Friday night, we left Daddy behind (for a night of video gaming & soccer the next morning) and Kendall & I stayed the night in the White Rock Lake area of Dallas at the Norris' home (at my friend Christi's parents). She invited us over so we didn't have such a drive on Saturday morning for the March for Babies walk we were doing ... since we needed to be there at 8am! Christi and I have been best of friends since the 2nd semester of our freshman year at ACU, were roommates in college and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding ... and she ended up coming to work at the corporate office at FedEx Office while I was there. I lived with the Norris' fam for several months after I graduated from ACU and was job hunting ... so this family will always hold a special place in my heart! They are so hospitable ... we had a fun time with Jon and Carol ... they enjoyed seeing Kendall again (they have a granddaughter who is just a couple of months younger than Kendall) and Kendall certainly didn't mind all the extra attention ... ha!
Carol & Jon with Kendall
Saturday, Christi, Kendall & I (and thousands of others) walked in the March for Babies 5 mile walk (for the March of Dimes organization)! This is Kendall's 1st March for Babies walk to participate in and it definitely won't be our last! (And hopefully, Daddy will be able to join us next year ... today, he was supposed to coach his soccer game so he couldn't come, but then it ended up getting rained out!)
Just a tidbit about March of Dimes ... their mission: to give every baby a healthy start.
I'd walked a couple of different times the last few years with our corporate team at FedEx Office (my employer at the time) ... I'd intended to walk last year, but I'd just been admitted into the hospital on bedrest, pregnant with Kendall. While I was in the hospital and after her delivery and staying 8 weeks in the NICU, I knew we'd be walking in the next March for Babies ... this walk would mean a million times more to me than any other time I'd walked in the March for Babies ... this walk would be with Kendall ... in honor and in celebration of her ... our precious baby girl born at 29 weeks ... weighing 2 lbs 6 oz. We are so thankful that God gave her to us ... and that He healed & grew her tiny body right before our very eyes in the NICU, when I could not grow her inside of me anymore ... and that He has just continued to grow and develop her into this amazing 11 1/2 month (9 month adjusted age) baby girl! It is truly amazing the life-saving technologies and procedures that the NICU has to help these precious babies ... and the March of Dimes is a part of that.
The reason we walk ... in honor and in celebration of our Kendall Grace
We teamed up with some friends at FedEx Office from my old job (the job I had until I became a Mommy) ... it was really fun to see them again and show them Kendall ... so many of them have followed her journey from the very beginning, so it's awesome to see how far she's come.
FedEx friends ... Alissa, Jenny, me and Kendall, Kim and Christi. (Pardon the "college sorority hands-on-your-knees-bending-down picture pose" ... I've got tons of pictures like that back from my college days ... ha! This was for a good cause though ... we had to make sure we got Kendall in there as well and the other shots when we weren't posing this way, kept cutting her out!)
It was awesome to see tons of people walking ... supporting babies in their different t-shirts ... for their company, or especially for their child or family member or friend ... soooo many babies are born prematurely ... some have lived and some have not. Some walk in honor and celebration of their baby (or babies) ... some walk in memory of ... but everyone walks to make a difference in future births! I truly cannot express in words how thankful I am that God allows us to walk "in honor" or "in celebration" of Kendall. I wished we'd had a special shirt made for Team Kendall Grace ... I really should have thought of it for this year, but I didn't ... so next year, we will have a Team Kendall Grace shirt to wear!
Ready to get this 5 mile walk started! (We were very blessed with the weather ... it had rained a lot before the walk that morning ... which cooled it down outside ... then as it started heating up and getting humid (or maybe it was feeling a bit more hot, just because we'd already walked 4 miles) ... it started sprinkling on us off and on the last mile (Kendall was completely covered & stayed dry and for us that were in the rain, it actually felt great to cool back down). All in all, it was a great walk and we completed all 5 miles! Woo Hoo!
The FedEx Office race car was there (and was quite a popular attraction).
5 miles can poop anyone out ... no matter if they're walking it or riding in a stroller ...
what a wonderful cause and a great way to celebrate life - something that we often take for granted.
ReplyDelete