For This Child I Prayed,

For As Long As She Lives, 

She is Lent from the Lord

I live by the Golden Rule and I truly believe that NOTHING is a coincidence. I have my reservations on beginning a blog and have always had and always will have my daughter's best interest at heart. Always protecting her, including from psychos on the internet and now here I am opening us up for all the world to see. For this reason, I will be Giavanna Francesca and my daughter will known as Ronni. I hope you all understand but our story is true. I've been told by many that I should write a book about my life and so here I am, but all this I do for my daughter....Ronni. 

So why am I writing this? I have been a single mom for the last 14 years. I haven't received any child support from my ex since Ronni was 3. I left her father when Ronni was 9 months old. She was at the age where she was beginning to learn...and I didn't want her to learn fighting, yelling, crying and just plain ugliness at such a young age....but yet she was still young enough to forget it all. I DID NOT  want my child to grow up surrounded by drugs and everything negative that came along with it. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. How could I be the one to take her away from her father? but looking back.....I have no regrets. (more detailed version at a later time) I am Blessed to have a career in which I can make my own hours therefore being able to be a full time dad and a full time mom and everything was great until now. My day starts early in the morning and off to work I go. I get off work and do the mommy thing and then become the driver, taking Ronni to and from dance, which is 30 minutes from home. Our day usually ends around 11pm when we get home. I have thought about getting a second job but then how do I get my daughter to dance.  I have provided for her the best I can. I've accepted help here and there. Sometimes, to a fault, because of pride, because she is MY daughter and therefore MY responsibility I have refused help. Well now, despite that evil pride, I am asking for help and this blog is the direction I have been led  to. I have no idea what to say here nor what to do.......I guess I am asking for help because her dance school is costing me an arm and a leg and I need help.....sigh....as much as I hate to ask for it. She has the talent, she just needs the training.  Our story involves a father who was addicted to drugs, mistrust, lies, co-dependency, self discovery, police, manipulations, new adventures, new discoveries and so much more. I will begin from the start and relive both the good and the bad times through these posts. 
Whatever you can donate will be VERY much appreciated. I don't know what I can give in return but suggestions are welcomed since this is all new to me. Thank you in advance for your donation and any and all advice are welcomed along with any comments you may have. 

I have tried to give my daughter all that she needs and "more". The "more" is her dancing.....and this is where our story begins. 
                                                                      

This is definitely her personality

Meet Ronni. She is my life. Every breath I take is meant to ensure that she grows up to be a well rounded adult. She is 14 years old, a freshman in high school. She is a straight "A" student in all her honor classes.  She goes to 11 1/2 hours of dance classes during the  week. In addition, she can add on another 2-16 hours of dance during the weekends for choreography and rehearsals for the dances for competitions. All this and she maintains, her "A" average and if she had the time, she would dance some more. At the age of 14, this girl has learned to manage her time to accommodate her dance and studies. She has endured many injuries. You could imagine how crazy the hours are, and indeed the craziness is there, but I still manage to work in all this madness. What you see here is exactly who Ronni is......happy, care free, silly and in my eyes, she is absolutely beautiful. She doesn't see what I see but I hope one day she does. She is friendly, generous (sometimes too much), caring,forgiving (definitely more than me)loving and perfect just the way she is. The way God made her.  I may be biased as her mom, but I see how people react to her and she has a soul so magnetic that people are simply drawn to her. 

This was her first recital costume

Ronni started dancing at the age of 3. She started in a conservatory style dance school starting with ballet and tap. She would attend her classes from September to June and in July she would have her recital. Gosh I miss those days....so much simpler back then. As the years went by she added jazz and then at the age of 10 she made it into The Jazz Company. This is where she realized that she is more of a jazz dancer than anything else. During this time, I saw a natural talent she possessed. She was just able to move. **Note-I am not one of those moms that think their child is the absolute best. I have been and will always be the first to knock her down a few

                                                              













 pegs if the ego starts to get in the way. I try very hard to keep her humble, which is a hard feat to teach a child, but I try to be as honest with her as I can. If I didn't think my child had the possibility of succeeding in dance, I would not be blogging right now. Constructive criticism is something we are working on right now.**    I observe the way people look at her when we are out and about. I know I am not the only one who is drawn to her. Unfortunately,  I also see the jealousy of the other girls that are around her. For whatever reason and as in everything in the universe, where there is beauty, there is also ugly. The ugliness named envy. She has had to learn how to deal with other's jealousy. She has learned how mean, petty and conniving  girls can be. So unfortunate but necessary so she can learn... and that is what life is all about right? TO LEARN. 

So the years go by,she continued her dancing and also tried cheerleading which she also loved. She cheered for 4 years but the time came when she had to choose between cheering and dancing. Both were beginning to demand more hours and she couldn't do both. Guess which she chose? That's a funny question! She also excelled in cheerleading. She started at the age of 6 and on the 7,8 and 9 year old team, they were undefeated. They were amazing to watch and of course I was so proud!!!!! She was so disappointed when she had to give up cheering but that's another part of life, right? Making choices and then praying we made the right ones. 

More years go by and when she was halfway done with 5th grade, watching her get on that bus, it suddenly hit me. She is going into Middle School!!! Where did the time go? How much time do I have left? High School will be here before I know it and then......COLLEGE!!! Panic starts to set in and my mind is going nuts! Here I am, unable to buy a home because the cost of one made it impossible and I have college coming around the corner! Everything is just too expensive.

Well, here we are now. We moved to another state almost 4 years ago. (There is an inspiring story behind our move but I'll tell that story another time)  We love it here!! This is where the good Lord has sent us and faithfully we follow. This is where I managed to "slow down" her "growing up" by about 2 years. This is where we found an excellent dance school that will expose her to the right people in the career path Ronni has chosen. This is where she has learned many life lessons. This is where she is becoming a better dancer. This is where she was in "The Nutcracker" for 2 years. This is where life got a little simpler. This is where we are meant to be at the moment. This is where we call home. 

So why donate? Just watch this video of my superstar. If you think she can make it as a dancer then help me get her there. ANYTHING HELPS. If not, then I hope you enjoyed her dancing. Like I said.....this is all new to me. I will continue to let you get to know us better and to keep you posted on her progress on her dancing. I BELIEVE that people are put in your life for a reason. I would like to think that I am strong enough, faithful enough and brave enough to allow God to lead me without question. I feel the time has come that I share the talents of my daughter. 

First and foremost, I want to thank God for the abundance which is mine. My life is great and wonderful things come to me. I want to thank A.V. for the whole idea of blogging and I want to thank Godfather J.F. for informing me about the whole concept of "crowd funding". Video is courtesy of my client Cheryl S.....thank you for your time and continuously bugging me to make a video of Ronni! 
It took me a little bit to hear You but I finally did and here it is: