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Thin Places

The other night, Peter heard William rustling around in his crib. The rustling turned to cries, and the cries didn’t cease. He finally went upstairs to discover William naked. “I tinkled on my pillow.”  It’s happened twice since then. So we’re starting the potty-training journey for the second time, just weeks after we considered Penny’s…

I have a new post at her.meneutics, “How Many Kids Should We Have?” written in response to the recent TIME cover article about only children. It begins:  “One and Done,” Lauren Sandler’s Time cover story this week, offers a series of reasons why many parents in the West are choosing to have only one child. First, the…

I wrote a short post last week about spiritual deserts (“When God Feels Far Away“). Over the weekend, a stream of comments came in, from people sharing experiences of pain, suffering, joy, answered prayer, and questions for God. People wrote about losing their jobs, battling cancer, a child using drugs, family issues, physical disabilities, depression,…

(I wrote this last Friday but forgot to publish it. Oops!) Christianity Today’s cover article on adoption, “Abba Changes Everything” is a powerful personal testimony of adoption that links the experience of adopting a child to the theological significance of God’s adoption of us as sons and daughters.  I’d also like to recommend, in a…

Penny was six months old. I was reading Time Magazine, and there was an article about Carolyn Bergeron and Sujeet Desai, two adults with Down syndrome getting married. I frowned. For one thing, I didn’t like the idea of Penny, and people like Penny, being so different that their marriages would make the national news. But…

Margot Starbuck’s new book, Unsqueezed: springing free from skinny jeans, nose jobs, highlights and stilettos, couldn’t have come at a better time. First, there was Penny’s question at dinner a few weeks back. “Mom, why do you have bruises on your face?” “What do you mean?” “There,” she pointed under my left eye, “and there,”…

Last Sunday, Penny got in the car after church and said, “Mom, why does that lady walk with a cane?” “Well, Pen, you know how you wear glasses?” “Yes.” “Why do you wear glasses?” “To help me see.” “Well, that lady uses a cane to help her walk.” “Oh. But why does that lady walk…

Becky Dawson is a full time mother and educator for her son (8) and daughter (4). She is working on a Professional Editing Certificate from the University of California, Berkeley, and writes on the topics of special needs, interactions in the medical world, and her growth and interactions with her Maker as seen through Christian…

Penny was sitting on the potty. “Where’s the new shirsh?” she asked. I wrinkled my forehead. “The new shirt?” She shook her head, with a little smile. “No. The new shirsh.” “Skirt?” This time, a grin. “No, Mom!” she said, in a tone of false exasperation. “The new shirsh!” She said the word slowly, with…

Recently, I’ve been in a spiritual slump. A spiritual desert. Or pick another metaphor to describe what it feels like when God seems far away. Usually, I know why I’m in a place like this. Either I’m wrestling with a big theological question, or I just haven’t had time to talk with God about anything,…
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