I have a new post on Motherlode, the parenting blog of the New York Times: “Has Down Syndrome Hurt Us?”. (Incidentally, for those of you who love the content of Motherlode and read it regularly, as I do, Lisa Belkin, the editor, is moving to the Huffington Post. I’m hoping to continue to contribute to one or both outlets.) I’ll paste the beginning of the post here, in hopes that you’ll click over to Motherlode and read it in full.... Read more
A few weeks back someone asked me, “When did you know there was something wrong with your baby?” I hesitated for a moment before answering, because I’m not convinced that there was something wrong with my baby. I think he meant, “When did you find out Penny had Down syndrome?” and I certainly understand the equation. Down syndrome=something wrong. Right? Well, maybe. Two hours after Penny was born, we found out that she had Down syndrome. We already knew–from ultrasounds... Read more
I’ve written before about the two stories circulating in our culture about Down syndrome. There’s the prenatal testing story, which suggests that fewer and fewer children with Down syndrome are being and will be born as women choose to terminate their pregnancies once they discover the presence of the extra chromosome. And there’s the much happier story of people with Down syndrome receiving early intervention, being included in classrooms and other activities, living at home with caring families, and living... Read more
I have a review of Kent Dunnington’s new book, Addiction and Virtue: Beyond Models of Disease and Choice in this month’s Christianity Today magazine: “The Antidote to Alcohol and Drug Addiction.” It begins: A friend of mine, let’s call him Bob, was a faithful and lifelong churchgoer. He sang hymns with gusto, responded to the liturgy, insisted that his kids be baptized, and mingled at coffee hour. He even served in various leadership roles within the church. At the same... Read more
I’m working on an article for Parents.com which will offering advice about raising a child with Down syndrome. I have my list of bullet-points that I would offer, but I’m curious what you all would say. If you are the parent of a child with Down syndrome (or a child with special needs) what has helped you the most ? Read more
I had the chance to hear Tim Keller speak last weekend on “The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.” It was a great talk, in which he referenced theologian Lesslie Newbigen’s book by the same name. At the end of his talk, someone asked whether Christians must be fanatics. He replied by saying that the people we think of as “fanatics” tend to be fanatical only about one part of the gospel. They might be fanatical about the cross, for instance,... Read more
Penny woke up every morning the first week of kindergarten and looked at me eagerly, “I get to go to kindergarten again?” Her tone held a mixture of incredulity and delight. We’ve settled into a morning routine–pack lunch and a snack, make breakfast, get dressed. She and William strap their backpacks on and we walk together up the little hill to her school. Penny has noticed that some of the older kids we know from our neighborhood get to walk... Read more
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is one of my very favorite hymns. We sang it during Penny’s baptism, and I’d happily insert it into every other monumental worship service, from weddings to funerals. It’s honest and hopeful and beautiful. I sang it again recently, and I was struck by the lines: Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love Here’s my heart O take a seal it, Seal it for thy courts above... Read more
I thought you might be interested in a few reviews of A Good and Perfect Gift that came in over the course of the past few days: First, from the Oregonian, a review by Amy Wang. She writes: “A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny,” Amy Julia Becker’s new book about her first two years with her firstborn, is a beautifully written and clear-eyed memoir that describes one mother’s pain as she struggles to... Read more
I grieved after Penny was born. I wish it weren’t true, but I can’t deny it. I know, I know. It was a normal response, and I needed to go through it in order for things to change. Actually, one of the most challenging aspects of writing A Good and Perfect Gift was revisiting my emotions from those early months of Penny’s life because they now seem so foreign and, as I’ve written before, so ugly. Oftentimes when I speak... Read more
Thin Places-Faith, Family and Disability
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In