Soon after our daughter Penny was born and diagnosed with Down syndrome, I started to ask questions about the spiritual implications of her disability. To give a glimpse of some of the questions I was asking, here's an excerpt from our time in the hospital, as related ...
A few weeks back, I was stuck inside with all three kids on yet another snow day. All of them wanted to be entertained. None of them wanted to play the same game. In an attempt to avoid a battle and to push off yet another hour of screen time, I agreed to play three games ...
At 5:00, my oldest daughter Penny finds me in bed. Cough drop wrappers, a used tea bag, and Dayquil packets surround me. "Come on up, sweetie," I say, and she climbs in next to me.
She has brought her spelling book. Her second grade assignment this week involves ...
I wrote A Defense of Lent earlier this week, and I promised to offer a few books to consider this Lenten season.
1. Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship in Letters (Loyola Press) began as two friends committed to write each other letters throughout the season of Lent. ...
Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times describes Netflix's House of Cards "the most joyless show on television." My husband and I have settled right in. I'm intrigued by the storyline—a powerful Congressman (Kevin Spacey) who becomes Vice President ...
I used to feel some measure of disdain towards people who observed Lent, the religious season that begins next Wednesday and continues for forty days until Easter. For those who gave up candy or cheese, I figured it was just a religious excuse for a diet. For those who began ...
A year ago, about six months after our move to Connecticut, loneliness pressed down on my torso as if I had donned a vest padded with weights. It came as a result of a series of conversations in which every person I talked to referred to me as a wife or a mother. I am both ...
