I’m coming really late to this party, but thanks to Barb’s blog I finally heard about Stephanie and Christian Nielsen. On Saturday, August 16th, they were in a private plane crash resulting in burns covering 30% of Christian’s body, and 80% of Stephanie’s. They are the parents of four young children and fellow latter-day saints, and my heart just aches for what they’re all dealing with.
During my own hardships this year, the world overwhelmed us with love and support. We were showered with flowers and cards and cash and gas cards and presents and supplies for the NICU. Some from people we didn’t even know. Moments like this in your life are catalysts. They are the times when you discover what your life means to you, what the world means to you. When you realize that behind the pettiness of daily life lies a core of humanity that will take care of you when you reach the end of your own strength. It is proof of my religious faith, that Heavenly Father loves his children and will help us through it all – but it is up to the rest of us to do the work. We are the hands He uses to lift each other up.
All around the internet people are holding silent auctions with the proceeds benefitting the Nielsen family and I wanted to jump in. I wish that I could do more, but I have to be realistic about my time now, so here’s what I’ve come up with.
The proceeds of any item in my etsy shop sold during the month of September will go 100% to the Nielsen family. Unfortunately I don’t have a ton in there right now, but if you need cards or little hair clips, you can get some cheap ones and support this family at the same time.
I’m also auctioning off a set of two custom superhero capes.
The winner will just have to tell me a rough size estimate and the letters to be monogrammed, and 100% of the purchase price will go to the Nielsen’s. I’ll have you pay directly to their paypal account and the winner will just forward me a reciept.
The auction starts as soon as this posts and will end at 11:59 pm Pacific time, Saturday September 6th. To bid, just leave a comment with your amount. Make sure you leave a name of some kind, anonymous comments won’t be honored. Also, make sure you leave me some way of getting a hold of you. Blogger won’t let me email back to individual comments.
Please spread the word about this so we can rally around this family.