I remember holding my daughter a few days after she was born; tears streaming down my cheeks and thinking: "Loving you is going to break my heart!" I am sure this was due in part to sleep deprivation and post pregnancy hormone overload, however, it was clear to me that my love for this child was bigger and more powerful than anything I had ever felt before! It was almost more than I thought my heart could contain...

As Claire has matured and developed, so has my love and admiration for her! Her name means: "clear, bright, famous" and I often refer to her as my "bright shining star". She is both intelligent and creative; compassionate and kind. She is silly and wise; daring yet responsible. Claire has a faith in the Lord that is solid and deep, and she understands His care and keeping of her in a way that has taken me most of my life to grasp! She loves to praise the Lord and abandon herself in worship!  I trust that God desires to use Claire in mighty ways and the awesome thing is I trust Claire desires to BE used in mighty ways.

I know there will come a day, sooner than I  care to admit, when I will have to let my daughter go and make her own way out into the world. I pray that when that day comes, I will have the courage and the grace to send her off well; the faith and the trust to know that her Heavenly Father will guard her and lead her into the dark corners of the universe to shine His Light in the places where it is needed most - to make HIS name more famous!