Orange Belts!

For the past few months, Andrew and Court have been taking Taekwondo classes. Most weeks, they are there on Tuesday evening and Saturday morning, working on their forms and soaking it all in. Even though I don't even claim to have any interest in it, I love what this means for our family. Taekwondo was brought up when Andrew's Dr's at Riley said "No" to him playing basketball. He was crushed by this, and even suggested we just not tell the Dr's he was playing. He has taken everything he's been through in stride up to this point, so it really bothered me that he was taking this so hard, although I could certainly understand his frustrations.

The mito team felt like Taekwondo would be a good alternative, since they want Andrew to remain active, but not overdo it physically. Court had taken it as a teen, so was happy to be strongly encouraged to take it with Andrew to monitor him closely. On a good day, it wears Andrew out completely. On a bad day, his Daddy is there to make him take a drink and a break. Even in all their excitement, though, they were less than proud of their white belts they started out with. In fact, they immediately started counting down to the next quarterly test date. :) Here is everyone who passed their belt tests - Court was probably excited to be one of the taller kids for this pic. :)

Here they are, just a few months after they started and they are now officially orange belts. This means they can now spar, and also that they aren't the lowest belts in the class. Even though they both come home and rub Biofreeze all over their bodies, they truly enjoy it. :) They take such pride in learning new forms and practicing them. They have already counted down how long it will be before they get their black belts even.



What makes me the happiest is the quality time they get by doing this together. And the fact that my children have been blessed with an amazing, hands-on daddy. So even if it doesn't interest me in the least bit, my heart smiles watching them enjoy this together!