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Thin Places

Melissa Florer-Bixler stays at home with her highly energetic toddler. She is a graduate of Gordon College and Duke University, and will attend Princeton Theological Seminary in the fall. The picture at left shows Joni and Robin, two core members of the L’Arche community where Melissa served. She blogs at signonthewindow.wordpress.com.  Shortly after finishing my…

My parents recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. I’ve already written about their party, where they invited a group of friends and family to join them for a fundraiser for Abilis, an organization that supports men and women with disabilities. But I’ve been thinking about the 40 years that went into that celebratory day. In…

Last week, Peter asked Penny if she’d like to take tennis lessons. “Yes!” she said, without a moment’s hesitation. So he took her over to our local tennis club and they watched the other kids play. Penny is 4 ½. She wears 3T clothing. And although her physical therapist has been singing her praises of…

I have a new post at her.meneutics: “Why Dads Matter.” It begins:  Last Sunday morning, my daughter Penny helped me make breakfast for her dad. He likes it simple: coffee, OJ, a bowl of cereal with raisins. We assembled it all on a tray, complete with the newspaper and a card: “Happy Father’s Day I love my…

On Monday, I will run a link to some of my own thoughts on the Atlantic’s cover article: “The End of Men.” This article leads to a host of questions about men’s and women’s roles in our culture and families.  I’m also hoping to post further thoughts on how American public education should (and should…

I was asked by Patheos to contribute an answer to the following questions: If you had to choose one book that has most deeply affected your faith life over the past ten years, what would it be? And, what is one book you think every Christian should read, but probably hasn’t yet? My response is below: I first learned…

Penny’s last day of school was last Thursday. In typical over-the-top fashion, her teachers put together a family picnic complete with food and drink in a shady spot and a variety of games. Penny’s favorite event was the sack race (especially, per the photo, the part where her dad picked her up and took her over…

(Emily is a woman who works with adults with disabilities. Due to privacy concerns, she has changed the names of her clients and asked that her last name be withheld.)   Working with people with disabilities was never something I intended as a career.  But five years ago, I stumbled upon a job working with…

We have officially moved. From New Jersey to Connecticut. it was supposed to be a pretty simple packing job. We were moving into a mostly-furnished house, and we’ll be returning to our apartment in New Jersey. I thought we’d put a few things in storage, a few more in a U-Haul, and be on our way. …

I have a new post at BLOOM (a blog for parents of children with disabilities) called “Care Notebooks Keep you Organized.” It begins:  I call it Penny’s “Helen Keller moment.” Remember the scene from The Miracle Worker where Helen Keller understands for the first time that every word has a sign? That language is available to her,…
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