Last spring, I was asked to contribute an essay to a new anthology of Christian women writers called Talking Taboo: American Christian Women Get Frank About Faith. I am honored to join the ranks of a host of women from a wide array of church backgrounds to discuss topics that ...

It hits me like a sucker punch every time. This week the blow came on page 30 of the Atlantic, where a sidebar with numbers in large bold font told a story:

Percentage of American adults who describe themselves as pro-life: 50Percentage of American adults who think second-trimester ...

I was walking home with my daughter Penny and her friend yesterday. We had invited the friend over for a last minute play date. I overheard the friend say to Penny, "You keep asking the same question." Penny has Down syndrome, and sometimes it is hard for her to think of a new ...

It would be so much easier if we just stayed put on Sunday mornings.

Take yesterday as an example.

Even though our kids wake up a good four hours before the service starts, somehow we scramble to get everyone showered and dressed and out the door. There's a fight over who drives ...

Today's guest post is from Sarah Dunning Park. I had the privilege of receiving a review copy of her book a while back, and after I read it, I wrote: "Sarah Dunning Park has given parents of young children a great gift in this book. She has taken the quotidian life of laundry ...

The short story: on Thursday and Friday, you can listen to a broadcast of a conversation ("Special Kids, Special Needs") on Family Life Radio with Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine who interviewed Jennifer Shaw (singer/songwriter and author of Life Not Typical) and me a few months ...

It has been six weeks since we moved into our new house. So far, we've lost a tie rack, a Fisher Price barn, a navy blue quilted jacket, and our silver. (I can now amend this post to say I discovered the silver at the bottom of a large overlooked box in the basement, interspersed ...

I haven't done any speaking events this past year, intentionally. I knew the travel would be too much for me and for our family. But as the winter wore on, I agreed to a few events this spring–a talk at St. Luke's in Darien, CT, last Sunday, a local book club next week, and ...

I have complained a lot this year. If you read this blog, you've read some of my woes–William's tantrums, Marilee's desire to emulate her older brother, Penny's endless doctor appointments, a very sick cat, and moving from one house to another more often than I would ever want. ...

So I feel as though I am standing next to a conveyer belt and lovely, interesting items are flying past me all day long. And I'm supposed to grab one and hang on to them, but I can't. Sometimes I'm indecisive–is this one really more interesting than that one? I can only grab ...

When I was a pregnant 28-year old, I didn't hesitate as my doctor offered a screening test for various genetic conditions. I figured it couldn't hurt me or my baby, and that the information the test provided would most likely allow me to check a box off my mental ...

Sunday morning was rough.

Peter had offered to let me sleep in. William didn't approve. As the morning wore on, he became more and more upset, and eventually his yelling woke me up. Soon enough, I was the recipient of his anger, as a result of denying him the towel that Marilee ...

I have a new post for the Atlantic, in which I argue that North Dakota's Ban is a Bad Way to Stop Selective Abortion. I hope you'll join the comments over on that site or offer your own here. Here's one paragraph to peak your interest:

But to argue for my daughter's value based ...

It's been a tough year, as many of you know. I won't go into the details again, but moving and trying to figure out a new town and new schools and a new job for Peter has taken it's toll. And as the year has gone along, I've been convicted of two things: I complain too much, ...

I don't know how to explain Easter to my children. I've tried two approaches so far. I've talked about it directly: "Some people killed Jesus and he died and God made him alive again."

When I said that, William asked, "What does died mean?" I tried to explain death as something ...