about 3 years ago...

it was about 3 years ago... i was driving down the road with clara and ema in the car and all of a sudden clara bursts out "mom! stop! turn around!". of course, the sudden outburst just about put me into cardiac arrest. as i gathered myself together and sifted through the many scenarios speeding through my brain..."there's a turtle we've got to turn around and save", "i just ran over something i shouldn't have", "there's a stray dog clara spotted and now it's officially our duty to rescue it", "there's a dead animal we just passed and clara thinks it's one of our lost cats"...etc....etc. clara finally spills out there was a dead potted plant on the side of the road. i'm thinking, "THAT is what you are screaming over?!"?? soooo...being the good mom that i am, i turn around and we survey the side of the road to see if we could find the lonely little pot clara spied as we flew past at 55mph. and of course, having the eagle eyes that clara has, (i am NOT at all kidding...this child, from day one, has always possessed this innate ability to see things most of us would never even know was there - it's an amazing gift), she spots the pot and again, i turn around and pull off the side of the road to analyze the specimen. it's dead. completely brown. dried up soil. the pot wasn't even heavy upon picking it up - it felt like nothing was even in it. (and come to find out, clara had been "eyeing" the pot for several days, not having said anything to anyone until today. i believe the thought of continuing to watch this poor abandoned plant sit by it's lonesome withered-self was more than clara could allow. she was now determined to revive this lifeless, puny...sad-looking pot. (i say "pot" because again, you could hardly call it a plant). you know where this is going, right? i am the mom who knew better than to think this "pot" was going to make a miraculous come back. i gave clara little hope of it's recovery and frankly i was a little irritated to have had to waste my time to turn around to get it, let alone now have this nappy thing sitting in the back of my car. clara ignored my pessimism & never gave up. she watered it faithfully and nursed it with all the love and attention a new mother gives to her brand-new baby. after the first year, the plant actually turned green. can you believe that!? i was pretty amazed & surprised -  (although, i still wasn't "impressed" with this plant because at this point i still couldn't tell whether this was some sort of green onion or some type of landscaping plant - but at least it wasn't a weed & at least it had finally turned green. that in itself was a miracle).  then the 2nd year actually produced a mediocre yellow bloom. i was really surprised...not just at the bloom but also at the fact that clara was still  "doting'' on this pot....which was now officially a plant. and then this year...well...this year brought something magical:

blooms....and more blooms...of gorgeous yellow hibiscus-looking flowers. i still have no idea what this plant is. (perhaps someone out there will be able to identify it for me). but what i do know is that clara has a gift. she's shared it with me on more than one occasion and you'd think i would've learned my lesson by now. all it takes is a little faith. and from that faith, miraculous things happen - despite the doubt of "onlookers". (me...being the onlooker in this case). i'm proud of her. this was a 3 year project and she continues to nurture this once, little ole raggedy pot that has now blossomed, (literally), into something so beautiful. definitely a lesson we all can apply to life...don't you think? 

*which by the way - clara took these pictures all by herself this morning*