2013

On the Other Side of the Storm"Maybe it was only after the storm that he knew his house stood strong."

Some of you might remember how last fall went for me. We moved three times between June and September, and we landed in a small dark house for six months while our permanent residence underwent a significant renovation. The kids were transitioning to new schools. Peter had a ...

Man with Down Syndrome Completes NYC Marathon (and why this great news makes me sad)Jimmy Jenson's story inspires me. And it makes me very sad, because across the globe people believe that a life like his is not possible for their child.

It's a fantastic, made-for-TV, feel-good story. Jimmy Jenson, a 48-year old man with Down syndrome, completed his second marathon on Sunday in New York City. I have never run farther than four miles. This guy made it 26.2 miles. It's a tremendous accomplishment in and of itself, ...

Announcing Small Talk (or, I Get to Write Another Book!)Small Talk (to be published by Zondervan next summer) is a parenting memoir about the “big questions" children ask, the thoughts they provoke, and the laughter, investigation, and soul-searching that follow, for parent and child alike.

Last spring, I received the wonderful news that Zondervan would be my publisher for my next book, Small Talk (subtitle to be decided), which is scheduled to come out next August. It took a few months of back and forth to finally receive the signed contract, so I've written twenty ...

What Reading Material is on Your Bedside Table This Week? What reading is on your bedside table this week?

On the bedside table: I just started God's Double Agent: The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom by Bob Fu (with Nancy French). I'm 100 pages in, and so far I recommend it as a well-written memoir that takes place within a historical and spiritual context all ...

What I've Learned This Month About Down Syndrome, Cures, Health, and FamilyA summary of the posts this past month in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness Month addressing the question "Should we try to cure Down syndrome?"

For the past month, in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness Month, I've invited a host of people–doctors, professors, mothers, fathers, and individuals with Down syndrome–to address a question that has come up across various news outlets in recent months: Should we try to cure Down ...

What Does it Mean to Be Healthy? John Swinton on Down Syndrome, Shalom, and MedicineProfessor John Swinton "The most hedonistic, intellectually astute athlete can be ill and in need of healing (restoration to right relationship with God) and the most deeply impaired individuals can be healthy and indeed beautiful."

I am grateful to Amy Julia Becker for the invitation to make a small, but I hope nonetheless useful contribution to this ongoing discussion. The question "Should Down syndrome be cured"? is certainly interesting and controversial. But I do wonder if it is actually the right ...

My Suspicions About "Curing" Down SyndromeAlison Piepmeier explains her suspicions about new research related to Down syndrome: "My description that I’m now trying to make into a catch phrase is that disability is an embraceable form of human diversity."

This week is the final week of Down syndrome Awareness Month, and therefore the final week of posts addressing the question of whether we should try to "cure" Down syndrome. Today we hear from Alison Piepmeier, Professor of Women and Gender Studies at the College of Charleston ...

Are there any Christians who take a day of rest anymore? Some Reflections on Andy Crouch's Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of PowerAndy Crouch's new book, Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, challenged me and encouraged me in many ways. And it reminded me that I want laughter to be a hallmark of our Sundays.

Yesterday was Sunday. I think of it as the Sabbath, even though I know that the Sabbath is a Jewish observance that typically happened on the last day of the week, Saturday. But still, from what I understand, Christians co-opted the Sabbath and moved it to the first day of the ...

Quick Reads for the WeekendArticles on women, Down syndrome, motherhood for your reading pleasure

I hope to offer a reflection on Andy Crouch's Playing God on Monday. For now, I will simply say that if you are interested in culture, sociology, and the Christian story, this book is for you. And in case I haven't been clear about it already, Kate Braestrup's Here if You Need ...

A New Story for Down Syndrome"I wonder if there's any hope of entering an age with a new story, a story that isn't as dramatic as Heath White's or Chloe Ashton's, a story that doesn't rely upon an entry point of grief, a story that doesn't need the tension of transformation."

There's a video making the Internet rounds. It introduces us to Heath White, a father who didn't always love his daughter Paisley. Heath reads a letter in which he confesses that before Paisley was born, he urged his wife to have an abortion. Paisley was prenatally diagnosed ...

Loving My Challenging Life with Down syndrome"My name is Tryn Miller, and I would like to tell you about growing up with Down syndrome."

I first met Tryn Miller online a year ago when I ran a series about Down syndrome and friendship. Tryn, who has Down syndrome, and her friend Anna, wrote about their relationship (For Tryn's, click here and for Anna's click here). When I started thinking about the question of ...

Missing Adam: One Mother Reflects Upon Her Son with Down SyndromeStephanie Brock reflects on her son Adam and Down syndrome: "...we want to cure Down syndrome because it's not self-imposed, and we chafe as humans against anything we didn't decide or do for or to ourselves. We want to cure disability because it's not the right kind of difference, or difficulty, or suffering."

This morning my middle son Caleb said he missed his brother Adam who has been at respite all week. Adam goes to respite periodically because Adam is classed as disabled. He has Down syndrome and Autism, and has recently finished two and a half years of hospital-based treatment ...

None the Same as the Other: Ethical Reflections on Eradicating Down SyndromeA guest post from Notre Dame Professor of Ethics Hans Reinders today: "Of course it can argued that [people with Down syndrome] at least have this one extra chromosome in common, otherwise they would not be identified as people with Down syndrome, but this observation tells us next to nothing about their lives. It does not inform the debate on whether humanity would be better off without DS in any significant way."

I am honored to share with you a guest post from author and ethicist Hans Reinders. As his bio attests below, Dr. Reinders has thought and written about ethics and disability for many years, and his thinking had a profound effect on my own understanding of the place of people ...

Best Play Date Ever: Down syndrome, fear, friendship, and hopeWhy has my fear that Penny wouldn't make friends continued all these years?

One of my biggest fears for Penny when she was diagnosed with Down syndrome was that she wouldn't have friends.

The other fears I had in the hospital all those years ago have dissipated. Some–like my fear that I wouldn't love her as she continued to grow up–seem laughable now. ...

Where Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Can Agree, and other things I'm reading this weekMy book review for Christianity Today, plus what I'm reading and tweeting this week.

I have a new post on Christianity Today's website this week, a review of Rachel Adam's new memoir, Raising Henry: A Memoir of Motherhood, Disability, and Discovery. To read it, go to A Mother's Love for a Modern-Day Miracle: Meet the pro-choice secular Manhattanite whose study ...

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