Small Group: SERVICE; March for Babies, April 2012

One of the families in our Small Group has a set of "spontaneous triplets." The word 'spontaneous' is used because it denotes the fact that there was zero intervention to accomplish a multiples birth. They decided to try to start a family, and they got pregnant with triplets! That is, she wasn't taking medication, they were simply blessed by God with 3 rather than 1 (or even 2!). The triplets include a set of identical twin girls and a fraternal brother.

We didn't know the Childress family then, but the later stages of pregnancy were pretty rough (as you can probably imagine!), and the babies were born, (healthy, but early) at 33 weeks, after mom had already been in the hospital for quite some time. After they were born, all three babies were in the NICU for a period of time. Because of the triplets' prematurity, the Childress Family supports the March of Dimes.

Our Small Group had been trying to find service projects that were kid-friendly and had considered doing the Water is Basic 5K which has a partnership with our church, Irving Bible Church, but the costs to enter were pretty high, even for the babies in the group. Once we decided that it wasn't really an option for us, the idea of doing the March for Babies walk to help support our own members (they had a team) came up. The date was one that worked for most everyone in the group, and the entry fee was whatever you were comfortable with (because we literally just contributed to the Childress Team Goal).

So, on April 21st, we met at 7:45am at Valley View mall in order to take the shuttle to White Rock Lake, the location of the walk. While chilly in the morning, the weather couldn't have turned out better! It was warm enough and sunny enough to make the walk feel more like a stroll. Miss Caroline rode on Daddy the whole time while Mattie and Austin rode in jogging strollers. Everyone wore their best versions of neon because Momma Childress had told us the triplets would be wearing different neon colors on the day of the race. Getting to dress similarly was something that made the prospect of the semi-grueling morning actually exciting. 

The entire walk is 5 miles, but that's completely unrealistic for our group, so we took the "Tiny Tot Turnaround" which made the walk one mile out and one mile back. They handed out plenty of water, and when we were done, we simply loaded back onto the shuttle bus to head back to the mall. It was about 11am when we got back to the mall, so we decided to head to lunch together as a group. We ate on the patio at Sherlock's (near Beltline and the Tollway) and had a GREAT time chatting with each other. It was The Perfect way to end a very fun morning!

The Alisento(e)no Family, waiting patiently (and happily!) for the shuttle.

The Rasoi Family on the shuttle.

Mr. Cutie Pie horsing around with Daddy's sunglasses whilst squirming on the shuttle.

Fingers and hair. Fingers and hair. Austin's "Man, this is boring." look.

Still more waiting. Everyone's wearing their 'neon,' our chosen team color.

The whole walking crew. From L-R: Alisentono Family, Rasoi Family, Spofford Family, Childress Family (with the triplets up front in the a-mazing wagon!)