day the day before her son, Augustine!

How St Mother Teresa of Calcutta loves LIFE! No doubt she is working tirelessly protecting LIFE from heaven! along with St JPII!!!

Pope Benny today - thanks mom! You are with me each day along with dad! Bless-bless, Barbara and all

"To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances;

to seek Him, the greatest adventure;

to find Him, the greatest human achievement."

St Augustine

"God in His omnipotence could not give more,

in His wisdom knew not how to give more,

in His riches had not more to give,
than the Eucharist."

St Augustine

North Africa ~ 354-430

Bishop, Doctor of the Church

Powerful intellect, stirring orator, prolific writer
Feast Day - August 28

“If you believe what you like in the gospel,
and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel
you believe, but yourself." - St Augustine of Hippo
____________________________________

Click here: St. Augustine - YouTube (2 mins)
33 Powerful Saint Augustine Quotes on Love, Beauty, God, Sin, Time, Wisdom, Hope, Patience, and More | The Unbounded Spirit
______________________________________

"In 397, or twelve years after his conversion, Augustine wrote his Confessions, the greatest spiritual autobiography ever written. It is the work of a teacher who explains, a philosopher who thinks, and a theologian who instructs. It is the work of a poet who achieves chaste beauty in the writing, and a mystic who pours out thanks for having found himself in peace. " - Ven Fulton J. Sheen in his biographical work, St Augustine of Hippo

Confessions by Saint Augustine of Hippo (FULL Audio Book)

Excerpt (Confessions 10.27): "Too late have I loved You, O Beauty
so ancient and so new, too late have I loved You. You have called to me,
and have cried out, and have shattered my deafness.
You have blazed forth with light and have put my blindness to flight!
You have sent forth fragrance, and I have drawn in my breath,
and I pant after You. I have tasted You, and I hunger and thirst after You.
You have touched me, and I have burned for Your peace."

St Augustine, pray for us!

Danielle Rose

Sunday, August 27, 2023

21st Sunday - Tomato soup, overnight family, farm kids at the State Fair/Ruth-David/THE CHURCH - Eucharistic prayer #4! - +JMJ+

Fr Shawn after mass this morning. He is just back from an 8 day silent retreat in LA at a Carmelite convent with 150 nuns! Knowing the need for prayer for that part of our world - it seems so appropriate!

Father Shawn shared that when he turned his phone on after those 8 days - "many were asking if I was OKay. I found out that there was an earthquake and a hurricane while I was there, and the sisters decided not to tell me, but to trust." Talk about the story of Elijah coming to life - Our Lord came to him in the tiny whispering sound of silence and there was nothing to fear!

Father Shawn is a friend from our years working TEC - Together Encounter Christ retreats over the last 23 years! He is such a humble and holy young priest! This morning the words of Eucharistic Prayer #4 were especially powerful as they speak of God in such glorious and beautiful terms! A glimpse of the glory that we will see in heaven forever and how we are given the Body and Blood of Christ to nourish us and assist us on our journey!

It is right to glorify you
and to give you thanks, our holy and living God;
you dwell in light inaccessible
from before time and for ever.

Fountain of life and source of all goodness,
you made all things and fill them with your blessing;
you created them to rejoice
in the splendor of your radiance.

Now we praise you with the faithful of every time and place,
and give voice to every creature,
as we join in the eternal hymn: Eucharistic Prayer #4

In the heat earlier in the week - David and Mary showing David's cow-calf pair! They are on the road returning home - tired after a good time at the Fair!

David can sleep anywhere.

Mary with her calf beat out a couple calves under her.

In the ring- she was interviewed on Fox News one morning and did a wonderful job speaking about her life on a cow-calf farm. "My calf will go back into the herd and bring other calves into the operation."

In the midst we did 60 quarts of tomato soup on Thursday - I was so distracted with help here and there... This was the only picture that I took all day! That speaks of fatigue and stress for me to not take one picture. It was mostly Ruth and I with some help from the kids still at home and not at college and the State Fair. So much going on!

All lined up on my counter for me to keep an eye on them for some days.

Out military family and our Community of the Lamb - Hallel's family love our tomato soup! It gives us much JOY to be able to share with our nun and her family of the Lamb. She only gets to come home once every 3 years, but this way we can share with her our home cooking.

With the awful heat and humidity this last week - Pat and I decided to give our bedroom to his sister and husband as they headed through on their way to a wedding. It was great to deep clean and this was a result of it! A calendar Bobbi made a year ago and the engagement pictures of the 4 couples, plus Hallel with her Most Sacred Heart of her Spouse, Jesus Christ.... in the background - my parents on their wedding day which their 74th Anniversary is coming up on August 30th! LOVE - literally!!

The 4 are all taken with a grain bin in the background, and Yes I took them all! Photos are my obsession, so to have to few of this last week is very unnerving for me!

We were so grateful that the weather improved so that we could enjoy supper and visiting on our porch! Pat's sister, Ida, husband, Craig and daughter, Julia!

Two pictures was all! I missed getting Corey and their daughter, Maeve.

A day with Tom and Joy yesterday... in my clean and organized bedroom.

Grandma's bed is good for climbing and jumping.

My buddy gives grandma so many smiles and love!

Our 25 free range chickens are coming up on the porch now...

Joy was trying to chase them off the porch, and grandma was snapping the cuteness.

Tom thinks they are naughty trying to eat the cat food.

Now the other direction.

Tom is a bit afraid of the chickens and they are very tame and come right up to your toes.

Tom was not happy that he was eating the table scraps that Tom had put out there for the cats.

A standoff.

They have been in my flower beds too... sigh!

Tom playing so peacefully and contentedly on the floor at grandma's house.

It has been hard to be reading the readings each day and to realize that we were having the Book of Ruth for our first reading this last week! I love that beautiful sweet story, and obviously the name as we named our first daughter, Ruth Ida. One special first time noticing the fact that Ruth has her son, David. And that Ruth was the great-grandmother of King David! It was special for me to realize this very cool fact!

Joy and Tom coming back from picking eggs together yesterday. I know that Tom gets scared with how tame they are and come all around you. It was cute to see Joy holding his hand.

Joy said "no" to the swing. When Maeve was here a day ago - she loved the swing too!

Joy's watercolor self portrait yesterday. Her great Aunt Ida called her "Pippi" which Joy did not really appreciate, but this made us smile as it says a lot...

Water coloring and time in the tub are two things that usually happen at grandma's house. Tom even painted with the help of grandma.

So wonderful to see all the balconies done on the Apartments Ruth and Paul are working on be The Catholic Church! The pressure is on to get some ready for some college students that are waiting to move in!

Wonderful outside space brand new and built to last a long time! It will be so great to get this job done!

A few years ago of my mother in her home with her Stain glass Alpha and Omega she found second hand.

12 years ago - Pat's mother with her 5 beautiful daughters! Mom died at age 97 - 6 years ago now.

4 year old Hector - #6 of our military family looking quite something!

3 years ago Therese with baby, Birdie Barbara on applesauce canning day!

Hector with 13 pails of apples - 110 quarts of applesauce - this year no apples to can!

Family job - Pat with little George, who is one of the 3 four year old boys in 6 weeks!

Picking apple crew.

My dad living with me 3 years ago ... He spent the last 6 months of his life on hospice living in my farm monastery - my great JOY sharing in the Religious LIFE of my father, a Deacon in the Catholic Church for 44 years!

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

My father brought our family of 13 into The Catholic Church 52 years ago! How I LOVE, love, love all that the Catholic Church gives to us!

Pat and I spent some time listening to the conversion story of George Farmer, who married Candace Owen. We then listened to a debate he had with a leading Protestant woman...

Candace Owens married an Oxford Genius PART 1: George Farmer on Marriage, Catholicism, Andrew Tate - YouTube

The debate - it shines through how much George has studied and understands of The Church which comes to us today from Jesus in Matthew 16 today in the Gospel ...

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter said in reply,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply,
"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16

Wonderful young priest, Fr Shawn Polman! Took time to visit with the children.

My heart is steadfast, O God ... - Psalm 108, 1a

St Augustine has left us this praise of his mother, St Monica:

"She did not let a day pass

without being present

at the Divine Sacrifice

before Your altar, O Lord."

____________________

The Lord's day is the lord of days...

but also remembering today...
St Monica

North Africa ~ 333-387

Mother of St Augustine

Patroness of Married women and Mothers

Feast Day - August 27

"Nothing is far from God." - St Monica

________________________________

As recounted by Augustine...

before his mother died she told him...

"There was indeed one thing for which I wished

to tarry a little in this life, and that was

that I might see you a Catholic before I died.

My God hath answered this more than

abundantly, so that I see you are now made

His servant and spurning all earthly happiness.

What more am I to do here?"

Click here: St. Monica - YouTube (2 mins)

Prayer for St Monica's intercession

Exemplary mother of the great Augustine, you perseveringly

pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with

prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so

that they may learn to draw their children to God. Teach them

how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal

sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray. Amen.

St Monica, pray for us!

This feast today is reminding me that Nancy and Bill will be having their 13th wedding Anniversary tomorrow - The Feast of the great Saint Augustine! Exciting times! Bless-bless, Barbara and the 33 plus many Little Brothers and Little Sisters!

Danielle Rose

Salve Regina - Hail Holy Queen - Hallel and her Dominican order sing this each night to Our Lady before bed! LOVE!

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.