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Faith & Family Live is where everyday moms offer one another inspiration, support, and encouragement in Catholic living. Anyone grappling with the meaning of life or the cleaning of laundry is welcome here. Read the blog, check out our magazine, join our community, learn more about our mission, and come on in! READ MORE

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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Tempted Am I

Williams-Sonoma goes over to the dark side

I tried not to look at the latest Williams-Sonoma catalog.

But I sensed a disturbance in the force and gave in.

I know this ought to be resisted: else where will the product tie-ins end?

And yet…I have little wookies boys who would be absolutely delighted if these showed up at a birthday party.

I hate it when the Dark Side is cute.


Birthday Baking is the Best

Happy Birthday #10 Sweet Juliette!

Hard to believe that ten years ago today, I spent the morning doing my very best not to curse at a well-intentioned nurse who continually offered me a “birthing ball.”

No thank you, Ma’am ... No, really, I don’t want it ... Please, no ... NO BALL! GO AWAY!  NO BALL!

It got pretty ugly.

But birthing ball or no birthing ball, the end result of that labor of love was well worth every bit it cost me.... READ MORE 


Not a Baby Anymore

Our girl reaches age three

When we were waiting and praying that God would send us children, I thought a lot about babies. Sweet cuddly babies, with rosy cheeks and soft hair. Tiny ones are achingly cute, literally: I ached when I saw one.

Eventually God blessed us with Camilla, and my focus on babies increased throughout my pregnancy and her first years. This year gave me another chance to immerse myself in babyhood with Blaise’s... READ MORE 


What Made the Birthday Boy Happy

a wooden tool kit for a little carpenters

Phew!

We Beans end every summer with a slew of birthdays, but Daniel’s 3rd birthday last week marked the end of our celebrating until November.

One of the gifts we gave to Daniel was such a success that I thought I’d share it with you here: It was the Melissa & Doug Wooden Take-Along 24-piece Tool Kit.

This is the second one of these sets we’ve bought (the last one was many years ago and the pieces... READ MORE 


Wow - 18!

An exciting birthday for an incredible young man!

Today, we celebrate our son Eric’s 18th birthday.  Since it’s a school day, our major celebrating will occur this weekend, but we’ll have a special family dinner tonight to mark the occasion.

As I was packing him off to school this morning, I couldn’t express to him enough how incredibly proud I am and how blessed I feel to be his mother.  Our parenting work on Eric’s behalf is far from over, but... READ MORE 


Bountiful Birthday Blessings

Thanks for helping me to celebrate!

Well, I’m happy to report that after a day of being 46 years old, life is still pretty fabulous!  I’m not typically a big birthday celebrator (when it comes to my own birthday)... I’ve been known to tell my husband and friends, “Let’s not make a big deal out of it this year.”  I’ve even left town a few times and visited my sister Erin in Chicago to avoid the fuss.  I’ll bet many of you are the same—you... READ MORE 


Sleeping Soundly and Aging Gracefully

Are the two interconnected? Join us for this week's chat on the Faith & Family Live Cast.

Download Podcast

This week on the Faith & Family Live Cast (click here to listen or click on the player above), Rachel, Arwen and I tackle two topics that hold great interest for moms everywhere:  sleep and aging.

Sleep schedules, bedtime routines, curfews for teens and dealing with exhaustion are perennial challenges for families.  How do you handle bedtimes and naptimes?  Do you find it important to get a certain... READ MORE 


Happy Birthday Benedict!

Pope Benedict turns 82 today

Last year, Pope Benedict celebrated his birthday (with this fab cake) here in the U.S., but this year, he is celebrating at the Vatican.

In honor of his 82nd birthday, please take a moment to say a prayer for Pope Benedict today. Our church needs his moral courage and fearless defense of the truth now more than ever.

(You might also like to check out the blogging over at our sister site, NCRegister.com, where they are doing some re-cap of last year’s historic papal visit.)


Finding Pokemon on a Cake

and lessons learned along the way

We moms know little kids’ birthday cake angst. And Amy Welborn knows it in a special way this year.

It was also a reminder of how the simplest things we do for each other might have an impact far beyond the obvious. Who knows what huge bridge someone is trying to cross when they need something small from us? Who knows what a difference our outstretched hands make in someone’s longer journey, which probably holds difficulties far beyond what they let on.

A touching story and an important reminder for all of us. Go read the whole thing.


Tea-riffic

The blessing of big girls

Juliette turned nine yesterday.

It’s on special days like these that I revel in the blessing of my big girls. There is just something wonderful about sharing “girl-ness” with a growing-up one of your own.

I hadn’t even noticed the “girlie” theme of our celebration yesterday until about half way through Juliette’s opening of her presents.

To her one main gift (a watch), I added a bag filled with small... READ MORE 


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