A Sad, but Unbelievably Inspirational, Story

Every day for the last couple of months I've been following the story of Christian and Stephanie Nielson. They were in a plane crash in AZ and survived, although they were both badly injured with burns over part of his body and almost all of hers. They were both in medically induced comas from the accident until recently for him and hopefully this weekend for her. They have 4 children and both come from big families who have jumped in, taken over the care of the kids and have worked constantly to do fundraisers and all that to help with bills and recovery. It is the saddest and most inspiring story. Stephanie has a blog that she wrote in about her family and one of her sisters, who is caring for 3 of her 4 children, is using her blog now to tell their story.

Here is an article about what happened and where they are now. Courtneys blog about the recovery and how the family is coping is here. I found this story on some blog I was reading and haven't stopped following it since.

I well up and actually cry almost every day reading this story. It is so touching how their families have come together to bring this couple back and hold the families close. Having small children myself, I can't help but think about the selflessness and love that is present in their lives every day. I can't stop thinking about these 4 children who are living loved, but without their parents right now - they are ages 7 down to 2. I can't stop thinking how horrifying it would be to wake up from an accident like this and have that fear about how your children are and where you are and what is going on be so enormous.

So, although this is a sad and terrifying story, it is inspirational every day. The family is Mormon and they talk about praying and faith and God a lot. Where normally, formal religion unsettles me a bit - just out of lack of experience with it really and a lot of questions about my own beliefs - within the context of this story it is comforting and lovely.