May 2014

Does Grief Ever Go Away?What if grief could be more like embarking on a sturdy sailboat for a journey and less like capsizing in a tsunami? A guest post by Jonalyn Fincher
Does Grief Ever Go Away?
Image: Luke/Flickr

The word that sticks with me is "still". Are you still upset about that? Are you still hurting? Are you still grieving?

For many of us, yes, we still are. We are still working on what that loss has done to us, living tentatively, with pain right beneath our skin, so ...

Who Does the Dishes at Your House? (and why that matters)Weekly Roundup 5.30.14--good books, reading and IQ, and more on family, culture, and disability
Who Does the Dishes at Your House? (and why that matters)
Image: Val/Flickr

I only saw my dad do a few household chores as a kid. Mom managed the household and he went to work in an office. It was a pretty typical gender-based division of labor. Except when it came to the dishes. Mom would happily let them sit until the morning, and Dad wanted them ...

Want a Better Devotional Life? Buy a Bird FeederWhat my grandfather and my son taught me about patience, love, and a gentle spirit.
Want a Better Devotional Life? Buy a Bird Feeder
Image: Gary Simmons/Flickr

I asked my mother for a bird feeder for my birthday. I'm not sure what inspired my request. Unlike her, I've never been much of a naturalist. My one attempt at a vegetable garden failed. I often need someone else to point out the beauty around me because I find myself ...

A New Kind of Missions TripSustainable, inexpensive, local, and relational in nature. Part two of my interview with Cameron Doolittle
A New Kind of Missions Trip

Yesterday I interviewed Cameron Doolittle, President and CEO of Jill's House, a respite care ministry for families with children with disabilities. Today's post is a follow up from that interview, focused on Oxygen3, the program Jill's House has developed so that ...

A Ministry for Parents at the End of Their RopeJill's House President Cameron Doolittle talks about a rhythm of respite for families in need
A Ministry for Parents at the End of Their Rope

I first learned about Jill's House—a respite care facility for children with disabilities—at a Q Conference in 2012. I've stayed in touch with Cameron Doolittle, Jill's House's President, since then, and I'm running an interview with Cameron today ...

Please Don't Call My Daughter an AngelThe twin problem of low expectations and angelic expectations undermine what we all have in common
Please Don't Call My Daughter an Angel

I received a music video from a friend yesterday. It's about children with special needs, and the singer means well. She wants to affirm children with intellectual disabilities. She wants to reassure parents. She wants to cast a spotlight on her own flaws and failings ...

Four Ways to Help Your Child Love ReadingReading is in decline among adolescents. Parents can help.
Four Ways to Help Your Child Love Reading
Image: ThomasLife/Flickr

If you were conducting a poll and asked me if I read regularly to my children, I would say yes. I can name chapter books we have enjoyed with our older two: James and the Giant Peach, Pippi Longstocking, The Trumpet of the Swan, among others. I can point to our youngest child's ...

Weekly Roundup 5.15.14: Can Christians Live in Beautiful Homes? and other thoughtsA few posts worth reading on family, faith, disability, and culture
Weekly Roundup 5.15.14: Can Christians Live in Beautiful Homes? and other thoughts
Image: susivnh/flickr

I didn't get much reading done this week, what with another round of the throw-up bug hitting our house on the heels of Penny's ballet recital, Mother's Day, and the school spring concert. We did manage to finish Pippi Longstocking and start Owls in the Family ...

How Sex, Busyness, Mobility, and the American Dream can Impede FriendshipHouse of Cards, my kids, and a Tedx talk all got me thinking about the nature of friendship
How Sex, Busyness, Mobility, and the American Dream can Impede Friendship
Image: Dani vr/Flickr

I've been thinking about the nature of friendship.

It started, oddly enough, with House of Cards, a show in which no one has any true friends. But as the season progressed Rachel—a former call girl who is trying to keep her head down and create some stability ...

We Can't Care About Everyone All the TimeWhen I didn't feel upset about horrific news reports, I wondered if something was wrong with me.
We Can't Care About Everyone All the Time
Image: See Li/Flickr

I have only paid cursory attention to the hundreds of girls kidnapped recently by a militant group in Nigeria. And even when I have stopped to listen to an NPR update on the situation, I haven't registered any emotional response. I could have tried to get my heart to ...

Weekly Roundup 5.10.14: Seven Things to Read About MothersThe history of Mother's Day, mothers and calling, mothers and happiness, and more...
Weekly Roundup 5.10.14: Seven Things to Read About Mothers
Image: Big Grey Mare/Flickr

In anticipation of Mother's Day I've featured posts about mothers all week--my own reflections on how being a mother has helped me to grow up, Ellen Painter Dollar's thoughts about how sharing her body--a body disabled by osteogenesis imperfecta--with her kids has ...

Raising Wholehearted--Not Perfect--KidsAn interview with Jeannie Cunnion about Parenting the Whole Hearted Child
Raising Wholehearted--Not Perfect--Kids
Image: Darrel Birkett/Flickr

I had a chance to read an advanced reader copy of Jeannie Cunnion's new book, Parenting the Wholehearted Child: Captivating Your Child's Heart with God's Extravagant Grace, and I not only learned from her story but I also immediately applied some of her advice. Every ...

The Story of my Broken, Redeemed BodyHow giving birth made my broken body strong and beautiful. A guest post by Ellen Painter Dollar
The Story of my Broken, Redeemed Body

Eight years ago, when my three children were still very young, we traveled to Omaha for an Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) Foundation conference. Both I and my oldest daughter have OI, a genetic collagen disorder that causes brittle bones, short stature, and other symptoms. ...

I Didn't Grow Up Until I Became a MomI thought I was a mature adult, and then I had a baby
I Didn't Grow Up Until I Became a Mom
Image: Flickr

I should begin with two caveats: One, I'm not all grown up yet. Maybe I never will be. Two, many of my peers who aren't parents are just as grown up as I am. But for me, having kids is what it took for me to begin to grow up, and as Mother's Day approaches, I'm ...

Stopping to Notice a Day of GraceI have plenty of grumpy and just fine days. But every once in a while, a really good one comes along...
Stopping to Notice a Day of Grace
Image: Phil Dutton

Do you ever have a day that captures the simple goodness within your life? For me, it doesn't happen often. I have lots of grumpy days--when the kids are whining and I'm tired and there's a voice in the back of my head telling me to pay more attention to the good ...

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