October 1st is the feast day of St. Therese, who if you haven’t already figured it out, is the site’s patron. She is near and dear to my heart, and also to G’s. It’s funny, but when we were doing Ginny’s Patron Saint Toolkit (highly recommend! read more about our experience with it here), St. Therese came up as having the exact opposite temperament as G. Ginny wisely notes that sometimes, a child doesn’t need a one-to-one match, but sometimes, the saint they need most is one who is their opposite. Opposites have definitely attracted in the case of G and Therese.

In honor of her upcoming feast day, G and I (with a little help from William) used some wilting roses left over from our wedding anniversary to make home made rose potpourri. I was surprised at how easy it was and how beautifully it came out. Here’s how we did it:

Ingredients

• rose petals (we had red, and they were so beautiful)
• sprigs of fresh rosemary
• lavender and eucalyptus essential oil
• sachets (from the wedding aisle of your nearest craft store)

First we pulled the petals off the roses and laid them out on a cookie sheet. Next, we cut some sprigs off our rosemary plant and harvested the leaves (aka take the leaves off the stem). We added these to the cookie sheet. Then we sprayed it all with some lavender and eucalyptus oil spray (you could use any scents you like or none at all, but I think these 2 complement the roses and rosemary smells nicely). Then we put it in the oven at 200 degrees until the petals had dried. The smells were fabulous coming out of the oven and the roses retained their gorgeous color!

Then, we just put handfuls in the sachets and tied them up pretty. We said prayers for the people who will receive them and talked about how St. Therese often lets people know that she’s praying for them by sending them a rose. It was a great opportunity to talk with G about the ways in which we can cooperate with God’s will at a level she understands. She loved the idea that she could pray about who to give them to, and that perhaps she would be the person that St. Therese uses to bring roses to someone who needs it.

Stay tuned for more about how we’re going to celebrate Therese this week, and don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter for your free St. Therese prayer card and more tips and hints on liturgical living for the month of October.