Stephanie and Christian Nielson

I woke up this morning to the Daily Herald on the driveway of the shelter, pulled the rubberband off the immense bundle of Sunday news, and found the front page. As I began reading the cover story, my jaw absolutely dropped and my heart sank. Stephanie Nielson, a quite famous blogger and inspiration to all mothers and would-be mothers, was in a plane crash a little while back with her husband. The pilot died, while they are both in critical condition. I went to her blog immediately, and then linked to her sister's to read about what happened. They both suffered severe burns along with other injuries, and both are in very critical condition still. c jane's blogposts about the past few weeks are beautiful. She sees the opportunity for joy and learning and understanding arising from this tragedy (though she is inclined to say it is not a tragedy, as she witnesses how it has brought her family together, how real-friends and blog-friends have taken up the cause, and how Stephanie's spirit resides in each one of her children).

I loved reading her blog. I fell in love with her beautiful red-headed Jane, her spunky Claire, adorable Oliver, and funny little Nicholas. She has a passion for motherhood. She is crazy head-over-heels in love with her husband. She is an artsy vegetarian who is always taking her children on adventures and doing homemade crafts with them. As a person in the present and in the future as a mother, I hope I can be as good as Stephanie Nielson. She and Mr. Nielson have a long road of recovery ahead of them, so please pray with the thousands of others for their well-being and the well-being of their four beautiful children.