A lot of my friends describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious." I think I know what they mean. I think they don't want some of the restrictions that come with religiosity–the rules that mandate saying certain prayers or feeling lots of guilt. They don't want to find ...

Sharon Hodde Miller was kind enough to promote my book on her blog, sheworships.com. For those of you who would like another preview of A Good and Perfect Gift, you can read Part One here and Part Two here.

Also, A Good and Perfect Gift is now available on Kindle. Click here ...

Are you in a Book Club? (This is besides the point of this blogpost, but as a personal aside–if so, what have been your top three books in the past year?)

Just wanted to let you and your book club know that there are now Questions for Discussion available on my website about ...

Three articles I recommend for your reading this weekend:

First, a New York Times piece about the impact of artificial insemination as more and more children discover their "half-siblings." When one man "fathers" 150 children, the chances of those siblings accidentally meeting ...

I have a new post on her.meneutics, MIA: Men Who Don't Use Pornography. It begins:

I don't remember much about sex education in 10th grade, other than anxiety about what topics I might have to discuss with peers. But I do remember a woman who came to our private, secular school ...

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to talk with Diane Markins of Words in High Def about A Good and Perfect Gift and having a child with Down syndrome. You can listen to the interview by visiting her website and listening to the MP3.

While you're there, you'll find a guest post ...

William and I were watching Bambi together last week. Penny was already asleep. Near the end, when spring comes, all the little animals fall in love. Owl calls them "twitterpated." William was very confused.

"Well, it's kind of like they become super-great friends. Like your ...

Penny's first words when I picked her up from her first day of kindergarten: "I didn't miss you, Mom!"

That probably says it all.

I missed her. William missed her–he spent the morning asking when she would get home from school. But she was ready. She marched right into that big ...

I have a brief interview with author Rachel Simon in this month's Books and Culture magazine: "Two Minutes With Rachel Simon." She wrote Riding the Bus With my Sister and The Story of Beautiful Girl. You need to subscribe to Books and Culture to read the whole thing (and I highly ...

My new memoir, A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny is out in stores now. I've been rereading it myself and revisiting many of the themes in the book. In the beginning of each chapter of the book, I share an excerpt from the journal I kept ...

I just read a post by the author Ian Brown, "The Absence of Normal Frees Us" about Brown and his son, Walker. Brown's book, The Boy in the Moon, describes their relationship in greater detail, but this essay alone is well worth reading, and perhaps a good place to start thinking ...

Last Friday, Family Life broadcast a conversation between Martha Manikas Foster and me about why Christians should consider sending their children to public schools, even "failing" public schools. It was based on a post I wrote for her.meneutics, the Christianity Today women's ...

A number of you have written me to ask, "Will A Good and Perfect Gift be available on Kindle?"

YES! Unfortunately, neither I nor my publisher has any control over when Amazon will make the book available on Kindle. I have been told that it usually takes two to three weeks. I ...

(Update: Alice Hodgkins has won this giveaway–much thanks to Alice and all the others who helped share the news about the book!)

I am thrilled to announce the official release of my new book, A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations and a Little Girl Named Penny (Bethany ...