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Bloggers

Meet the Faith & Family bloggers. We invite you to join us in encouraging and helping the Faith & Family community grow in faith!

Danielle Bean

Danielle Bean
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is Editorial Director of Faith & Family. She is author of My Cup of Tea, Mom to Mom, Day to Day, and most recently Small Steps for Catholic Moms. Though she once struggled to separate her life and her work, the two …
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Rachel Balducci

Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and they are the parents of five lively boys and one precious baby girl. She is the author of How Do You Tuck In A Superhero?, and is a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has …
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Lisa Hendey

Lisa Hendey
Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com, a Catholic web site focusing on the Catholic faith, Catholic parenting and family life, and Catholic cultural topics. Most recently she has authored The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa is also employed as webmaster for her parish web sites. …
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Arwen Mosher

Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their young children Camilla and Blaise. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site is ABC Family. …
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Rebecca Teti

Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
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Robyn Lee

Robyn Lee
Robyn Lee is the managing editor of Faith & Family magazine. She is (yikes!) an almost 30 year-old, single lady, living in Connecticut with her two cousins in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law …
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Hallie Lord

Hallie Lord
Hallie Lord married her dashing husband, Dan, in the fall of 2001 (the same year, coincidentally, that she joyfully converted to the Catholic faith). They now happily reside in the deep South with their two energetic boys and two very sassy girls. In her *ample* spare time, Hallie enjoys cheap wine, …
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Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr John Bartunek, LC, STL, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and …
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Guest Bloggers

Kate Lloyd

Kate Lloyd
Kate Lloyd is a rising senior, and a political science major at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire. While not in school, she lives in Whitehall PA, with her mom, dad, five sisters and little brother. She needs someone to write a piece about how it's possible to …
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Elizabeth Foss

Elizabeth Foss
Elizabeth Foss, an award winning columnist for the Arlington Catholic Herald, published her first book, Real Learning: Education in the Heart of My Home in 2003. The book is now in its third printing. Her popular blog, In the Heart of My Home is a source of inspiration and support for Catholic women …
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Dorm Life

We're all settling in...

Today was the official move in day for Eric, his first “real” day of college life following five days of pre-orientation.  First thing this morning we met Eric’s new roommate, Nathan, and his amazing family.  The rest of the day was spent setting up their room, making numerous trips to the CVS for forgotten supplies (thank goodness it’s a close walk!), meeting new friends and doing other “set up” types of activities - including the first load of collegiate laundry.  One of my favorite new photos shows our Eric with another of the “Erics” in his dorm - they met in the laundry room and worked out the mysteries of the ancient washing machines together.

Eric and Nathan managed to find the oldest, cheapest, and likely grungiest used couch at the Habitat for Humanity yard sale - but to them it’s their first piece of furniture and a real treasure.  I smiled to myself when Nathan’s mom busted out the “Fabreeze” and tried not to think about the places that couch has been or the stories it could likely tell!

This afternoon, we joined the other parents and freshmen for a greeting from the Dean of Freshmen, the Dean of the College and a Psychiatrist, who is also coincidentally a mom of college aged sons.  While I found the academics’ speeches to be very motivational, I thought it was perfect that they’d brought in a medical mom to counsel me with exactly the words I needed to hear to complete this time with Eric.

Tonight we dined together in the “Harry Potter-esque” dining hall with our new friends—the roommate and his family—and marveled at how much dining hall food has improved since our college days.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll head over for one last hug and then catch our plane home.  I honestly can’t think about that moment right now, so I’ll simply dwell on the happy feelings we shared today.  Watching Eric interact with the faculty and other students, seeing him fold and put away his laundry, set his desk and watching the day-long smile on his face leaves me with a sense of peace that he’ll be safe and sound. 

My prayers for all of you who are experiencing this phase with the special young men and women in your life continue - I hope you are experiencing your own special “firsts” and that the smiles outweigh the tears.


Comments

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Lisa, we love that you are taking us along on this ‘emotional’ ride you and Greg are on with Eric.  We know he’ll do just fine… look at the great role models he has had (his parents!).  And he’s only a phone call or a text away…  our wonderful technology will help to shorten the miles.

 

This is coincidental. My cousin and I were talking yesterday about the “velcro” generation.  Glad the psychologist was there to help.


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