Where Should Christians Send Their Kids to School?

Last updated on: October 18, 2011 at 1:16 pm By Amy Julia Becker

I have a post on Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed blog today that discusses a recent survey comparing Protestant Christian schools to their Catholic, public, homeschooling, and private non-religious peers. As someone who attended a private non-religious boarding school, worked for a parachurch ministry with independent schools, and who is now married to a teacher in one of these schools, I had the chance to interview some colleagues who are in leadership in some of these schools about the survey. I... Read more

More Reviews of A Good and Perfect Gift

Last updated on: October 14, 2011 at 9:14 am By Amy Julia Becker

A friend remarked a number of years ago that writing a memoir has three stages–living the story, writing the story, and then sending the story out into the world. Each part contains its own risks, of course, but I’m feeling the vulnerability of part three these days. I want to defend myself against critics, even as I want to take criticism to heart and learn from it too. I want to rewrite sentences that don’t seem quite right to me... Read more

Making Mistakes

Last updated on: October 13, 2011 at 9:54 am By Amy Julia Becker

When we sit down to dinner as a family, we often go around the table and share one good thing about our day. But last night I decided, on the suggestion of a book I’m reading, to ask everyone, “What’s one mistake you made today?” The idea is that we start giving our kids freedom to admit their mistakes early on in their lives, before they’ve learned to try to hide them, before they think they’ll get in trouble for... Read more

Telling the Story: George Estreich’s The Shape of the Eye

Last updated on: October 12, 2011 at 10:45 am By Amy Julia Becker

I don’t have the words to convey how much I liked Geore Estreich’s book, The Shape of the Eye: Down Syndrome, Family, and the Stories We Inherit. Estreich is a poet, and his simple yet elegant prose tells the story of his daughter Laura’s entrance into their family. It details the harrowing months following her birth as they struggled to help her through heart surgery, help her learn to eat (Ranch dressing, Estreich claims, was the key), and then the... Read more

The Comparison Trap

Last updated on: October 11, 2011 at 8:58 am By Amy Julia Becker

I’ve been thinking about comparisons. We do it without thinking–compare our waistline to the person next to us, notice what car he drives, what bag she carries, what beauty they possess. And once children are a part of the equation, it all steps up a notch. We compare everything from developmental milestones to diaper rash. And sometimes that’s fine. Sometimes it remains simply a point of comparison, or a way of recognizing that my child is different than yours, even... Read more

Why School Is Scary, and Great

Last updated on: October 10, 2011 at 9:14 am By Amy Julia Becker

I’m years away from being an “empty nester,” and although I suspect that Penny will one day live independently, there’s always the possibility that our daughter with Down syndrome (or, for that matter, our typically-developing son or daughter) might end up under our roof for many years of their adulthood. Still, with William in pre-school and Penny in kindergarten, I have a guess as to what it might feel like. There’s the scary part. I’m entrusting my children to other... Read more

A Smattering of Posts Worth Reading: Infertility, Weddings, and a Little Boy with Down Syndrome Who Died Last Week

Last updated on: October 7, 2011 at 9:22 am By Amy Julia Becker

A post by Joanna Goddard that describes the struggle of infertility: What if You Can’t Have a Baby? Especially if you are struggling with infertility or trying to understand a friend in this position, Goddard’s post might be a helpful guide. I resonated with these words as I think back to how I felt after Penny was first born: I was a different person back then. Now I don’t even know what I’d go back and tell myself because I... Read more

A Good and Perfect Gift Update plus Giveaway

Last updated on: October 8, 2011 at 10:57 am By Amy Julia Becker

Over the course of the past few weeks, Patheos has featured A Good and Perfect Gift on the Patheos Book Club. Click here to read an excerpt, Q and A, etc. In addition, they featured four bloggers who reflected on the book: Jennifer Grant, “The Nature of Love Is to Expand,” who writes: . . . through it all, her book demonstrates the nature of love – especially parental love – as the imperfect, hopeful, and expansive miracle that it... Read more

One of Those Days . . .

Last updated on: October 6, 2011 at 9:34 am By Amy Julia Becker

Tuesday morning started at 5:30, with a text from our babysitter explaining that she couldn’t come in that day due to a death in the family. I got up shortly thereafter, made breakfast, got myself and the kids dressed, packed Penny’s lunch, made sure everyone had clean teeth and brushed hair, and then Peter walked them to school. Marilee and I picked William up and we all headed to the grocery store and for a special lunch at Panera. All... Read more

What I Learned From Raising A Child With Down Syndrome (So Far) on Parents.com

Last updated on: October 4, 2011 at 9:36 am By Amy Julia Becker

I have a new post on The Goody Blog for Parents Magazine called “What I Learned from Raising a Child with Down syndrome.” It could also be called, “What I Learned from Raising a Child,” even if the “lessons” have been more pronounced due to Penny’s extra chromosome. That’s one of the remarkable things about “disability.” I once thought that people with disabilities inhabited a separate sphere, a different category of humanity. Having Penny in my life has opened me... Read more