T’s Futon😊

T has a place for him and his friends to sit and sleep when they visit us now in his teen cave😊. We finally had time to get it out of the box and in his room…LOL!  He’s only been bugging us about it for like forever 🙄.  #teendrama

We got this because T’s Taekwondo Master  has one in his dojang and it has stood up to all the kids in after school care…LOL! I don’t think they are making it anymore so I’m glad that we bought when we did because we wouldn’t be able to get one now.  Each time we do something to his room it makes the space look so much better😊. There’s still more to do but that will be for another day. 

The brown table you see in the picture to the left will get painted black at some point. Then his huge millennium falcon will go on it😊. That will be a happy day because then it will be off my dinning room table…LOL! 

Fighting Hairstyle…

T will be fighting Saturday with his hair like this so his hair doesn’t get in his eyes or face while fighting. 

Training Tonight…

T led the class in stretching tonight. He’s taking it easy before he fights Saturday at the USAT VA State Championships. 

New Shoes For The Spring/Summer…

Easter came early for T. We got him the sports crocs that he’s been wanting. He had no Spring/Summer shoes that fit anymore and this is what he wanted. He loves them. 

That’s a red Crocs Lego jibbitz you see in his croc. He’s getting a money sign jibbitz and a fire 🔥 jibbitz to put in them that he ordered. Since everyone calls him Money at the dojang he thought that would be fitting. 

T & Ari Strategizing….

T & Ari have been strategizing and going over what Master Doug has taught them and making it better. If you wanna win you’ve got to Make It Happen!  You’ve got to Put In The Work to get the Results that you want!  These two kids are highly motivated and T has the attitude that “I’ll be damned if anyone is going to get the better of me!”  

We’ve seen such a huge change in T’s mind recently. He’s really got that fighters mindset. It only took him listening to an extremely raw book by David Goggins and having to recover from a rib injury back in January for that switch in his mind to happen. Goggins is a Navy Seal who came from a rough upbringing. Both have made him the man he is today. He has no quit in him. He has no I can’t in his vocabulary. It’s not an easy book to listen to because, like I said, it’s extremely raw language and all. In the fighting world (sports/competition world) it’s a game changer to listen to this book on Audible. Just reading the physical book won’t accomplish the reaction we’ve seen in our sons mindset when it comes to his taekwondo fighting. It’s got to be listened to and you’ve got to be able to deal with the rawness for the message of it to really get in you. 

Being a Christian listening to stuff like that book is hard. It’s hard on your heart to hear all that rawness but the message of it really hits home when it comes to having a strong mindset for the sport that you do. A strong mindset gets you far when you are a competitor. 

Now when T trains we see his new mindset coming out on the mat. He’s holding back with his teammates but he won’t with a real competitor at a tournament and I feel for anyone who has to fight him because he’s not just going to let them have an easy win nor is he going give up anymore just because they are bigger. He no longer lets thoughts that someone’s better get into his mind. He no longer lets how big they are dictate to him that he can’t win. He’s in a much different and stronger place. 

I told him now you can understand the Bible’s account of David and Goliath better because he had the attitude you have right now because he wasn’t going to let anyone think they could, even for a moment, get the better of God’s people!  David was the only one out of all the soldiers with armor that had that mindset. Everyone else was fearful because of Goliaths size but not David. He fought Goliath with no armor at all!  He had a sling and 5 smooth stones to fight him with and he defeated Goliath!!!  That story sinks in more now for T because of the Goggins book. That book was a huge light bulb moment for T. We are going to really enjoy watching him at tournaments now because it’s like he’s a brand new person out on the mat now. Win or learn T is for sure going to be leaving it all on mat and he is doing his best to help Ari understand and have that mindset as well. 

David Goggins Book “Can’t Hurt Me” has changed the entire fight game for T.  I’d encourage anyone who is a serious competitor with high goals to listen to this book. They need to be an older teen to adult to be able to handle the rawness of the book though. This is not something for a young child competitors ears. 

Pic of T and Ari talking things out and training together on Bob. 

The realization has set in for us that T is getting too tall for the fan light in our living room.  Especially when he does jumping techniques…LOL!  I may have to have Scot put in a light that is flush with the ceiling😳😱🤦🏻‍♀️. 

Cryotherapy is a Game Changer!

T has been back doing cryotherapy for several weeks now and the results are amazing. He hasn’t complained about his knees hurting him at all. His osgood schlatters all but disappears when he’s going to these sessions. 

T Shoes For Ari's Semi-Formal School Dance...

T will be going to Ari's end of the year Semi-Formal 8th Grade Dance in May.  She's picked out her dress and her mom is getting it this weekend.  We've got T's hightops (that's what the boys are wearing with their suits) to go with his suit.  We still have to buy his suit and have it altered from the Men's Warehouse.  We actually chose the suit last weekend though.  Can't believe my boy is going to be going to his first school dance.  It may be his last too because they are looking to start homeschooling Ari next year.  Here's what T's hightops look like that we ordered.  They are Jordan Air Force 1's.  It's what all the guys wear.  They are going to be going with either a navy/grey suit and her blue dress that she is getting.  

I love that these two kids are such great friends.  They have built a really strong friendship and no matter what happens they will always have that.  T really looks out for her too.  I love seeing my boy turning into such a great young man 🥰.  

T’s New Sparring Uniform…

So we did a thing. We broke down and bought the new sparring uniform that we were like we weren’t going to buy. The fighters actually love the uniform because it’s lighter and the material is stretchy so that they can be more flexible when fighting. T is really looking forward to wearing it at USAT Virginia and USAT East Grand Prix. The arm and leg guards fit snug under the uniform so they shouldn’t move around as much. We’ll see when he fights next weekend. 

Facebook Memory from 2019....

This is a throw back to when T won Gold at the NC State Championship in 2019 against Landon Peters.  T fought him so well.  He had just beat him and got Gold at GA State a few weeks prior and fought him again at NC State and won.  The pic below is of T and his buddy Chris.  They have both grown up so much since that time.  

Chris has since graduated High School with an Associates Degree before even doing his first day of college classes.  He's attending UNC Charlotte and he's on the Scholarship USA Taekwondo Team.  He's going hard after his dream of representing USA in the 2028 Los Angles California Olympics.  We still love watching him compete.

T is no longer a little boy as he was in this picture below.  He's a straight A student who is going hard himself after earning a USA Taekwondo National Medal/US Open (G2) Medal.  Plus he would like to make it on either the Scholarship Team or actually make USA Team someday.  Once he accomplishes those goals he will set even higher goals (such as winning at Worlds/Olympics/G2 Event in other countries) but for now those are his main goals.  To earn a medal at those events and possibly bring home Gold from those events is important to him.  That's as high as he's setting his bar right now.  Once he does that then he'll set a new bar.  T is my realistic kid.  He doesn't set goals that are too far fetched.  Many competitors have the Olympic dream but very few get there because getting to the Olympics is no easy task.  Most have a 0.0000000000000000001 percent chance of getting to the big show and T knows that is very rare and an extremely hard get.  Not impossible but hard.  He's putting in a lot of hard work and it shows.  His mental game is really firing up right now.  The way he's thinking about the fight game right now is spot on and we are looking forward to seeing all that he will accomplish with his mind so different and stronger now.  Such exciting times for us.  

Keep praying for our boy as he competes and goes hard after his dreams.  Pray for God's hand to be on him.  Pray for the courage that God gave David to defeat Goliath to be upon him.  Pray for the Holy Spirits guidance as he keeps going after his goals.  And pray for safety for him and his teammates as they compete this year.  

Yesterday’s Training…

Yesterday was an intense training session. The coach really pushed them and had them fighting a lot.  They were all doing really good yesterday. T and Ken had several fights. Master Doug did that mainly to teach them both a lesson on how team members should treat one another. He was mostly teaching Ken the lesson by letting them get it out on the mat. Ken has been upset because the girl he liked didn’t like him but liked T. He’s not been very nice to them because of it. Lots of teen drama and the coach squashed it yesterday. I loved how he handled it. At the end Ken apologized to both T and Ari for his behavior and everything was right in the world again🙄🤦🏻‍♀️. 

At the end of training they had trained so hard that T threw up (mostly water from drinking it too fast) but prior to that happening T accidentally hurt one of his teammates, Cyrus. Cyrus ended up having to have 10 stitches in his mouth. It was totally unintentional and T has felt so bad ever since. He understands it’s a contact sport and accidents happen but he still feels bad nonetheless. 

Here’s the video from last night.