My three children rank among the highest of the greatest blessings of my life; in the natural sense they are at the very top and I thank God for them every day.
Then, when this life has been fulfilled according to God's will, I will in eternity be grateful to God for
them and then to them for them.
As all the storms raged around us as a family and around Almighty God's Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus since He re-introduced it in modern times, in 2012, for the sake of a world in very serious grave peril, we could lock all of it out (and not answer the phone to further keep it out) and enjoy a God-centered, holy, peaceful, playful, and happy life.
Instead, the trouble came at us in superabundant measure and in any way possible and it is no wonder.
The spiritual combat is very real.
Fr. John Corapi said that his mother had religious images throughout her home and as a result,
"The devil didn't stand a chance in there!"
That is my kind of mother, meaning my ideal of a mother, the mother who imitates the Immaculate Mother of God who is the standard of all mothers and God's chosen Mother of All Mothers.
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I AM's Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus was re-introduced in our time through a mother, a single mother, and He had this work for so many years be welcomed and sustained within the family home, within the family, and in the company of three young children who are all now in their 20s.
These three people were certainly children of reparation in modern times, and they were such magnificent company.
We had incredibly fun times together, laughing and dancing and playing and making costumes, and chasing one another around the playground.
Water balloon "fights" outdoors, sock "fights" indoors, puppet shows, trains and train whistles, trips to zoos and Traverse City, toys in the sand and walks on the beach, trips to toy stores and farms and cooking in the kitchen.
Crashing waves in the ocean.
Telling jokes and tales and reading so many stories together before bedtime.
So many hugs and kisses for the children, so many smiles and nature walks together.
Bike rides.
Swimming pools.
Two brothers who have each other and really love their younger sister.
So many love notes, and hugs and kisses, from Alyssa.
So many.
So many Holy Sacrifice of the Masses where Andre and Nick served at the altar, including during the Traditional Tridentine Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated in Latin.
Going as a family to Confession.
Daily Holy Mass as a family during the summer at the chapel at St. Andrew's Catholic Church.
Full home-made breakfasts every morning before school.
Doing Alyssa's lovely long hair, upon request, into a beautiful rope before rushing off to high school car line.
So many family dinners with us four, and music and laughter and holiday fun.
The arts and so much fun creating, including in the sand on the beach.
Limitless opportunities.
Friends and forts and bonfires in the backyard.
So many flowers in the yard.
Those play swords and courage and fertile imaginations.
School trips and school events and various instruments.
Alyssa singing songs and creating songs on the way to and from school.
Nick tried the trumpet, and Alyssa tried the drums.
Middle school basketball.
Birthday parties among the stars and at our own circus.
The science fair projects each year, times three, that thought objectively and rationally while encouraging others to do the same. What fun!All those holy hours while Andre, Nick, and Alyssa were in school.
All those school Masses and the fine families we were around every day back then.
Our trip to the Grand Canyon when they were young, a place someone called "ten thousand cathedrals rolled into one."
Driving to and from the Motion Picture Institute for a year with Nick, so happy to have had that time with him, before he graduated from there one year after Andre did.
Filming Andre's short movie on location, at our house; seeing rooms be transformed into movie sets; meeting the actors and directors; watching the filming in the living room, family room, and in the basement; and then seeing the amazing final result.
Photography and filming and now Andre and Nick's sound editing.
...
When things got unfathomably penitential, and that is an understatement, the forces of darkness hit us even harder and without mercy.
However, God was the source of our strength and so also were my three children for me a source of strength and goodness and real love, joy, and balance.
The Immaculate Mother of God and Saint Joseph, the Holy Family, were part of our family and we are one family in them.
I have three very level-headed, rational-thinking, honorable, playful, and amusing now-grown children whom I love and admire so very much.
They are trust-worthy, and on them I can and do rely.
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Thanks be to God for the gift of motherhood, and for the three priceless treasures I was given by God in my sons Andre and Nick and in my daughter Alyssa.
He created them for the sake of the whole world.
Some pictures will be posted after Alyssa's wedding.
They were there with Jesus and me and them for our decades-long scourging at the pillar without mercy and by so many short-sighted people; the closest to us holding the Roman flagrums, the ones who were striking the hardest, were blood relatives and those related to us by marriage.
As they grew up, my two sons and daughter helped properly love and sustain an apostolic mission in modern times, for the greater honor and glory of our Triune God first and foremost and then for all precious, priceless, and immortal souls past, present, and future.
Just imagine.
Ave Maria. +
Saint Joseph, ora pro nobis (pray for us).
THE WORK OF REPARATION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS
