Testing on Purim

Here's tonight's testing group, not quite as many as usual, but they all did really well.  Maddie was on hand for her first testing as a third-degree black belt, the first of eighteen testings that she would be taking should she want to pursue that fourth degree belt.  That's many years down the road, too many to worry about now.  But presently, the night's festivities went on as they usually do, with sparring and breaking boards and demonstrations of form.  Maddie did well with all of it, and was happy to see Nate come by to support her.  Nate has been sick lately, recovering the last month in such a way that he hasn't been able to actually participate with martial arts.  But he wanted to come and support everyone tonight, so he sat next to me as I took a few pictures as always for the team.  Here are just a few I took of Maddie tonight:

Afterwards, we continued our long tradition of going to get some boba tea to celebrate!

Maddie and Nate shared a boba tea, as did I at our favorite little boba tea place in Oakwood.  And after parting ways with Nate, it was time to head back and celebrate Purim!

Last night we had already watched "One Night with the King," the story of Esther - but tonight we watched the other great version of the story, the one told by VeggieTales.  And to add to the fun, Mom had made some hamantaschen to eat as well! 

They weren't perfectly triangular in shape, but Mom didn't have the right materials and did her best.  We just explained these away as Haman's hat after he was trampled by the guards.  Notice the noisemaker there!  Mom had that ready so that when we heard the story of Esther tonight, we made noises and yelled out "Boo!" each time we heard Haman's name, part of the tradition of blocking out his name.  Of course, in order to block out his name from our memory, we had to remember each time the name was said, so...

Anyway, it was a fun night.  Today was a quiet day though.  This morning we had a special chapel service that was for all-staff and the college students too.  

That was a really nice morning together.  Mom and I met with our nutritionist at the office shortly after this, at least virtually.  That's a monthly meeting where we sort of cover all the issues related to the detox we're currently doing.  I did some walking after that, gaining some more ground in Dublin - again virtually!

It was a nice day today, a little busy though for certain.  We closed out the day with reading and with prayers.  And then sleep!