Oh, gymnastics

It has been a bit of a whirlwind the past couple weeks.  It became very evident at Ainsley's first meet that the coaching situation was still a huge problem.  The girls had considerably lower scores on 2 events and the coach on those 2 events left the meet when his events were done!  The parents were fuming and they have been talking about the coaching issues since we returned.  I told the parents it was probably time for us to voice our concerns.  I had gone to both coaches and didn't get anywhere, so that really left one option.  Long story short, I sent an e-mail to the owner and sent that e-mail to all the parents and encouraged them express their issues.  Several parents did and thanked me for speaking up.  It was on Wed. that the owner found out I started everything and he was so angry he expelled Ainsley from the gym :o(.  Let's just say, I didn't sleep much that night, thinking about how I ruined her gymnastics dreams in mid season.  First thing the next morning, Ryan called the one gym we hadn't been to, Edge (I didn't want to drive the extra few minutes).  Ainsley was evaluated and encouraged to attend the practice the next day.  I was awake that night, thinking about all the possibilities of this new gym and that she might actually make her goal of qualifying for state.
It has been really hard for her to understand and we've had lots of talks about God and how things can seem really bad and hard, but there's a purpose and He knows best.  She misses her friends and I miss mine and the comfort of what we know, but I have to say that God did not want her there and that door was shut for a reason.  So, it was a long week of practice (4 hours, 3X a week), but I think she is getting used to it.  We've encouraged her to snack because I know that will help.
The new gym is amazing on lots of different levels.  It is huge (2 floors and like 9 beams!) and the coaches are very attentive and give good instruction, but the girls have lots of fun.  It is what we've been searching for this entire time.  They have been so accommodating, the parents are really friendly and get this......they had one competition suit left and it was just her size.  That is the biggest issue when you switch gyms mid season, trying to get the uniforms and getting signed up for meets.  We were lucky because the home meet was this weekend, so they had a lot of flexibility.  After only one week of practice there, she competed with her new team on Saturday!  She was really nervous all day, wanting to get back into soccer and talking silly and it was even worse when we got to the meet and I fixed her hair wrong.  She was in tears and asking to go home.  She managed to get it together and thankfully, they started on vault, so she could get her nerves out.  Vault has been a struggle for her...she scored a 6.6 at the last meet and it was the event that kept her from going to state.  She was all smiles when she got her score of an 8.3!
Vault at 1st meet (notice how slow it is):

Vault at 2nd meet:

Here's her much improved bar routine (almost a point higher):

She qualified for state and was so excited :o).  We went to help out today and she got to hang out with her new friends and I think she has a bit of a different attitude now....change can be a good thing!