Tuesday, April 23, 2013

A Boy Named Silas: My First Prom

     On Saturday, I went my very first prom. My date was my husband of eight years. We had a delicious sushi dinner (in part to celebrate the publication this month of my first kids book, What, No Sushi?) and headed out to attend -- I mean chaperone -- prom 2013.

     Spending the evening with my sexy husband reminded me of how lucky I am. I mean, this man actually dances with me. Phillip is considerate, thoughtful, and the biggest inspiration in my life. He has encouraged me to do so many things I never would have dared do without his support.

     But do you want to know something? It's only God's grace that has allowed our marriage to thrive.

     Our tube-fed son Silas was about six months old when he developed a horrible case of colic. Until then, he had been pretty easy going (on account, in part, to his anti-seizure medicine that kept him literally drugged up in every sense of the word). Whether if was getting weaned of phenobarbitol or reacting to something disagreeable with the milk I pumped for him round the clock, Silas started squirming and protesting like mad after every feeding.

     Today, I now quite a bit of tricks for relieving extra gas through the G-tube. Back then, all I knew was my son was hurting.

     Phillip and I argued every day about feeding schedules, feeding techniques, feeding equipment, and just about everything else. Since I was such a militant breast-feeder with my first son, I insisted on continuing to pump for Silas, but the stress kept drying up my supply, and my milk was obviously not sitting well with him anyway. We eventually switched to formula, but even so it took us three months or so to find a formula he could handle.

     When Silas was in the NICU, folks told us that having a special-needs kid would either make or break our marriage. Our first year with Silas brought Phillip and I to that breaking point on more than one occasion. Still, looking back, I have to disagree with our well-meaning friends. Raising a medically-fragile child didn't break our marriage, but that's not what made our marriage what it is today either.

     It was God's grace, and God's grace alone, that carried us through that volcanic first year of Silas' life. I don't have any special formula to offer other special-needs parents struggling through what we did. God blessed our marriage ... not because we prayed a certain way. Not because we went through a certain premarital obstacle course. Not because we read a certain book or went to a certain conference.

     God has blessed our marriage because it was his will to do so. And Saturday night as my Prince Charming swept me off my feet, I thanked Him for that time and time again.

Want to know more about Silas' story? Read the Boy Named Silas ebook!

 Random Fact #10: In college, I had a six-foot-tall poster of Elton John in my dorm room.

8 comments:

  1. You both look amazing!
    And what a tribute to your marriage! So beautiful!

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  2. I love the photo and this is a beautiful post about your marriage. God is good. And so cool that you got to enjoy a prom! I never went to mine, either. High school boyfriend dumped me 2 weeks before it because he didn't want to spend the money - yeah, he really liked me ;)

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    Replies
    1. I did not want to curse openly on your blog but I think you get the idea 8-)

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  3. What a cute couple! Your dress was lovely. :-)

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