Chris and Shanelle Diab  

Shanelle Diab tells a remarkable story that clearly shows the glory of God’s providence for those who know and love Him.

She took an interest in sign language from a very young age and used to stand in front of her mirror pretending to sign, even though her hearing was perfect and she’ d never been in contact with anyone hearing-impaired.  Years later she met Chris, the man she would marry.  He is deaf.

“God must have planted the seed of love then, since He knew who I’d marry one day,”  says Shanelle.

Chris and Shanelle met one evening when she was waiting for a lift after attending her first sign language class at St Vincent’s School for the Deaf while at high school.  “Everyone had left, except for this guy standing there, leaning on his car, with seemingly no purpose.  I went up to him and asked him what he was waiting for, ‘You,’ he said.  He’d seem me waiting alone in the dark and thought it wasn’t safe so he’d decided to wait in the4 distance with me,” Shanelle said.
 

After chatting, the pair discovered they were both working at Deaf television (DTV), Chris as an actor and Shanelle as a sign language interpreter.  Today, they still work at DTV in Blairgowrie and are about to star together in the channel’s new soapie Eve’s Cradle.

Commenting on their unique marriage, they say compromise and understanding, born out of Christian belief, forms the root of their relationship.  “ We find it hard to comprehend any marriage being truly happy without God at the head and centre of it.  So with our marriage, having extra challenges, it’s unthinkable to do it without Him.”

New technologies have also made their lives much safer and easier.  Their chief communication tool is SMS and the advent of DVDs with subtitles means they can enjoy movies together.

Text Messages saved Chris’ s life a few weeks ago when he was home alone and suddenly acquired a surprise allergic reaction to penicillin.  Suffocation and obviously unable to use a phone, Chris sent an SMS to Shanelle and she was able to get home and rush home him to hospital.

“Difficulties can be changed into alternatives,” added Shanelle.  “Had Chris been unable to reach me via SMS, he would surely have died that afternoon.  Had I not known sign language, I would not have been able to discover the source of the attack for Chris to receive the correct treatment.
 

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