*image via tanakawho
Last year, NieNie came into my life at just the right time - a time when things were shifting for me and I was open to seeing things in a new way.
I was immediately captivated by the cheerful spirit of Stephanie Nielsen's blog, playfully named NieNie Dialogues. I was enchanted with the sparkling writing style, color-saturated photos, her carefree home decor, her always spot-on style, love of delicious food,and the way she cherished her husband and kiddoes. I was also just a wee (hmm, wee?) bit envious. She was only 28 and seemed to have everything I'd been wanting, some of which was always out of reach.
The news of the plane crash that she and her husband were in shocked me. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. Around the time, I'd been feeling super-low about my life and where I'd ended up. This was like having cold water poured in my face - you know - in movies they splash a cup of water on the blathering idiot to bring them back to reality? Because I was the blathering idiot at that point in my life, lost in self-pity, not seeing things clearly.
At the same time I had stumbled across a quote in a book that said simply: "How to forfeit peace: Refuse to accept the gifts God's given to you." And those words just would not leave my mind. It was a time when my eyes were snapping open - seeing that we all have unique gifts, as well as unique challenges and burdens. I can now see that every moment I spend questioning my gifts and looking over my shoulder, wishing for someone else's is a moment I'm forfeiting peace - and joy for that matter. And every moment I spend grateful, and celebrating what I've been given is a possible moment of peace and joy.
I felt like I turned a corner at that moment, and it was the coming together of several random discoveries, one of them NieNie's blog.
I continued to follow Stephanie's story and was thrilled when she started blogging again, happy to see that she was the same NieNie, maybe a bit more bittersweet, but still open, genuine, and joyous. And that infectious joy also inspired me... inspired me to start taking more pictures, to capture the small moments in life and celebrate them, to have more fun, and someday to start a blog of my own.
So I want to say a big fat thank you to Stephanie for being a blogspiration!
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