I can’t resist passing along a few articles worth reading, spanning topics of faith, family, and disability: I’m probably just more aware of it than ever before (thanks again, Penny, for opening my eyes to a whole new world), but I feel as though every day I’m reading or hearing about people who are adopting children with Down syndrome. Much of this good work goes through Reece’s Rainbow. ABC News reports in a story called “Hidden Angels: American Families Saving... Read more
On the morning of Penny’s birthday last Friday, I picked up my “prayer card” for her. It’s a record of my hopes and dreams for her from the past year. It includes a verse from Psalm 1 that I’ve prayed for her more or less since she was born: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in... Read more
Okay, it’s a deceptive blog title. I have no idea how to make my book a best seller, and even if I had the time to try, I’m not sure I’d be willing to devote the energy. But I do know that two major factors in whether or not books continue to sell are 1) word of mouth (so if you liked A Good and Perfect Gift, do tell people about it) and 2) familiarity, which is to say, hearing... Read more
I used to think that infancy was the only time when sleep was a problem for parents. I was ready for a few months of getting up every few hours. I wasn’t ready for years on end of interrupted slumber because someone has a cold or needs water or needs help going potty or is just not tired even though it’s 2 a.m.. I wasn’t ready for daylight savings prompting six weeks of transition, with at least one child awake... Read more
One of the wonders of the Christmas season is the opportunity to teach our kids the Christmas story. We’ve used a sticker-based Advent calendar this December, in which readings from the Bible correspond to a little poem and a sticker. Penny remembers the details from years past, but to William, it’s new–the shepherds, the wise men, the donkey, the angel, the star, and even Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. For weeks now, he’s played with our nativity scene–a set... Read more
For a few years now, I’ve talked about “American Christmas” and “Christian Christmas,” and I’ve decided that as a family we observe both. For American Christmas we sing songs about Santa and decorate the living room. For Christian Christmas we have a Birthday Party for Jesus and a manger scene. But recently I’ve realized that the materialism of Christmas is, ironically, both not-at-all Christian– in the careless spending and disregard for the spiritual overtones of the season– and yet that... Read more
Penny has had an aversion to, and fascination with, Santa Claus for years now. Four years, to be precise. It began with shyness, almost as if she were a baby again, cuddling against my chest. Then screams of terror. Last year, with her dad in the Santa suit, sobs. (I tried to tell her that Santa wasn’t real. She didn’t believe me.) Sometimes she talks about Santa in June. Just checking whether he’s coming back. This year, I prepared her... Read more
My sister-in-law and I tried to make Christmas a little simpler this year. At first, we thought we’d give family presents, but then we realized that it’s awfully hard to buy gifts that make everyone from a 10-month old to a 5-year old happy. So we settle on books. They’re relatively inexpensive. They last a long time. And if they’re good, they transport you somewhere–to a world of new ideas, new people, new places, new emotions. Yesterday, we gathered together... Read more
Years ago, I watched a camp counselor illustrate a point. He held an empty jar, and first he filled it with pebbles. Then he tried to add three big rocks. They didn’t fit. He poured out the pebbles. The three big rocks fit now, and the pebbles filled in the space around them. He was even able to add some cups of sand and then some water. That jar was packed tight, but it all fit. As long as the... Read more
Thin Places-Faith, Family and Disability
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Designer Babies, Christmas, and A Good and Perfect Gift
Philip Ney has an essay discussing A Good and Perfect Gift in the current issue of Comment Magazine: “Whoever Welcomes This Child.” (It’s an essay about two books, including Amy Laura Hall’s Conceiving Parenthood, and the whole piece is worth reading, but just so you know the Good and Perfect Gift part comprises the second half.) Ney writes: A Good and Perfect Gift is accessible, fun, and moving. It will be enjoyable to read whether or not you are a parent,... Read more