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Thin Places

I have an essay published in the “On the Square” section of First Things today. It is called “The Reality of Hope.” Here’s the opening paragraph: After she died, it was as if I had broken my arm. A part of me ached all the time, and something that had been functional was now useless,…

I spoke on a panel Friday night for a Women and Spirituality conference. There were three other women on the panel–an Episcopal priest, a Roman Catholic lay leader who is also a counselor, and a woman who was raised Muslim but left the faith after deciding it was too patriarchal. Together, we fielded questions about…

William and Penny and I were taking a walk. William said, “Wa! Wa!” (Watch! Watch!) I complied. Penny took off in the other direction. So I chased her down, plunked her in the stroller next to her brother, and resumed walking. It was about 30 seconds later that I realized William was no longer playing…

New post on the Park Forum: Afraid of the Flu? Also a helpful comment on there about the science involved. And, incidentally, I got the flu shot and so will our kids. Just not planning to panic if they get sick…

New post on the Park Forum.

Penny and I went to a birthday party yesterday, and I met another mom. She said, “I have a child with special needs, too.” She pointed out the window. “My daughter is ten. She’s the one with the walker.” Over the course of the afternoon, I found myself watching this woman’s daughter, whom I will…

“Architecture is evangelism.” The person who said it was talking about churches and the way in which they welcome (or fail to welcome) people with disabilities. When the ramp for wheelchair access is around back and hard to find, what message does it convey? Architecture is evangelism in more ways than one. For more thoughts,…

Margot Starbuck, author of The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father who does not Fail, spoke at our church last night. She brought a banner–about twelve feet high and six wide–constructed of brightly colored and different patterned squares with the words, “I am the one who is WITH YOU and FOR YOU.”…

I could care less about baseball. (Or is it, I couldn’t care less about baseball?) Either way, baseball to me signifies two things: rivalry between my husband (a Yankees fan) and the rest of my immediate family (Red Sox die hards), and late nights in October. At breakfast this morning, our daughter Penny, age 3,…

Ellen Hsu has written a narrative of learning that her son, Elijah, had Down syndrome. It is available here. My comment (also posted on the other blog): I also have a child with Down syndrome, a daughter, age 3 1/2. And we too were shocked to discover, upon birth, that she had an extra chromosome.…
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