This picture makes me laugh. Not because of the Nielsons, but because Dennis is standing with them!
Since we had a sort of sudden change in weekend plans,
I thought, why not, sign us up for this dinner and evening with Stephanie Nielson
When I asked Dennis if he was interested in making the over 6 hour round trip
he said like he always does, "Sure let's go."
Seriously, half the time he doesn't even know what he's agreeing to.
So we headed up to Loomis, Ca which is in the Sacramento area.
And after driving through this gate...
We came upon this ranch home. Really, it was out in the middle of nowhere.
We arrived about 30 minutes early and the man who greeted us just after we got out of our car said,
"If you would like to meet the Neilsons, just go on in the back door."
So we did!
Surprisingly there was Ken and Jenn Thomson who use to be in our ward!
Jenn was anxious to meet Stephanie because Jenn's little nephew was recently badly burned
and she wanted to thank her for her inspiration and hope.
Dennis and Stephanie's husband Christian talked for quite a while
about the plane crash, life, their kids, our kids, BYU football, etc.
Stephanie had wandered into the next room by then so he asked if we would like to meet her.
As soon as I came up to her, she put her hand out to me and said, "I am so happy to meet you."
Then she reached out and said, "I want to give you a hug."
I was worried about hurting her fragile skin but it didn't seem to bother her at all.
We talked about her pregnancy and how she is so very nauseous.
I could see that in her eyes.
She was holding food but not eating it. That's another sign.
She said the baby is due April 2nd and how this pregnancy is so different from her other 4.
She also said she has been very grouchy.
That's when Mr. Nielson, (as she calls her husband on her blog) sort of shook his head
and said, "That's like Snow White being grouchy."
The food was a self serve fajita bar, and then we all got to sit back and listen to the Nielsons speak.
I think what struck me most about the Nielsons is how genuine they both are.
For example, when they were talking to us it didn't feel like small talk.
They would both look right into our eyes and ask us specific questions about our lives
...and they didn't even know us!
They made us feel like we were the only ones in the room with them.
At times we sort of were. For example when Mr. Nielson asked Den about his line of work,
and he mentioned how he was with LAPD for 30 years,
he wanted to know what that was really like, etc.
I asked them where their 4 children were and they said they were home with Aunt Courtney
(CJane). How for the past 3 years they have not been with their children during Fall Festival weekend...
so their kids think of that tradition now with Aunt Courtney.
During her speech to us that night, Stephanie talked some about the plane crash.
She said she had always believed there was a God...all of her life....
but because of a very personal and sacred experience that happened to her right after the crash,
she knows there is a God.
She said she is very grateful to be able to pass this knowledge on to her children,
and later to her posterity.
She also said she would go through the crash and burning all over again just to learn what she knows now.
Stephanie also talked about the little things of life, and how those are really the big things.
She is SO happy she can make her children's lunches
and she especially loves putting carrots in little baggies and ziplocking them....
something that took her months of therapy to learn how to do.
The evening was scheduled to end at 8:30 but ended an hour early.
I think whoever scheduled this seminar expected the Nielsons would speak longer than they did.
He spoke about 5 minutes, she spoke about 20.
I think she was struggling with the nausea so cut it short.
I completely understood. I was just so happy to get to meet her.
Thanks Jenn for taking this picture of us.
It proves I was there too.
I could have taken more of the Nielson's but I didn't want to feel like the Paparazzi.
Soon I will do a post on who we got to see the next morning, since we were in the area.
She is 7 and her name starts with an H.