Interesting articles from the past week:

Church flooded with calls to adopt baby with #downsyndrome who would have been aborted: http://abcn.ws/1aimhgO

Find out why #women are key to America's#prosperity #WarrenBuffet ow.ly/mB40F@CNNMoney

 "#LearningToLove Your Sinful Neighbor"ow.ly/mB4TG#LiveLikeChrist ...

Earlier this spring, I set my alarm for 6:00 so I could make a cup of tea and sit in our dining room and read and pray and spend some time with God. I began to jot a few prayer requests down in my journal. They began: "For help paying attention to Marilee. I worry that she gets less of us than she deserves." ...

We celebrated our fourteenth anniversary a few weeks ago. Peter took me out to a lovely dinner. We each drank a glass of champagne and toasted the gift of this relationship. We talked about the surprises of the past decade or so, and we spent some time thinking about what we've learned and how we've ...

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 Bears and Too Much ...

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 tempted to count the hours ...

I have complained a lot this year. If you read this blog, you've read some of my woes–William's tantrums, Marilee's desire to emulate her older brother, Penny's endless doctor appointments, a very sick cat, and moving from one house to another more often than I would ever want. Believe it or not, I've ...

Sunday morning was rough.

Peter had offered to let me sleep in. William didn't approve. As the morning wore on, he became more and more upset, and eventually his yelling woke me up. Soon enough, I was the recipient of his anger, as a result of denying him the towel that Marilee had requested. He never ...

It's been a tough year, as many of you know. I won't go into the details again, but moving and trying to figure out a new town and new schools and a new job for Peter has taken it's toll. And as the year has gone along, I've been convicted of two things: I complain too much, and I don't take care of ...

I don't know how to explain Easter to my children. I've tried two approaches so far. I've talked about it directly: "Some people killed Jesus and he died and God made him alive again."

When I said that, William asked, "What does died mean?" I tried to explain death as something that takes people away ...

We've finally moved. Four times in the past year. Six times in the past three years. But we are finally living in the place that we hope we will call home for years and years to come. It is a beautiful old New England home, with rumors of a basement used for the underground railroad and some rooms with ...

Bonnie Rochman, writing for Time.com earlier this week, reports on a new bill before the Governor of North Dakota which would ban abortion based on sex selection or fetal abnormalities after six weeks:

The fetal abnormalities bill would ban abortion due to "any defect, disease or disorder ...

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 from him, hand in hand, ...

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 and more. When I have "so ...

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 and the two have ...

The following is an excerpt from my new ebook, What Every Woman Needs to Know About Prenatal Testing: Insights from a Mom Who Has Been There:

This book comes out of the past six years of learning about Down syndrome and other disabilities, loving our children in the midst of the struggles of trying to ...

I wrote yesterday about the grave situation of orphans in Russia, particularly those with special needs. If you want to take action to petition President Putin and President Obama to work to ensure that orphans already in the adoption process can continue, please consider contacting your Senator and/or ...

It's an unfortunate theme of my life these days, and therefore an unfortunate theme of this blog, that I frequently fight with my son. Much of the time, we get along really well. He slips his warm hand into mine as we walk down the hallway of his school. He scrambles to my room to help me pick out my ...

This is a guest post by Nancy Jo Sullivan, author of Small Mercies. I will be celebrating Christmas with my family for the rest of this week, so please check back in next Monday for more.

During my first pregnancy, I dreamed of having a little girl.

In my imagination, she wore a pink tutu and a sparkling ...

I have a new post on theatlantic.com that discusses the tragedy in Newtown last week and how I hope to respond when it comes to my own children. In the post, I mention my pastor's sermon on Sunday. It was an excellent, timely, and incredibly helpful sermon for me. So before I get to the post, please ...

It sounds as though President Obama and Speaker John Boehner are closing in on a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. Still, the specifics must be worked out, and parents have plenty to consider, especially when it comes to child safety, as Congress considers spending cuts to government programs. Last week, ...