Absolutely Good!

Forgive me (yet again!) for not posting in forever!! :( This whole adjustment session has left me a wee bit frazzled (and slightly more industrious!) but I'm back and very much ready to post. Because I'm just so darn excited!

~About~ THE LORD'S GOODNESS!!!!!

See, I had a very, very crazy first few weeks being 14. And I can tell ya right now, God just brought me so much closer to Him, and reminded me, He won't ever fail. Ever. Enough said.

    Earlier in the year, I finally mustered up the courage to tell my dear, sweet dance teacher that my hip hurt doing straddles and lunges. This was after at least 50 times of her saying, "If you have a pain, and it doesn't go away, tell me!". See I'm just such an independent person I thought I was a good diagnoser - I mean, shouldn't doing straddles MAKE your hip hurt? I guess not.
    So then, after many, many experiments trying to fix it, we did the next best thing and went to a sports med doctor. Who seemed rather amused at the whole situation and sent me to a physical therapist (another sweet lady!) (and on the prescription sheet, he checked the boxes for "core strength" "flexibility" and all those things. How uplifting..). This was during a time when I really wanted to be a PT, so not paying any attention to all the painful things that happened, I truly enjoyed it. She gave me exercises and stretches and sent me away for four weeks - both of us relatively certain I'd be okay and it would get fixed.
   Six weeks later, we reluctantly went back to my PT. It wasn't better. It hurt to sit down and walk. She was officially confused and after some negotiating, she told me to quit dance. Quit.
   It was a tearful Michelle sending an email to her dear, sweet second mommy (dance teacher). Tears cried when I was all alone. But it wasn't just sadness from dance separation... it was a missing of the sweet Bible time we would have together. I could really feel the Lord's presence every time I went to dance. But I moved on with my life, to an area I had planned to avoid - Urban ministry.
   My momma was also going through an adjustment time, where she felt like our homeschool group was too much and we needed time for ministry and family. We were all for it, and promptly dropped out. But what's so cool about it is, if I didn't drop out, I still wouldn't have been able to go to Urban Vision. But we dropped out, and I started helping with the after-school program. I love it, and got to be with kids who I wouldn't have seen till next summer otherwise. I learned more about how those kinds of things run, and made lots more friends.
  
   Needless to say, as much as I had fun, I really did miss my precious dance girls. And my hip still wasn't completely normal, so I couldn't even dance on my own. So... back to the doctor we went. And he was almost ready to send us home with a half-hour's worth of exercises when I said, "Oh, wait! I've been putting two insoles in my right, and none in my left, and my hip didn't hurt as much when I walk with that in." I had leg-length X-rays done, and my legs are 1 cm. different.
   That's right. 1 CENTIMETER caused all this trouble!! I proceeded to get a heel lift, and my hip hurt no more. My exercises made my hip even stronger, and I could do straddles with less pain. But the one thing I still was dying to know, in the midst of all the excitement, was, could I dance again?
   Well... I continued to do exercises, and then we went back for a follow-up appointment. This was 3 weeks before the Christmas dance show, on a Wednesday morning. (It's significant to note that my company has class Wednesday afternoons.) My exercises had made my gluteus medii much stronger, and the heel lift indeed helped my pain, he concluded. He almost gave Mom and a I a fright when he said, "Well, it could be a torn tissue... we'd need to do an MRI..." -Mom panics; we have a high deductible - "... but because it doesn't hurt when you're walking, it's probably not. I think it's just the way you're built."
   He went on to explain that I was at a disadvantage, because with ballet, you usually try to look symmetrical and do wide leaps, and glissades, etc. Of course I won't be able to, likely, but I really didn't care. I have no desire to do professional ballet ;). But Mom and I were still in suspense. "So," she asked, "is Michelle clear to go back to dance?"
   You'd never guess... but he said YES!!!
   I left the office in quite a joyful state. I planned to go home, stick my heel lift in a pair of socks (because I have canvas ballet shoes and they just rip on the carpeting in our basement) and just dance. But then, as Mom and I talked, it became a possibility that I could just jump back in for Christmas. Apparently I gave her the idea that she should call my teacher and see, but when we got home (and instead of dancing, I did homework :P.) and I heard her, in her room, talking with my teacher, I panicked. I heard Mom doing a lot of "That's okay... I understand" and I was so angry and embarrassed.
   My mom comes out to talk to me and says, "Michelle, can you listen to what I have to say without getting mad?" Oh dear. "Mrs. H wants you back at dance TODAY."
  
   As you can tell, the most recent update is, that I'm back in dance and preparing for the show next week!!!! I jumped into all three of my dances (and our two in the aisles) and got "fired" from my spotlight duty ;). I am simply overflowing with love and joy for the Lord!!!
   I can't tell you how much my dance teacher encouraged me through this all... CONSTANTLY emailing me with "The Lord has a plan..." And indeed, He did! I made so many great friendships at Urban Vision and now am struggling to see if I'll have time to go back in the spring. (But I've seen enough to know, that You're my only hope, I don't want to go, if You're not with me...) My great-grandma and I got to work on sewing a part of my costume together, which was a wonderful bonding experience.

The conclusion? (to this very long narrative?) God is GOOD!!