I'm not sure if it's really the best ever, but I am LOVING Ann Patchett's This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. The title is deceptive, as at least so far I've just heard (I'm listening on audiobook) Patchett's series of essays about the craft and ...

It sounds pretty basic. A lovely young couple wants children, and they want those children to prosper and grow. They want to do as much as they reasonably can to ensure that those children have good, full lives. Happy lives. Lives that are as free from suffering and pain ...

1. If even a hint of snow is expected, turn off the ringer on your phone the night before. You do not need to know at 5:02 a.m. that your children will be home all day. You need to keep sleeping. They need to keep sleeping.

2. When you wake up and discover that although ...

I have a new post at her.meneutics about politics and Down syndrome, with specific reference to Cathy McMorris Rodgers' response to President Obama's State of the Union address earlier this week. It begins:

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers's response to the president's ...

It is Marilee's third birthday today. We will celebrate with pink cupcakes and make-your-own-pizza night and gifts and singing.

A few weeks ago, we were telling her about the day she was born. It was in the midst of a very snowy winter, and we drove home in the midst ...

When I was 20 weeks pregnant with our first child, I chatted with a friend about our upcoming ultrasound. "We find out whether we're having a boy or a girl tomorrow," I said.

She nodded with a slight smile, and responded, "And you find out if your baby ...

I started going to boot camp last April. I don't really know what got into me. Perhaps I was overwhelmed by the five or so pounds I had gained over the winter. Or inspired by the women I knew who went there and felt better and got stronger and enjoyed their time together. ...

Some book and article notes in a sec, but first: What's your favorite spiritual memoir? I'm looking for a good one. I've enjoyed Mary Karr, Anne Lamott, Martha Beck, and Kate Braestrup, to give you a sense of what I like. Any other favorites out there?

On the bedside table: I ...

Getting into the car this morning looked something like this:

"Mom! William won't let me sit in the special seat!" Penny yells, eyes wide with shock at the injustice of it all. Penny sat in the special seat yesterday. She knows it is William's turn.

William runs past her, and ...

I wrote about paternity leave last week for her.meneutics, and I tried to make three points in that essay: that paternity leave is good for families, that we should thank feminism for the advances towards paternity leave, and that the church has an opportunity, through proactive ...

No new books for me this week, but here are the articles I tweeted this week that you might enjoy:

Family:

"If This #Sochi Ad Doesn't Make You Tear Up, Then Check Your Pulse" http://ow.ly/so1u9 #parenting #success http://ow.ly/i/4euvC

MTV's ‘16 and Pregnant' helping to reduce #TeenPreganancies?ow.ly/szeaD #pregnancy #TeenMom @AnnieLowrey @nytimes

I am reading a wonderful manuscript of a book that I hope will find a publisher one day. It's a memoir that includes a child with a disability and a spiritual journey and many hopes and fears and dreams and some very lovely writing. Despite its many strengths, it may well be ...

This morning, I left the house early to work out. My husband Peter arose with the kids—Penny, age 8, William, 5, and Marilee, almost 3. I returned to find them in various forms of protest, insisting I make their breakfast even though their dad is equally capable of slicing banana ...

In an article for the Catholic World Report, Leslie Fain writes:

In the last two or three years, at high schools from Florida to Illinois, students have been forsaking quarterbacks and cheerleading captains and electing teenagers with Down syndrome to be homecoming kings and ...

A few nights back, we thought all the kids were asleep, only to discover Penny under our covers, reading Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship through Letters, written back and forth over the years by Amy Andrews and Jessica Griffith. "This is a cool book," she told me. And ...