karate!

We're headed up to karate camp soon, taking our daughter for her first view of the mountains. I'm happy, because getting up to the mountains at least once a year is an important part of my mental health (seeing that much green makes me feel like my eyes are healing after all the time I spend seeing concrete). I'm a little bummed because I'm not cleared by my doctor yet to do any exercise harder than walking, so I won't be able to participate in, say, elimination sparring. But hey, at least I'll get to watch my brother-in-law defend his title in the event. And I can still defend the title I won last year: champion of Up-the-River, Down-the-River.

Usually taking a baby to karate camp would be a huge chore because of the sleeping arrangements: non-co-ed cabins with bunk beds and not much else. But there is one cabin that is set up in a more amiable manner, with a sleeping room and a living room, and my parents, bless them, are willing to share it with Adam, Brigid and I, which means that we can bring her fold-up crib, and I can have a room to nurse her and change her in the middle of the night. Last year this handicap-accessible cabin was reserved for Leslie, one of our black belts, who was recovering from serious foot surgery. But she's back in action this year, so we've got the next best claim to it (no one having hurt himself too badly in the past year at the dojo - which I take as a sign we need to spar more).

Please pray for our little girl while we're up there though, as this is her first big trip (a dress rehearsal for our trip to Texas next month), and because our state is experiencing an outbreak of West Nile Virus, and there's a lake next to the camp. Neither of us remember that many mosquitos last year, and it is a pretty dry area, but we would still appreciate your prayers for traveling mercies and protection from illness. Thank you!

p.s. Adam has some exciting karate news of his own, but I'll let him post about it.