Hey everybody!  I hope all of y'all had a great Thanksgiving.  I have a lot to be thankful for as God has blessed me plenty.  I am so thankful for my family, coaches, friends and supporters all throughout the year!!  A lot has happened since my last blog.

I began 6th grade coursework and school is going good.  My favorite subjects so far this year are math and geography.  I usually do my school work in the car on my drive up to and back from training since we're in the car about 7 hours roundtrip for the day...no use in wasting time.  

In August I finished 4th at the State Games of America in San Diego, California.  I had a lot of fun and it was beautiful.  I enjoyed walking through the San Diego Chargers' tunnel and around their field and I was on the jumbo tron =).  Thanks to Ms. Michel Ann of Chino, CA for providing me and my family with a weeks' stay, coming to watch me perform, attending Opening Ceremonies and having dinner with us.  She really is the best!  Love her and I am so thankful for all she has done and continues to do for me!!!

Upon my return from California, I traveled to PA and passed my juvenile moves-in-the-field and freeskate tests which qualified me to compete at the juvenile level in the South Atlantic Qualifying Regionals competition.  I was very excited since that had been my goal since returning to the ice in the fall of 2010.  It was a very big goal since I had to pass 7 tests in 9 months, and after coming back from the injury that kept me off the ice for 6 months, but I knew that "with God, all things are possible" so I worked hard, prayed a lot and I succeeded! :)

The first week of September I suffered a high ankle sprain and fractured right ankle.  My awesome doctor allowed me to continue training as long as I could tolerate the pain and promised to ice a lot, wear my walking boot when not on the ice, tape my boot and only do what needed to be done for my competitions (which meant I couldn't work on my double axel).  I had to cut back on my off-ice training and do intense physical therapy 2-3 days a week.  It was painful but I tolerated and pushed through in order to reach my goal of competing at regionals. 

In the beginning of October I competed in my first juvenile competition at Falling Leaves in Richmond, VA and finished 14th.  It wasn't my best performance and I knew I could do better, but it was a fun performance and I had several friends come watch. 

In the middle of October I participated in the Qualifying Regionals Sendoff hosted by my figure skating club in Rockville, MD.  It was a lot of fun! 

At the end of October I competed in my first Qualifying Regionals competition in Aston, PA and finished 13th.  This was my last competition of the season and I was disappointed in my finish but proud of myself in knowing that I had succeeded in reaching my goal while I had trained for and competed in the last two competitions with an injury.  "Perseverance" ;)

On November 4 I celebrated my 12th birthday with my family and had a lot of fun.  We ate at Joe's Crab Shack (yummmmm)!  On November 7 I had my fall photo shoot with Brad Lovell Photography and it was tons of fun, of course.  We went to James River in Richmond, VA and it was beautiful.  I always have a blast doing my photo shoots and the pics are awesome!!! 

Mid November my ankle finally began to feel better and I could skate some without pain and I'm really glad about that.  I was just recently fully released to begin my regular off-ice training again and I'm really excited - YAY!  I am currently working on my intermediate moves-in-the-field test and preparing for the upcoming competition season.  I have picked out the music for my juvenile program but I'm still searching for the perfect music for my intermediate short program.  I have my dress design and color picked out, though.  I am really excited about this upcoming season!!

The Thanksgiving holiday was fabulous!  We stayed home and mom cooked a big dinner....all organic, of course ;), and it was dddddelicious.  We put up our Christmas tree and are hanging our outside lights now.  I love my family and I love Christmas!

As always, thanks for all the love and support!  It's an awesome feeling having people believe in your dreams along with you.  THANK YOU!! 

One of my favorite bible verses to share for this post .. "For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

Peace A & Love Y ... XOXO

~ Y Madi