Jiu Jitsu/Atonement

Maddie is receiving her first strip on her belt.  She is the one bowing.

 Maddie is taking a Jiu Jitsu class.  It is fun to see her roll around on the ground and learn to take people down.  I didn't know that Jiu Jitsu was essentially a resling class, but she seems to really enjoy it.  She usually reminds me every time it is her day to go. 

Daddy came and saw Maddie get her strip.  She has a mint in her mouth (one of the things that draws her to coming to class.)

For Christmas Derek and I were trying to decide what to give our kids we decided that an activity would be the best thing.  As we talked about Maddie we wanted to have her do something unique to her siblings so that she could feel like it was her own and she wasn't following in anyones footsteps.  We came up with the idea of Martial Arts.  We decided to make sure this was something she would like so I asked her what she thought of doing a dance class, or gymnastics, etc.  She said that she would like all of them but then when I asked her about Karate she jumped up kicked her leg in the air and said, "hy-yah!!"  I knew this was the right class.

Maddie learning to roll around as she gets ready for class.

Sunday a brother in the ward got up and talked about the Atonement.  He talked about how he finally got it.  That he had been studying it but just didn't quite get it yet.  He learned that when our parents were in the Garden they had 2 positives and 2 negatives.  The positives were that they could live forever and that they were able to walk with God.  The negatives were that they knew no joy and that they could not have children. 

When they partok of the fruit those positive and negatives flipped.  The negatives were now, death and excluded from God's presence.  But the postitives were they knew joy and they could have children.

God wants all of these to be positive.  He wants us to have Eternal life, to live forever, live with God, have joy, and have children.  This is why He needed a Savior.  He needed someone who could bridge the gap between the two and change everything to a positive.  This is what Christ did for us and if we will live worthy of His Atonement we can have all 4 positives.

After he bore his testimony another sister (younger than I) talked about how she has been raised in the Church and has never understood the Atonement.  That she is now feeling almost desperate to understand it.  I feel that this idea of Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy is drawing us closer to our Father in Heaven.  We want to understand the importance of the Sacrament and of Sunday.  Wanting to understand this makes us need to understand the Atonement.  Thus creating a stronger better people.