NieNie

I feel so incredibly inspired right now.

I have "met" the most amazing, and profound woman. I cannot even begin to explain the impact she has made in my life. Her name is Stephanie Nielson. Below is a picture of her a few years ago with her husband, "Mr. Nielson". She has four beautiful children. She is an amazingly dedicated, patient, and loving mother and wife. She works hard in raising her family to be close to eachother to their Heavenly Father, like she herself is.



In August of 2008, Stephanie and her husband Christian were in a near-fatal plane crash, leaving burns on 80% of her body. She was in a coma for 3 months, while her family waited anxiously near her hospital bed to see how she would recover. I found out about Stephanie from watching a short video about her on LDS.org, and soon was completely intrigued by her and her story and testimony.

She is an avid blogger, so I found her blog, and started back to the beginning. 2004. I went through her daily entries about her childhood and about her sweet children. She wrote about her new homes each time she moved and about the cities she was in. She wrote about her new shoes and the things she cooked for dinner. She wrote about her love for her husband and about their romantic marriage. She wrote about the crafts she and her children would make together, including the messes. She wrote about all these amazing things, and also very mundane things. Everything, however, seemed extraordinary through her words. I went through her most recent child's natural birth at home. About how they ate burritos there an hour afterward. I went through the crash with her and her family, while they updated her blog. I felt her grief as she woke up after three months and cried about what happened. I felt her happiness as she realized how many amazing friends and readers loved and supported her. She has well over 1,000 entries, and I read all of them...in two days!

She has the most incredible testimony of our savior Jesus Christ, and of the plan that our Father in Heaven has made specially for each one of us. She taught me amazing characteristics in a mother. How to love and cherish your children and the little things in life. She is so talented too! She can craft and create and cook like no one I've ever seen! Unless of course they get paid to do it and it's their full-time job. But she is such an exception. I read a bit of her sister's blog for a while during the time that Stephanie was in a coma, and she said something so profound. This will stick with me for a very long time...

                "I am starting to believe that there is no such
       as tragedy. There is only opportunity for growth,
       and should you accept it, the reward overcomes
       the sailing of the hardship."