I need your blessings....

2018 has given me an opportunity of a lifetime. I have the opportunity to attend the 1st Okinawan World Karate Tournament and Training Seminars from the 25th July until 11th August 2018.

I am currently have a Brown Belt in Go-Ryu Karate and have been training for about 5 years. I love my karate training and my karate family. Karate has taught me self discipline, self control, perseverance and even accepting my weaknesses with my strengths.

I love supporting and encouraging our younger students to enjoy their karate training and to never give up doing what they love whether it's inside or outside the dojo. Their dedication and smiles motivate to keep training too.

I recently obtained a Silver Medal for Kata in a Ashihara Tournament which was held to raise funds for LOFOB (League of Friends for the Blind).

I am excited and anxious at the same time for my trip as it would be my first big tournament I will be attending as well as my first overseas trip. The importance of this trip overwhelms me as our team will be a part of making history.

With our trip to Okinawa comes big responsibilities as when we return we will be expected and encouraged to share and teach what we have learnt with the rest of our dojo, especially our youth. We want to encourage them to stay committed to their karate training and to work towards their chance to visit the birth place of Karate.

It will be an absolute honour for me to attend and train in Okinawa and I am preparing for this as I write this post but I need your  help. Like everything in life today, my trip costs money and I have been doing my best to raise the balance on my own which is proving to be very difficult.

This opportunity is a once in a lifetime and I would like to be able to train with others from around the world, gain knowledge from the Masters and return to share, to teach and encourage others to never give up in their passion for Karate.

I would appreciate it if you would share this post with anyone who might be interested in sponsoring me and are welcome to contact me with any questions they might have. You can contact me on chanteldb2@gmail.com


Thank you for taking the time to read this post and consider helping me reach my goal.

Should you wish to make a donation whether big or small, please use the following banking details:

Acc. Name: C De Beer
Bank: ABSA
Branch code: 632005
Acc. No: 933 0880 905
Reference: Blog + your name

Thank you again for your support!

 

A Mother's Breath

Take a breath, inhale through your nose and now, exhale through your mouth. Do this a few times.....

That is the breathing of a Mother. A woman who spends her day trying to balance womanhood, partnership and parenthood. Her breath is given by God with strength and love but never to be kept for herself. God gives a Mother the breath of life when she has children.

A Mother's breath is like oxygen, important and always needed, no matter the age of the child.

Every morning she sits on the edge of her bed, with bags under eyes and aching muscles, exhaling the stale air from the night before, getting ready for fresh air to be shared.

Her slippers slide along the floor while everyone else still lays in bed, relaxed. Without a complaint, she starts to breath life into the house by filling the lunchboxes, ironing the uniforms and whispering sweetly into her children's ears to wake up.

When she has breathed life into the household, organised chaos often reigns with children and husband/partner taking the breath from her to start their day. Yells of lost items, unsigned letters and missing work items fills her morning.

Before the organised chaos reigns again later in the day, she breathes clean air into the house again, cleaning behind her family, making those important calls, shopping and in a brief, heavenly moment says her prayers with a cup of tea.

A Mother never counts her breaths because they are never her own. They are the cashier she stills smiles at in her stained clothes, they are the words expressed to her family and even the love she shares with her friends when she gets a chance to see them.

As a Mother loses her breath during the day, she does it with love, strength, faith and a smile on her face. She knows how important her breath is and makes sure she shares it always.

A Mother uses her last breath every night to exhale deeply after a day filled with breathing love into a hurt child, breathing fire into another to obey her and for some, breathing a desperate plea for help to her husband or partner.

So....when your Mother breathes words of wisdom into your ear, remember how important that breath is for her and when you breath love into your child, remember that your breath is important to your child whether they realise it or not.

A  Mother will use her last breath to breathe life into others before her own because when she became a Mother she became a daily breath of fresh air.

 To all the Mothers out there....

PS:
To those who have lost a Mother, make her proud by breathing life and love into those around you because she breathed life and love into you.