OK, all you NFP users out there…I need your help. I’m writing the cover story for CCL’s Family Foundations’ March-April issue on “Responsible Parenthood,” and I need stories. Are you someone who came to understand responsible parenthood, and that understanding radically shifted your family planning and parenting? How do you know it’s time for another…
Read MoreAll articles filed in family planning
Toad Rescue
Okay, so it wasn’t a toad. It was probably a tree frog. It had been sitting on the outer sill of our upstairs window all day, its little toad chin pulsing, a brownish lump in the corner of the glass. Alex was out playing, so it wasn’t until evening, when Christian discovered it, that Alex…
Read MorePoster Child
My whole life, I have been a poster child for Catholicism. I was a choir baby, which means that on Lenten and Advent Wednesdays, I sat on hard pews and read or did homework while Mom and Dad rehearsed. I started playing flute at church at the tender age of ten or eleven, and by…
Read MoreWhen Kate needs a pep talk, she blogs
We have chosen to have our kids close together—21 months between Alex and Julianna, and 25 between Julianna and Nicholas. Our reasons are pretty simple: Get the chaos out of the way all at once. Kids grow up with built-in playmates, and all the associated social learning (sharing, doing without, etc.) Makes it possible to…
Read MorePro-life versus anti-abortion
This is not what I wanted to spend my writing time on today. I detest writing about things that make me angry, and upon which I am powerless to effect change. Besides which, I can’t imagine that I can write this post without infuriating a large part of my readership. Yet the news of the…
Read MoreTeachable moments
“Mommy,” said Alex at lunchtime, “strawberries are red, just like blood.” Wow, I thought. Never thought I’d hear that one! “Yes, Alex, they are.” “Blood is pretty. But I don’t like ouchies.” How could I not laugh at that? “Me, either, Alex. Me either.” Then, remembering his temper tantrums and flying feet,…
Read MoreA “Whoa” moment
Lately, Alex reminds me of a Garfield cartoon from my childhood. Odie and Garfield are in a canoe, rowing in opposite directions. Odie has a thunderstorm, Garfield has the sun. He says, “I’m easy to get along with when everything goes my way.” It’s been a very over-stimulating ten days. Grandma and Grandpa Basi…
Read MoreCrisis at the Circulation Desk
Scene: the circulation desk at the public library. Behind the counter, a young man and a middle-aged woman. In front of it: two very pregnant women, with small children in tow. A discussion ensues, instigated by Alex (who else?), about babies in mommies’ tummies. We share due dates, smiling and laughing, because our daughters…
Read MoreGene
One year and 354 days ago, Christian and I found out that our newborn daughter had Down syndrome. It is news to make you reel. It was more than an hour before we caught our balance enough to start thinking who we needed to call. I’m not even sure we started with our parents.…
Read MoreWhen the only possible reaction is gratitude
Last night, I finished reading a book that has been occupying my thoughts for a week. The book is called Escape, by Carolyn Jessop, and it chronicles her life in and escape from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) cult. When I saw the book sitting on the library display, I remembered the news…
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Kathleen M. Basi 