What Makes an Aunt?

This is Aunt Claire and her son Drew. They came over to visit on Friday night since they were in town visiting her family. She's also expecting baby number 2 in a couple of months. She likes to be surprised, so we won't know if it's a girl or a boy until then.

My girls have asked me how she is their Aunt since she isn't my sister or Daniel's sister. I told them that sometimes you have a family friend that you love sooo much that you wish they were part of your family. In that case you can make them an honorary member of your family. That's what Aunt Claire is.

She has been Daniel's friend since they were 7 and my friend since we were teenagers. Claire was the first person to call me and try to become my friend when I started attending her church youth group. I found out later that she had been assigned my name in a new outreach program for the youth group. All I knew, though, was that this girl was suddenly calling me and inviting me to spend time with her and her friends.

Claire is amazing. When she was pregnant with Drew she rescued some friends of ours while we were away on a "Girl Vacation". We had gone floating on rafts down a river that had a stronger current than we had anticipated. Even though she was pregnant, she was the best swimmer among us. So she swam out, grabbed the rope on their raft, and pulled them to shore. Daniel and I are hoping to save up for a vacation to the Texas coast, possibly next summer. We'd like to rent a beach house near where Claire lives and spend a week there. The upside is, if we have any dangerous swimming moments at the ocean, I know Claire can save us!