Favorite Guest Posts of 2013

It’s Penny’s birthday today, and I’m sure I will have some thoughts about her to share soon, but for now, in her honor, here are seven guest posts written for this blog in 2013, all related in some way to Down syndrome:

Life with Down Syndrome in Zambia  An interview with a mother of a child with Down syndrome in Zambia in honor of World Down Syndrome Day.

A Complete Family: How I Ended Up with Two Children with Down Syndrome One mother’s story of having two children with Down syndrome in Monterrey, Mexico: “Sometimes things do not happen the way we want. Sometimes it happens better.”

I Tested and I Terminated and I do Not Regret One mother’s story of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome that led her to choose termination. (This post came in the midst of a series related to prenatal testing. It continues to be one of the most widely read posts on this blog this year.)

Why I Wish I Had Chosen Prenatal Testing One pro-life mother reflects on why she wishes she had known prenatally that her daughter had Down syndrome.

What We Think Today: Down Syndrome, Prenatal Testing, and the Questions we Face George Estreich reflects upon two different Today Show stories: “In one, we’re supposed to feel good about the presence of Down syndrome; in another, about its absence. For me, the separation, the fact of two stories rather than one, is the heart of the problem.”

Down Syndrome Research: Hope for My Daughter Mother and blogger Leticia Velasquez considers whether she would use gene therapy to mitigate the effects of Down syndrome for her daughter Christina: “How does her future look right now? Difficult, unless there is a medical breakthrough.”

What Does It Mean to be Healthy? John Swinton on Down Syndrome, Shalom, and Medicine Professor John Swinton “The most hedonistic, intellectually astute athlete can be ill and in need of healing (restoration to right relationship with God) and the most deeply impaired individuals can be healthy and indeed beautiful.”

Are there any guest posts you remember that were favorites–either because they challenged, comforted, or confounded you–this year?