Have you heard of Charlie Johnston???

A few holy and trusted friends of mine have recently brought the story of a man named Charlie Johnston to my attention, and I believe it may have some credibility since it reflects similar messages from other apparitions in recent years (namely, Medjugorje, Kibeho, Garabandal, and Fatima). I'm attaching a link that discusses his background and the messages that he has allegedly been receiving from God.  It's possible this guy is wrong (or plain crazy), but I believe there is also a possibility he is right. So, in that case, I'm trying to prepare myself and my family as much as possible...especially our souls. You may think I'm crazy, but more than that, I hope you know how much I love you and want to be helpful. If there is any truth whatsoever to Charlie's story, then I would want all of my loved ones to know about it.  After our pilgrimage to Medjugorje this summer, I am more and more convinced that God is trying to get our sinful world's attention in many ways (like sending His Mother to appear daily for 34 years with messages of love, peace, and conversion) so that we can prepare our hearts to spend eternity with Him.  These messages of Charlie's might be another way God is trying to get people's attention.  And whether they are true or not, they should not frighten us, but simply remind us to trust in the Lord who tells us to "Be not afraid."  But, I also believe that preparing ourselves for disaster is a prudent thing to do (especially with children in tow) and preparing our souls for eternity is the purpose of this life.  So, here you go...read and discern for yourself.  Pray about it.  Pray for me and I'll pray for you! I love you all!

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us!
Jesus, we trust in You!

Here's the link to Charlie's background and messages: http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2014/12/charlie-johnston-alleged-prophet-with.html?m=1

And here is a link to Charlie's blog with a post that gives some more info on future events:
https://charliej373.wordpress.com/2015/08/29/be-not-afraid-god-has-a-plan-repost/


P.S.  I'd love to hear what any of you think about all of this, and what some of things you are doing to prepare your souls and your families for these events if they occur...

Summer in South Dakota

Spending the summer in South Dakota while Paul worked on getting the house sold and our stuff put in storage was a blessing beyond words.  The kids and I will treasure the memories we made this summer forever.  Our days were relaxing but busy, and jam-packed with joy.  How I loved watching my kids bond with my parents and watching my parents find so much joy in spending time with my kids.  When you live far away from family like we do, simple things like fishing with grandpa or baking cookies with grandma are all the more special.  I admit it was hard for the boys and I to be away from Paul for so long, but our days were always filled with so much fun and activity that time swept by, and thankfully, Paul was able to come for three visits over the summer.  Here's a list of some of the treasured memories we made while in South Dakota, followed by some of them that I captured on camera:

• playing countless card games with Grandma and Grandpa (4-corner Kings, Tick, Golf, Garbage, Canasta, and Speed)
• building card houses
• swimming at the YMCA
• bowling
• fishing with Grandpa and Uncle Mike
• swimming, tubing, jet skiing, and fishing at Uncle Mike and Aunt Shawna's house
• numerous trips to Storybook Land
• walking to parks
• playing tennis (this year my 12-year-old could beat me fair and square!)  :(
• lots and lots and lots of baseball for the oldest 3
• staying up late to watch MLB
• baking cookies with Grandma
• Dominic and Natey building with Legos for hours on end
• 4th of July reunion with Maria's side of the family
• my college roommate, Chrissy, coming for a visit

Our boys with Babe and Paul Bunyan at Storybook Land

Our boys at the Wizard of Oz section of Storybook Land.  

Frank Baum, author of  Oz, lived in Aberdeen for a short period of his life, 

which is our small town's only claim to fame (so they built a theme park) :)

Maria and the youngest 3 at Storybook Land.

These boys never tired of the place, especially now that it has a roller coaster!

Maria and her college friend Chrissy at Storybook Land

Maria and Chrissy--still friends despite the distance!

I was able to spend time with many of my old friends from Aberdeen over the summer.

It was so special to reconnect with all of them and encourage each other on this journey towards heaven, where hopefully we will all be together forever someday.

Grandma Theresa and Grandpa Pat having a treat at Storybook Land.

They treated us to countless meals, snacks, gifts, and fun memories all summer long!

We are forever grateful and feel so blessed for their presence in our lives!!!

Grandma Jean gifted us with a month pass to use the YMCA water park!

All of the boys enjoyed it, but especially the little ones.

Grandpa Pat took Joseph and Michael on many fishing expeditions.

Treasured memories and tasty walleye to eat!

The local bowling alley allowed 1 free game per kid per day,

so we did lots of bowling, especially on the hottest days of the summer!

Dominic is our master builder---he loves building with Legos or cards or just about anything!

Isaiah loved bonding with Grandma Theresa all summer,

especially when she was baking cookies!  :)

Isaiah also loved Grandma's toy box...

especially throwing all the toys out and climbing in!

Dominic loved jet-skiing and tubing...

His mommy loved his crazy hair :)

Paul and the little ones having fun on the jet ski!

Michael and Dominic were fearless on the tube and loved taunting Uncle Mike to see if he could throw them off (which he always did!)  :)

Maria's side of the family had a fun reunion on the 4th of July.

I am so blessed to have such a loving and fun family!

Paul and I at Storybook Land during one of his trips to come see us in South Dakota.

The past year has been a very difficult one for Paul and I,
but this summer did wonders for us.
The periods of being apart made our hearts grow fonder,
and the graces we received in Medjugorje gave us some healing and renewed hope.
God is good.
Please keep praying for us though!  :)

(More summer memories and photos to follow:  including baseball season photos, our trip to Minnesota, and our trip to Medjugorje!)

I'm back...and buried in boxes!.

I apologize for my complete lapse in blogging this summer!  I thought I would have time inbetween all of the craziness to post pictures and give updates, but it just didn't happen.  So, over the next few weeks I will try to give little summaries of the main events of our crazy, but grace-filled summer.

First, however, I 'll give you a quick update on our housing situation.  While the kids and I were spending the summer in South Dakota with my parents, Paul worked diligently to move us out of our home that we sold and put everything into a storage unit until we found a house to buy or a rental.  I am so proud of my husband for all the work he did; hopefully he got rid of some purgatory time with all of his hard work and sacrifice!  :)  Unfortunately, we still have not found a house that we like, or any land that we would like to build a house on, but thankfully God has blessed us with a rental house in the meantime.

We just got back to Helena last weekend.  It was very strange coming "home" to a rental that does not feel at all like home.  We are buried in boxes, and it is a challenge to decide which boxes to unpack since we don't know if we will be in this rental for a month or a year or (please no!) even longer.  The rental is a 4-bedroom, so there is adequate space for our family, but we do not love the location and there have been struggles that I did not expect--like the amount of cleaning that needed to be done (a bachelor had been living here and left it "as is"...use your imagination), and also the joy of learning how to take care of chickens.  Yes, that's right...we are now taking care of 20 chickens that the rental owner has.  I am learning that I am NOT a farm girl like my mother was!  At first I was kind of excited about the idea of having fresh eggs every morning, until the first day that I attempted to make a bunch of scrambled eggs for lunch...  I cracked a few eggs into the bowl, and then the next egg had a baby chicken in it!  I threw that batch out and started over...and the same thing happened again!  We had cold meat sandwiches instead.  My mom tells me that won't happen again if we make sure to gather the eggs daily.  The eggs I was using that day were ones that the rental owner had in the fridge, and apparently he had not been gathering them regularly.

Anyway, this has been a huge learning experience and God has been stretching me in ways I did not expect! :)  These past few days I have been feeling like Bilbo Baggins..."like butter scraped too thinly over a piece of bread."  I'm tired of being scraped and stretched, but I'm sure my soul needs it.   Please pray for me, as I am feeling more than slightly overwhelmed this week and have already shed quite a few tears.  I am trying to have the attitude that this is an exciting adventure, but it is a struggle at times.  Please pray for peace and joy for our family during this adventure, and that the Lord directs us to the perfect home for our family (soon!)  :)

God's will be done!
Jesus I trust in You!
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us!