I have a new article for Christianity Today's magazine that is now available online: The New School Choice Agenda. In it, I write about a group of friends who moved into a low-income neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia who have decided to send their children to the local public ...

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that the demands of family life are a constant source of tension in our household (see Friday's post for but the most recent example), which often doesn't look as cheery as this photo might suggest. You also know that I want to ...

My friend Ellen Painter Dollar invited me to join her in her "Best Thing" Blog Hop, in which she features fellow bloggers who have posted the "best thing" they've ever written. I'm not sure this is actually the best post I've ever written. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not. ...

Perhaps it is fitting that today was a day with William screaming in the night, with two overtired parents responding with anger, with a morning filled with tears and yelling.

Perhaps it is fitting that after I had locked him in his room for an escalated time-out, as I closed ...

Beautiful post by Mama Monk about the perpetual trials of being a parent of small children. She writes,

I'm a stressed mom. I'm stressed too often. I worry that August's most prominent memory of his childhood will be my contorted anxiety face leaning over his carseat, snapping ...

I tend to balk at generalized statements about kids and adults with Down syndrome. There's a part of me that resists on theoretical grounds–I don't want to stereotype or treat people with Trisomy 21 as if they are in a separate category of human being. But there is also a part ...

I had a wonderful time in North Carolina last week, and I hope I'll take the time to write a series of posts based on the questions and conversations I had with people from the Duke Center for Reconciliation, Reality Ministries, the Trinity School, and at the Church of the Apostles. ...

Peter can always tell when I'm excited about something because I try, unsuccessfully, to hide my smile. Perhaps I'm afraid my excitement will come off as self-important or maybe I'm afraid he won't think it matters much. It happened again yesterday. I told him about another ...

Fellow Redbud writer Kelli Trujillo interviewed me for her blog this week, and in one question she asked:

When you first stepped into the journey of having a newborn daughter with Down Syndrome, you write about how you were faced with the reality that your daughter may not ever ...

Louise Kinross' take on "after-birth abortion: "I Say Gobbledygook!"

The Brain on Love, a fascinating account from the NY Times Opinionater blog about how love physically changes us. My favorite paragraph:

When two people become a couple, the brain extends its idea of self to ...

Peter has a two week spring break. It involves some grading and commenting and preparing for the upcoming term, but it also involves a chance to rest. We took advantage of the graciousness of many family members and a babysitter and got away, just the two of us, for five nights, ...

We were in the San Juan airport on our way to four days of vacation (just Peter and me!) when I received an email that read, "A Good and Perfect Gift wins Christopher Award!" At first I didn't believe it. But I kept reading, and I realized it was real. It was a wonderful way ...

When our daughter Penny was a baby, I took her into Panera Bread at lunchtime. One of the women who worked there approached me. She said, "I love looking at your baby." Penny has Down syndrome, and I'm never sure what to make of a comment about her appearance. But the woman ...

I'd love to meet some of you face to face, so I wanted to let you know about the times I'll be speaking in the next month:

Lawrenceville: Tonight, March 21, I will be leading a discussion about being a parent of a child with special needs in an age of exceptionality at the Special ...

Two hours after our daughter was born, she was diagnosed with Down syndrome. The pronouncement shocked and saddened me, but I also felt confused. I thought all people with Down syndrome looked the same: Flat nose. Thick neck. Epicanthal fold of skin around the eyes. Short stature. ...