Three years

I'm so thankful for my Clara Joy. God used her to humble me and grow me over and over again. I've had to learn to love more selflessly and I've had to learn to wait on God's timing and not mine.

Clara Joy has always been marked by extremes. She was so colicky that I almost never left the house after she was born and yet she smiled and laughed earlier than any of her siblings. She hardly slept for the first year and a half, but she kept us all so entertained that it didn't feel so bad. Her curiosity has gotten her into more than one dangerous scrape, but her determination enabled her to totally potty train herself (thankfully, because I was oh so sick and pregnant). Clara means "clear and bright" and joy, well, is joy. God so perfectly orchestrated her name to fit her little unique self and I'm so thankful that she's mine. There were nights that I held her screaming little body and wondered why God made her the way he did and now, looking back, I can see the beauty and handiwork in her steel will and curiosity. She's a remarkable work of art and I would love to get a glimpse of who she will be some day. Whatever she will do will surely be done whole-heartedly and well.

Happy Birthday sweet girl! You're precious to us and to your Heavenly Father.