Reasons to Celebrate

Last week, we had some pretty massive reasons to celebrate in our house. 

A little background for reason #1: As most of you know, Eli has been taking karate for the past year. He is still a part of the Tiny Tigers program that will prepare him when he is old enough to enter the children's program at his karate studio. In Tiny Tigers, the students advance ranks and earn colored stripes on their white belt in the same color progression of the belts and in the children and adult programs. But in Tiny Tigers, there is also a camo belt. This is the most prestigious belt in Tiny Tigers. It is not earned for skills (though you have to be a blue stripe to be up for consideration), but rather on your self-control, focus, and discipline. 

Eli earned his blue stripe after the summer session and was up for his camo belt, but he did not earn it. It broke his little heart. And his Mommy and Daddy's too. He had to watch as his friend of equal rank (though a year older than him...) earn his. He smiled through his hurt and tears for all of the pictures and came home sobbing. It was a tough lesson for him to learn. It was the first time he hadn't earned what he was up for next. He grew up a lot from it, and we saw some incredible changes in his behavior....at karate, school, and home as a result.

Needless to say, at last week's karate test, Eli earned his green stripe and his camo belt! He was incredibly proud, and I was in tears listening to the his Sensei talk about how far Eli has come. He has a knack for karate, but the discipline piece was hard for our little squirrelly little nut. 

Check out that huge smile on his face! He was beyond thrilled.

Congratulations Eli! Congratulations on your camo belt and your green stripe! So proud of you!!

Not long after we got home, we heard from Daddy....about reason #2. Matt had been working around the clock....literally. He was wrapping up a jury trial in federal court. I got the phone call that they had won! Wahoo! All of Matt's hard work and hours on this case had paid off!! And we would be getting our Daddy back....we hadn't seen him in over 3 days. 

Needless to say, we went out to dinner to celebrate. Eli picked Chili's and a yummy dessert to top off an already awesome day.

Congratulations Eli and Daddy!