Ok finally back to blogging again.  I've been spending my time doing taxes (they're done woohoo!) and being sick.  Not fun.  Still feeling sick but doing better :-)

Since the kids and I have been sick for a week we've been watching a lot of movies.  I can always tell when my son is really sick because he wants to just lay down all day.  And he doesn't do that.  EVER.  haha.

We watched "Kung Fu Panda 2" and oh my gosh do I LOVE that movie.  I really do.  No I don't like the violence (or the cheesiness) but I love the message it conveys.  If you haven't seen it check out the IMDB page for it http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302011/ or just rent it. ;-)

The movie is basically about overcoming the bad things that happen to you in life, and what can happen if you let them fester instead.  

Some of my favorite quotes are (from IMDB again):

"The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now."

"Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't make you who you are. it is the rest of your story, who you choose to be..."

Shen: How did you find peace? I took away your parents, everything, I scarred you for life... 
Po: See that's the thing, Shen, scars heal. 
Shen: No they don't... *wounds* heal. 
Po: Oh, yeah... what do scars do? They fade, I guess... 
Shen: I don't care what scars do...! 
Po: You should, Shen. You got to let go of the stuff from past - because it just doesn't matter! The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now. 

Maybe it's just the point I'm at in my life or the things that have been happening the last few years that have really made me realize how important this concept is (and how much I want my children to understand it).  Everyone has bad things happen to them.  But everyone has the ability to get over them and become a better person because of them.  Even if someone else does something to you.  Even if you have/had NO control over the events that are happening in your life.  Because the reality is, is that you DO have control.  YOU are the one that reacts to the event.  To the change it brings to your life.  You DO have control over that part of your life. 

In this story Po couldn't control what happened to him or his real parents, but he decided that it didn't matter.  He was going to be the person HE wanted to be.  Not let his anger or sadness drive him, like Shen did.  

Watching this and thinking about it reminded me of something my son said to me a while ago.  We were at Costco and I was having a really hard time with some of the things that were going on in our life.  I was feeling so discouraged and like it wasn't ever going to get better.  As he was helping me put the cart away, there was a bump we had to go over to get into the "cart corral".  We weren't really talking but he said, "It's just a bump Mommy."  And it literally made me stop.  I think children have a unique way of knowing when people are having a hard time.  And what he said really helped to put things in perspective for me.  What I was having a hard time with was "just a bump".  It wasn't something I could control or do much about but I could control how I reacted to it.  I could let it destroy my life or I could recognize that it was JUST a bump I needed to walk over.  

Needless to say, I took a long breath out and couldn't stop smiling.  :-D