New Belts

Since 2013 we've been involved with karate at Maine Dojo. It started with our youngest son. Then my hubby started. And finally we "convinced" our middle son to give it a go. He was rather reluctant about the whole thing. Overall we've been very pleased with their progress and dedication to the sport (hubby included). 

Early in May both my hubby and my middle son tested for their new rank. The ironic thing is that these two have not been participating as long my youngest and they now both out rank him. He seems to be doing well with this fact and I expect him to catch up to his brother shortly. 

My son is now a purple belt. This is the start of the intermediate ranks. The belts go white, yellow, and orange for beginners. Then purple, blue, and green for intermediate. Lastly are brown and black for the advanced levels. 

The best part of obtaining purple belt? The black gi! So much easier to keep clean! I think it makes me happier than it does my guys. 

This particular dojo does half ranks where they earn stripes before earning a new belt. For anyone in the younger student classes, stripes are used all the way up through. However, in the junior adult (ages 12+) and adult classes, the only belt advancement that doesn't have a stripe is when you go from orange to purple. This is one of reasons my middle son now outranks my youngest. My youngest has a purple stripe but he just moved up to the junior adult class this year after obtaining that rank. Anyway....

My hubby earned his blue stripe on his purple belt. He has advanced very quickly. This is partly due to the fact that he took karate in college. The other reason is he practices quite a bit at home and at the gym. He really enjoys karate. 

I'm just glad my boys have an outlet for exercise and that they enjoy it. My middle son also now takes Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ) classes at the dojo as well. What is BJJ? In very basic terms it is wrestling - as far as I understand it. He seems to really be liking it. He's only been taking those classes since this past January and really seems to be enjoying that as well. 

Just Do It and Other Random Thoughts

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Nike pretty much nailed it with that little saying. Here it is, January 15th of 2015 and I haven't put up a blog post in over a week and that was an overdue book review.

I've been participating in a Titus 2 Bible study at my church. It's been fantastic. We are currently studying "Busy At Home." This doesn't mean spending your day cleaning house, but it does mean making those at home your priority - family first may be an easier way to say it.

Our homework assignment was to write down how much time we spend on activities - in and out of the home. Assuming one gets eight hours of sleep at night and uses Sunday as a day of rest, that means one has 96 hours in a week to get everything done. I have to admit I was a little worried about what I would come up with on this assignment. I already feel like I'm always on the go, but it showed that I had a few extra hours in my week. Or else I underestimated the time I actually do spend on things. I'm going to go with the former and just be thankful I have seven hours in my week unaccounted for at the moment.

I posted this photo over on Facebook earlier in the week. Four years ago I discovered Zumba and I love it. Seriously. It's the only workout I've ever stuck with as long as I have. Over the last couple of years I've thought about getting certified to teach it. 

Recently an opportunity came up for me to rent space to teach exercise classes. Affordable. In the same building that my boys take karate classes. It would help me redeem the time I spend sitting and waiting for them to get out of class.

However, instead of becoming certified to just teach Zumba, I'm opting to become a certified group fitness instructor instead. This will allow me to do all kinds of things. I've taken to calling it the "Z" word instead so the "Zumba Police" don't get mad at me. I'll be teaching Cardio Dance Fitness. I'll have freedom to use all kinds of music (like TobyMac!). My goal is to use "clean lyrics" - even in Spanish.

I'm looking forward to starting at the end of the month, but I do have to admit to being a tad nervous as well. I'm doing this all on a tight timeline. Saturday I'll be taking a CPR class (required for the ACE certification). Immediately after I'll be applying to take my test (there has to be a ten day lead before you can take the test). Then I'll have two weeks to finish studying before taking the test at the end of the month. Phew!

2nd birthday

Lastly, this guy pictured above just turned 11 years old today. I feel like I blinked and we went from the above photo to this in about five seconds...

Orange stripe test in karate - September 2014

I can no longer tuck him under my chin when we stand. I certainly can't hold him in my arms on my hip anymore! Time is flying far too fast for my liking. We had a very low key celebration here at home for him tonight since his birthday is mid-week. We are picking up a friend tomorrow afternoon and he'll spend the weekend with the birthday boy. We have friends and family coming on Saturday evening for pizza, cake, and ice-cream and, of course, presents. I'm still in denial that my baby is 11.