Testing

It’s testing time again. He looks a little nervous up there doesn’t he? That’s actually an older pic. He’s a 1st degree, level 1 black belt now and my daughter and I just received ours last night. Adam started after us so he’s a Sr. Brown. Props to God for letting me have this totally unnecessary experience. It’s not like a transplant we needed to survive. It was just a wish I had from about the age of 6 when my brother got to take judo, and I had to take piano (which I am grateful for, now.)

Though I’m a big believer in DIY, you can’t learn all the dynamics of sparring alone. And though I’m a quiet, peaceful girl, I love to watch sparring (not bloody UFC stuff.) There is nothing as intense or athletic to me. So, I resolved to just prepare myself physically for the day when maybe I would get a chance to train with a master. Workouts were intense with a hanging bag but with very young children ( I accidentally kicked my little girl in the head with a side kick in our living room once) they were also brief and progressed slowly. As with Pilates, I bought a few videos, magazines and incorporated the little bits I saw or read into my workouts. I’m sure my family thought I was a sweat hog, but it felt good to just dabble in this stuff.

Then 10 years later, we fell into a good opportunity to learn as a family, and here we are. Like other aspects of our handmade life, I worked around my financial limitations to learn as much as I could, adding new skills very slowly, until God let the dream come to fruition. So, I want to thank Him. Thank You! And next week we start Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.