Two years ago today, I was in the shortest labor of my life. After just 23 hours of back labor and 5 minutes of pushing, our sweet second daughter joined our family.

Clara is Courageous. She is always willing to try something new, whether it’s going down an escalator for the first time or eating an unknown food item. She is brave and she helps Ruth be brave, too.

Clara is Loving. It sometimes takes her a few minutes to warm up to people, but when she does, she wants to sit right next to (or on) them and be their best friend for life. She can read people well and knows instinctively who can be trusted and who is safe.

Clara is Adorable. Strawberry blonde curly hair. Big gray eyes that sometimes change colors. Long legs that are starting to lose their baby look in favor of a little girl look. A confident and sassy smile. She has it all!

Clara is Resilient. Last summer, before her first birthday, she had a benign dermoid cyst removed from her forehead. But within just a day of the surgery, she was running around and playing like normal. When she falls down, Clara will just jump back up like nothing happened. When we were in Ghana in 2018, she just embraced it all, napped whenever, and went with the flow. She doesn’t let anything keep her down.

Clara is Artistic. She will express herself anyway she can. She likes to color, dance, play music, sing… especially “Let it Go” from Frozen (“Elka” is her favorite character in that movie. But she also loves Minnie Mouse). Clara usually whispers pretty quietly when we’re in public, but it’s always super funny what she says and does to make herself known.

Happy 2nd birthday, Clara Mae. We love you to the moon a million times over.