I have had many requests to start a blog to share our family's journey as we help support Gabrielle, my youngest daughter, in her quest to fulfill her dream of making it to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games.
Our family has been truly touched by all of the support and kind words we have received from everyone who is cheering for Gabrielle! It really means a lot. :^)
Now, you are probably wondering how we came up with the name of this blog. Well, it all started with a promise that I made to my mom when Gabrielle was born. My mom made me vow that I would not call her "Gabby" - she said something about it reminding her of some cowboy who rode with Roy Rogers in the 40's. Yea, way before my time... I have nicknames for all of my kids, so I started toying around with Gabrielle to see what other name I could come up with. I wasn't too keen on calling her "Elle", and thankfully as I kept saying her name over & over again, "Brie" emerged. I got my mom's stamp of approval, and the rest - as they say - is history.
Arielle, Johnathan & other family members each have their own variations of her nickname. But JOYelle came up with "BrieCheese" partly because of the actual cheese, but mostly because Gabrielle is always smiling. Even when she was a little girl, Gabrielle loved saying cheese whenever she was in front of a camera. She has always been one cheesing little girl.
I remember when she first started gymnastics and learned to vault. She would run down the runway with the biggest grin on her face. Her coaches would crack up laughing every time! They joked and said, "Gabrielle, you have to be serious when you run because vault is a serious event. You have to put your serious competition face on." But, it didn't matter what they said; her smile WAS her game face.
And that same smile is still evident today as much as it was then! It's that smile that none of us over here can resist. Gabrielle knows this all to well, and she is very good at using it to her advantage! That's right, Brie -> WE ARE AWARE of your trickery, but (sigh) we just can't help ourselves. We just love your smile.
HA! Just had a total Beverly Hill's 90210 nineties moment: "I'd like to dedicate Shanice's - I Love Your Smile to my boo - Brie" . . .
Soooo, that's about it for now. I think I might actually enjoy blogging - it seems very therapeutic at least. Goodness knows with all that we have going on right now, I am willing to do just about anything that offers some relaxation or promises stress relief!
Way to go! Such a beautiful family. My daughter (level 4 USA) enjoyed watching her on bars a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any tips on staying injury-free?
I wish your daughter the best as she works toward the Olympics in London.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for blogging! I'm so excited to read more over the next year.
ReplyDelete@Robyn Lucas - Thank you! Congrats to your daughter also. I hope she has a great competition year. Lets see, as for tips on staying injury-free...not that I am an expert on this by any means lol...
ReplyDelete#1 --A lot of prayer because this is a high injury sport and #2 --We always tried to focus on proper nutrition and vitamins.