Thank You, Nie Nie

I feel a little guilty about my previous post. I am such a whiner sometimes, I can be so ungrateful. My life is good. Not perfect, but good, and I should remember that. Sometimes I come to realize that what I focus on so much as problems, really aren't problems at all.

Just now I went to read Nie Nie's blog. I always seem to find myself wandering over to her blog when I am feeling down, or overwhelmed, or sorry for myself in any way. Reading what she writes grounds me immediately, humbles me every time. I always cry when I read her blog.

I don't know Nie Nie at all in real life...I only know of her. Many people already know who she is, but if you haven't heard of Nie Nie (pronounced Nee-Nee), she has a sad but amazing story. Her real name is Stephanie Nielsen, and she and her husband, who are a young couple with four children, were in a terrible private plane crash almost one year ago now. They both miraculously survived, but both suffered terrible burns. Stephanie got the worst of it....burns on 80% of her body. Almost one year later she is still in a very long state of recovery. She suffers from chronic pain, has had to undergo many surgeries, lots of therapy, and has to retrain her body to do simple things we all take for granted. And yet she handles this huge trial with amazing courage, humor, grace and faith. Though she definitely doesn't pretend that she doesn't struggle, she lives her life in an amazing way, to the fullest that she possibly can.

Even from the first time I read her blog, I could tell she is one of those kind, beautiful, passionate people that everyone loves and wishes they could be like. She is an amazing wife and mother. In fact, she's so incredibly talented as a wife and mother that when I first read her blog I couldn't help feeling self-conscious and envious, wishing I were more like her. The way she talks about her children and especially her husband is so sweet, sometimes humorous, always reverent. She has a true artistic flair and is always creating beautiful things, or surrounding herself with them. She began blogging long before the plane crash happened, and as I read her blogs from both before and after the crash, and learned about the creative and passionate person she is, I saw that her accident hasn't changed her in that way at all. She has a real, true challenge, something physical and painful that is a struggle every single day, and yet she lives her life with such beauty and grace and courage, and has such a positive (and funny!) outlook despite all her struggles. On top of all her amazing qualities, she has incredible faith. She never loses sight of what's important, of the eternal things. I'm not even close to being where she is. I think that's why I'm drawn to what she writes when I'm having my own struggles...what she writes puts things into perspective for me, and reminds me of what is truly significant. After reading her blog, all the little things I was so worried about don't feel important at all.

Nie Nie, you are a strong, beautiful woman who inspires me to be better. I want to be like you. Thank you.

If you haven't read her blog yet, go there.
http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com