BLOOM contributor Amy Julia Becker has a memoir out today about raising Penny, her 5-year-old daughter.
You can read more about A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations and A Little Girl Named Penny on publisher Bethany House's website or look at a beautiful photo scrapbook with journal notes.
Here's a bit from the news release:
Top of her class at Princeton, Amy Julia Becker always imagined that her children would turn out just like her. They’d love literature and enjoy art. They would be the first toddlers walking in playgroup. And they’d meet the love of their life while away at boarding school. So when her daughter Penny entered the world with Down syndrome, Becker had to rethink everything.
And from her website she writes:
"I used to think that human perfection meant human exceptionalism. Being more than capable. Being able to do everything—athletics, academics, parenting, career—without needing help or even information. Through the experience of caring for my mother-in-law as she battled cancer, and through the experience of welcoming my daughter into this world after she was born and after she was diagnosed with Down syndrome, I realized that my understanding of what it means to be fully human was flawed."
Congratulations Amy Julia! I can't wait to get my copy! Louise
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3 comments:
Sounds like another great book recommendation, Louise. I loved Ian Brown's book "The Boy in the Moon". Looking forward to reading this book as well.
Thanks!
"I used to think that human perfection meant human exceptionalism"
What Julia writes is so true. As many individuals discover this truth through experience we can only hope that their sharing of this realization affects the common beliefs of society.
Has anyone ever heard of a parent who opted to embrace their child's differences only to conclude years later that they wished their child had never been born?
Thanks for promoting this book, Louise. It looks like a must-read!
Barb
Hi Barb -- Amy Julia is sending me a copy so you can borrow it! xo
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