A Black Belt Heart

December 2, 2018 Michelle Cuthrell

He set the goal when he was 5 years old.

He’d attended his very first belt testing as a Tiny Tiger at our local martial arts studio, and Superhero 2 fell in love with the discipline and values and challenge of tae kwon do.

“My goal is to become a black belt by the time I’m 10,” he told us following that first ever belt test where he traded in his white belt for one of yellow color.

For the last four years, this dedicated superhero has attended tae kwon do class after tae kwon do class, training up to seven hours per week this summer in order to meet this goal he set for himself before he could even tie his own shoes. He’s attended seminars and trainings and bo staff classes and local tournaments, and we’ve watched as he’s grown not only in competence, but in character.

And last night, at the age of 9 ½, he traded in the 10 different belts that went before this one and achieved a goal he set almost half his lifetime ago.

Last night, Superhero 2 became a black belt.

When Down Syndrome Has a Name

October 29, 2018 Michelle Cuthrell

The last time we saw the girl who will always be the Joy of our world, she came to our hometown, and we had a summer PARTY all up in here.

The literal kind, where we threw a bonfire and hosted a dinner and got together with the families who know and love the family who adopted our second host child, Joy.

And the figurative kind, where, in the period of four days, we and our “Kreh cousins” went swimming and fishing and backyard Nerf warring and nighttime light rocket launching. Where we set alarms for 1 a.m. to view front yard meteor showers, and where we stayed up way too late doing life to the tunes of crickets in rocking chairs on front porches. Where together, we put out lanterns-turned-kitchen fires and cleaned up Mom beast bus vomit. And where we talked and we played and we danced and we laughed and then we nearly cried when we had to end it all and say our goodbyes.

Any family willing to cross an ocean for a girl they’d never met to provide a life she’d never dreamed is OUR kind of crazy. And WE are crazy not only about the incredible girl who will always be our forever niece/cousin, but about her FAMILY who has become OURS.

This time, we drove to them, and together, our families celebrated Down Syndrome Awareness Month with our family’s first ever Buddy Walk.

Going With the Flo

September 17, 2018 Michelle Cuthrell

Last Friday, Hurricane Florence was kind of like a dead-beat dad.

Was she going to show? Was she not going to show? We seriously didn’t know.

We’d been sitting around the house off of school since noon on Wednesday.

Prepping a week’s worth of meals.

Stocking our freezer with bags of ice.

Visiting our local library and checking out 48 different books we could read over what we expected to be days without power and water. (Because truly, there is no mama death like death from bored, complaining kids.)

By Friday morning, when we were already supposed to be feeling the effects of the “hurricane of a lifetime,” we’d already built forts, created a Lego massage parlor, done every piece of laundry in the house and run the dishwasher three times.

Our flashlights were filled with fresh batteries, our bath tubs were filled with water.

We’d even deep cleaned the house in anticipation of the filth we might be living in for the next week with four boys in one room with no electricity and no running water.

And still, Flo was a no-show.

Unachieved Goals and Life's Greater Gains

September 3, 2018 Michelle Cuthrell

We had big plans for this summer.

As a Type A, list-making, laminating-obsessed goal setter, I’d asked each superhero to set at least one personal goal for the season, and then I’d printed out our family’s list, laminated it and posted it to the fridge, where each day, we could remember just what we wanted to complete before the summer of 2018 ended.

I love hard goals. They give me direction when this easily-distracted girl wants to pursue 50 things at all times. And I love that they give our boys something to work toward. Something to focus on.

Other than Lego ships and light saber fights.

I’d learned through many summers of failure to set just a few big goals for myself instead of 5,431 smaller ones I would never complete and would cry in the corner about not crossing off my list by Labor Day. And this summer, I thought, was the summer I would actually tackle those things that had been on my list for years.

To run daily.

To complete four summer reading books. (And not the kind with pictures of Mickey Mouse and dinosaurs on the front.)

To cherish and make the most of family time.

Simple, fun, easy goals.

And although my body and book-lover’s mind could use a bit more TLC, for the first time, I have no regrets about abandoning them for the most important thing I got to enjoy this summer.

This team. <3

Comparison: The Thief of Action

May 10, 2018 Michelle Cuthrell

Confession time: My name is Michelle, and I am a hot mess.

A real, true, legitimate, desperately-in-need-of-the-grace-of-Jesus, failing-every-day, Googling-and-apologizing-my-way-through-adoption-parenting, white hot MESS.

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