A CDH Walk of Hope

We just got back in from our short trip to Nevada to visit my in-laws and for the CDH Walk of Hope. Overall we had a great trip. It was so nice to see my husband's family, as even though we are far apart, we are very close. My mom made the trip out as well. We packed a lot of things into the four day trip, with the most important being the CDH Walk of Hope on Saturday morning.

Sporting our Turquoise for the Awareness Walk

It was a little cold, but nothing that we couldn't handle! I was surprised as how emotional it was, but it seems as though I always am. I always seem to think that I am stronger then I actually am, but when we got there the tears just seemed to flow. I am glad that we stopped to get me some sunglasses, so most people couldn't tell! We had a great turnout, especially for it being the first annual walk. Hopefully this means that next year should only get bigger! There were three families overall affected by CDH. Obviously, we are affected by CDH, as we lost MJ to it. We also have friends in that area that lost their son to CDH just one year ago. And there was even a CDH survivor and her family that came! And ironically, her birthday is March 31st - CDH Awareness Day! I believe she was 13 years old, and her mom saw all of MJ's pictures and said they are just identical to the pictures of her daughter's. 

We walked one mile to "Honor our Survivors and Remember our Angels"

The whole Skaggs Family, with MJ in our hearts

Balloon Release at end of the Walk

Even Will released a balloon!

Right now I don't have a whole lot to say about the walk and the weekend. It was bittersweet, and at time, heart wrenching, knowing that we should have MJ with us. I had plenty of moments where I was blinking back tears or just had to walk away and get some air. But at the same time, I also plenty of smiles and laughs. We were coming back today and were boarding the plane, and I had Will in my arms and Willie was pushing the stroller. We gave the stewardess our boarding passes and she did a double take and said, "Two babies?" She thought that I had a baby in my arms, and Willie had a baby in the stroller. And I had to say, "No, just one." And that hurt. A lot. I wanted to say, There should be two babies. But I had to just walk away, and I felt that awful feeling when my stomach just drops and my throat closed up. But then again, that is the story of my life right now.