A Picnic and an Almost-Tragedy

For a very long time now, I have been itching to take more pictures for families we work with downtown. I took these a while back, and ever since then have been dreaming, specifically, of taking pictures of April's 6 kiddos (since the older 3 aren't readily available for photo shoots). I quickly realized, however, that I would not be able to pull off such a feat without reinforcements. Anyone who has met Toddrick will understand why.

So when the pastor of our church (One Church) asked us to lead an Atlanta community group outreach, I thought this might be my chance to enlist some unsuspecting victims helpers. We planned a fun picnic in Piedmont Park for a Saturday evening dinner so that I could take the pictures at sunset.

Despite my meticulous and carefully thought-out plan (or not, I'm not much of a planner as it turns out) we encountered a few bumps in the road. I went to Piedmont park that morning for the Multiple Sclerosis walk (have I mentioned that my mom has MS?), and the rain clouds looked threatening, with a nice non-committal 30% chance of thundershowers that evening. I contemplated just rescheduling, but 2 things stopped me. 1-We have no other free weekends or weeknights from now until sweet forever and 2-We already had large quantities of food for all the kiddos.

Instead we moved our festivities to Centennial Park, so we could go into the CNN building and at least eat with the kiddo in case of rain. Luckily, the weather turned out beautiful. However, we encountered another snag in the plans because April's phones had been shut off earlier in the week and we couldn't get a hold of her. And we couldn't find the kids. They weren't at home or at their friends' house . . . In defeat, I finally told the drivers/volunteers to just come eat a very large picnic with us at the park with my sister, her fiance, and the two kids they mentor. Thankfully, while driving back to Centennial, they swung back by April's apartment and found them all walking along the street!

After much ado, and a good-long-while filled with wrangling small children, they arrived at Centennial. Adam and Hash went to go help carry food and children to the park. Unfortunately, while they were unloading the goods, some guy made off with the tray of watermelon. I know right? Who grabs a giant tray of watermelon and runs? At least take something good like the cookies or cheese. Adam, the champion of justice and stupidity bravery that he is, chased the guy down and retrieved said watermelon. Hallelujah.

Eventually, we enjoyed a fun picnic and fellowship in the park. The kids even ran through the fountains, watched the music/water show, and saw a couple getting married. Unfortunately, Sharonda wasn't able to make it, and by the time the kids got there it was getting dark already, so I wasn't able to get the idyllic, beautiful family portraits I was envisioning. Someday people, my hopes and dreams will be realized, someday.

This one, however, captures the kiddos' personalities perfectly: Crazy, tough, cute, and sweet.
Considering that this post is already ridiculously long-winded (what else is new?), I'll stop there and just leave you with more pictures from the evening.
















"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'" Matthew 19:14