Just Show Up: The Surprising Gift of Saying Yes to Connection
Most of us find reasons not to, but it is almost always worth it to just show up. My most recent opportunity to be reminded of this truth came on Saturday,…
Why the Language We Use About Disability Matters
When our daughter was diagnosed with Down syndrome, I realized that I had the words “Down syndrome baby” in my head. I remember thinking, “I don't like that language. It…
How Disability Changed This Dad’s Idea of “Normal” with Mike Erre
TAKE THE NEXT STEP PODCAST E25—What do you do when the child you imagined isn’t the child you have? Pastor Mike Erre experienced the slow dismantling of achievement-based parenting when…
Small Steps, Big Dreams: Permission to Assume Possibility for Our Child With Disability
Penny calls in her own prescription refills now. It’s a small detail of our lives together, but it also feels like a symbol of something bigger. Eight years ago, her…
Finding Your People After a Diagnosis: Community, Disability, and Hope
We experienced a wellspring of response when our daughter Penny was born and diagnosed with Down syndrome. People showed up in prayer, meals, messages, and care. And like so many…
Start with Delight: What a Down Syndrome Gala Revealed About Belonging and Joy
On Saturday night, Peter and I went with Penny to the Down Syndrome Association of Connecticut’s World Down Syndrome Gala. We were jet-lagged, and I didn’t want to get dressed…
When Fear Limits Imagination: Supporting Our Daughter with Down Syndrome and Her Dreams Beyond Home
“I would start tomorrow if I could,” Penny said, after our visit to Clemson University. (You can watch a short highlight clip of why she loved Clemson here!) The ClemsonLIFE program…
Why Intelligence Is Not the Measure of Human Worth (from a Parent of a Child with Down Syndrome)
When I was in college, I spent a summer studying for the GRE—the Graduate Record Examinations—in anticipation of applying for PhD programs. I had visions of becoming a professor of…
The Dignity of Risk: What My Daughter’s First Ballet Bun Taught Me About Disability, Growth, and Possibility
Last week, I was packing up for the fourth of four speaking trips in a month when my mom called to say she wouldn’t be able to come stay with Penny that…
Reimagining the Good Life: Faith, Disability, and the Way of Love
There’s a moment in the recent Billy Joel documentary, And So It Goes, where he describes writing the song “Big Shot.” He says it came out of this period in his…
