26

26 – Blessings, Lessons and Occurrences of 2010.

1. Jesus Christ. My Lord. My Savior. My Strength and Shield. My VERY GREAT REWARD. My all.

2. Learned the hard lesson of confidence through dancing the Fairy of Wit in The Sleeping Beauty

3. Began this blog, and through it met a new friend, Janet Richardson, who blesses my socks off!

4. Danced 2 shows of Vespers – a mighty prayer woman am I… on and off stage!

5. Dr. Patrick Donovan. The best naturopath who makes me laugh and takes great care of me.

6. Bible Study Fellowship. The most faithful leaders, challenging lessons, enriching groups and Spirit-led lectures. Need I say more?

7. John (the Gospel) – for helping me understand the depth and enormity of God’s love.

8. Opened my heart more fully to receiving and feeling God’s love for me. Thank you Captivating!

9. Kjirsten Davies. This woman’s poured herself and Christ’s love into me – the best mentor a girl could EVER ask for.

10. Came down with stomach flu the Monday of opening week for our All Balanchine Rep (missing dress rehearsal), but miraculously recovered to dance Serenade, Square Dance and The 4 Temperaments by the Saturday matinee show.

11. Packed up our family home of 23 years (almost single-handedly) in two weeks, while my parents remodeled our current home.

12. Saw my baby brother Barret graduate from Juilliard with a MM in Composition. I’m so proud!

13. Performed in the main Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Benjamin Millipied’s 3 Movements for Ballet Across America II and had my brother there to watch.

14. Danced one of the four “Russian Girls” in Serenade at 9,000 ft without collapsing – on tour to Vail, CO whilst very sick. Also busted out some “Cool” too.

15. New friendships with kindred spirits. Deeper friendships with co-workers.

16. Crossed off a “first.”

17. Saw the first piece an old summer program pal of mine, Aaron Thayer staged for Spectrum Dance Theater. A surreal experience to be sure!

18. Learned to see life as The Adventures of Jesus and Jessika – and in that order too.

19. I’ve come to embrace (and even be excited for…) the adventure, the unknown- not needing to know all, but finding myself content to just be.

20. In the last 3 months I’ve somehow managed to be in multiple forms of print… photos, reviews, calendars, and had my first article published in Dance Magazine's December issue. Baffled? Quite. Humbled? Absolutely!

21. My family. I am blessed beyond measure to have them in my life and to see how Christ is transforming each of them. So cool!

22. Living at home. Yes… this is a HUGE blessing. My parents are the best! I love them so much.

23. Conquered fears. Learned to ask and trust the Lord to work it out.

24. Got to perform Peacock on the last show of a very successful Nutcracker season.

25. Came to the realization that every person’s story is important because every person IS important, unique and special… and that includes me. This is hard for me to accept but helps me to see why I keep this blog. Why I write.

26. I turned 26.

And my prayer is that this coming year, this 26^th year of my life, is just as full (if not more so) of miracles, blessings, challenges, lessons, praises and joy as this past one has been. So here’s to 2011 and all it may bring.

But here’s to GOD the Author of all. To Him ALONE be the glory, honor and praise!

Thank you to those of you who have been so encouraging this past year. It has been full. And I am blessed. I hope you’ve been too.


Happy (almost) New Year!


~just Jessika