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Thin Places

When Penny first received a diagnosis of Down syndrome nearly five years ago, I was worried. I worried that she wouldn’t learn and that her health would be compromised and that she would live a difficult life. Then I found out about Early Intervention, a program for children with special needs from birth to three-years…

I recommended the book God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas a few weeks back. The words and images within have been a welcome companion in these weeks leading up to Christmas Day. Yesterday, I was reading an entry by the poet Scott Cairns. He wrote about repentance, which is a central part of…

My friend and fellow blogger Margot Starbuck (Thoughts on Hair, Shoes, and Other Stuff) has a provocative post about her experience of the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall yesterday. Turns out all 36 of them were white. What do you think about that?  To read her post, click here. 

I’ve written already about my Christmas-with-kids dilemma (Santa or Jesus?). I have two little ones who can’t stop talking about Santa. William says he dreams about Santa. They want to read books about Santa. Every day, one of them asks, “Will Santa come to my house?” The Santa business is fun. It’s fun to hang…

A friend of mine told a story about the way statistics can be used to “prove” anything. He was in a class, and his professor took them through a step-by-step statistical analysis that led to the conclusion that everyone should brush their teeth with sugar. A few recent articles have led me to throw up…

Many years ago, my husband coined a term, “Crap Collection Centers.” He shortened it to CCC’s, and he employed it whenever a flat surface began to accumulate stuff. Back then, we didn’t have children. We were able to stay (somewhat) ahead of the disorder of blocks and school papers and markers and dolls and dirty…

I was invited to participate in Patheos’ Book Club, where we read Brent Landau’s Revelation of the Magi, a translation of an ancient Syriac document that recounts the legend of the magi who visit the baby Jesus. I finished the book with two thoughts. One, I was more interested in Landau’s scholarship about the story…

We love Signing Times. It’s a series of videos that teach basic sign language to kids. The idea emerged when Rachel Coleman discovered her daughter Leah was deaf and needed to learn ASL (American Sign Language). She created a set of kid-friendly videos to teach hundreds of signs.  Penny has watched Signing Times since she…

The week before Thanksgiving, I put a colorful turkey sticker in Robert’s work folder and wrote this message to his parents: “I am so thankful for Robert.” My words are genuine, but they are not what I expected to feel about this precious fourth grader.  I’ve been a fourth grade teacher for 23 years, and…

I’m sometimes skeptical of news stories about individuals with Down syndrome. I wonder whether the individuals are really being celebrated for who they are or if telling a heart-warming story about the kid with the disability who overcomes the odds is really just a way of making the rest of us feel good without actually…
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