Nie is crying

Long story short:

• In August, SITS directed us to Nie's blog and told us she and her family needed prayer. So I went.
• Nienie, or Nie for short, is the nickname of Stephanie Nielson, a wife and mother of four who lives in Utah.
• The day before, she was blogging about normal life. The day I met her blog, she had just been involved in a light plane crash which killed the pilot and left her and her husband Christian fighting for life.
• Updates were available on her sister C-Jane's blog for a while, but they were few and far between. The children were looked after by C-Jane and other sisters.
• Nie's family started re-posting her old posts on her blog while she was recovering. I learned that Nie, while living in a different country and following a different faith to mine, was a lot like me, and also a lot like who I would like to be.
• I know I will never be just like her because she has things going for her that I never will have. But that's okay. I could do with becoming a little more Nielike every day.
• She stayed in my thoughts all these long months, then her husband left a Christmas message on her blog. He was up and about, Nie was still recovering. So many months.
• Then last week, a message on her blog said she would be returning and so she did, blogging every day when she could.
• She still sounds joyful. Happy to be alive, not sad about the crash and the burns which cover so much of her body.

And then I read her recent post detailing her morning routine. Step 6 was "cry/pray" and Step 13 was "Shower/cry/pray."

I can't imagine how anyone would go through this devastation without a good deal of crying. I know I wouldn't. But somehow, to me, Nie seems unflappable. She seems to be the sort of woman who can bear any disaster with a smile, a prayer and plenty of cuddles with her kids and all the devoted, selfless, caring, attentive, LOVE she gets every day from Christian, who she calls Mr Nielson (so lucky to have each other, no wonder she is [usually] so happy!). I was so sad to hear she cries. I guess I knew there must have been tears, but to read on her blog that she really cries, she really really does cry, well it made me cry too.

And then at the end of her list of things to do each morning she said, "Tomorrow you should hear bedtime list. It involves WAY more crying."

Now I am so sad for her, and I understand that I make you all sad when I tell you that I've been crying. I should stop telling you about the crying, and I should start finding nice things to post about. Well, I know that most days, I can't actually find much to post about when the day has been so sad, but I guess I could make something up or post a funny picture? What do you think?

Poor Nie. She's crying just like me.