A few weeks ago I wrote a post called Why Adoption Feels Harder than Abortion. My intention with the post was to help people like me–people who have not ever experienced an unplanned pregnancy, people who have never faced the fear and stress and sadness of a choice between keeping a child you can’t afford (emotionally or financially), aborting that fetus, or giving that child up for adoption. Hearing Angie Weszley speak had helped me to understand some of the... Read more
William came home from school a few weeks back and he said, “Mom.” He said it as a sentence, the way he does when he has something important to tell me. And then again, “Mom. My friend Ashley is not good at listening. And she screams.” William is three. He attends a local public preschool, and he’s in an “integrated” classroom, which is to say, a classroom where typically developing children learn and play alongside children with special needs. Three... Read more
Some of you may know that Bristol Palin has recently joined the roster of Patheos bloggers. Some of you may also know that Bristol and I have at least one other thing in common–she has a brother with Down syndrome who is close in age to Penny. So I noticed when she wrote about Down syndrome and abortion a few weeks ago: Stand with the 8%. For a long time, I thought Bristol (and many many others who write about... Read more
I received an email from a reader of this blog a few weeks ago. Lois Uptigrove shared her eulogy for her friend Delane with me, and I asked her to edit it a little bit so you could enjoy this portrait of a life well lived as well. Delane Ohlhauser was born in 1932 in the farming town of Carbon, Alberta, Canada, the 6th child of Jacob and Pauline Ohlhauser. He was an active healthy child until three years old... Read more
For any of you who have checked my website lately, you might have noticed it’s been a bit static. My web designer is closing shop, so I’m in the process of moving to a new site. Although the current site is still worth your time as far as seeing a slideshow of Penny as a baby (scroll to the bottom of the home page) and lots of articles I’ve written about prenatal testing, Down syndrome, spirituality, and more . .... Read more
I’m working on a new e-book with Patheos right now. It’s tentatively titled “What Every Woman Needs to Know About Prenatal Testing.” I’m writing it in an attempt to offer a relatively short and accessible guide to pregnant women who want to know what questions to ask and how to make decisions when it comes to the array of prenatal screening and diagnostic tests available. This isn’t a pro-life or pro-choice book. It isn’t supposed to tell women what to... Read more
I have the privilege right now of doing premarital counseling for a young couple who plan to wed in October. I’ve never done this type of counseling before, but it has been a wonderful way to reflect upon our own marriage and try to offer some words of practical advice and wisdom to them as they set out in life together. In preparation for our first session, I asked them to read the first half of Mike Mason’s The Mystery... Read more
On Friday night, Peter was on duty in our dorm of thirty boys. As we sat down to dinner with a dear old friend who had flown in from Denver earlier in the day, there was a knock on the door. The knocks continued throughout our meal, with Peter popping up to answer a question or adjudicate an absence. At some point, he said, “Oh, by the way, I need to go get the pig from the Amish market tomorrow... Read more
They met in college and fell in love. They talked about getting married, and he started looking for a ring. They dreamed about life together, a life of beauty and joy, raising babies and laughing with friends and growing old. They did not imagine a car accident. They did not imagine his brain injury. They did not dream about the need for constant care and a wheelchair and fear that food might choke him. They did not plan for this.... Read more
Penny lost her third tooth today. They are falling out just as expected–first the bottom two, and now one up top with the one beside it wiggling as well. It came home from school with her in a small lavender box. At first, she was feeling brave. “The tooth fairy can come into my room.” I didn’t expect that, given that the first two teeth had to be placed in our room with notes outside her door barring the TF... Read more
Thin Places-Faith, Family and Disability
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