March of Dimes Walk

This morning J participated in the March of Dimes walk. March of Dimes is an organization that raises money to help improve research for premature babies, birth defects and other infant/pregnancy issues. Before he began, he needed to be "Ava-fied" . . . I jazzed up a name badge/necklace for him to wear. . .

 and got him some pink shoes laces that say, "hope, faith, and strength."

 

 

 Then he was officially ready to walk the 5 miles for Ava. . .

J headed off to White Rock Lake while B and I headed to his soccer game. While I was at the soccer game, J texted me this picture just to give me a heads up of how many people that were there. . .

 

Earlier in the morning, we had the tv on as we were getting ready and the local news had a segment promoting the March of Dimes Walk in Fort Worth.  They mentioned they were estimating about 12,000 participants. . .so I knew there was going to be A LOT of people!

 

After his soccer game, B and I also headed to the walk. J had also warned us how bad the parking was but I didn't quite understand until we got there. Parking was HORRIBLE! B and I probably walked a good mile+ just to get to the event. Once we got there, we walked right up to the start/finish line. I called J to see where he was. . . he was only 1/2 way through, so B and I decided to walk towards him so we could finish with him. As we were walking, I started to get emotional. There were several signs along the walk that were "In Honor of" and "In Memory of" various babies. It was hard for me to read the signs and see all the successful premature babies that beat their odds and to know, our perfect lil princess, who was born healthy, is no longer with us.  Luckily, B and I were able to come to a waiting area along the walk where I could collect my thoughts/emotions and we could wait for J.  It was right by the lake, so I had to take a quick pic of B waiting.

 

 

Here are a few pics that J took along his walk. . .

 

We finally met up with J to finish up the last 1/2 mile or so with him. We came across some bluebonnets and took a quick pic of B in them.

 

Then, it was time to walk on and finish the walk.  It was a great feeling to finish as a family in honor of our princess. =) 

 

Afterwards, J took us over to "A Place to Remember" tent to show us what he had done for Ava.

He wrote her name on a pink flower and then it was added to an angel tree.

Here are all the names of the lil angels

He also got to write a personal message to her from us.

 

Then we headed over to J's corporate tent to have a yummy lunch before we hiked the mile+ back to our cars. After we ate, his company had a few drawings for prizes. Unfortuntately we didn't win, but we did come close! We thought for sure we were going to win the grand prize. . . it was set up so perfectly for us! They had a few of the kids draw the ticket numbers.  On the Grand Prize, the dj asked the lil girl what her name was before he announced. Take 1 guess what her name was. . .yep, it was Ava. All 3 of us looked at each other with the biggest grins, thinking "we got this!" All of our numbers matchd up in exception to the last 2. We didn't win. =( We knew it would have been TOO perfect, if we had.

 

We headed back to our cars and decided to make an impromtu visit to Ava to tell her all about the walk. After visiting with her, I looked down and noticed something on the ground. I bent down to pick it up, it was a one dollar bill! We thought it was funny, it was kind of like a lil consolation  prize from Ava for us not winning the grand prize. =)

 

By the time we got home, we were completely EXHAUSTED and ready for a nap. . .

(Well B, didn't even make it home before he started his nap).

Lilly and B photo bombing J while he took a nap. =)

 

Today was SUCH a beautiful day! Although it was last minute, I am so glad we got to participate in this wonderful event! Today, J dedicated his walk to Ava. As a family, we plan on making the March of Dimes Walk an annual event for us, not only to bring awareness to their cause but to honor our lil princess, Ava.

 

A few things for next year:

* we hope to either be pushing Ava's baby brother or sister in their stroller as we walk OR me being a cheerleader at the finish line because I'll be too pregnant to walk that far. =)

* we want to purchase an "In Memory Sign" for Ava to be placed along the course

* we want to get a big group of family/friends to walk with us. . . wearing bright pink shirts with Ava's name.

* we want to get more information on the shuttle buses that we saw dropping people off at the event so we won't have to walk so far to/from our cars. =)

 

I am SO proud of J for taking the initiative to particiapte in this special event for our sweet lil princess, Ava. By the end of the walk, J's feet hurt, his hamstrings cramped up, his knee felt funny, he was exhausted, and did I mention his feet hurt?   Even though he has his aches, it was all worth it, because I know Ava is SO proud of her daddy too!

 

Thanks for following along with us,