(I've written about this before, but I think it is worth mentioning again.)

It happens all the time. Someone refers to my "Down syndrome child" or says, "They have a child who is Down syndrome," or "She's having a Down's baby." Or I read it in Time magazine or a newspaper article. ...

It was a few years ago, and Peter and I were talking about our relentless work ethic. We both work hard, at more or less everything, all the time. Why? For years, we had agreed when people told us that we must be striving for approval, yearning to please others through our efforts. ...

I recently read a story by Wendell Berry, originally published in the Atlantic's Fiction Issues, 2008 (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200808/berry-stand). I commend the story on the whole, but I wanted to share this paragraph, which comes on the heels of the death of one of ...

It's tempting to let it go. But every day, usually three times every day, we clean up the mess. Dishes in the dishwasher. Toys in the basket. Food back in the frig. Dirty clothes in the laundry. I sometimes can't believe that we will be back at the same place–sticky peach on ...

Peter and I watch TV the way other people go to the movies. We watch about once a week, always together. It is always an event. We pick one show at a time. Years ago, it was Survivor. Then The West Wing. Then Lost, interspersed by summer series to make up the long stretches ...

A few nights back, I decided it was time to teach Penny the Lord's Prayer. I was kneeling beside her bed, as I always do at bedtime. She sat up and put her hands together. "I'll say a line, and then you repeat it.""Otay.""Our Father," I started, but then interrupted myself. ...

God refuses to work alone. God insists on working through human beings. So often, I wish God would agree to our cartoon image and intervene with dramatic action, lightning bolts, booming voices from the sky... Instead, he wants us to be "the body of Christ," the hands and feet ...

I've come across this verse before, but it never ceases to amaze me: "Heal me, Lord, for I have sinned against you." Psalm 41:4. It's as if I punched a doctor in the face and broke her nose and then turned to her and said, "I'm very sorry about your nose. Also, I seem to have ...