Family
A mix of personal reflections and cultural commentary about family in A mix of personal reflections and cultural commentary about family in America
![Love Is Slow, but It Lasts Love Is Slow, but It Lasts](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/59304.jpg?h=123&w=220)
When I first met my husband I was 16 years old. I would have said I fell in love with him immediately. We stood in the darkness of an October night and talked and talked. Two months later we exchanged those words—I love you—also whispered in the dark of night. But it took five more years ...
!["Looking for Ways to Build Bridges" "Looking for Ways to Build Bridges"](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/59280.jpg?h=123&w=220)
Fifteen months ago, this blog began with a conversation with Katelyn Beaty about my hopes and dreams for Thin Places. As I conclude this blog, we thought it fitting to have a concluding conversation as well. Katelyn and I had a chance to talk about the most exciting and most challenging aspects of ...
![Nine Favorite Posts from Thin Places Nine Favorite Posts from Thin Places](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/59208.jpg?h=123&w=220)
One of the wonderful aspects of blogging is that I get to write about pretty much anything that is on my mind and might connect with readers. Over the past 15 months of blogging for Christianity Today, I've written or edited nearly 200 posts. As I wrote last week, many posts soar to the top of ...
![Why I Need to Stop Blogging Why I Need to Stop Blogging](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/59029.jpg?h=123&w=220)
“Blog” is a word that was coined nearly two decades ago as a shortened version of “web log.” As the word suggests, blogs originated as online spaces in which individuals or groups log their experiences in something approaching real time, much as a sailor would record the daily ...
![When My Son with Autism Didn't Drop the Ball When My Son with Autism Didn't Drop the Ball](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/58857.jpg?h=123&w=220)
April is my bittersweet month, when the world turns blue for autism awareness, when it’s more conscious of the thing that is my constant companion. But after April, the world sometimes forgets.
I cannot.
When he was little, our neurologist commended us for being proactive in seeking Noah’s ...
![Has Mindfulness Supplanted Thoughtfulness? Has Mindfulness Supplanted Thoughtfulness?](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/58661.jpg?h=123&w=220)
“Mindfulness” is a buzzword these days. As a recent article in the Sunday New York Times points out:
. . . mindfulness has come to comprise a dizzying range of meanings for popular audiences. It’s an intimately attentive frame of mind. It’s a relaxed-alert frame of mind. ...
![True or False: 90% of Babies with Down Syndrome are Aborted True or False: 90% of Babies with Down Syndrome are Aborted](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/58530.jpg?h=123&w=220)
For years, I have read news headlines in Christian and secular outlets, from conservatives and liberals alike, stating that “90% of babies with Down syndrome are aborted.” As I have argued before, and as a new study demonstrates, it’s just not true. Correcting this common misconception ...
![Joy for a Little Girl with Autism Joy for a Little Girl with Autism](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/58516.jpg?h=123&w=220)
In honor of autism awareness month, Jared Kennedy reflects on his daughter Lucy's experience as a part of a church community:
Kelly couldn’t wait to talk after the service. She met Megan and me in the stairwell on our way to the children’s wing. “I have to tell you about Lucy’s ...
![Deep Calls Out to Deep, but I Long to Stay Shallow Deep Calls Out to Deep, but I Long to Stay Shallow](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/58357.jpg?h=123&w=220)
In March, we went on vacation as a family. It was a beautiful trip—clear skies, blue water, white sandy beaches. The resort where we stayed offered a “kids club” in the morning, so I had time for walks by myself and with Peter, for naps in the shade of a palm tree, for times of ...
![The Need for Spiritual End-of-Life Care The Need for Spiritual End-of-Life Care](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/58255.jpg?h=123&w=220)
My grandmother died ten days ago. She was 88 years old. By all accounts she had lived a colorful life, with three husbands, three children, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She routinely stated her intention to live another decade. Even though her body was failing her through arthritis ...
![What Do Our Kids Need to Learn about Easter? What Do Our Kids Need to Learn about Easter?](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/58189.jpg?h=123&w=220)
When it comes to explaining Easter to our children, we bump up against the same problems every year. First of all, our culture doesn’t point to Easter. There are no Easter songs playing on the radio. There are no parties in the lead up or the aftermath. Compared to Christmas, Easter just happens, ...
![Contraception and Faith Contraception and Faith](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/56316.jpg?h=123&w=220)
I've been interested in the topic of contraception and faith for quite some time, both in light of my own unwillingness to think about contraception in theological terms in the early years of my marriage (an unwillingness I have observed in others as well), and also in the way decisions about ...
![From Depo-Provera to Natural Family Planning From Depo-Provera to Natural Family Planning](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/56319.jpg?h=123&w=220)
As this series on contraception comes to a close, Emily Heady offers a Protestant perspective on Natural Family Planning.
When my husband and I married in 2001, we were graduate students with tiny salaries, tiny living quarters, and gargantuan workloads. It was not a good time for a baby. So a few ...
![I Stopped Using Natural Family Planning I Stopped Using Natural Family Planning](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/56314.jpg?h=123&w=220)
My her.meneutics colleague, Liuan Huska, joins the conversation today in describing the choices she and her husband have made to first use NFP and then a barrier method as forms of contraception. I am so grateful for Liuan’s gracious approach to this topic:
When my husband and I first married, ...
![Why I Had a Vasectomy Why I Had a Vasectomy](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/54634.jpg?h=123&w=220)
As I mentioned last week, we will be offering a variety of personal essays about the choices Christians have made about the use of contraceptives. Today, Matthew Towles, PhD, explains why he decided to have a vasectomy:
I wonder how many life-changing conversations happen in the parking lots of doctors’ ...
![From Banned to Mandated From Banned to Mandated](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/54703.jpg?h=123&w=220)
Last week, I began a series of blog posts about contraception and faith. Rather than rehashing the debate that ensued, please refer to Friday's post that discusses contraception, Margaret Sanger, and women's health in the developing world. Last week also featured a doctor's perspective on ...
![Why I Have Seven Children Why I Have Seven Children](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/54705.jpg?h=123&w=220)
Mary Alice Teti offers the first of a handful of personal Christian perspectives on contraception here in the United States. She writes about how her Catholicism has shaped her view of marriage, and next week we will hear a diverse series of Protestant views:
Any young person who was raised in a Christian ...
![Questioning Margaret Sanger Questioning Margaret Sanger](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/54650.jpg?h=123&w=220)
Two days ago, I published a piece on this blog by Rachel Marie Stone called "Contraception Saves Lives." Toward the end of this post, Stone writes:
Another study found that if every woman who wanted birth control had access to it, each year, there would be: 25 million fewer abortions 7 ...
![A Doctor's View on Hormonal Contraception A Doctor's View on Hormonal Contraception](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/54589.jpg?h=123&w=220)
Dr. Emily Gibson has written about contraception for her.meneutics in the past, and I asked her to offer her perspective as a physician when it comes to the questions Christians might want to ask about hormonal contraception in particular. I appreciate her measured tone and informative approach:
As ...
![Contraception Saves Lives Contraception Saves Lives](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/54587.jpg?h=123&w=220)
To begin our conversation about contraception and faith, I asked my friend and colleague Rachel Marie Stone to reflect upon her time working as a doula in Malawi. Here are her reflections on contraception and global health:
The young nurse was one of eleven living children -- one of eighteen, if you ...