One Year Later

Today marks the one year anniversary of a little project I started called "my blog". On January 9, 2010 I published my first post. Since I didn’t do so then I thought I would share with you a few lines explaining how it all came about. It really is remarkable at times how something so completely unrelated to another something can bring about the creation of yet something else. Okay, so that last sentence is probably seriously flawed, grammatically speaking, but I think you understand the idea behind it.

I had begun thinking I needed to start writing down stories for posterity’s sake, that my children would one day appreciate reading about cute things they did as kids and of family stories that predated their own lives. So, during the last couple months of 2009 I bought a very nice, large, black leather journal. I did write in it some, but as I hate physically writing (though I’ve been told differently, I don’t think my penmanship is very attractive) it didn’t last long. I think I knew in my heart it probably wouldn’t.

On the Wednesday before Christmas of that same year a local news station reported on a young boy of five, Dylan Snider, who had been seriously burned over most of his body in a back yard accident. I can’t tell you how much this story broke my heart. My own little boy was not much younger. I felt sick at my stomach thinking of what his mother must have been going through.

As it always happens in the news world, after a few initial stories little else was being reported on Dylan. By this time I had become somewhat consumed with thoughts and prayers for this child and his family and wanted to keep abreast of any new information concerning his condition. So, I began to search for possible news updates on the internet. And that’s what led me to discover the blog of Stephanie Nielson.

Ms. Nielson, known as Nie Nie to her readers, had been sharing the events of her life, faith, and family via her blog Nienie Dialogues for some time when she and her husband were nearly killed in an airplane crash in August 2008. They spent months recovering in a hospital burn unit while their four beautiful, young children were cared for by relatives (I swear these kids are some of the cutest you’ll ever see, the youngest reminds me of John-Heath’s good buddy Cooper).

I don’t remember what day it was when I first began reading her blog but I think it must have been while we were still on Christmas break or on a weekend because I started to read and I read and read and read and read. Within a couple days I had pretty much read all the posts on her blog and few, if any, did not move me in some way, especially the ones in which she focused on her children or her struggles to recover.

In addition to the inspiration I felt while reading along as she chronicled her life, pre and post-crash, I also began to realize how meaningful her blog would one day be to her children. Surely, my kids deserved the same level of devotion. So, I began to explore the steps in creating a blog.

After thinking long and hard about a name (some of my original ideas had already been taken) I decided upon one. I knew I wanted a name that reflected our family and lifestyle and "Tire Swings and Fireflies" seemed to fit the bill.

And here we are one year later.

And what of the two people who were each an unknowing impetus for my journey into bloggerland? Happily, both have made miraculous, albeit long and painful, recoveries.

Nie Nie is still blogging (and I am still stalking her a few times each week). Check out her site and see for yourself.

Dylan, whom doctors gave a “one in a million chance” of surviving his injuries, is now back in school and acting like most any other 6 year old. In fact, I think he may have just turned 7. He still has years of surgeries ahead of him and he is currently on a donor list for a small intestine transplant, as his had to be removed just a few days after his accident. Please keep him in your prayers. You may not know this but without a SI one is not able to eat. Can you imagine living life and never being able to enjoy eating solid food? You can view a news report featuring him one year after his accident here. He also has a Facebook page called Pray for Dylan Snider.

Well, that's it for the story of my blog's birth. I hope you all have a great rest of the weekend. As for me, I'm going to be keeping an eye on Snow Bird. There just might be a snow day in our future.