Concern over college affordability in the United States is nothing new. The inflation-adjusted average annual cost of tuition, room and board for the country’s colleges and universities has more than doubled over the past 30 years, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

While the cost of attendance has actually been increasing faster at public universities over the past decade, private institutions are in general still more expensive. The National Center for Education Statistics puts the average annual cost of tuition, room and board at private, not-for-profit American universities at $36,300 for the 2010-2011 academic year.

While the -affiliated colleges and universities aren’t quite that pricey, they’re not cheap either. According to online “sticker price” figures, the average full cost of attendance this year at the five colleges/universities is $33,714. (The full cost of a 90-credit hour M.Div. degree from the two Mennonite Church USA-affiliated seminaries is currently just over $41,000.)

Price or best fit?

“Higher education as a whole has had to defend its worth and value in today’s society,” says , director of retention at 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” (91¶ÌÊÓÆ”), Harrisonburg, Va. “We see more and more students making their choice based on price instead of what’s a best fit for them.”

When it comes to paying for an education, however, officials at Mennonite educational institutions note that scholarships and financial aid almost always mean that the actual cost of a student’s education will be less than the sticker price.

Dan Koop Liechty, director of admissions at , notes that cost and affordability decisions are best made after prospective students have applied, been admitted and received financial assistance packages. At this point, students can make decisions based on the bottom-line cost of their educations, which are often much more comparable to attending a public institution than it first appears.

Directly related to the price of higher education is the issue of student debt, which has also been increasing. According to the , 2011 graduates who borrowed to finance their educations finished with an average debt load of $26,600. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, some consider this an unreasonable burden to place on graduates entering an uncertain job market. Others characterize it as a reasonable investment—about the cost of a new Toyota Prius—that sets college graduates on the path to a much larger payoff.

College degree as an investment

“It’s not debt that you’re using to buy consumables and putting on a credit card with a 21-percent interest rate,” says Ron Headings, vice president for enrollment management and marketing at . “It’s buying you a college degree.”

Headings adds that with prior planning and hard work during college—to maintain academic scholarships as well as earn income—students and their families can find it “fairly easy to get out of Bluffton University debt-free.”

Cost and debt aside, getting a college degree clearly remains a smart financial investment for young adults. While estimates vary, many sources now place the average increase in earnings over a 40-year career at or near $1 million compared to workers without a college degree.

Furthermore, faculty, staff and alumni of the five colleges and universities say a degree from one isn’t just any garden-variety bachelor’s degree.

Engaged profs, small classes

“At a larger school, many of the foundational classes are taught by teaching assistants,” says Matthew Schmidt, a 1994 graduate of , North Newton, Kan. “At Bethel you have full professors teaching these same classes.”

Schmidt, who lives in Newton, Kan., and is interim director of a clinic providing health services to medically underserved populations, says the small class sizes at Bethel created an interactive environment ideal for collaborative learning.

Additionally, engaged faculty invested in students’ well-being and emphases on critical thinking and cross-cultural skills prepare them particularly well for the future.

Strong outcomes

Two of many indications are these:

‱ From 2006 to 2010, 91 percent of 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” graduates who applied to medical school were accepted, almost double the national acceptance rate of 46 percent.

‱ At Bethel, 95 percent of social work graduates pass their licensing exams on the first attempt, compared with a national pass rate of 78 percent.

“In a rapidly changing and highly specialized job market, a liberal arts college degree provides an essential foundation for the basic skills that are needed in a dynamic economic environment,” says John D. Roth, the author of Teaching that Transforms: Why Anabaptist-Mennonite Education Matters and a professor of history at Goshen College. “So education at Goshen College is ‘worth it’ for straightforward economic reasons alone.”

But the financial case for the value of a Mennonite college, university or seminary education only tells part of the story.

Education that transforms

Back on the financial aid page: “The key is to think of [education] in terms of value. While the cost of college may initially be a bit of a shock, step back, take a deep breath and think about the experiences and lifelong advantages a Hesston education provides.” This appeal to the value of a Mennonite education is an extremely important part of the argument.

“As Anabaptists, we are part of a tradition that measures worth in more than monetary terms,” says Rachel Swartzendruber Miller, vice president of admissions and financial aid at Hesston. “Mennonite colleges and universities not only offer course credits and degrees, we provide transformational opportunities for our students to fully discover themselves and their place in God’s mission in the world.”

Graduates of these schools frequently point to impossible-to-quantify personal growth as one of the most important parts of their educations there.

“Attending Goshen College was a seminal time in my development,” says Peter Eash-Scott, a 1999 graduate, now a stay-at-home dad in Newton “It probably is one of the most influential things that has informed who I am, what I value and who I strive to be.”

Shared, reinforced values

Spending four years in a learning environment surrounded by people who held similar values, Eash-Scott adds, provided “a safe place to explore my faith and challenge my understanding of God, myself and the faith community,” both in and out of the classroom.

Close, caring relationships between students and faculty often are another important aspect of an education at a Mennonite institution.

“The faculty and staff here are part of our community,” says Clark Oswald, associate director of admissions at Bethel. “We care for our neighbors. That’s something as Mennonites that we learn in church growing up, and at Bethel we do that. 
 There’s just kind of this underlying sense of ‘we’re in this together.’ ”

Michelle Roth-Cline, a 2000 graduate of 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”, called the mentoring role of faculty “absolutely invaluable.” Now a pediatric ethicist for the , Roth-Cline says her education at 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” prepared her for medical school as well as her classmates coming from Ivy League and other prestigious schools. At the same time, what she learned about building relationships has served her equally well.

Learning to care for people

“I learned more about how to care for other people at 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” than I did in medical school. Simply knowing how to care for other people in this way has opened all kinds of doors both personally and professionally that I never would have imagined possible when I was choosing a college,” Roth-Cline says.

Leah Roeschley, a 2011 graduate of Bluffton, says her education there set the stage for her own spiritual growth. The opportunity to explore Mennonite faith and spirituality, combined with “space to ask questions [and] space to access and receive counsel” allows students to “claim a faith that is truly their own,” she says.

“My Mennonite education was worth it because my college experience was bracketed with values that resonated with me,” says Roeschley, a registered dietitian in Bloomington, Ill. “Those values were in the background of everything I did at Bluffton. 
 I left not only fully equipped for the field of dietetics, but I also left with 
 a deeper understanding of who I was.”

A related role played by Mennonite higher education is the development of future church leaders and members.

Developing leaders

“There is strong and long-standing research that shows that students who graduate from a Mennonite college are far more likely to participate after college in a Mennonite congregation, our denominational service agencies and leadership positions in the denominational structures. Mennonite higher education is not only a great value for students, we are of great value to our denomination,” says Koop Liechty, the admissions director at Goshen.

, director of admissions at (EMS), says that study at a Mennonite seminary puts Anabaptist “theology, history, polity and biblical understandings” at the center of the curriculum. At a non-Mennonite school, she adds, these topics—key in the development of church leaders—would often be relegated to electives.

Ron Guengerich, a 1974 graduate of (AMBS), says his education gave him a lifelong love of scholarship and the church while bringing the Bible alive as “a challenging and transforming ‘word.’ ” Now the pastor of Silverwood Mennonite Church in Goshen, he says he left well prepared for work within the church and eager to continue advanced study of the Old Testament.

Given the relatively low pay offered to people entering church leadership and ministry positions, Amstutz says EMS is concerned with the growing cost of attendance and believes all levels of the denomination need to “find ways to help support students financially.”

There is also a converse question of worth to consider: What would be the price of not having strong educational institutions?

“It’s impossible to put a money value on effective and visionary leadership for the church,” says Sara Wenger Shenk, president of AMBS. “Most of us don’t get it that healthy communities thrive 
 because they have compassionate, competent and confident leaders.”

Building community

“Thank God for those who remember that the cost of ignorance and immaturity given full sway in local congregations is far greater than an investment in those who are ready to become masters of the craft,” she says.

According to those interviewed for this article, the sum of an educational experience at a Mennonite educational institution is greater than its individual parts, with academic growth and personal development building upon and informing each other.

“We feel very strongly about our value and the high quality of education that we provide to our students,” says Good. His statement is echoed by his counterparts at other institutions. “At 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”, students receive an education in which they are challenged to move beyond their comfort zone, to think critically about the world around them, to strengthen their core values and beliefs and to be leaders and forces for change and justice in their communities.”

Courtesy The Mennonite, Jan. 1, 2013

Sara Wenger Shenk, associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) in Harrisonburg, Va., has been named president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), Elkhart, Ind.

Dr. Shenk, who is also associate professor of Christian practice at EMS, will begin her new assignment on or before Oct. 1, 2010. The AMBS board made the appointment at its Oct. 22-24 meetings in Elkhart.

Wenger Shenk has been a member of the faculty and administration of EMS since 1995. In addition to serving as associate dean, she is also associate professor of Christian practices.

University responds

“We are pleased that, once again, the Mennonite Church has recognized the gifts of a member of our 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” community and has called her to important leadership in the broader denomination,” said Fred Kniss, 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” provost. “At the same time, we recognize this as a significant loss to 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”, especially to our seminary.

“Sara has worked with EMS dean Ervin R. Stutzman to provide skilled innovative leadership during a period of significant program growth,” Dr. Kniss said. “Her care and wisdom in relating to faculty and students will also help to make her an excellent president for AMBS,” he added.

“Although this is a major loss to the 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” community, it is obvious to me why Sara would have been on the AMBS search committee’s radar from the beginning,” said 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” President Loren Swartzendruber. “She is gifted and prepared to take on this significant role in the life of the church, and I have pledged my support in the transition and beyond. Please join me in congratulating her.”

As announced earlier, Wenger Shenk will serve as interim dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Jan. 1 – June 30, 2010, before assuming her new role at AMBS. Ervin R. Stutzman, 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” vice president and EMS dean since 1998, will become executive secretary of Mennonite Church USA in early 2010.

Randall Jacobs, Goshen, Ind., chair of the presidential search committee and new chair of the AMBS board, said. “Wenger Shenk represents a unique combination of gifts and experiences, including teaching and administration in theological education, cross-cultural ministry, church planting, and writing for both scholarly and popular audiences. More importantly, she is grounded in Jesus, deeply respectful of the church and passionate about Anabaptist theological education.”

More about Sara Wenger Shenk

Wenger Shenk earned a BA degree from 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”, studied at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif.; completed an MA degree in 1986 at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill.; and received an EdD degree from Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Richmond, Va., in 1999. Her dissertation was titled, “Toward An Anabaptist Educational Theory.”

She has written a broad range articles, chapters and books, including “Thank You for Asking: Conversing with Young Adults about the Future Church” (Herald Press, 2005), “Anabaptist Ways of Knowing: A Conversation about Tradition-Based Critical Education” (Cascadia, 2003), Coming Home: A Thoughtful Resource for Fathers, Mothers, and the Rebirth of the Family (Good Books, 1992) and Why Not Celebrate! (Good Books, 1987).

Wenger Shenk has been a “Real Families” columnist for The Mennonite magazine and a contributor to Mennonite Quarterly Review, Leader Magazine, Vision and Sojourners.

Wenger Shenk believes that worship, our “primary theology,” sustains and grounds all aspects of theological education. One evidence of this is the leadership she and her spouse, N. Gerald Shenk, have given over the last three years to The Table, an emerging Mennonite congregation in Harrisonburg, Va. He is professor of church and society at EMS.

In addition, Wenger Shenk serves as the Virginia Mennonite Conference representative to the Constituency Leaders Council of Mennonite Church USA and has recently joined the MC-USA bi national worship council. From 1993-2001, she was member-at-large for the Faith and Life Commission of Virginia Mennonite Conference.

From 1977-1983 and again from 1986-1989, Gerald and Sara served on a study-service appointment with Eastern Mennonite Missions and Mennonite Central Committee in the former Yugoslavia. While there, she studied Croatian language at the University of Zagreb.

As president, Wenger Shenk will join the AMBS administrative cabinet. Dr. George R. Brunk III currently is serving as interim president and will continue until Wenger Shenk begins her new role. J. Nelson Kraybill was AMBS president from 1997 through July 2009.

AMBS is a seminary of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.

will hold its 57th annual commencement 3 p.m. Saturday, Apr. 29, in Lehman Auditorium on the 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” campus.

Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders, senior pastor of Third Street Church of God in Washington, D.C., and professor of Christian ethics at Howard University School of Divinity, will give the commencement address during the ceremonies on the theme, “A Holy Calling,” based on II Timothy 1:1-11.

EMS dean will preside and confer degrees or certificates on the 33 members of the seminary class of 2006. The seminary will award 25 master of divinity degrees, one master of arts in religion degree and four master of arts in church leadership degrees. Three persons will receive the one-year certificate in ministry studies.

A baccalaureate service planned by the graduating class will be held 7:30 p.m. Friday, Apr. 28, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building. Dr. , associate seminary dean and associate professor of Christian education, will speak. A reception for seminary graduates, their relatives and friends will immediately follow the baccalaureate in the seminary fellowship area.

The baccalaureate and commencement services are open to the public.

Mennonite Educators Conference
September 22-24, 2005
Workshop: Practices for Nurturing Children in Faith
Presenter: Dr. Sara Wenger Shenk

What do Anabaptist Mennonites believe about the nature of childhood?

• Nature of childhood: children are developmentally immature, as distinct from “good” or “evil”
• Menno Simons on children: There is a “complex innocence” with children, and a recognition of the absence of both faithfulness and sinfulness in children; an “innocence” tempered with the acknowledgement of an inherited nature predisposed toward sinning.
• Grace covers a child’s sinful nature, with children taking increasing responsibility for their actions as they age. Simons was reluctant to identify a precise age of “discretion” or “accountability.” He is concerned for spiritual maturity which may not always coincide with chronological maturity. (Simons interpreted by Graber Miller)
• The Anabaptist/Mennonite faith tradition anticipates a gradual embracing of and maturing in faith through steady, integrative modeling and nurturing.

What’s faith got to do with childhood?

• “If families just let the culture happen to them, they end up fat, addicted, broke, with a house full of junk and no time.” (Pipher)
• We and the children we teach need something more in our lives than the stuff and the fantasies that companies want to sell us. We yearn to connect with a more satisfying source of purpose and meaning. How do we nurture a relationship with God and the faith community that will endure and resource an abundantly good life for our children?
• Some developmental “experts” argue that children younger than twelve years old are too young to engage in the spiritual life in any meaningful way. These “experts” tend to define “true spirituality” as adhering to a set of beliefs or values. Such an approach overlooks the spiritual nature of “wonder, experiential interpretations, and intuitively grasped insights into the mystery of God.” (Yust)

How can we risk embarking on a spiritual quest with the children in our care, seeking faithfulness together, creating a faith oriented culture with faith-infused practices?

What is faith and faithfulness?

• Faith is a gift from God. It is neither a particular set of beliefs nor a well-developed cognitive understanding of all things spiritual. It is an act of grace in which God chooses to be in relationship with humanity. It comes to us through all our senses.
• Faithfulness is a human response to God’s gift of faith. It is a disposition that welcomes God’s presence and seeks God’s teaching. It is our age-appropriate attempt to let God’s love permeate all of our senses and guide our thoughts and behavior. A faith tradition helps us recognize God’s presence and respond faithfully.
• The scriptures emphasize a multisensory relationship of the divine with humanity. Persons encounter God physically (through the senses), emotionally (through feelings), and socially (through one’s culture, family, and tradition).
• Adults who work with children introduce and support spiritual practices that enable them to respond to the gift of faith in ways appropriate for their age. Such practices include: worship, prayer, contemplation, study, confession, reconciliation, witness and service. (Yust )

How do responses to faith change over time?

• Faithful responses to the gift of faith are affected by physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development of the persons involved. In order to meet people where they are in terms of their present structures of faith, it is helpful to be aware of how persons grow and develop over time; how people are, in some important and regular ways, similar to others who are “at the same stage.”

Age-Related Aspects of Faithfulness

Birth to Three Years

• Experience God’s love embodied in caregivers
• “Overhear” and “oversee” the life of their spiritual community
• Develop a spiritual sense of community and personal identity in relation to the signs and symbols around them
• Relate to the idea of God as they relate to a beloved stuffed animal or blanket: as something that provides security
• Provide an image of the mysterious and creative power of God for adults

Three to Eight Years

• Interpret their spiritual experience using perception and intuition
• View God as a miracle worker
• Apply their growing awareness of the social structures of their environment to religious ideas
• Use pretend play to explore the ideas and symbols of their spiritual community
• Are deeply responsive to religious narratives
• Need the freedom to discover and create images that express their evolving connections between their spiritual experiences and their social world

Nine to Twelve Years

• Interested in investigating the claims of religious traditions and naming their own beliefs
• Aware of multiple and competing social and religious perspectives from which to choose
• Need adult assistance to develop a thoughtful inquisitiveness in relation to their spiritual experiences
• Highly sensitive to adult hypocrisy and expect those around them to live by their values and commitments (Yust )

How do we cultivate faithfulness in children?

• Help children develop a bi-cultural identity. We live in two cultures—our local community/neighborhood and our religious community. Both cultures contribute to a child’s understanding of what the world is like. One has much greater potential to dominate a child’s thinking. Children need help to negotiate the overlaps and tensions between these two worlds so they become genuinely bi-cultural and bi-lingual, able to speak their “primal language” and the “language of the empire.” (Brueggemann)
• Immerse children in the bibilical/faith tradition stories. Who are the people in our children’s “neighborhoods”? Children relate to characters and images they see frequently. Media images are everywhere. How do children develop a relationship with the images and characters of their faith tradition? How can we immerse children in singing, dancing, re-telling, drawing, dramatizing the stories so they form a deep imaginative identification with David, Miriam, Daniel, Mary and others; so they can “try on” these roles and become familiar with them? The experiences children have, the images they see, and the stories they hear become lasting frameworks on which they construct their perceptions of reality. How can we enable children to receive,Ìęhear,Ìęcelebrate,ÌętellÌęČčČÔ»ćÌębecome “the story?” (Brueggemann)
• Assist children in naming God’s presence in their lives Nurturing a life of faith requires the vocabulary necessary for naming one’s experience of God and faith. Both children and adults need familiarity with the “grammar of the religious life” so they can participate meaningfully in conversations about faith. How do children learn religious language and what is essential for it to benefit spiritual formation with clarity,Ìęrichness,ÌęconcretenessÌęČčČÔ»ćÌęcritical awareness? (Dykstra)
• Teach children to pray and form an affective relationship with God Engaging children in our prayer heritage is good for us all. We can’t give what we don’t have; we can’t pray with children unless we pray. For many of us, education has been highly cognitive which is fine as far as it goes, but it is inadequate for developing an affective relationship with God. Children experience God. They are marvelously open to being taught to pray. How do children learn to pray?
• Prepare a place: a prayer room with plants, big pillows; a welcoming space with music, quiet, and artwork.
• Teach children the value of silence; that God can befriend us in silence; that with intentional cultivation of silence in their lives, children can remain in touch with their spirit and the Spirit that animates them. Perhaps pose a question for children to ponder (with a candle lit in the middle of the circle) or play music, or pass out balls of clay to knead; and then invite children to share quietly what came to them in the silence or write in their journals.
• Teach various kinds of prayer: centering prayer with a chosen word such as “Abba” or “shalom” to repeat while quieting one’s spirit and body to listen to God; meditative prayer prompted by a poem, artwork, musical selection that provides a loose structure within which children can ponder the mysteries of life, their commitments
; using a biblical story for guided meditation, pausing to ask prayerful questions that invite imaginative engagement at various points in the story; praying a lament, modeled on the biblical psalms; prayers of praise, confession and forgiveness, petition, intercession, thanksgiving and discipleship.
• Teach bodily gestures for praying: bowing, kneeling, sitting, standing, clapping, making the sign of the cross, raising our arms and faces to God. What may begin as imitation becomes habituated is us, deeply forming attitudes and beliefs as well. Our bodies come to “know” and make known what we believe is important. (from Yust and elsewhere)
• Act out our spirituality with a balance of action and reflection Children need to learn the connection between spiritual experience and intentional choices about how we will live and work with others. Our quiet, meditative times lead to new insights about how we will live and work with others. Times of prayer must be balanced with times of active service. Robert Coles says that “character is ultimately who we are expressed in action, in how we live, in what we do
”

A full spiritual life for children will combine elements of reflection and action in a never-ending movement of “journeying inward toward God and outward toward neighbors.” Children can grow up seeing the world as a place where their actions make a difference and are integrally related to their spirituality—the call of God and their faith community.

Resources

Primary source

Real Kids: Real Faith—Practices for Nurturing Children’s Spiritual Lives by Karen Marie Yust, Jossey-Bass, 2004

Other Sources

Will Our Children Have Faith, by John Westerhoff, Morehouse Publishing, 1976

Puddles of Knowing: Engaging Children in Our Faith Heritage by Marlene Halpin, Wm. C. Brown, 1984

The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding our Families, by Mary Pipher, Ballantine, 1996.

Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development by James Fowler, Harper 1981

“Complex Innocence, Obligatory Nurturance, and Parental Vigilance: ‘The Child’ in Menno Simons” by Keith Graber Miller in _The Child in Christian Thought _edited by Marcia Bunge, Eerdmans, 2001

The Moral Intelligence of Children: How to Raise a Moral Child by Robert Coles, Random House, 1997

Growing in the Life of Faith by Craig Dykstra, Geneva Press, 1999.

Belonging and Growing in Christian Community by Walter Brueggemann, Presbyterian Church US document, 1979

“The Legitimacy of a Sectarian Hermeneutic: 2 Kings 18-19, by Walter Brueggemann in Education for Citizenship and Discipleship edited by Mary Boys, Pilgrim Press, 1989

Many young adults want to belong to the church, but they are calling for significant changes. They are challenging the church to move toward a more real, honest and intimate way of being in community, welcoming their questions, failures, love for fun, potlucks and storytelling.

That’s the focus of the latest book by Sara Wenger Shenk, associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Herald Press, Scottdale, Pa., has released "Thank You for Asking: Conversing with Young Adults about the Future Church," by Dr. Shenk, who is also an associate professor of Christian Education at the seminary. (Click here for another article on Shenk’s book.)

Shenk received a grant from The Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith to help fund the research that went into the book. She worked with a team of eight Mennonite-affiliated young adults who interviewed 56 of their peers from across the country, asking them questions about their experience with the biblical narrative, lifestyle choices and what they are seeking in the future church.

The stories emerging from the interviews form the basis of the book, with each chapter concluding with a "What I Hear" summary from the author. The book ends with a summary of the findings of the young adults’ views on such topics as scripture, the story of Jesus, how to relate to people of other faith traditions, community practices and their vision for the future church.

In a Foreword by Brian D. McLaren, a foremost authority on the future church, he states, "[These stories] represent a gritty, honest, unedited, blood-sweat-and-tears immersion into the spiritual, social, emotional and sexual lives of young adults. In all their beauty and chaos, integration and disintegration, they provide a window into the realities of ministry to people of all ages."

"My sense now, having completed this study, is that today’s ‘twentysomethings’ are more hopeful about the church, and especially the Mennonite Church and what it has to offer to the larger society, than what I was growing up," Shenk said.

A 1975 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” graduate, Shenk received a master’s degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and an Ed.D. from Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va.

Shenk has been at EMS since 1992. Her husband, N. Gerald Shenk, is professor of church and society there. Together they spent two terms of study and service in Yugoslavia, 1987-89 and 1977-83, under appointment of , Salunga, Pa., and , Akron, Pa.

She has written five other books on theological and family life themes. They are: Anabaptist Ways of Knowing (Cascadia Press, 2003), Meditations for New Parents, co-authored with her husband, Gerald (Herald Press, 1996), Coming Home (Good Books, 1992), Why Not Celebrate! (Good Books, 1987), and And Then There Were Three: An Ode to Parenthood (Herald Press, 1985)

"Thank You for Asking" is available for $14.98 from the University Bookstore, Provident Bookstores and other retail outlets and from Amazon.com.