Shop Girl Shares Nie Nie*

Remember that time when I used to find really cool things and share them with you? I sort of let it go in December when things got reeeeally hectic and forgot to pick it back up. I’d really like to start my Shop Girl Shares series on Mondays again, but this couldn’t wait.

I like to think that I’m pretty good at finding interesting things on the internet. I often find things that make me laugh or throw my hand over my mouth in shock. Occasionally I find things that are just incredibly interesting that make me want to research a little further on my own.

Then, every once in a while, I find something that captures my attention so completely that I cannot move from my seat until I’ve learned all that I can. When I first found Gigi’s blog last fall and read about her journey through her husband’s infidelity I could. not. stop. reading. I read her entire blog from start to finish in one night. Her personal strength to overcome something I couldn’t even imagine was beyond my understanding and I was rooting for her from the first paragraph.

I found Gigi months ago, and almost forgot what that feeling was like–that feeling of something grabbing on to your heart so strongly it nearly takes your breath away.

On Sunday I found Nie Nie.

At first glance it just looks like an adorable blog about a mom and her kids. Which it is.

…but it’s also about Stephanie Nielson’s recovery from a horrific plane crash that left her with third degree burns covering over 80% of her body.

I honestly can’t remember how I stumbled across her blog on Sunday night–I was supposed to be busy being busy but found myself googling this and that and her blog popped up. I started perusing through, my attention caught by the bright colours and cute designs on her blog… then I started reading. And looking at her pictures.

My heart jumped into my throat and I googled a little more.

I found an article that chronicles the day of the crash, her recovery and her life since it happened in 2008. I read the entire thing from start to finish and was nearly in tears by the end. It is the saddest, yet most inspiring story I think I’ve ever read. Everything changed that fateful day, and she’s basically been to hell and back since. Her children didn’t recognize her after the crash. She is in constant pain as doctors continue to graft skin to help her slowly healing body. She can’t do half of the simple things we take for granted every day–doing dishes, lifting her small children, flipping pages through a book–but despite it all she pushes forward, resolved to be grateful for what she does have in life.

It’ll make you cry and make you seriously reevaluate the challenges you face every day and the way you react to them. She takes life as it comes, and though it sometimes gets her down, she makes it through with a lot of love and a great sense of humor.

This woman is such an inspiration to me. Her blog totally just made my daily reads list.

This is Stephanie and her husband holding hands post-crash (which they jokingly have labeled B.C. and A.C.–Before Crash and After Crash). Her husband was also in the plane.

Meet Nie Nie. I hope you love her like I do. :)