Today's the Big Day!

Hello Readers,

Most of you know about this darling family and the recent events that have befallen them.

In a nutshell, Christian and Stephanie Nielson (the parents pictured above) were in a plane crash on August 16th. There was a 3rd person on board who died, but miraculously the Nielson's survived. They are at the Maricopa County Burn Unit with severe burns and have several months of recovery ahead of them, Stephanie's burns covering 70-80% of her body. Their four adorable children have moved up to Utah to live with aunts and uncles. For updates on their recovery and general information about their wonderful extended family, click on Stephanie's sister's blog, cjanerun. (Note: all of the pink words are links! Click on them!)

I started reading Stephanie's blog (the NieNieDialogues) last year and have been so inspired by her, as have hundred or maybe even thousands of others. She makes me want to be a better wife and mother. Although I have never met her in person, she has made a difference in my life and so many others.

So many people have asked their family what they can do to help. They have set up a couple of funds for people to donate to, with the money going towards their hospital bills and household expenses. Click here for more information.

For a really fun way to help,

THIS THURSDAY AUGUST 28th

has been declared NieNie Day, with hundreds of silent auctions going on at the same time throughout the wonderful blog world! I am not auctioning anything myself but am so excited to browse through everything listed because there are some great items that I know I'll want, and it's all for a great cause.

DesignMom, who had the original idea for NieNie Day, will have links and information to over 100 bloggers with auctions going on.

A Room Somewhere has over 40 items (some super cute stuff)!

Emily in Japan has some great Japanese items for auction!

A friend told me about a photographer in Utah auctioning off a photo session.

Tara in Texas is auctioning the creation of a personal slideshow/video with music!

The Jet Set has a list of links with some new items!

For non-auction sales, many Etsy members have created special hand-made items just for this purpose. If you go to Etsy and do a search for NieNie, you will find several of these items whose proceeds will go directly to the Recovery Fund.

If you just feel like giving a little cash via Paypal, click on the blue "donate to NieNie" button on the upper right.

It has been amazing, just as an interested observer, to see how many people obviously care about this family and how many people are coming together to help in any way they can.

I will add more links & information as I hear of them!