100th

So this is my 100th post. . . . to be perfectly honest this is part of the reason I haven't written in awhile. I felt that this post needed to be special. However I didn't know what that should entail. Therefore I just avoided writing. Today I had an experience worthy of being my 100th post.
My ultimate dream is to be a mom and to teach clogging. While neither Lin or I feel it is the right time to start our family I did begin to think it was time to start teaching. I wanted to teach last summer, but I couldn't find a place. In June of this year I called up Charisma Studio in Springville. The owner, Tresa, was willing to let me look at her smallest studio, but unless I could protect the floor in someway she wasn't willing to have cloggers. While I was there she suggested I look into a marley floor because I would be able to leave it down and her dancers could dance on it as well. I began to look online and found the flooring to be pretty expensive. It was around $1000 for that size of room. I thought about it, but still wasn't sure if it was right to spend that money at this point in our life. After talking with Lin and thinking if over for a few weeks, I decided to go for it as long as rent for the room wasn't too expensive. I called Tresa again and found out that she was expanding that small room but would be willing to pay for the additional floor and split the cost of covering the whole room. Today I went to talk to her, see the room, and show her the sample floor piece. As we talked she really wanted to put that floor in and we figured out how much we thought we would need. As I was leaving she decided to just call the company and have them figure out if our calculations were right. She invited me to stay.
I waited as she talked with the company. The total price (including the floor, tape, and shipping) came to $1800. I had already committed to myself and Lin that I was going through with this unless it was much more than $1000 for my cost. I was still unsure about how it would work out, but resolved that I needed to take action.
Part of my resolve came from a lecture video that we watched in my stress management class last fall. I have embedded for you because it really is an amazing video. It is an hour long, but well worth the time.

In this lecture he talks about achieving dreams. One of the points he makes that has stuck with me is that brickwalls (things inhibiting us from achieving our dreams). "Brickwalls aren't there to keep us out; they are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. They are there to stop those that don't want it badly enough."

I felt that this floor and price was one of those brickwalls and I want to teach; I had to not give up. Back to the story. I was at Tresa's studio and she was talking with the floor company. I was going to go home and get her a check  for half of the price. She went into her office to get the information for them to get the payment from her. When she came back (off the phone) she sat down next to me and said, "I have been thinking it is kind of unfair for you to pay for half of the floor now that the studio is bigger and it wouldn't be as plausible for you to take it with you if you went to teach somewhere else. I would then need to buy the other half again and the parts of the floor you get might not fit in the place you go to teach. I have been thinking that I should just pay for it all. I think it is going to be some of the best floor in my studio now so it really is good for me and my business. Would you feel like it was fair if maybe for the first year you paid $15/hr instead of $10/hr rent?" WOW! That is definitely a deal! She continued to say how she figures I am a  young married, student and $1000 is ALOT of money. She doesn't want to put that burden on me. She said that the Lord has blessed her. Yes she has had trials, but He has blessed her and she feels right about doing this.
As I left her house I was overcome with such feelings of gratitude for her and for the Lord that I couldn't decide if I wanted to laugh, cry, sing, dance or just yell. I truly believe the Lord blessed me for being diligent and trying to accomplish this dream. I have felt like it is really the right time and therefore I didn't give up when those brickwalls came. I just trusted that it would all work out and the Lord rewarded my faith. I am still very amazed and relieved.

I am extremely grateful for this blessing from God letting me know that He is there watching out for me even when I am not as diligent as I should be at some of the small things. I am grateful he knows my heart.

I feel this is a great post for my 100th because it is a testimony builder for me as well as an opening of a new chapter in my life.