empathy

Empathy is a sweet and beautiful thing.  I think our experiences with Silas's delays have given us a taste (albeit a small one) of what it feels like to have a "special" child.  Our membership in this club is not a full one.  Maybe it could be called "honorary," and we hope it will be temporary.

I wept today as I read this story about the birth of a Down's baby.  Wow, she is a gifted writer.

The pain that one feels upon realizing that (or in our case, wondering if) your child will be different for the rest of his/her life, will be labeled by others, will struggle, will suffer...is unimaginable. 

I think that before we went through these emotions with Silas (about 8 months ago now), I had just thought of parents with special needs kids as just that--parents of special needs kids.  As if that's the way they always were, as if it seemed normal to them.  I admired them, but I never thought about the pain they must have felt When They Found Out.  No one plans to have a special needs kid.  When imagining and daydreaming about your future family, you just don't THINK of that possibility.

I am thankful for the hope that we have in the Lord.  His plan is perfect.  He makes no mistakes.  His sovereignty extends to even the most painful circumstances.