Penny will “graduate” from pre-school today. She’ll sing songs and receive a diploma and give hugs to her friends and her teachers. And we’ll feel a little silly that we’re sitting through a pre-school graduation and a little nervous that kindergarten comes next and very proud of our little girl. And we’re not alone. We’re not alone in a general sense–tons of parents feel silly and nervous and proud of their 5-year-olds. But we’re also not alone among parents of... Read more
I wrote earlier this week that I would be taking Tuesday and Wednesday as spiritual retreat days. Some of you offered suggestions for how to spend that time. Others simply wished me well. Thank you! I spent the past two days trying to avoid my phone (but still succumbing to temptation far too often and glimpsing at the emails piling up in the inbox, the voicemail from my grandmother, the text message from an old friend) and trying to sit... Read more
“You should read your blog,” Peter said. “What do you mean?” I asked. I had just told him about an hour on Sunday when I considered sitting on the porch and reading a book but ended up putting away clothes instead. He referred me to a post I had written about learning how to rest. Oh. Right. So earlier this week, when I was awake in bed at four in the morning, reciting to myself the list of things I... Read more
As reporters and others cull through Sarah Palin’s emails of the past few years, one has surfaced that demonstrates her thoughts and feelings before she gave birth to Trig, her youngest son, who was born with Down syndrome: “How Sarah Palin Imagined God Talking to Her...” A recent report indicates that 15 Percent of People Worldwide have Disabilities: Across the world, people with disabilities have poorer health outcomes, lower education achievements, less economic participation and higher rates of poverty than... Read more
We aren’t a dessert-every-night kind of family. In fact, we’re more of a dessert-once-a-week-if-you’re-lucky type. So it’s a big deal when our kids get a cookie or a scoop of ice cream or a cupcake or what have you. A few nights back, they had been primed for chocolate cake. But William was having trouble controlling his hands at the table. He “dropped” his fork. And then he did it again. And Peter told him, “If you drop your fork... Read more
Two articles about caring for the earth in the most recent issue of Christianity Today… First, an interview by Andy Crouch with Eugene Peterson and Peter Harris, “The Joyful Environmentalists.” It’s not yet available online (I’ll try to remember to post a link when it is), but for now, Peter Harris on a specifically Christian care for the earth: We do many of the same things as do secular environmental organizations, but we do them for very different reasons… If…... Read more
I stayed up late every night this week reading The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. It’s no great surprise that I loved it. The plot involves Lynnie, a young white woman with an intellectual disability, and Homan, an African-American deaf man. They fall in love and run away from “the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded.” Lynnie gives birth to a child and, just before being dragged back to the School, gives the child away to a kind... Read more
Anyone who reads this blog knows I’m someone who loves order and predictability and productivity and, well, balance. I’ve written before about my desire for balance and some of the holy disruptions that push me off-kilter. Having a newborn pushes me off kilter. Or perhaps I should write, a newborn is a holy disruption. Marilee wakes up at unpredictable hours. She might take three naps in a day. She might take five. And her needs keep changing. On a more... Read more
I was only five years old when my cousin Ben was born. I do not remember exactly how I was told that he has Down Syndrome or what that really meant. I think my mom explained that “things are just going to be harder for Ben,” or something to that effect. All I knew was that he was that he was another cousin for me to play with. I didn’t realize at the time that watching him grow up would... Read more
Yesterday two packages arrived. The first was a small box with five “Advanced Reading Copies” of my upcoming book, A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations and a Little Girl Named Penny. The second were the “galleys” for that book, which is to say the final final draft. I have seven days to comb through it for the very last time and send it back. By late August, the official copies will be available, but even as I write a... Read more
Thin Places-Faith, Family and Disability
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