Claire's 2011 Highlights

Claire
aka:  Claire-Bear

The Wildcat calls her "Clear-to-partly cloudy."
Which Claire totally hates.
(when the kids took a trip to Kentucky, someone there must have pronounced her name this way and the Wildcat, being the wonderful brother that he is, picked up on that and has tormented her ever since.)

Claire is in 5th grade this year, her first year of middle school.
She opted out of playing softball,
She plays basketball
She went to church camp
And is learning to babysit her neices and nephews.

This year more than any other, I have noticed how Claire is really trying to find her own "thing,"
in her own way. She has to work harder than her older sister at reading and grades in school, and she just isn't in to every sport like she used to be.

In thinking about how I can sum up exactly what Claire's "things" are this year, I would have to say friends and faith.

At an age where many girls her age are dropping out of girl scouts, Claire is embracing it more than she ever has.  She has awesome troop leaders, went on a trip to Wisconsin Dells with her troop, and is really getting into the community service aspect of being involved in girl scouts. 

Also this year, I mentioned that she went to church camp again.  This is her 3rd year in a row to go.  It was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa.  The grandparents are cutting back and tightening their budget-belt like most of us....
Knowing this, Claire told them that they didn't have to get her any birthday or Christmas presents ever.  Because going to church camp is better than any gift she could open. 

She told me that she asked Jesus in her heart at camp, something that she knows she did before, but she did it at camp again because she forgot about the first time and she knows that she will never forget about camp as long as she lives.

Amen.

Claire and I butt heads at times. 
Probably because we are so much alike.
One of my favorite arguements goes like this:

Claire:  Mom, I love you.
Me:  I love you too, Claire-bear!
Claire:  But I love you more.
Me:  I don't think so...I love you more!
Claire:  Mom.  I love you more.  End of discussion.

Our secret code is a hand signal.
She pinches her thumb and pointer finger together to make the "okay" sign.
The three fingers held up in this gesture stand for:  I. Love. you.
The fingers pinched tightly together stand for:  This Much.

And by "this much," we don't mean a little bit.
We mean from this finger, all the way around the world, and right back to this thumb.

(we saw this in a movie)

My favorite text message in the whole world to get comes from Claire.
And all she says are:  3 fingers and a pinch.

Claire is teaching me that we all need to find our way
in each season of life

Somedays the paths are "clear"
And some days they are "partly cloudy."

But one thing is always certain....
This girl will always fit in perfectly right here with me.