Happy Birthday Yahweh Ballet!

Today is the seven year anniversary of my family opening the Yahweh Ballet dance school and ministry for our daughter Alexis who was 13 years old at the time.

On April 18, 2006 we held a “Celebration of the Redemption of Dance” event and cast the vision for a ballet school and dance company that would honor the Lord. I can’t let today go by without taking time to reflect on this journey and to give my Lord an enormous shout out and adoration for all He has done. Things today are so very different than seven years ago when I said “yes” to this daughter of mine who asked us to open the school for her. Saying “yes” took the persona of being a “Dance Mom” to a whole new level.

Today, Alexis owns a ballet school called Mossa School of Dance that is an offshoot of our "Yahweh Ballet" journey. As for me, after spending way too many days, hours and minutes than I’d like to remember running a dance school and ministry,  I now “pick my projects”  which mainly revolve around my beloved Life Ballet show and running my small studio.  I am so very thankful for the evolution of this journey and for all that God has done and will continue to do. You can read more about this journey in my book "Yahweh Ballet: Learning to Dance by Faith" available for a free download on this website! I wrote my book to encourage others to do seemingly impossible tasks for God (and for your children)...like Yahweh Ballet.

http://www.sandyarena.com/Media.html

Tomorrow, I will be going downtown to the clerk’s office to officially change the Yahweh Ballet name to Sandy Arena Studios as being a name that better encompasses all that the Lord has me doing above and beyond ballet. At the end of this season, all I can say is "wow" because I would have/could have NEVER guessed how all this would have turned out at that “Celebration of the Redemption of Dance” event seven years ago. At this very hour, seven years ago we were unloading costumes and setting up dressing rooms and props and refreshment tables for the very first show I would ever produce. I had never hosted a show before, and I can’t believe I just jumped into that whole thing head first without a glance back!

Oodles and oodles of shows and events and dances and messages later, I walk away with a deep love of my Lord and of my family including husband Sam (who makes an incredible dance father and not only pays for everything but also performs in our shows) and children Alexis, Caleb and Annaliese. This whole experience has changed us all for the better in the midst of the good, the bad and the ugly. In the end, I will hang onto my God and my family with a fierceness.  I give God all the glory. Happy anniversary Yahweh Ballet and parting is such sweet sorrow. I commit the next seven years to my God and His will for us all and for that I am filled with much hope and anticipation! (Especially if it’s anything like these last seven years!)