A long time ago, a youth leader of mine talked to me about the "ministry of absence." He was thinking about the way youth ministers tended to think they needed to be involved in every aspect of kids' lives. But he remembered being at camp and watching a married couple walk away ...

Last week, Amy Julia had a column featured in The Atlantic discussing the advances made in prenatal testing for Down syndrome. Her editor titled it, "Better prenatal testing does not mean more abortion." The headline can be excused. It is a misunderstanding that ...

This guest post is one in a series I run every so often called Perfectly Human. These essays provide a picture of life with a disability in all its possibilities and limitations, gifts and struggles. 

We were standing on the steps outside the "wibrary," which is her favorite ...

So during one of those restless nights last week in which I wish I had been praying (see last week's post, My Kids Keep Teaching Me How to Pray) but was actually reading stuff on my phone, I came across a number of articles you might like:

On love and grace and pain from poet ...

I have a new post on the Health site of theatlantic.com. They named it Better Prenatal Testing Does Not Mean More Abortion, but my favorite part of the post is this paragraph:

In retrospect I wonder why I spent so much time convincing myself that the test results would be negative. ...

Last week, I was putting Penny to bed, and she was all wiggly. She could probably tell I was getting impatient, because she said, pointing to her forehead, "I have so much in my head. I need to pray a lot."

I smiled at the time, but since then I've thought about her words more ...

This post is part of a series of posts about prenatal testing that I am running in conjunction with the launch of my new ebook, What Every Woman Needs to Know About Prenatal Testing: Insight from a Mom who has Been There. For the other posts in the series, please go to the end ...

I was thrilled when George Estreich offered this piece that compares two recent Today Show segments, both related to Down syndrome. If you don't know of George's writing already, I commend it to you for his thoughtful, careful, elegant approach to words and ideas. His memoir, ...

I have a new post up on the Huffington Post Parent's Page, in which I write about why I'm still in love with my husband all these years later. But I never actually disclose what we decided to do now since we don't celebrate Valentine's Day but we do have a date night every Thursday ...

Yesterday, Penny had a two hour delay from school. We took Marilee and William to their school, ran a few errands, and then shared a snack at our local coffee shop. She jumped in a few puddles in her snow boots (we still have about 18 inches left from last week's blizzard, along ...

I chose to run this post today, one in a series of personal experiences with prenatal testing, because it speaks to some of the problems with prenatal diagnoses and some of the solutions as well. Many people commented on last week's anonymous post about terminating a pregnancy ...

There is so much I want to write in response to yesterday's post (I Tested and I Terminated and I Do Not Regret) and the comments here, on Facebook, and in my email inbox. Thank you to everyone who has participated in the conversation so far, and please continue to do so. I ...

I should begin by thanking the anonymous contributor who was willing to share her story, an unusual one for this blog, about choosing to terminate her pregnancy after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. As I wrote yesterday, I ask readers and commenters to be honest and gracious ...

I released an ebook (What Every Woman Needs to Know About Prenatal Testing) two weeks ago about prenatal testing. It covers my own experience of prenatal testing as well as providing information for women who are trying to figure out their own approach to testing. It's ...

As a part of a series on personal experiences of prenatal testing (see Why I Wish I Had Chosen Prenatal Testing and I Regretted My Amnio), in concert with my new ebook What Every Woman Needs to Know About Prenatal Testing, Nancy Iannone shares her experience today and advice ...