There's a verse from Psalm 46 that summarizes the relationship between the practice of religion and the practice of spirituality: "Be still, and know that I am God." It's a prayer, an admonition, an encouragement. The two poles of this verse – be still, know God – together they ...

I'm sure some of you have skimmed the comments over on the Huffington Post from last week's article about Down syndrome and wrongful birth. But for those of you who haven't, here are some of the best and worst, and one of my responses. (I should add that my response here is ...

Over the course of the past five years, I've read news reports of a series of "wrongful birth" lawsuits in which parents won millions of dollars for the ongoing care of their children. In each case, the parents claimed they would have had an abortion if they had known ahead ...

There were no trumpet fanfares to mark the occasion or festoon of flowers dropping from the ceiling. Nobody took a picture so that we could one day look back and fawn over the day. And had you witnessed the event you would have thought nothing of the introduction between us. ...

My husband and I are attending a funeral today. Our dear friend's mother died on Sunday from complications arising from surgery last week. I have no doubt that she is with Jesus, and yet I also wept with sorrow and anger when I learned the news. The faith that she is in God's ...

When Sarah Palin first accepted the vice presidential nomination in 2008, I thought I should be excited that a fellow mother of a child with Down syndrome might sit in the White House. But my response to her candidacy was mixed at best. Long before she became a polarizing figure ...

For those of you who have already read A Good and Perfect Gift, this post will seem quite familiar, as it is adapted from Chapter One. For those of you who haven't, our birth story with Penny was featured last week on designmom.com. And whether you've read it or not, go to amyjuliabecker.com ...

When Penny was diagnosed with Down syndrome, the doctors told us that she would have "mental retardation." I didn't really know what those words meant, but I imagined them as a shadow that would hover over every aspect of her development from there on. I assumed she would have ...

A Good and Perfect Gift came out in September. It hasn't come close to best seller status, but it is trucking right along. I had a chance to talk with a book group about it (on the phone–we were technologically incompetent enough that we couldn't figure out Iphone's Face Time ...

Long time readers of this blog may remember that I used to run a weekly guest post called "Perfectly Human." The purpose of the posts was to offer first-hand experience of the common humanity of people with disabilities. I ran out of obvious contacts for a while, but ...

I meant to share the link to this great post by my friend Karen Swallow Prior a while back when she wrote it. Thankfully, the truths it contains are timeless. Although they boil down to "get enough sleep, it's good for your soul," the post is very worth reading in full: Want ...

Penny had surgery a few weeks back. It all went well. But in the recovery room, as Penny slept, with her hair matted to her head, an IV dripping fluid into her arm, her nurse started telling us about how the doctors often give different instructions to parents than they do to ...

As those of you with young children already know, last week was Dr. Seuss' birthday. Penny's teachers celebrated by inviting all the parents in her class to sign up to read. I was slated for Thursday and Horton Hatches an Egg.

William soon picked up on this development, so he ...

Lisa Belkin posted a really interesting piece about how having money relates to being a good parent: "Money is the Root of all Parenting." It's a great summary of a recent study that explains how difficult it is to try to raise kids in poverty.

In the same news cycle, I learned ...

I'm working on an essay about recent developments in the national conversation about prenatal testing. I'm not quite done yet, but I thought you all would appreciate reading the conclusion of Joe Klein's essay in Time Magazine this week. Joe Klein is a political moderate who ...