The New Year Has Begun

Well, the transition has begun. On Tuesday, M began his new 'desk job' in town, K began her new semester of school with two new teachers (job share), jiu jitsu started up, and Em and I got back to school for the first time in three weeks. So, with Monday being the last 'free' day for us, we took advantage and met our friends at the children's museum. The rotating theme right now is cartoons.

I know it's hard to tell, but the boys aren't the best about taking pictures. :-)

The girls love this movie...in case you couldn't tell. And yes, I probably need to buy new t-shirts that actually fit...I'm trying to wear them through one more winter since most of the time they have a long sleeve or jacket on top. :-(

One of the activities we enjoyed was a tracing table...the cartoon characters were all over.

It has been raining and raining and raining...five inches in three days! Thank God!  We have been asking for rain, but then it comes and then all we can think about is one clear day.  We are fickle!  Anyway, as the sun rose this morning, the clouds began to part, and what a glorious sight beset our eyes! There aren't too many things like the sun after a long period of clouds and rain, but then, when there is a beautiful blanket of snow, shimmering in the sunlight, and you realize what the clouds have left behind, there is also a joy that sets in and seems to take the shadow of the previous days and change your perspective on them - Sure, they were hard, but maybe they weren't all that awful; after all, look at what they left behind.  (And, yes, I am hoping you draw the spiritual and circumstantial parallels). :-)

As I mentioned, the girls started jiu jitsu. These are the gi's they borrowed until the ones we ordered arrive. For those wondering, jiu jitsu is basically the martial art of wrestling.  Why did we decide on that? We were looking for a self-defense class to put the girls into and when we started asking around, of course, the martial arts were always the answer.  But, with Em's vision and well, her glasses alone, kicking and hitting were not my favorite idea. But then our friends, whose son is in the same class, told us about this.

Our friend reasoned that in all of the other martial arts, Emily has to be able to see a kick or hit coming and she just won't stand a chance. With jiu jitsu, she can simply feel what is going on and respond appropriately.  So far, it seems they were right.  She has never like any group sporting event we have put her in, and we have tried tiny groups. Swimming was the first successful activity and now this. We are all pretty excited about it! For us, let's face it, as a girl, if she is in a situation where she needs to defend herself, it will likely be close contact with a physical struggle and this is teaching her how to escape and even turn things to her advantage. For them, they think they are just learning all sorts of tricks to make them better wrestlers, so they "can beat Dad someday". :-) Hope they keep enjoying it!

God bless!!