**Update: Jeannie is the winner of a free copy of Theresa's book. Congratulations!

Yesterday I posted the first part of an interview with Theresa Shea, author of The Unfinished Child. Here's part two:

As the parent of typically-developing children, what prompted you to write the ...

Over the past month, I have had the privilege of corresponding with Theresa Shea, author of The Unfinished Child, a novel about two families whose lives are affected by Down syndrome. In one narrative, set in the mid 1940s, Margaret gives birth to Carolyn, and her doctor convinces ...

I used to pray for the world. I remember, especially with William, sitting late at night as he nursed, and scrolling through a mental map of conflicts around the globe. I spent the most time praying for a host of people I knew, mostly scattered up and down the east coast of ...

I took two of my children to the mall a few weeks back. After stocking up on sneakers and sandals, we stood in line to ride the carousel. I paid $2 each for their tickets, then the lady at the cash register peered over the counter at my daughter Penny. "Is she a special need?" ...

Penny and I were sitting outside in the shade. She had cuddled as close as she could, with her body pressed against my side and her head resting on my chest. Marilee and William were on the jungle gym, arguing over who gets to go up the slide next. I was scrolling through email ...

As I mentioned in a post last week, I've been reading My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman, and I could (and might) write a post that jumps off from every chapter it includes. (If you get nothing else from this post, get this–if you like thoughtful, beautifully-crafted writing ...

Earlier this week, I shared the link to a new article I wrote for InTouch Magazine about Praying with Penny. But it's a story that never ends, because all of our kids are constantly teaching me more about how to pray.

Recently, there was the night when we were reading The Berenstein ...

Every so often it seems right to remind myself and those of you who read this blog that it is a place that is loosely ordered, a set of posts that should hold together, even if only by a single thread. Yes, I write about faith and family and disability, with some cultural commentary ...

I sometimes feel a strange sense of guilt, or at least dis-ease, about Penny. It's not what you might think. I'm about as comfortable as I can imagine being with a child who has Down syndrome, and I think my kids are too. (The other day, I  was explaining that some athletes ...

I have a new article in InTouch Magazine (not the one that's like People Magazine, the Christian one). Some of the content will be familiar to those of you who read this blog regularly, but I still thought you'd appreciate this reflection on what Penny has taught me about prayer ...

I kind of mean it as a joke when I point out the fact that I am responsible for 80 toenails and fingernails (mine, plus three kids'). Peter kind of means it as a joke when he says, "You just make breakfast and lunch for the kids and yourself. Don't worry about me." But I am ...

I have Alzheimer's disease. I'm sixty-eight, have had symptoms for a little over two years, and was diagnosed last September. These last eight months have been almost the happiest in my life.

Before my diagnosis, when I considered how I might die, Alzheimer's was the only one ...

Somewhere out there in the blogosphere, there's a list of rules about how to be a good blogger. I break many of them. My posts are often too long and don't have enough images in them (and never videos) and they aren't controversial enough or they're controversial about the wrong ...

Last spring, I was asked to contribute an essay to a new anthology of Christian women writers called Talking Taboo: American Christian Women Get Frank About Faith. I am honored to join the ranks of a host of women from a wide array of church backgrounds to discuss topics that ...

It hits me like a sucker punch every time. This week the blow came on page 30 of the Atlantic, where a sidebar with numbers in large bold font told a story:

Percentage of American adults who describe themselves as pro-life: 50Percentage of American adults who think second-trimester ...