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Thin Places-Faith, Family and Disability

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Family, Parenting and Religion

2012-05-16T12:15:43-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“A Perfect Child” Wins First Place…

Last updated on: May 16, 2012 at 12:15 pm By Amy Julia Becker

“My Perfect Child,” an essay in Christianity Today about coming to understand Penny as a gift and her life as very similar to mine in both its brokenness and its perfection, won First Place in the Evangelical Press Association’s Higher Ground Awards for 2011. One paragraph from the essay that sums it up: Five years ago, the hopeful and joyous words from the hospital room next door—”She’s perfect! She’s perfect!”—haunted me. Now they seem prophetic. Penny was not the “perfect... Read more

Evangelical Press Association awards

My Perfect Child

2012-05-16T10:50:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why Adoption Feels Harder than Abortion

Last updated on: May 16, 2012 at 10:50 am By Amy Julia Becker

I’ve held naive assumptions about both abortion and adoption in the past, and I’ve asked naive questions. One of those questions brings the two together as I’ve had trouble understanding why women who are unexpectedly pregnant chose abortion instead of adoption, especially when many of those women believe abortion is ethically wrong. At the Q conference in DC a few weeks back, Angie Weszely, President of Caris, explained it to me. For a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, pregnancy involves... Read more

2012-05-14T20:01:33-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Isabel and Sam: Friends without Labels

Last updated on: May 14, 2012 at 8:01 pm By Amy Julia Becker

A few weeks ago, I ran a series of posts about the possibilities for friendship for kids and adults with disabilities. I’ve written about Penny’s friendships, I shared a post from Ben Conner about friendship among adolescents, and an exchange between two adult women– Tryn Miller, who has Down syndrome, and her friend Anna Broadway. Today I have the privilege of sharing Jennifer Grant’s story of her middle-school age daughter Isabel’s longstanding friendship with Sam, who also happens to have... Read more

Down Syndrome

family

Perfectly Human

down syndrome and friendship

friendship

jennifer grant

momumental

2012-05-14T09:52:49-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Talking with 100 Huntley Street about parenting, Down syndrome, and transformation

Last updated on: May 14, 2012 at 9:52 am By Amy Julia Becker

I’m still working to get the eye makeup off after a really nice morning on Friday on the set of 100 Huntley Street, a Canadian Christian television show. I spoke with Moira, the host of the show, about my darkest parenting fears, living in the present moment, our purpose as parents, and the ways Penny has surprised us all. To watch the full interview: Read more

a good and perfect gift

interviews

2012-05-10T23:14:35-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Things I Love About Being a Mother

Last updated on: May 10, 2012 at 11:14 pm By Amy Julia Becker

This post started out with a different title: “Things I Love, Hate, and Wish I Loved About Being a Mother.” And then I thought, well, I don’t allow my kids to use the word hate, so I’ll modify that to say “things I really don’t like” about being a mother. And then I started writing, and although I came up with some things I really don’t like (I’ll give you one for each child, just to be clear: Marilee’s 5:30... Read more

family

mother's day

2012-05-09T22:06:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Dreaming about Fashion Faux Pas and Going to Canada

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 at 10:06 pm By Amy Julia Becker

I’m heading to Toronto today for a quick trip–first, tonight, to meet in person my online friend Louise Kinross, editor of Bloom: Parenting Kids with Disabilities and then to offer some thoughts on achievement and identity as a Bloom speaker tonight. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be interviewed for television for the first time on 100 Huntley Street. I’m excited and grateful and totally nervous. I had a dream a few nights back that I was late to a speaking engagement that... Read more

Faith

family

100 huntley street

a good and perfect gift

bloom blog

interviews

2012-05-08T12:48:41-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Good and Perfect Gift revisited

Last updated on: May 8, 2012 at 12:48 pm By Amy Julia Becker

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to talk with Tony Rossi about A Good and Perfect Gift. He has posted the interview on his blog, Christopher Closeup. It includes a link to our conversation as well as transcribed excerpts to questions that range from the practical: “In today’s world, what does a diagnosis of Down syndrome mean for a child’s health and prospects for life? Is it different for everyone or are there common denominators?” to the personal:... Read more

Down Syndrome

Faith

family

a good and perfect gift

christopher closeup

tony rossi

2012-05-08T12:18:31-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

George Will’s Son, Rick Santorum’s Daughter, and Penny

Last updated on: May 8, 2012 at 12:18 pm By Amy Julia Becker

I just realized that I forgot to tell you all that Quin Hillyer reviewed A Good and Perfect Gift in the American Spectator a few weeks ago. I remembered because he blogged about it again last week, in response to George Will’s column about his son Jon, who has Down syndrome and just celebrated his 40th birthday. In Hillyer’s original piece, La Vita e Bella, which used excerpts from A Good and Perfect Gift to reflect upon Rick Santorum’s daughter... Read more

Down Syndrome

family

a good and perfect gift

2012-05-08T09:37:08-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Our Good and Perfect Gift

Last updated on: May 8, 2012 at 9:37 am By Amy Julia Becker

When Penny was first born, when the doctors shocked us with the news that she appeared to have Down syndrome, the presence of a third copy of her 21st chromosome, I was hit hard with doubts. I doubted my abilities as a mother. I doubted my capacity to love a child who was different than I expected. And I doubted God’s intentions in creating her. I thought there was a little girl hiding behind the extra chromosome, and I thought... Read more

Down Syndrome

Faith

family

every bitter thing is sweet

goft

transformation

2012-05-07T10:50:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Ethics of Reproductive Choices: An Interview with Ellen Painter Dollar

Last updated on: May 7, 2012 at 10:50 am By Amy Julia Becker

This morning, I linked to my post for her.meneutics in which I reviewed Ellen Painter Dollar’s No Easy Choice: A Story of Disability, Parenthood and Faith in an Age of Advanced Reproduction. As a follow up to that review, I asked Ellen to reflect upon some of the questions her book raised for me: As No Easy Choice explains, many decisions regarding reproductive technology are not black and white ethical choices, but rather gray areas. Could you give one example... Read more

in vitro fertilization

IVF

No Easy Choice

PGD

preimplantation genetic diagnosis

prenatal testing

tay sachs

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