About the Book––Sometimes Joy Shows Up When You Least Expect It
Things don't always go as planned––especially when it comes to our children. When her first baby, Penny, is given a frightening diagnosis, Amy Julia's world comes crashing down. Could she continue to trust God's goodness through what felt like personal tragedy? But challenging surprises often lead to unforeseen joy, and disappointments can turn into blessings. This wise and beautiful book is more than a courageous story of raising a child against the odds--it is a journey through the unexpected ups and downs of life and the discoveries that come along the way.
Here's a excerpt from the book:
About the Author––Amy Julia Becker is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, which critic Andy Crouch included in his list of the best books of 2009. She graduated from Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, and writes regularly for Motherlode, the parenting blog of The New York Times. Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century,ChristianityToday.com, Bloom, and other venues. Amy Julia lives in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with her husband and three children.
You can learn even more about Amy and Penny and the rest of the Becker family by going to Amy's web site: amyjuliabecker.com
My Review––90% of mothers who find out they are carrying a Down Syndrome baby abort. 90%! May God have mercy upon their souls. May God have mercy upon us as a society for devaluing life so much, for being so amazingly selfish, to think a child with Down syndrome wouldn't be "normal" or bring joy into your life.
Amy Julia Becker relates her travels down this pathway. One of the stunning facets of this story is they didn't know their baby was a Down baby until after little Penny was born. The news comes as quite a shock and this book is about all the adjustments––mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually this mother had to go through to receive this good and perfect gift.
This is not a "perfect" book about a "perfect" family with "perfect" children. The author is very open and quite honest about her struggles with her faith in God. Yet I found this is what makes this a real story. She has doubts. She has questions and she asks them of the Lord. And then she waits. Her husband, Peter, has his own struggles, but they seem short-lived and then he proves an anchor for her.
I found this a very heart-warming book, full of fears and joys; in other words, full of real life and faith. I highly commend this book to you.
Postscript––I read a couple of reviews of this book that were fairly critical of the author and her depiction of life with a Down syndrome child. I couldn't help but wonder if they were envious of Amy for her faith or her sense of blessing, or even the specific nature of Penny's level of disability. I got the clear impression that if they could, they would have stripped all that away from her and given her a much more difficult situation (as if it weren't challenge enough, especially when you have no "forewarning"). I pity small-minded, small-faithed individuals like this. I've not met every couple with a child like Penny, but the ones I have met, have all been in the Becker's situation––filled with life and joy and happiness, along with all the challenges.
a good and perfect gift may be purchased here:
This book was received for review purposes only.