We are now part of the Key Ministry family and all our new content will be featured there. We'll leave this site up as a resource and hope you'll join our team of writers at our new home. … [Read more...]
Questions for Jesus: Don’t You Care If We Drown
After Penny was diagnosed with Down syndrome, there were days when I felt as if I was drowning. I could almost feel my lungs filling up with water. I could almost see my murky surroundings, the distorted objects and the light filtering through. I thought I would never come to the surface. Back then, my head was filled with questions and my heart was filled with dread. I was scared of the life … [Read more...]
Building Bridges
I sometimes feel a strange sense of guilt, or at least dis-ease, about Penny. It's not what you might think. I'm about as comfortable as I can imagine being with a child who has Down syndrome, and I think my kids are too. (The other day, I was explaining that some athletes from the Special Olympics practice we were about to see might have Down syndrome. Penny did a fist pump in the air and … [Read more...]
Full or Functional
She meant well when she asked. “How high-functioning is your daughter?” I didn’t think much of it as I replied, “Oh, she’s very high-functioning. Her intelligence is at an age-appropriate level. The developmental delays she experiences are related to motor skills. She can’t jump or run very well. She can’t whistle. That kind of thing.” “That’s great,” she said. And then the conversation moved … [Read more...]
She Is Patient, and Brave, and Kind, and I am Grateful
I had a bad dream last week. Or maybe I was half-awake in the middle of the night, thinking about what lay ahead. All I know is that at two in the morning, for the first time, I was worried about Penny’s upcoming surgery. I shouldn’t have been. It was the fifth time she would be “put under,” and the least frightening of the five. And the previous four–ear tubes when she was five-months old, a … [Read more...]
How Much Does God Love You?
I play a game with my kids. When they are pouting or withdrawing from me or disappointed with me or think I’m disappointed with them, I hold up my thumb and index finger and say, “Do I love you this much?” They know the answer by now, but the first time, they looked at me, a little confused. I smiled and shook my head. Then I held my hands about six inches apart. “This much?” They had started to … [Read more...]