I Missed the Halloween Party ?!?

Last updated on: November 1, 2011 at 8:40 am By Amy Julia Becker

Halloween. Never a holiday that brings out the best in me. Last year’s Halloween post included my admission that I generally lean (heavily) upon my mother for costumes and decorations, including many a year where even the trick or treating occurred in her neighborhood. I remembered the conversation from last October: “So I’m thinking about Halloween,” I said. “Yeah,” Peter said. “We could go to the consignment store and find something cute.” “I’m kind of opposed to store bought costumes.” Peter looked... Read more

I Don’t Know How She Does It . . .

Last updated on: October 31, 2011 at 9:30 am By Amy Julia Becker

Marilee and I just returned from a 5 day road trip to Richmond, Virginia. We had a packed itinerary–two book readings on Wednesday night, talks to a women’s Bible study on Thursday morning and a church forum Thursday night, participation in a “Maker’s” series with other artists on Friday night, two parenting classes on Sunday morning and a different event Sunday night. She had some one-on-one time with her mom, which is rather rare. She got her first kiss from... Read more

Everything I Ever Needed to Learn . . .

Last updated on: October 28, 2011 at 9:18 am By Amy Julia Becker

For those of you who read this blog regularly, you know that Penny started kindergarten two months ago, and you know that we couldn’t be more pleased with her situation. With that said, as I’ve also mentioned, Penny has had a tough time “controlling her hands” and following directions in school. Her teacher gave up one of her planning periods in order to help Penny on the playground. She broke the day down into ten minute segments, with Penny earning... Read more

What Down Syn Mean?

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 at 10:35 pm By Amy Julia Becker

It’s a question William asked me a long time ago, and I’ve been thinking about the answer ever since. I wrote it up for Lisa Belkin’s new blog, Parentlode, at the Huffington Post “Explaining Down Syndrome to My Daughter, and to Myself.” My post begins: A few months back, I mentioned to our daughter Penny that she would be meeting another little boy who had Down syndrome, just like her. She didn’t say anything in response, but later on that... Read more

Hat Trick, and October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 at 8:53 am By Amy Julia Becker

This post is an excuse to a) show you what Penny did at her babysitter’s wedding shower this past weekend, which is to say, spend an hour trying on different hats and “walk down the aisle” (her words), stop, twirl, and wait for the applause of the forty or so women in the room (photos below, in which I only captured a very few of her poses because Penny got annoyed with me behind the camera, as some of the... Read more

What Good Are Emotions?

Last updated on: October 24, 2011 at 8:55 am By Amy Julia Becker

My mother-in-law used to have a list of “feeling words” on her refrigerator. They were accompanied by a fill-in-the-blank statement, “I feel _________ when you __________.” The idea was that you separate the way you feel from the person’s action instead of blaming them directly for your feelings while simultaneously expressing yourself. We used to tease her about it, but years later I’m also grateful for that simple training in direct communication. Our pastor has been preaching about emotions for... Read more

Disability Matters to All of Us . . .

Last updated on: October 24, 2011 at 8:59 am By Amy Julia Becker

I can understand why lots of people assume that I wrote A Good and Perfect Gift with an audience of parents of children with Down syndrome in mind. It certainly speaks directly to our shared situation, and many parents have written me to say that they went through a similar pattern of shock and fear that turned in to gradual acceptance and eventually full embrace not only of their child, but of their child with Down syndrome. But I didn’t... Read more

A Smattering: Dragon Mother, Reading the Bible Makes You Liberal, and Sequenom Releases New Prenatal Test for Down Syndrome

Last updated on: October 21, 2011 at 9:01 am By Amy Julia Becker

By now, many of you have already read Notes From a Dragon Mom, Emily Rapp’s beautiful and honest meditation about her son Ronan, who is terminally ill with Tay-Sachs disease. She writes, How do you parent without a net, without a future, knowing that you will lose your child, bit by torturous bit? Depressing? Sure. But not without wisdom, not without a profound understanding of the human experience or without hard-won lessons, forged through grief and helplessness and deeply committed love... Read more

Some Days are Filled with Unexpected Joy

Last updated on: October 19, 2011 at 9:45 am By Amy Julia Becker

Yesterday should have been rough. Peter was away, and I had gotten about five hours of sleep. But then, Marilee signed “eat” for the first time. William prayed, “Um, God, please help Dad get home safety with no accidents.” Penny got frustrated as she tried to hang a photo on the refrigerator and said, “Darnit gracious!” instead of “Goodness gracious!” We all went outside together, and after thirty minutes of eating grass and dirt (yes, she’s a third child), Marilee... Read more

Strength in Grace: Reflections on Brennan Manning’s All Is Grace

Last updated on: October 18, 2011 at 11:10 am By Amy Julia Becker

“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” —2 Timothy 2:1 I believe that God’s grace, offered through Jesus to each and every one of us, is always available. Even if we “cheapen” it (to paraphrase Bonhoeffer) by persistent sin, even if we wait until the last possible moment to receive it. And yet I also believe that grace changes us, that the knowledge of God’s forgiveness and the experience of God’s love transform... Read more