Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

Being a tourist in our own town, Pokemon fun, chili paste, the Fourth of July, and more (7 Quick Takes)

July 7, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

~1~ Do you call those flying insects that light up fireflies or lightning bugs? I call them fireflies, but my mother says they are lightning bugs. I can’t decide why I don’t use the same term she does. ~2~ I have been off from work this week and enjoying my staycation with our boys. This […]

Catching fireflies and memories

July 5, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Dusk is falling as we head outside. It’s time to catch fireflies.Our boys run around the yard, chasing the fireflies as they light up and then fade into the dim evening light. Their little hands reach into the bushes, down toward the grass, and up into the sky, as they try to capture the magical […]

Conversation and a cup of tea

July 3, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Commentary, The Domestic Church

When I mention my sister’s baby girl, her eyes light up with pleasure. A few minutes later when she asks about my sister, she is surprised – and ecstatic – to hear that she has a baby.

Summer in full swing, snowballs, and socializing at kids’ birthday parties (7 Quick Takes)

June 30, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

~1~ With 12 full weeks between the end of one school year and the start of the next, we have a carefully woven tapestry of sitters and camps and time hanging at home with my husband and me. This week included Bible Camp, and the boys had even more fun than they expected to—though I […]

Waiting on our hydrangea and learning a lesson in patience

June 28, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

What is it about hydrangeas? I can’t say they’re my favorite flowers because I’ve said that about azaleas and forsythia and roses and tulips, and I’m obviously very fickle.But we did have hydrangeas on the tables at our wedding, lovely blue blossoms I cut from the bush in my parents’ yard and inserted into dollar-store […]

My journey from Platform 9¾: How I first encountered Harry Potter

June 26, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

As a young newspaper reporter in Southcentral Pennsylvania back in July 1999, I was assigned to go to a bookstore on a Friday night for a book release party. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was coming out, and dozens of children were expected to attend—in costume and full of excitement.I had heard of […]

Summer reading, a drawing of the Easter Bunny, Father’s Day, and water balloons (7 Quick Takes)

June 23, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

~1~ Summer is really here! We went to sign up for summer reading at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The boys’ aunt (my sister) works there, so we always register there. It’s a terrific program—and I would say that even if we didn’t have an aunt working there. We always stop to see the fish […]