First of all, I must thank Jesus. Jesus, You saw and heard and sensed and stirred and led and gathered me all along my dancing journey to this place. You brought me here. This book is a little gift I want to give to You because You brought the words, You brought the lessons, You met me in my questions along the way, and You set me on this dreaming path. I’m so grateful to You for Your constant invitation to dance with You through life. I love dancing with You.
To Brian, my husband and best friend, for believing in me from the very first time I spoke up about this little book dream. Thank you for supporting my dreams on the stage through my dancing years, through motherhood, and now typing these words. I love dancing through life with you. Thank you for helping me through all the tedious parts of this book and encouraging me in so many ways through your pep talks and prayers. Being married to you is the best part of all of it.
To Camp, Cooper, and Colt, my three precious boys. You guys make my day every day. Your precious hearts are the sweetness God knew I needed. Thank you for supporting Mommy in her author dreams. Thank you for teaching me what it looks like to live in the moment, to laugh and play, and to be confident in who God made us to be. Thank you for listening when I ramble off book ideas, for smiling and giving me a thumbs-up. I pray you always dream with God leading the way. I know you know He has adventures just for you. I love being your mommy. God uses you guys all the time to spur me on, encourage me, and bless me. You are my superheroes.
To Mom, you taught me to dream with God. Thank you for pointing me to Christ all along my journey, ever so gently, ever so sweetly. Thank you for praying this baby into fruition and praying for my dancing heart all these years. I could have told a hundred stories of how you have encouraged my dreaming heart through the years. Your treasures of encouragement and truth are laced through all the pages. I’m so blessed by you.
To Dad, thank you for always being so supportive of my endeavors. For saying yes when I wanted to dance professionally, for your endless support and love and encouragement for me as a mom, and for your sweetness and excitement regarding my writing. You’re the best.
To Granny, thank you for encouraging me in my writing and my dancing all this time. It means the world to me. I love you dearly.
To Katie Norris, my sweet sister. When I blurted out two heart desires years ago in a restaurant in Canton, Texas—a leotard line and a devotional book—you gave me a heaping scoop of encouragement that I could write. (Maybe we will tackle the leotard line later.) The Lord has used your dreaming heart time after time after time to inspire and bless me with encouragement. You’re one special sister. Thank you for talking through book ideas with me while we get our toes done and drink our coffee. Thank you for our fun photo sessions and for the beautiful photos for my website. Seeing you walk in the dreams God has for you, your joy and the light that you are, simply blesses my soul. And seeing you with Rose is a constant reminder that dreaming with God really is the sweetest dance.
To Reece Norris, I can’t figure out how to say thank you enough for taking such time, energy, and effort to support my writing dream. Not only that, you have encouraged me that God’s timing, plans, and ways are perfect. I’m incredibly blessed to get to work with you. Thank you, Reece.
To Ben, Jenn, Kyle, and Mel, you have been so supportive. You have listened to my ideas, prayed for me, and brainstormed with me. You have encouraged me more than you know. I love each of you dearly; thank you for cheering me on.
To my entire, huge, big, humongous family on both sides . . . each and every one of you . . . thank you for your encouragement and support. Our family blesses my life so much.
To sweet, precious friends who have prayed for me and encouraged me along this journey (you know who you are), thank you. Thank you for the phone calls, hugs in the Target aisles, texts and notes of encouragement, and for talking writing with me when I run into you on my walks. Your little bursts of encouragement are heaven-sent.
To my blog readers and sweet friends on social media, thank you for reading my devotionals and words. Your comments and presence have truly blessed me. Encouraging you in your journey with the Lord is such a joy for me, but what you may not realize is that you have encouraged me. I wish I could hand a book to you in person and give you a hug. I hope I get to meet some of you.
To the dancing hearts who I had the honor of journeying through my dancing years with, Brent and Judy Klopfenstein, Stephen Mills, Michelle Martin, Truman Finney, Paul Mejia, Alexander Vetrov, and many precious friends, I’m so grateful for your influence, mentorship, and belief in my dancing.
To Dan Balow and the Steve Laube Agency, without you, this book wouldn’t be happening. I’m beyond honored to get to work with you. You’ve been a vital part of my dreaming journey, and I’m incredibly thankful. Dan, thank you for believing in me and for all the behind-the-scenes work you’ve done on my behalf to find a place for my words. Thank you for answering all of my questions along the way and for your kindness and willingness to guide me through this journey. I feel like I found not only an agent but also a mentor for this writing and publishing journey.
To Rebekah Guzman and the Baker Books team, I cannot thank you enough for this opportunity. Thank you for dreaming with me and believing in me. Rebekah, thank you times a million for saying yes.
To Nicci Jordan Hubert, my editor, thank you for taking my ballet of words and pointing the way to a clearer message. I appreciate you encouraging me through this process by showing me that it’s much like the rehearsal process in ballet. Thank you for helping me polish and refine this concoction of words from my heart.
To Amy Ballor, my project editor, thank you for your expertise and careful review of my manuscript in its final stages. I learned so much through the process, and I am in your debt for helping me polish my words.
To Patti Brinks, Twila Bennett, and the rest of the team who created my book cover, I truly cannot thank you enough for so tenderly creating a cover that reflected me and my message so perfectly. I wish I could hug you!
To Erin Smith and Erin Bartels, thank you for your gracious help and guidance on the marketing side of things and for so kindly answering all my questions.
To you, dear reader, I have been thinking about you, wondering who you are and how you are. Mom and I truly believe books jump off of bookshelves and land in our hands exactly when we need them, so I want you to know how grateful I am that this book caught your eye. I am praying for you that your heart will feel God’s love toward you as you read. Thank you, sincerely, from my whole heart, for picking up this book.