Saturday, June 21, 2014

Skating for Jesus

For the children, this year has been particularly exciting as we decided to add more extra-curricular activities of their choice.  I guess with homeschooling one has to constantly think of ways to liven things up, and at this time we thought they might benefit from it, in that it might give them some incentive for doing well in school, and judging by their motivation and performance, it evidently has.

The boys have restarted Taekwondo and also took on tennis coaching lessons, both of which they thoroughly enjoy.  And the girls have started ballet/tap, which they have wanted to do for a very long time; as well as figure skating lessons, which - although we initially thought might be rather dangerous, we let them try anyway to see how things would go.  Of course, in order for these activities to be manageable for me, given my circumstances, we made sure we chose local places, within 10 km of home!!!

In early March, after a couple of figure skating school sessions (once a week) for the girls, one of the coaches approached me to ask if she could train Curlytops. "She seems to be a fast learner," she said to me.  So after discussing with hubby, I contacted the coach and arranged for Curlytops to start coaching.

It has been 3 1/2 months since the start of these skating sessions, and Curlytops has been nicely progressing.  In fact, the coach entered Curlytops in her very first figure skating competition.  It was definitely one she had been looking forward to.  Set for June 21, the day before Corpus Christi, and with this month being that of the Sacred Heart, we decided for Curlytops to wear a nice little white skating dress with tiny red hearts all over which, we thought, was particularly special as it perfectly tied in with the current liturgical celebrations.  Before she went on the ice, I reminded Curlytops to say a little prayer, offering her performance to Mama Mary and Jesus.

We were definitely very proud of our little skater, and Curlytops was very happy to have offered everything up like she did.  She gave a great performance, considering that it was her first ever competition, and especially in spite of the fact that her coach changed her routine at the last minute, literally!!!  What's more, to our surprise, she also received a nice bonus:  Curlytops won FIRST PLACE!!!




Cute dress in white with red hearts all over, reminiscent of the liturgical celebration tomorrow (Corpus Christi) and Sacred Heart of Jesus for the month of June
 
Waiting at the cafeteria where it's nice and warm..



Her First Place medal, with her coach, Montana Sumner



Congratulations, Curlytops!  We are proud of you!