Extraordinary-ness of Sept. 2

You may have read that I am challenging myself to find the Extraordinary Moments in my Extra-Ordinary Life, and to blog about it each day during the month of September.

Today ended on a pretty extraordinary note. My friend Gretchen called from Chicago to tell me that her baby girl was born this evening, a full week before she was scheduled to have a c-section.

New babies are definitely something to celebrate. But THIS baby... well, there's a story to tell.

Gretch had a really hard time getting pregnant with her first baby -- lots of attempts at IUI and many heart-breaking rounds of IVF. Gretch moved to Dallas during the whole ordeal, and we met in a shoe store. She let me walk through her journey with her, and we both learned a lot about each other and ourselves. And just when it looked like it wasn't her lot in life to have a baby, she tried invitro one more time, and baby Hadley was born.

And then one day Gretchen ended up pregnant again. With no invitro. No help. The old fashioned way. And little Lottie -- we called her "the miracle baby" -- was born.

Then life got a little complicated, and their family moved back north for a new job, which didn't go as planned, and they ended up in the thick of the 2009 downturn with a couple homes to sell. And in the midst of all of that... you guessed it -- she got pregnant.

And today, just weeks after their homes were sold and her husband started a new job, Gretchen's third baby girl was born. She was a week early -- no overnight bag had been packed, the camera wasn't ready, and the phone wasn't charged. But Margot came anyway.

Gretch just keeps moving forward. Never giving up, just rolling with the punches that life throws her way. Maybe with a temper-tantrum here and there, but she always gets up and moves forward. And she loves life. She loves it in the good moments, and even in the moments where it feels like the last thread has unravelled.

Congratulations, my friend. YOU are extraordinary!

xoxox