Grace

Rachel's middle name is Grace. We named her after my great grandmother, Grace.

Little did we know how fitting that name would be.

As soon as she could balance on two feet, she was twirling and tapping.

She loves to dance and dance has always come very easily for her, until this year.

Last summer we sat down to go over the schedule for the coming year.

We noticed that her regular ballet class was taught on Monday evenings.

In our church, our leaders have asked us to set aside Monday nights for Family Home Evening.

This is a night where families spend time learning about the gospel, playing games or other activities and then having a treat together.

We have been promised great blessings in our families if we will strive to make family night a priority. We believe those promises and we can't afford to go without them.

So when we saw that ballet was on Monday evenings, we had a dilemma. Rachel and I talked it over and agreed that we just didn't feel right about her being away from home on Monday nights. I thought she might have to take a year off ballet, but it is her love, and taking that away from her didn't feel right either.

That night as I was going to bed, a thought came to me....

We could see if they would allow Rachel to move to the 7th - 12th grade class. They met on Mondays right after school. I called the owner the next day and she agreed with the idea.

When fall arrived Rachel started 5th grade in school and 7th - 12th grade at dance.

It was one gigantic, challenging, overwhelming jump.

She felt out of place with the older girls.

The combinations and barr work were much more difficult than anything she had done before.

Pointe shoes were hard to figure out and she came home with blisters and sore feet.

She went from being a confident dancer to being unsure and hesitant.

Sometimes when I would pick her up, I could see big tears in her eyes.

The lowest point came when they got their placements for the spring recital. Rachel was in the back corner. She has always had prominent positions in the past and this was very humbling for her.

One night she choked back tears as she admitted, "I don't know if I can keep up".

Mark took her in his arms and said, "Sweetie, it doesn't matter where you are on that stage, my eyes will be on you." That was the perfect thing to say. That seemed to be a turning point for Rachel.

The next day, she told us that she couldn't give up. That would be wrong.

I noticed she started writing messages to herself on the white board in her room.

They said: "I can do this" "I believe in myself" "I am a great dancer".

A determination came over her.

She practiced and practiced and practiced. She even found the courage to audition for a solo part.

A few weeks later, her pointe teacher commented to me that Rachel had caught up with the other girls. Her regular ballet teacher sent me an email saying that she had called on Rach to do some spontaneous choreography for the class and that Rachel had done it beautifully.

Last month was the spring recital. Yes, she was still in the back corner but that didn't matter at all, she danced with such beauty and poise. Tears trickled down our cheeks as we watched her.

She even received a nomination for most improved dancer of the year!

What great lessons she has learned about working hard, being humble yet confident and not giving up.

After all, these are the things that make up true grace.