Ian and Larissa

Last year I came across a blog post by Lydia Jane Photography. The pictures immediately hooked me. Never before had I seen a wedding like this one. I was taken in by the photographs of floral sundresses and vintage umbrellas, canning jars, little blue birds, and cowboy boots. The faces of the bridesmaids were fresh and filled with joy. The bride was lovely, dressed simply in pretty white with her hair pulled to one side. I saw a picture of the groomsmen and spotted one disabled young man in the center. I scrolled down further to see more pictures and then I realized...the disabled young man was the groom.

The couple’s names are Ian and Larissa. Four years before their wedding day Ian was in a serious car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. His fiance Larissa and Ian’s Dad Steve began a blog as a way to keep friends and family updated on Ian’s condition. When Steve passed away in 2009 from cancer, Larissa continued the blog and to this day she and Ian’s friends contribute to it regularly. This blog is how I came to learn of their story. It is a blog that I return to every once in awhile. I am in complete awe of the selflessness of Larissa. What an amazing act of love she undertook in remaining faithful to a man whose whole being seems to have changed, and I am moved by the couple’s enduring faith in God and in one another.

I suppose I also find myself questioning whether I, as a single woman way back when, could have done the same thing. I am not so sure and I feel disappointment in myself for that expressed honesty. I see how impatient and grumpy I’ve been these past few days as I suffered back pain. I falter so quickly when the smallest of health issues trip me up. That’s not right. I should have more patience. Also, people look at all that I juggle at times and say, “I don’t know how you do all that you do. You amaze me Anne”. I forever shake my head at that kind of remark. Sure, I am an active Mom with a full time job and many responsibilities but I am a healthy woman with a healthy and dedicated spouse and three bright and healthy children. I don’t do anything extraordinary. Not really. Not like Ian and Larissa anyway. Not like any woman or mother out there living life with a physically, mentally, or emotionally disabled love one. Grumpy over five days of back pain?! Shame on me.

I invite you to view the beautiful pictures of Ian and Larissa Murphy’s wedding at http://www.lydiajane.com/2010_09_01_archive.html and to be introduced to this amazing couple by checking out Larissa’s blog at http://prayforian.com or a second one she created as she planned her wedding: http://www.mywedding.com/ianandlarissa/stories.html I tell you, if you’re open to what you see and read at these sites, you’ll never forget this couple either. I've never met any one at Lydia Jane Photography and I've never met anyone associated with Ian and Larissa Murphy. I should write to them sometime and tell them of how their story has affected me.

Say a prayer for both Ian and Larissa...and if you have one left in you, could you please say a prayer for me? Like Ian, I’m a work in progress but in some ways at least, Ian is far ahead of me. In truth, I can use all the prayers I can get.