Overheard

"My family has never been this united" -Father whose entire family (himself, wife and 2 kids) take our family class.

"Master Jesse is like lighting!" - Student in the adult class (who happens to be 9 years old)

"This is exactly what I was looking for" - Student at our "after tournament" dinner.

"My son has never stuck with something for this long" - Mother of a student

"I had a shower to go to but my daughter begged me to come to TaeKwonDo today, so I told my friends 'My children come first'" -Mother of a student

"For the first time, my family can do something together without tv, phones, work or school." - Family class member

"TaeKwonDo is a priviledge for my 3 kids, they don't want to miss, so they always behave." - Mother of 3 students

Long time no see.

Its been awhile since I had the time to sit back and write in this il' thing. I would be surprised if anyone still checked it, but it would be a good idea if I updated it anyway. We we are in October now and life has change a bit since I last wrote. KuGar TaeKwonDo has been going fantastic! We had our first belt test and 33 people tested!!!!! Craziness! I was told by a parent that he was glad he got to spend time with his family practicing TaeKwonDo away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. That is just a glimpse as to why we do what we do. About 4 weeks ago I began suffering from shin splints. Now I know the word "suffering" is pretty strong but it definitely describes what I was feeling. I took two weeks off and tried to continue working out to come to find out, I hadn't rested nearly enough time. I researched shin splints every day and just figured I would have to just give the working out and heels a rest. Today I am pain free but we will give it one more week for good measure. Life at work has been great. I work long days going in at about 8 am, working until 5 and then heading straight to KuGar and working until 9pm. It took some time to get used but, but I am okay now. My bedtime is usually 10:30 but I never make it. Enrique and his family were here for a while visiting and now they are gone - again - to Qatar. From what I hear though they will be back for good in March or April Yipppeee! Oh yeah, good news, we bought a HOUSE!!! Crazy huh? It was totally not our plan, but we came to a house that was getting foreclosed on and the deal was too good to pass up. It needs a paint job, the carpet needs to be removed, but thats about it, the inspection came out great! We won't be moving in jut yet, but I can't believe we got a house. St. Francis is alive and well living the outside cat world for a while. No baby yet...but we hope it will be soon...Alright...pics will come soon, well eventually. I hope life is well to all those I haven't seen in a while.

From this

Tooooooo







(drumroll please.......)








KuGar TaeKwonDo!!!!!






It has been a tough two weeks, but we are pretty much done and ready for class tomorrow. We have taken down walls and built new ones. We have added some couches, a Gatorade fridge, mats, and a whole lot more. I am happy to say that this place looks professional and appealing. There are a little touchups needed here and there, but mostly, we have all we need to get class started. We have our inventory in, our cokes, gatorades, and waters cold, and our spirits high. My parents have done a tremendous job getting helping us through these last two weeks. It would have been impossible without them. Not to mention that my dad has been taking private lessons from Master Jesse, AWESOME! You should see his poomse (form).

Anywho...if you are in the area come by and take a look. If you are interested, come by and sign up!! :)


We are installed in Laredo, and we have finally cleared my parents' garage of our "stuff". IT is great to be around family again. WE went to see the Coto vs Margarito fight at Tio Poncho's house, and had a lot of fun. I have seen most of my aunts and spent quality time with the folks. On Thursday, I was registered at my new job which starts Aug. 16. I have been so busy that I haven't had time to realize that I graduate next Friday! As some have done, I added a diamond to my Aggie ring as a symbol of my graduate degree, and it finally came in the mail today. To add to the new things in our life, my hair color is now BLACK! haha. See below! A bit different I know, but hey I am trying to keep up with everything new around me. (BTW, Jesse LOVES it) Jesse and I miss the boys so much and can't wait to see them in two weeks. Well, we have been living KuGar all day and night, and I am now exhausted!!!! (And we also worked out today). So, night night, world, and watch out, because KuGar is coming!

Lessons learned

Let me tell you about this man I call my husband. He worked out up to 6 times a week after working 10 hour shifts. He ran sprints until he threw up and then continued on to the next workout. Some of the best coaches in the nation refer to him as a "machine". He is a modest man who knows his own strengths and weaknesses. Today, I saw him fight probably one of his worst fights. And by "worst" fights, I mean that he was "off" his game. He went out into the ring and did his thing, but for some reason his "thing" just wasn't "on". He lost to a guy at about one third his talent, and one one hundredth his heart. He then took about 30 minutes to himself. When I spoke to him, he was so disappointed with himself. He said to me "I don't know what happened. I knew what he was going to do and when he was going to do it, and I just couldn't get my self On. I don't mind losing to a person who is more talented than me, to a better fighter. But this guy is not by far a better fighter." This is supposed to be his last tournament he participates in. He is supposed to bow out gracefully, and move on to bigger and better things. But...when you look into his eyes, he has a hunger. a hunger for victory. I don't know if and when he'll fight again and if you ask him, he'll say he's done. But I don't think we've seen the last of Jesse the fighter. No. He's got more in him. All I can say is that as his number 1 supporter, I will always be cheering in his corner. He is my fighter, and he is the best. He might have been off today, but he is still the best. I know it. He knows it. His coaches know it. Just wait and see. He will do great things.'

Jesse, I am proud of you. You worked your tail off. You did what most don't do. You dropped over 40 lbs in the span of a couple of years and became one of the best. I saw you beat up a collegiate team member during practice. One tournament doesn't decide how good or bad you are at the sport. I know you are bummed out, but Animo, my friend. You always have a team mate in me. You may have not have had the fight of your life today. The refs may not have been on your side either. But you and I know that this could have happened to anyone. The real honor lies in what you choose to do with it. No matter what you choose, I am your esquina. Now and forever. I love you.

Our travels

Here we are in Madison Wisconsin at the AAU TaeKwonDo National Championships. We drove up here from Houston. We took off at 3ish on Saturday and arrived at 9 am on Sunday. Jesse did the whole cutting weight thing and made weight this morning at 8:00am at a whopping 147.00 (his cutoff was 147.4) Rock on! We then ate some pancakes (he was really hungry). After we came back to the hotel and Jesse took a nap while I ironed his uniform. at about 4 we went over to a different hotel so that Jesse could test for his 4th Dan (degree). About an hour and a half later and a lot of sweat, Jesse passed and was an 4th Dan certificate...which means he is now MASTER Jesse! How fun! Jesse and his instructor Master Julio then took me to get my nails done (I really needed it). Now we are back at the hotel. Jesse will go and kick some before going to bed and then its off to sleep. Tomorrow Tuesday he will fight at about 11am. Please pray for him. I will post some pics later. I am very excited because Jesse has been training hardcore for the past 6 months. I will post again tomorrow evening.

Packing

So, Jesse and I have begun our packing. Its a pain and our home looks like a tornado hit (although it didn't take anything with it). Fortunately, I have used my condo yahoo group to post things I can do without, and I have gotten great responses! Looks like I won't have to lug all the bookshelves to Laredo. My game cube was the first to go! Anywho..packing will be interesting, but the less that goes with us, the better. Who knows when we will get a house of our own. My biggest task, papers, journal articles, class notes. Eventually I will get the organization skills to scan them all onto my computer and then burn them! But dont' have the time nor the patience. I wish I would have known how much paper and space could have been saved if I would have taken my laptop to class for my notes since the beginning of school. Hm. Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20.
By the way, today I realized we own 5 printers. HA!

Tomorrow there is a good chance I will see the Garcia Saenz family. Yay! They will be at IAH briefly before they get on a connecting flight to Laredo. I haven't seen them in so long and I am excited to say hi!

See you all soon!

So much to do

so little time. Jesse and I went to watch the Hulk today, we both had a long day at work and we decided to reward ourselves with a Monday at the movies. It was nice because we had a free movie ticket from our rewards club. The movie was very entertaining although we didn't nearly as much as we did in Get Smart. When I walked in our home I realized we have so much left to do. We leave on Saturday to our 19 hour trip to Wisconsin, drive back next Wednesday, go to work Thursday, attend a wedding rehearsal on Friday, wedding on Saturday, and pack the Uhaul on Sunday for Jesse to move back down on Monday. He is only supposed to leave me a tv, my clothes and a bed. Ha! Please don't ask how much we have packed. THAT should tell you how far behind we are. But...no fear, years of deadlines and last minute papers has trained me to remember that anything is possible, all you need is a little Red Bull (AMP for me) and perseverance. I don't know how this next week goes, but I sure am packing for the next 3 days.

ugh.