March for Life (and the rest of the weekend)

Thursday afternoon I boarded a bus headed for Washington D.C.; I had the awesome opportunity to attend the 2020 March for Life with my school. It was an experience I will never forget and one I hope to live again. 

Here is our group minus a few people from the community that traveled with us. I am so proud of these kids, and I hope that they continue to be strong voices for the voiceless. I am proud of them for being stand up members in the pro-life generation and representing their peers so well. I am also proud that we didn't lose any kids in Washington (well at least not for too long....). 

We drove through the night and arrived in Washington around 8 Friday morning. We were to attend church with everyone from the Springfield Diocese at 10. That meant we had about two hours to sight see while we walked the 3 miles to church (by the end of the day my Fitbit read that we had walked 10 miles and my legs and feet support that number). My group of girls were up for the challenge!

We raced to the Lincoln Memorial so that we could get as many as the memorials in as possible. We also all agreed that Abe was our favorite. Besides one other group, we were the only ones there which was neat. It was so quiet and to stare at the words above his head, also very moving. I am glad I got to experience all of this with these special girls. 

I call this "The Calm Before the Crowd". We went from seeing almost no one to being lost in a crowd of tens of thousands of people. 

I have scoured the internet trying to find a picture that does the March justice, but I can't seem to find one. I have never seen so many people. Ever. And probably never will. After church and a quick lunch of a squished peanut butter and jelly sandwich we packed the day before, we raced to the rally in hopes to hear the President speak. We made it and could hear him, but I know we were not anywhere close to him. Still pretty cool that I can say that I have heard a President speak--no matter your opinion of him. After that we marched. And marched and marched and marched! 

While being surrounded by thousands of people, we always felt very safe. Streets were lined with police and security guards; I am sure the President's appearance had a lot to do with that. We saw all kinds of people. From babies to older people in wheelchairs, everyone marched with excitement and kindness. You met people along the way; heard their stories, read their signs, prayed with them. Every adoption sign (and there were so many) caught my eye and tugged on my heart. The love of birthparents shown through adoption has immensely blessed friends in my life (and through their stories, I have felt blessed to witness God's loving plan). I just left the March hopefull that in these kids' lifetime they would see the end of abortion. 

We got back to town about 5am on Saturday and I could not wait to see my babies. 

This guy missed me the most. 

We have been inseparable ever since. Douglas had actually been in Texas Sunday through Wednesday, so I think the kids are happy to have Mom and Dad both under one roof. When Bennett saw me Saturday morning he sweetly said, "Mom ome (home)?" "Dada ome?" and then he smiled the biggest smile when I answered that we were indeed both home. We spent Saturday cuddling, grocery shopping and watching Dennis the Menace. Sidenote: Auggie is Dennis.

Sunday was such a good day. Kids were good at church (we were late and sat in the front, but we don't have to talk about that), they were good at breakfast (Niemergs is our jam on Sunday mornings) and they played sweetly outside all afternoon before we went to Sue and Sam's for supper.  More Sundays just like this please!

Douglas sent me this sweet scene this morning, and I hope it is a glimpse of how the rest of our busy week is going to be.

Happy Monday!