Welcoming New Relationships
As the old saying suggests, this time of year most always brings April showers and May flowers, along with the hope of spring. Nature is waking up from its winter slumber and the earth is bursting with new life and vegetation.
It’s safe to say that many of us look forward to the spring season. By this point in the year, we are ready for the winter blues to pass us by and happy to embrace beautiful weather and good times.
In this season, we want to encourage you to truly celebrate and welcome new life– not only in nature, but in your personal lives as well. There are many ways new life can present itself to us, and sometimes the change that comes along with it can cause us more stress than joy.
Maybe you or a friend is expecting a new baby and you’re not sure how to prepare or help them prepare. Maybe you are welcoming a new daughter or son-in-law into your family and feel anxious about the inevitable shift in your family dynamic. Maybe you have a new colleague at work and you're still getting to know each other. Maybe you have new neighbors and worry about making a good impression on them.
We want you to know that it is natural and healthy to feel a sense of uncertainty when approaching a major life change. However, we don’t want the fear of change to stop us from feeling joyful, showing up for the people we love, and welcoming new people into our lives.
If you want to be a great mother-in-law, for example, reach out to your child’s future spouse. Grab coffee with both of them or send them a nice text about how excited you are to welcome him or her into your family. For that new baby in your life, find and do the things that help you feel prepared and excited, like setting up a nursery, meal planning, or looking through the baby clothes aisle at the store. Bring a treat to your new coworker. Invite the neighbors over for dinner. What feels like a small gesture to you might make someone’s day, and it will definitely show them that you care about the relationship. On the flip side, acting with intention and kindness with new people will also help you to feel better and more excited about forming connections with them.
Cardinal Henry Newman writes, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” While none of us are perfect, we can become more generous, loving, and joyful by accepting the changes and new relationships that present themselves to us. Let us embrace a spirit of openness to life in all its forms this spring!
Check out our Resources page for more advice and support.
"He who plants kindness gathers love."
St. Basil the Great
A Guide to Gift Baskets
A great way to make someone feel welcomed or loved is to offer them a gift to show you are thinking about them. Here is a helpful guide to making a thoughtful gift basket for all the people in your life!
What Every Gift Basket Needs:
A Theme
Based on the occasion, choose a theme for your basket and try to choose colors and items that align with that theme.
A Basket
This one may seem obvious, but it can sometimes be tricky to find a great basket. Check your local home decor or improvement stores for a large selection, or head to the thrift store for more affordable options!
Great Presentation
Use some sort of fluff, grass, or tissue paper at the bottom of your basket with a bow or tag on top to make it look beautiful.
An Assortment of Items to Fit the Theme
Tip: Items that can be used up or eaten are great to give to people you don't know as well- lotion, candles, snacks, drinks, wine, etc.
At Least One Personal Item
Most of the items in a gift basket can be pretty small and generic, but there should be one or more personal items that stand out and are specific to that person.
Ideas for Specific Occasions
Baby Basket: baby powder, pacifiers, rattle, some treats for mom and dad, stuffed animal, book, diapers and wipes
Housewarming Basket: wine and cheese, candles, cookbook, throw blanket, local items from their new neighborhood or city
Birthday Basket: all their favorite snacks, a journal for the coming year, movie or concert tickets, a unique copy of their favorite book, funny socks
Bridal Basket: cozy pjs or robe, wedding planning journal, gift card to nail salon, personalized keepsake, framed photo of the couple, champagne
Postpartum Basket: witch hazel spray, ice packs, chocolate, bubbly water, game or puzzle for mom and dad to do together, gift card to their favorite takeout spot
Art of Living for Girls andthe Joy of Femininity
The Art of Living for Girls Milwaukee just wrapped up their last session of the spring!
These young women demonstrated compassion, character, and growth as they moved through each Kickstart! class. Not only were they willing and excited to learn the practical skills taught in each session, but they fully embraced the deeper intellectual lessons of the program as well.
One particular topic that the girls focused on this year was the joy of femininity. We spoke about the great joy that comes with serving others and the ability of women to make others feel nurtured and cared for in a special way.
St. Pope John Paul II writes in his Letter to Women: “It is thus my hope, dear sisters, that you will reflect carefully on what it means to speak of the ‘genius of women.’ … Necessary emphasis should be placed on the ‘genius of women,’ not only by considering great and famous women of the past or present, but also those ordinary women who reveal the gift of their womanhood by placing themselves at the service of others in their everyday lives. For in giving themselves to others each day women fulfill their deepest vocation. Perhaps more than men, women acknowledge the person, because they see persons with their hearts. They see them independently of various ideological or political systems. They see others in their greatness and limitations; they try to go out to them and help them. In this way the basic plan of the Creator takes flesh in the history of humanity and there is constantly revealed, in the variety of vocations, that beauty-not merely physical, but above all spiritual-which God bestowed from the very beginning on all, and in a particular way on women.”
The femininity St. Pope John Paul II describes above is the type of femininity that our AOLG participants have demonstrated and grown in throughout the program. We are excited for them to use the skills they have learned in Kickstart! to develop their own “feminine genius,” and to become the strong, compassionate, selfless women we know they can be!
Learn more about Art of Living for Girls.
