Everything is grace....

Let me start by telling you the story behind this photograph. 

Right about the time I decided I must have the gestational period of an elephant, I went for a walk on the beach with Robyn, Heather and Dakota dog. I was hoping to will my body into labor. It didn't work, but we did come across this rock. 

A little background. I was told that Gracie was due on March 5th. Her birthday is April 15th. Yep. This occurred because someone forgot to click the "accept ultrasound results" in the computer. So when I went a week past my due date...I was told I was going to be pregnant for another month. Poor Andrew. I was a mess. 

    There was also a slight misunderstanding regarding the gender of the little jellybean taking up space in my belly. The first ultrasound I had told me I was having a boy. Which is what Andrew and I thought we really wanted at the time. When I went what they thought was a week overdue, and the baby hadn't dropped, they sent me for another ultrasound to see if the baby was breech. My mom casually asked them to confirm the gender...and the tech said..GIRL. A girl who happened to have her umbilical cord between her legs. 

  TWO baby showers full of blue & gifts inscribed to Cameron Andrew Cayer later..we were having a girl. My mom was overjoyed. And I sobbed. The tech had NO idea what to do. I walked into Volkswagen following the ultrasound, tears streaming down my face. I must have given Andrew a near heart attack. When I managed to spit out that we were having a girl, he asked if it was a HEALTHY girl. When I said yes, he told me that was all that mattered. I was so afraid he was going to be disappointed, but truly, he was just happy our little munchkin was ok. I don't think he was looking forward to a month more of pregnancy but he handled it like a trooper. 

 We had picked the name Grace before we even knew we were having a boy, it was a name I had picked out a long long time ago, as little girls do. Andrew, sure we were having a boy, told me that if by chance we had a girl, I could name her Grace, even though he didn't really like it. When I arrived at VW sobbing- he knew he had no choice in the naming situation. Grace it was. 

Fast forward to this walk on the beach. I had been feeling awfully sorry for myself. 

And then I saw that rock. And I took it as a sign. Everything was going to be ok. And this phrase has become my mantra. 

It doesn't matter what your religious beliefs may be or if you are spiritual at all. But if you look at everything as somehow being a gift, life becomes easier. 

This gift may be hidden under lots of tissue paper, or wrapped unassumingly in plain brown paper. It may be a gift that you didn't really want, but ends up being everything you needed. 

Life is like a puzzle, a scavenger hunt- finding out the positives in dismal situations, figuring out what you can take from everything that life throws at you- it makes even the largest obstacles somehow surmountable. Everything is grace. 

Or if you're in my world..everything is Grace....Margaret Cayer, that is. :)