After spending a little over 2 years living life in crisis mode, always busy with surgery and radiation, chemotherapy and blood tests, speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, oncologist, neurologist, and ophthalmologist visits, and appointments for whatever else I’m missing, I thought I would want to take a breather.
Weeks with nothing on the schedule sounded so lovely.
A couple of them went by, boring and unscheduled.
And then I began to feel restless.
I began to feel like I was wasting all of my time doing nothing (because I pretty much was, I was in major decompress-mode.)
I felt like life was passing me by, and my children were growing up too quickly, and I wanted to do something more than catch up on cleaning (barking orders along the way, how not fun is that?) and watch a movie (or two or three) with my kids every day.
There were some things that we’ve wanted to do for years, that just seemed like they needed to get done, because my children are growing up too quickly, and after everything we’ve gone through in the last 2 years, as much as I want to rest, I don’t want to do nothing.
Because each day is a gift, and tomorrow is not guaranteed.
I wanted to make some new memories (that have nothing to do with cancer). I wanted to give my children a chance to try some new things. I wanted to watch them grow in new and awesome ways as they spread their wings a little bit and just get out there and grab life by the horns and live it to the fullest.
So, they started Tae Kwon Do. Ian, Jaron, Liberty, Grace, Hope, Mercy, and even 4 yr old Joseph, are all getting in shape and learning their punches, kicks, and forms. It’s been amazing to watch. Amazing enough for it’s own post soon. With video. I almost promise.
We looked into it mainly for Ian, at first, as he’s always been interested in martial arts, and he needed something else to work on that would be physical therapy for him, without being, well, boring. No offence to any of his amazing therapists from the past 2 years, but, well, 2 years of that was starting to seem like a mind-numbing-boring-chore to Ian. He needed some motivation to do something hard, but awesome. 
The studio gives us an amazing deal for the rest of the family, which I’m SO thankful for! (Otherwise there is no way we could afford it, we’re pushing it as is…)
Ian goes for therapy, and the rest of us go for a good workout.
Yep, I said us. After a couple of months, I figured as long as I was bringing them there 4-5 times a week (yep, it’s a short drive into the nearest town, so we go as often as we can, except for when we sleep in on Saturday mornings, those are sacred), I might as well get a little exercise. The oldest 6 are close to testing for their yellow belt (they all passed their 1st test already to earn their gold-stripe belts), and their aging mother (remember how I turned 40? yeah, I highly recommend starting sooner if you can) will soon be testing for her gold-stripe. I only join class twice a week, as I don’t have a babysitter much of the time, and somebody has to keep the little ones entertained and pumped full of snacks.
In addition to Tae Kwon Do, a couple kids are taking another advanced archery class, the 4 older girls are trying a year of ballet, the oldest 3 girls are getting involved with a local Bright Lights group, and we’re having a blast being a part of a local homeschool co-op once again.
Our at-home hours are filled with math lessons, history reading, science experiments, legos, dress-up, coloring, baking, attempts at finding the perfect chore chart/system, and watching MythBusters on Netflix. And then there are the usual things like laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and baths…
Our days are SO full, and maybe you think I’m crazy, but right now, in this season, it’s a good busy.
We’re having fun, and a merry heart doeth good like a medicine!
At some point, I’ll run out of steam, most likely around the time that the daytime temps fall below freezing and the daylight hours become far too few. I generally prefer to hibernate through our Minnesota winters, well, except for the awesome snow days when I like to get out and help build the yearly snow fort and sled down the little hill in the yard and run back inside for some hot cocoa or apple cider…
But, yeah, for now, it’s a good busy.
Oh yea, TKD will keep you busy and in really good shape!! I did the same as you, signed up the kids then thought to myself, why am I just sitting here? So, my husband I joined. Great sport and tons of fun, great for working the mind too.
Glad to hear you are doing something fun and making new memories.
Always praying for you Ian.
There are quite a few moms and dads kicking alongside their children at this studio. I love seeing the families enjoying being active together!
As always, thank you for your prayers!!