A blessed time of fellowship, just before Thanksgiving as we head to Advent!

Since the last blog post it has been a busy but blessed time at the Mary Theotokos Monastic Center.

As this time started we first had a visit from a retreatant who has been here three times before.

As soon as she got out of her car the goats came to make new friends.

Little did she know that her quiet tranquil and prayerful weekend would involve carrying buckets of water to her apartment above the chapel and blowing fuses as well as crazy weather that would go from spring to winter and back to spring again.

It was wonderful to sit with her from time to time as well as to receive the gift of her two recent books which are an inspiration to any reader.

  Just about the time she packed up to leave our next retreatant came up from Connecticut.

He's been here so many times before it was like having family arrive. He put in some hours of work, many hours of conversation and before we knew it he was on his way back into the world, hopefully recharged, refreshed and reconnected.

Shortly after his departure Barrett Adams was back with his assistant Melissa to finish some of the construction work. The first phase was to move the ramp and deck out of the path of the snow roof slide.

After that came the snow guards...

and then continuation of foam insulating the church and chapel, some replacement windows will be next.

During this time we had one birthday,

And one first communion party.

In the midst of these two large parties full of friends and families arrived our next retreatants, a family from North Carolina for a working retreat. And with me still recovering from surgery it was an tremendous help to have them here.

In very short order they poured themselves into jobs that included rerouting water run off in one of the barns, plumbing repairs and much much more. Not to mention taking over all the animal chores on the farm, all this when they weren't in the adoration chapel.

Even their little dog Jose got into the act, whether riding along on the tractor to fetch sand and gravel;

or chasing turkeys & hens back to the barns. He took to the farm life right away and not only did he bond with his hero, the buck named Aaron but he also formed a romance or sorts with the main farm dog Girly and those two ran all over this farm

 having fun all day, blizzard or spring.

But when the goats needed rounding up our herding dog Girly could take it easy while Jose took matters into his own hands, er paws.

As if having one skilled contractor on retreat here wasn't enough, his friend came up next for the weekend.

They put their backs into all sorts of projects and even were able to build a much needed horse barn extension.

The horses were very grateful, as if they knew what the weather was bringing.

Then it was processing time for the turkeys and that work got under way quickly, on a really warm day that melted all our snow and gave us a little taste of mud season.

And then it started snowing again.

The time we shared with this family and their friend was wonderful. We enjoyed large family dinners and had very spiritual conversations way into the night. The fellowship that came with their visit was rewarding and enriching for all of us. What a blessing to have had them here for that week.

Once everyone had gone, we woke up on Thanksgiving to a fresh foot or more of snow.

I guess that means we're in winter now.

Oh, and we had one more visitor, but this one will be staying for a while.

Snowflake, is enjoying exploring the house and has made fast friends with Girly too, who treats her as her own puppy. But we all know she belongs to Emily in whose arms Snowflake spends most of her time.

So it has been a busy but truly blessed time where so many have come to us and brought with them their love and fellowship, truly enriching as well as incredibly helpful in a time when we REALLY needed help,..God provides. Just like He provided us with a used all wheel drive vehicle with brand new studded snow tires just when our own car bit the dust a day before the snow began falling.

"Jesus I trust in you"

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from

The Mary Theotokos Monastic Center.

Into winter

Greetings from Vermont!

The fall colors were breathtaking this year, must have something to do with the year's rainfall and climate.

But after some rain and wind, the temps dropped 

and so did the leaves.

The turkeys are getting big and soon will be ready for Thanksgiving.

Even the goats are fattening up, mowing the lawns, 

gardens and fields.

But when it gets too cold they come up on the back porch and call for someone to let them in...the house!

Like that's gonna happen! 

Just don't let my youngest open the door.

As October goes by pumpkins from the garden come 
inside for carving.

Once the pumpkins are done, the kids participated in an All Hallows Eve, celebration at Mass, where all the children of the parish dressed up like Saints for a presentation.

Just around this time we were blessed to be visited by Father Louis a Franciscan Priest  from New York state who worked with 

Fr. Benedict Groeschel for years.

It was a wonderful visit which provided us with daily Mass, adoration, confessions and wonderful spiritual conversation. 

Fr. Louis is a inspirational and an enlightening true servant of God, what a blessing it was to have him here for a few days.

So October moves on by and we head into November, gearing up for winter.

As a matter of fact, today: November 1st, I went out to see the goats all hiding in the carriage shed, from the falling snow! SNOW!

Thankfully it changed to rain and snow again, so nothing accumulating; but it's on the way.

Now it's time for some more construction projects before things hunker down for winter.

Stay tuned for more updates from

The Mary Theotokos Monastic Center

in Newark VT.

Fall is on the way!

As we head into fall there are few new happenings on the farm as well as new workers!

First was a big birthday for a young man, look like he's having fun?

That's the mildly excited birthday boy on the right.

And what's a birthday without a good ol' square dance, from kids to grown ups everyone had a good time.

Fall is indeed on the way as the garden has been hit by frost twice and have made some of our last deliveries to the food shelves from it this year. With all the help we had this year I think it has been one of the most successful gardens we ran.

The apples are coming in good this year, but with only a couple hands it's pretty hard to keep up. The apple pies have been really delicious though! The entire orchard is a project in the wings for us soon.

The chickens aren't laying eggs yet but they will soon.

The turkeys are getting ready and growing bigger, and fatter and should all set to go by...

THANKSGIVING,.....dun dun daaa!

After a ton of meetings, a mountain of paper work and a team of lawyers, the municipal gravel pit for the town has gone into full swing on the back forty, a truly self sustainable gift for the center's finances.

The Mary Garden, needs some trimming and this year hopefully Mary will have a house around her and she will be able to welcome visitors all winter. Not to mention a giant Rosary with white rocks all around her.

The lawn mower is looking a little tiny when I drive it around the Mary Garden. Or am I looking a little big. By "big" I mean healthy and tall! Think "Little John" on a teeny weeny mower, in a Hawaiian shirt. 

Once the fine tuning is done around Mary, it's time to break out the real lawn mowers.

With only a little training the Dog has become an excellent herding dog so now we can let the real lawn mowers go to work all over the farm. No gas, no repairs, no hands on...

Just point them in the right direction and keep a weary eye. Good bye brush, thorns, weeds and work. So far the herding work has them trained pretty well too. They know where to go and where the Dog will meet them if they wander to far.

You know you've got a lot of grass mowed when these eating machines  actually stop to rest!

But those little guys are nothing compare to these eating machines!

These horses can mow down a field in a couple days and go looking for more.

More by the house, some trimming by the ramp,

More around the cars and the parking spaces .

Taking care of these two big beauties is a lot of work for these ladies. Especially when they haul water up from the river, two buckets at a time. They even draft this young man in on the work, but he seems to enjoy it as much as they do. These two are really working miracles with these two horses.

The work can be hard and at times seemingly never ending, but it is rewarding at the same time. Simple tasks that bring humility and a closeness to God. 

Fall pictures to come next, plus retreat info, maybe a Franciscan party to attend and more. Always more,..more joy, more peace, more quiet, as we surrender ourselves to God's will for our lives.

Stay tuned.