St. Vincent de Paul

I love how he keeps his eyes fixed on Christ while doing the work set before him.

A sure way for a Christian to grow rapidly in holiness is a conscientious effort to carry out God's Will in all circumstances and at all times.

Saint Vincent de Paul

20 Ideas for staying in touch

Today I had a conversation with a very sad mom of a college freshman.  She's excited about her daughter's fantastic school, but concerned about the changing family dynamics and they're all having a hard time adjusting to this beloved daughter's absence.  Since I've been in that same phase of life for the past 10 years or so, I thought I'd jot down a few things that have worked for us along the way.

1. The post office is your new best friend!  I don't care if you email, text and call every single day; there's nothing quite so wonderful for your daughter as finding something in her campus mail box!
2. It's obvious, but make sure you always have stamps and envelopes on hand and let everyone in the family know that they are encouraged to write as often as they'd like. (And it doesn't have to be a multi-page, formal letter - it's just as much fun to get a picture drawn by your 6-year-old brother as it is to get a 8 page letter from your mom.)
3. Pre-print mailing labels with her address so it's very easy for everyone in your family to send a quick note any time.  
4. Make sure relatives also have her address and remind them every now and then that mail is still really, really welcome.  
5. Let someone else pay your postage.  It's fun to order things online and simply have them shipped to your student.  If you have amazon prime it'll be there in 2 days with no shipping charge.  (I'm looking at you, 12 pack of Clif Bars for only $10.49.) 
   
6. You remember how small that dorm room is, right?  Keep that in mind if you send any gifts.  I was just looking at care package companies that are advertising the great advantage of their reusable containers.  Sure, you could find a use for that cute punched-tin tub in your house, but would you still want it if you were living in a space that's about the same size as a walk-in closet?
7. The one kind of space she may have in her dorm is wall space.  Send things to brighten it up!
8. All of my kids have gone to schools that have a national chain coffee shop on campus.  Gift cards were easy, practical, small, and appreciated gifts. 
9. Is her birthday during the school year?  Enlist the aide of every friend and relative you know to bombard her with cards and emails during birthday week.
10. Blogging is easy and free.  Start a family blog with newsy tidbits and pictures of the ordinary things you're doing from day to day to help keep everyone in touch.
11. Is she on facebook?  If so, you might want to be also.  It can be a fantastic introduction to her new friends and a window into the everyday bits of her life.  I can't tell you how blessed I've been by becoming FB friends with my daughters' school friends!
12. Think carefully about food gifts.  It seems kind of pointless to send candy and chips for several reasons, but homemade Special K bars - yes, please!  
13. Anyone who is living on campus has a food plan, but it's still nice to have some snacky things for late night and for grab-and-go breakfasts, just in case she's running late to that 8 a.m. class.
14. One year I got together with some other moms to send a group version of final's-week care packages.  The eight of us each provided 8 of the same item, divided them up, and paid to mail to our own kid.  So one mom brought 8 packs of granola bars, another brought 8 ziplocs of mail-able cookies, another brought 8 packs of roasted nuts, etc.  (Basically like a Christmas cookies exchange with a different focus.)  Not only was it a little more cost effective, but it was fun for the moms, the packages were more creative, and all our students were reminded of all their "adopted moms" who were at home, still thinking about them. 
    
15. Is there some favorite food that's not available in the dining hall?  One year my parents vacuum sealed some dill pickles and mailed them to my college girl.  Why on earth would the school not have pickles every now and then?  I have no idea, but they didn't and she mentioned missing them.  And seriously, she was NOT expecting to get pickles in the mail.  I have also been known to mail a box of favorite breakfast cereal to Indiana.  Possibly more than once. 
16. See if you can set up some kind of scheduled phone date.  One year it was convenient for my daughter to call on Sunday nights, so we were both able to schedule around it.  Some of those calls lasted for hours and hours, late into the night (more accurately, early into the morning).  I may have been tired some Monday mornings, but it was a great arrangement for us both.
17. Our church's youth group has a branch that sends care packages to parish college students and those in the military.  All I have to do is provide a current address and a couple times a year (Advent and Lent) they send some snacks, faith-based items, and simple things to keep my daughter connected to the parish.
18. Can you think of small things to make her dorm room a little more homey?  I know of parents who have sent a very small Christmas tree (12 inches or so) and a string of lights to hang around the window.  Does your family have favorite Christmas music?  (Send a CD.)  She's probably only on campus for a couple weeks in December, but it's final's week and she's probably looking forward to Christmas break.  Little things like these are just a nice reminder that she'll be home soon! 
    
19. Speaking of Christmas, be sure to keep up family traditions!  If you like to put small gifts in your children's shoes for St. Nicholas day, be sure to mail college girl a few things before December 6 as well.  If you're really lucky, you may have access to a cooperative roommate who can engineer a putting-them-in-shoes surprise component.  The same concept applies for Valentine's Day, etc.
20. When you go out to visit and (inevitably) eat at restaurants, resist the temptation to take only your family.  Have your daughter round up a few friends and/or her roommate to bring with as well.  It's a great chance to get to know them and you'll probably learn more about campus life than you would if it were only her there. 

If you have more ideas, I'd love to see them in the comments box!

Amen.

The lost art of the handwritten note.

The Holy Father's Prayer Intentions for September

Value of Silence. That people today, often overwhelmed by noise, may rediscover the value of silence and listen to the voice of God and their brothers and sisters.

Persecuted Christians. That Christians suffering persecution in many parts of the world may by their witness be prophets of Christ's love.

Feast of St. Clare

"Copr. 1940, St. Anthony's Guild, Paterson, N.J., 097"

St. Clare of Assisi

The Holy Father's Prayer Intentions for August

Parents and Teachers. That parents and teachers may help the new generation to grow in upright conscience and life.

The Church in Africa. That the local Church in Africa, faithfully proclaiming the Gospel, may promote peace and justice.

Feast of Saints Peter and Paul

Blessed are those who go to Jesus, 

For they shall see God and will be treated with mercy, for the Kingdom of Heaven shall be theirs.

Saint Peter

ora pro nobis.

Feast of St. Ann(e)

Meal Planning with a CSA/ farmers market

Summer is upon us, and for many people, that means farmers' markets or CSAs (community supported agriculture or farm box) have started up, which can be a fun and economical way to enjoy local produce.  But just because you could end up with any produce in any week does not have to be cause for meal planning panic! As you can see from the list below, having the staples listed below on hand means you can cook just about any fruit or vegetable as a side or incorporated in the entree.

• Omelettes/quiche: eggs, milk, flour, cheese, butter
• Pasta sauce: pasta, olive oil, cheese, garlic
• Pesto: olive oil, nuts, cheese
• Risotto: arborio rice, cheese, chicken stock
• Grilled: foil or skewers, oil
• Cold soup: stock/bouillon, sour cream, butter
• Crudités: sour cream or hummus for dip
• Salad: oil and vinegar
• Fritters: oil, cornmeal, eggs
• Taco/enchilada filling: tortillas, sauce or salsa, cheese
• Pizza topping: crust, tomatoes, cheese, olive oil
• Stir fried: oil, soy sauce, scallions, sesame seeds, rice or noodles
• Curried: spices, coconut milk, tomatoes, lentils
• Fresh fruit pie: pie crust, gelatin, sugar, whipping cream
• Fruit pie/cobbler: butter, lard/shortening, sugar
• Pickled: vinegar, pickling spices, lids
• Jam: pectin (I am partial to Ball Low Sugar flex batch), sugar, bottled lemon juice, lids
• Homemade ice cream: milk, cream, eggs, sugar
• Homemade sorbet: sugar

For more ideas, check out these websites and books:

Websites

Ten things to do with beet greens or chard

Food in Jars Recipe Index

How to Get the Most out of Your CSA

Books

Twelve Months of Monastery Soups

Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces

Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Volume 1: egg dishes, Volume 2: cold soups)

Meal Planning - How to organize your recipes

There are as many ways to organize recipes as there are people to cook them.  Similar to the struggle between paper planners and online calendars, recipe organization can quickly become a confusing territory of notecards and bookmarked webpages.

The most you need is two steps in the process: somewhere for recipes you want to try, and somewhere for recipes you want to keep.

Having a place for recipes to try is the first step.  For recipes I find online, I use Evernote to organize them.  I have the browser add-on that allows me to save recipes from any website, so it just takes one click to "clip" them and put them away for safe keeping.  One bonus of this system is that the Evernote notebook is searchable (using both tags and the text of the note itself), so it's easy to find things again.  The downside of this is that it really works best for things found digitally; if you tend to get ideas from searching through cookbooks, the easiest option is to scan or take a picture of the recipe and send it to the notebook.

The old-fashioned way is to make a list of what you want to try (noting where you found it, obviously).  This allows you to combine print and digital sources.

Once you find a keeper, put it somewhere permanent.  It doesn't matter if this is a card in your box, a print-off in your binder, or a post on your private blog - just have one designated place for all the recipes you want to see again.  My mom's recipe box (above) is like the Ark of the Covenant for our family's favorite recipes.  We all know that the recipe box is the first place to look for a recipe we know and love.

Another option is to make a virtual recipe box by posting to a recipe blog.  This is an especially handy option if you want to share recipes among people who are geographically distant.  Our family's page includes lots of the Recipe Box classics (many of the frequently-requested recipes that Mom got tired of typing out for her long-distance daughters), as well as new things we've tried and liked.  Give it a cute name or just stick to something basic like smithfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com; it's up to you.  Like Evernote, you can add tags to each post, so that categories can be browsed.  When I'm looking for a good recipe to use up leftover chicken, I can just click on that category to see what other people and I have posted in the past.  Hands down, this may be my favorite organizational tool.