I've always loved language. I spoke early, and according to my mother, I wouldn't speak as a child until I could say a word correctly (except for raisins, which I called "sha sha." Go figure.). I stopped taking Science classes midway through high school so I could double up ...

When I was pregnant with William, I thought a lot about what it would be like for him to have an older sister with Down syndrome. I thought about how "good it would have been" for me to have had a sibling with Downs. I assumed she would teach him things like patience, or to ...

"Has your book been successful?"

It's a question I get asked regularly these days when I tell strangers that I am a writer। And I'm never quite sure how to respond. I could say, "No. It has sold less than 2,000 copies," and that would be a true (although a bit of a conversation ...

The Easter bunny didn't visit our house yesterday, but we did eat chocolate eggs and drink some champagne. I have a new post at Christianity Today thinking through my responses to "American Easter" and "Christian Easter". It's called "Caught Between the Easter Bunny and the ...

It's a day of waiting. A day between the cross and the resurrection. The place many of us live most of the time.

My friend Ellen Painter Dollar has written a beautiful and profound essay exploring the reality of Easter hope in the midst of reasons to despair. I recommend it highly, ...

"...faith comes and goes. It rises and falls like the tides of an invisible ocean. If it is presumptuous to think that faith will stay with you forever, it is just as presumptuous to think that unbelief will..." (Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being, 452).

Whenever people ask ...

I was asked to participate in another "Theoblogger challenge" on the website Patheos. The question I needed to answer, in 100 words or less, was "Why I Need the Resurrection."

Here's my answer:

Shower, breakfast, kids to school, myself to work, go running, make dinner, kids to ...

It's such a mundane decision. Such a paltry "sacrifice." Don't drink alcohol, except on Sundays, for the next seven weeks. What on earth does that have to do with Jesus' death and resurrection? With sin and salvation? With fullness of life and God's glory?

I remember reading ...

I'm in the home stretch of writing my thesis for Seminary (for those of you who play close attention, I got an extension and it is now due this Saturday. Long story.) on Flannery O'Connor's Theology of Disability. I've learned a lot about theology, disability, and O'Connor, ...

As readers of this blog already know, Penny attends an inclusive preschool. There are about 14 kids in the class–eight who are "typically-developing" and six with special needs. On Sunday, it was Sarah's (I've changed her name) birthday, and she had a "pony party" with all the ...

Somewhat related to today's earlier post, I have a new post on 843 Acres: What do your neighbors think about Christianity?

It begins:

"They will know we are Christians by our love." At least in my neck of the woods, Christianity is seen as oppressive, intolerant, anti-intellectual ...

What do a Jewish bisexual woman and a born-again Christian man living on a farm in Alaska have in common? They're brother and sister. Brother Born Again (available on Netflix) is the documentary film that Julia makes as she tries to understand her brother Marc and his decision ...

About once a month, Penny and I take a special trip to Panera for lunch. Tuesday was the day. "Let's go out to lunch," I said.

"At a restaurant?" she asked. "I like a restaurant!"

We stood in line, and I picked Penny up so she could see over the counter. The woman taking our order ...

On Ash Wednesday, we knew that March would bring with it vacation. Nearly two weeks of vacation, in fact. A week in Virginia with old friends, and then a long weekend in California. And on Ash Wednesday, we made the decision to abstain from alcohol as a Lenten discipline, including ...

A while ago, I read a scholarly book called Disability in the Hebrew Bible, by Saul Olyan. I have a review of the book right now with Books and Culture. It begins...

If I had a nickel for every time Saul Olyan uses the word "stigmatize" and its cognates in Disability in the Hebrew ...