Instructor Highlights

The instructors at City Dance were asked to write a little blurb about who they are and why they love dancing in bio form. This is what I came up with, and thought I'd share. :]

"While Sabriah Wiedeman is passionate about many things, she is especially passionate about Jesus, dance, beauty, and laughter.

In addition to working with City Dance, Sabriah is working at Barnes & Noble, a boutique called The Hyacinth, and a dance studio in Morton called Inspired Arts Academy. She is excitedly preparing to be the wife of Eric Floberg and enjoys learning more about what it means to be a godly woman and wife.

Sabriah feels that people will never really get to know her until they see her dance. No matter how much time you might spend with her, there is something about dancing that gives her the ability to express her heart and soul in a unique way. She especially loves Contemporary dance. For Sabriah, Contemporary dance embodies artistry, versatility, individuality, expression, and technique.

The human body is capable of much more movement than we allow it on a day to day basis. When Sabriah is dancing, her desire for full range of motion as well as body control is appeased, yet never fully satisfied. One can always discover more about movement, and always improve in technique, and Sabriah loves the challenge.

When one encounters dance, they might also encounter beauty, laughter, and Jesus… sometimes all at once, but more often, over time. When Sabriah joined City Dance’s faculty, she believed that she would be able to bring something special to these children because of her natural love for youth and her heart for the underprivileged. Sharing her passion with others gives her so much joy, and she could not feel more blessed to be able to do that at City Dance.

Sabriah hopes that these children will be able to experience the things that she loves most, and that, like hers was, their lives will be changed because of it."

God at Work

...I know, I know......

IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG!!

I don't know what my deal is... it has almost been 4 months! Usually writing is a priority for me. It is incredibly therapeutic. It helps me make sense of the jumbled mess of thoughts that I have streaming through my brain 24/7...

So believe me when I say, this is very unlike me, and I hope I can get back on my game ;)

Now, to bring you up to speed!

I am currently living with Tyler and Amanda in Morton! It is about 20 minutes from Peoria and 30 from Bloomington. I could not be more grateful to them for letting me occupy their basement! It is so nice to come home to a house full of people who greet me with a smile and ask how my day is going. There is almost no reason for me to feel lonely anymore! Their 3 crazy kids keep it pretty entertaining! And I literally don't know what I'd do without Amanda in my life right now. She speaks so much truth into my life. She often tells me that I'm being too hard on myself. That I'm forgiven. That guilt is not from the Lord. That I'm human. That it's okay. That I need to stop beating myself up. She listens to me so patiently when I bring her what probably seems like the same struggles over and over. What an amazing woman, what an amazing friend :]

This Spring semester, I am teaching at 3 schools, 1 after-school program, the City Dance "Studes", and a studio in Morton called Inspired Arts Academy. I still have my jobs at Barnes & Noble and the Hyacinth, so I'm much busier these days. It's a nice change of pace, and I'm definitely thankful for the income that these jobs provide, but I will be very excited when I don't have to work so many different jobs. 

Come June, I will be moving back home. During the summer, I plan on teaching at Virtuoso, babysitting, doing Insanity, spending tons of quality time with Jane, and having some seriously fun hangz time with my family! I'll also be finishing up any last minute wedding plans, of course! This will be my last summer as a single lady, so I'm going to be all about girl's nights and sleepovers ;)

My oh my, there is so much that I've been learning. I'm doing a study by Beth Moore on the fruits of the Spirit (I hiiiiighly recommend it!!) and I'm currently on kindness and goodness. I'm starting to understand that God is not disappointed in me. He's not disappointed in me!! I have come to realize that I have extremely high expectations for myself. When I fail to meet those expectations, I become disappointed in myself, and assume that God is disappointed in me too. These past couple months, I have felt like such a failure for various reasons. How could I not love the God who loves me unconditionally enough to obey him? How could I feel discontentment when I'm so blessed? I still battle thoughts like these at least once a day, but knowing that God isn't disappointed in me, and is instead kind, compassionate, and understanding, helps me move forward. It is so freeing. 

I don't know if that makes a ton of sense... I feel like I'm still in the midst of learning about it, but nonetheless, I thought I'd share. :]

In addition to all of that up there, my relationship with Eric has definitely proven to be one that sanctifies and humbles for sure! I am selfish and prideful, yet Eric forgives me and chooses to love me still. I love that man so much, and I couldn't be more excited to marry him in only 4 1/2 more months!!!!!

For a long time, I was feeling discouraged about my classes at City Dance. I was tempted to believe the lie that I wasn't doing anything, that I wasn't making a difference. I didn't feel like I was doing enough. I guess I just wanted to see a little more tangibly that these kids' lives were being changed. After all, I have been here since August and only have 2 months left. Well, these past couple weeks, God has done some pretty cool things.

On Mondays, I go to Harrison where Liz and I assist Josh. We teach hip hop to about 50 1st graders. These kids are nothing short of adorable. There is vulnerability and yearning in their eyes. They long for us to notice them, to be proud of them. Since there are so many of them, I am only able to remember a few of their names, but they all remember ours. I have been able to develop a closer relationship with some of the little girls, and seeing them is the best. 

However, it's also hard. 

Hearing a 6 year old tell you that she and her mom are moving because her mom and dad don't get along anymore is hard. Seeing that she is oblivious to the fact that this is something that will effect her for the rest of her life is even harder. 

I can't tell you how many times I've heard these little girls (and some boys) hug me tight and tell me they wish I was their mom. And they mean it. 

This last Monday, I made a it a point to go around and talk to as many kids as I could before we started dance class. The first grade teachers have them file in and sit in rows, so I sat in front of them, one at a time, holding their hands, listening to whatever they wanted to tell me. I heard about new brothers and sisters being born. I saw new shoes and hairdos. I was asked my age, if I was married, if I was a ballerina. Soon, kids that I had never gotten a chance to talk to before were eagerly waving me over to sit and talk with them. Each of them had something "really important" that they had to tell me. While it's always a blast teaching them how to dance for an hour, those 10 minutes before class were my favorite part of our time together. 

On Tuesday and Thursdays I teach Hip Hop Fitness/Health & Wellness at Manual High School. These days are always more difficult because, well, they are high schoolers. However, despite the fact that attendance for many of these ladies are irregular, and I don't feel like I hold any of their respect, I've actually become close to some of them. I realized this on Tuesday when a couple of the girls stuck up for me. A high school boy walked by the room and made a rude & suggestive gesture towards me, and the girls jumped down his throat! They told him not to do that to me and to leave me alone! I think I could've handled the situation myself, but they didn't even give me a chance. That meant a lot. 

During the last 10 minutes of class, we eat a healthy snack and talk about life. The girls asked how long I had been dating Eric, and when I said 2 years, they gasped and said, "and you haven't gotten pregnant yet?!" (I might add that one of my favorite students in the class is pregnant.) When I told them that we were waiting til marriage, and that we hadn't even kissed on the lips yet, they just stared at me with wide eyes. One girl finally said, really seriously, "wow... that's really good." 

It's easy to look over things like that... and I will admit, until this week, I didn't realize that these seemingly small conversations might be making a difference to some of these girls, or I should say, ladies. Even though I'm really excited to move on to the next phase of life, I'm starting to realize how much I'm going to miss these girls, and the relationships that I'm building. 

Ok, last story, I promise! On Wednesday mornings I teach junior high - high school at the Children's Home. This has always been one of my favorite locations. These kids, especially, have very difficult lives. Some have admitted to depression, abuse, suicidal thoughts, and the list goes on. Well, last weekend, I was cleaning out my bookshelf, trying to get rid of any book that had the title "for teens" or "pre-teens" in them. It dawned on me that the kids at Children's Home might be the perfect kids to pass them down to. Plus, a lot of the books talk about Jesus! What a perfect way to let them know that I love Jesus and open doors for conversations about him!! 

Well, this past Wednesday, I pulled out the books. Immediately the kids were curious as to what they were and what they were about. I already had ideas of which books might go to whom, and I was thrilled to see that they were actually excited about them and that they all "loved to read!" I gave a little synopsis of each book and told them that I had read them all, so if they ever wanted to talk to me about them or ask me questions, they could. So, I left it at that, and am eager to see what might come from it. :] 

So there's a little taste of what has been happening in my life! 

I'm excited about the future. Being married to Eric, training professionally in dance, living in the city of Chicago after we're married... but there are still a lot of uncertainties. I trust that God is working it out perfectly. But if you're ever thinking of Eric or me, lift up a prayer for us...  because in the next few months our lives are going to change dramatically and we don't even know how yet! It's exciting though, that's for sure :] 

Thanks again for reading. Sorry for the lengthy post!!