Glad To Be Alive

It has been a whole year since this happened, so many of you may know all about this, but I was really touched by it today and wanted to devote a post to a remarkable woman.

Stephanie Nielson is an LDS blogger who has had a very strong following on her wonderful blog which celebrated the small moments of family life that make it all worthwhile. She is a dear person, and so is her husband. Last year, they were in a plane crash that killed their friend and severely burned and almost killed both of them. I guess the Lord saw fit to put these tremendous people through a true refiner's fire when He gave them this trial but Stephanie is healing and writing her blog again. She hiked the Y Mountain Saturday to mark a year since the accident. Her husband Christian had burns on over 30% of his body and Stephanie had burns on over 70% of her body and was in a coma for over 2 months.

I sometimes feel so awful physically, and grow so incredibly tired of it, that thoughts like - getting in a car accident and passing from this life might be a big relief- but then I take it back and apologize to the powers that be. In reality, I am so so very grateful for my life, and all the many blessings in it and I have no desire to leave Jake behind until we are both much, much older. I just wanted to say how grateful I am for my life today. I have so much. I love you - family and friends. I love the Lord. Stephanie is a beautiful beautiful person and she still appreciates the small and the big things that many of us often forget. I celebrate her and her life. The Lord has quite a plan for her.

Here's a quote from the New York Times about her and her blog: “People don’t understand that of course Stephanie had days where she was crazy and wanted to pull her hair out... Her relationship with her husband wasn’t perfect. But she chose to focus on the beauty.

“And the more she focused on it, the more she had.”

May we all do the same.