Today I saw a rainbow

The very first verse I taught myself to memorize was Genesis 9:16 "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

I had handwritten it onto a sheet of paper and found a heart sticker with a rainbow on it. The paper was taped to my desk next to my bed so I would see it when I woke up every morning. The promise of God after the flood has always stood out to me and I love how forever we have a symbol of His spoken Word. So...when I started seeing rainbows around I got really excited. The one above came in the middle of standing at the base of a waterfall. While at Yosemite my dad and I took a detour from picking up my brother from hiking. My normal tendency is to be anxious when we are suppose to be doing something, but lately I have started going with the moments. This one gave me a special blessing. Below is the picture of the river coming off the waterfall. The only reason I am not completely drenched is because someone offered me a plastic covering. What a thrill to hear the roar, have water rushing around your ankles and look up to see a rainbow!

Rainbow #2 came during the hike my brother and I completed up from a different waterfall. Some people might say, "But Lisa, rainbows are made from water and sunlight, so of course you are going to see one." But I would say, "yes, but how many other people are pointing out the rainbow when there is a giant waterfall to look at?" Notice the small glimpse of a rainbow in the bottom right hand corner.

Unfortunately for rainbow #3 I don't have a picture and it did come much later than these two (I saw these in the same day). This one was weeks later and I was driving with my mom to my sister's house, actually she was driving and it was probably a good thing, because I started shouting with joy and pointing. "Look it's a rainbow! Look do you see it! Mom do you see the rainbow!" Now I know I sounded like a three year old and you might be annoyed at my response. I think she was probably trying to figure out what the big deal was with the rainbow, so let me explain this joy of seeing three rainbows. The past several years I have sought God out to teach me how to love Him, people and find joy in life. All of my attempts to accomplish these have failed, it is just recently in surrendering to Him that I am starting to see how it all works together...Him loving me first, me loving Him back, Him showing me people to love and the joys of life. So the exciting thing those few weeks was to see God's promise to me appear over and over. He does not forget us, He loves us deeply and if we aren't looking or taking our own plans, we might just miss the simple things of life that can bring us joy. Rainbows might not be your thing, but as you dwell on how God loves you, you might just ask Him to show off for you too.

Moses wanted to take a peek, am I willing to take a second look?

Words jump off a page as you read, you know the same words you have read many times before, but suddenly the Holy Spirit allows you to see them in a different way. Here's my words:

The verse is Exodus 3:4-5 When the LORD SAW that he had GONE OVER to LOOK, God CALLED out to him from the bush, "Moses, Moses!" "Here I am," he answered. "Do not come closer," He said. "Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is HOLY ground.

I capitalized the words because it struck me that Moses had to take action, but once God saw his movement of obedience He was able to speak to Moses. Lately I had been stuck, almost feeling rebellious (well okay in a way I was) Telling myself it was okay to sleep longer because it's the summer and I wouldn't have much longer to enjoy. Having my gym bag fully packed, but talking myself out of going. Those things in themselves are not rebellious, but I knew my heart in these and other matters at hand. I knew in a way I was going through a growing journey with God. Thank goodness He loves us more than we love ourselves sometimes. I have a friend that once was taught, when you stop thinking you hear God, go back to the last thing He told you and do it. Makes sense right, why would He give us something else to do if we wouldn't do the first thing. Quenching the Holy Spirit. Often times I mistake it for my laziness, or an option for something I could do. But how many times have I missed out on the burning bush, and ultimately missed out on God's Holiness?

Exodus 2:11-3:1 also has some verbs that tell Moses' story. When you think back to how he was saved as a baby it speaks volumes to how we can plan our life, but God will take our failed actions and use them to write HIS story/ HIS plan. Too often I have become stuck with my plan, pitching a fit because I don't get my way, forgetting that I enjoy most when He surprises me with His plan. The question the study asked that I am still asking myself is: thinking about the bush, when was the last time you took a second look at something out of the ordinary?

Counting my Blessings and Adventures

We were very excited to see my cousin Elizabeth get engaged and invite us to the wedding, (especially since they have always lived in CA but we had never been to visit). So in family style we decided to jam pack it full as a vacation. We saw a lot of fun things, but my favorite part was being able to do it with groups of my family.

Group#1

Being off for the summer I wanted to go up early and "explore." My dad at the time didn't have a job, so he booked his ticket to come with me. When my brother learned about the plans t

o visit Yosemite, he decided to change his flight times and come along. What a blessing to spend the time with these men who I love and value so much!

Did I mention that my dad got laid off from his contract job and asked to interview for another company with a permanent position in the same day. MIRACLE! because he had to go back for a second interview, he had to delay his flight that Monday, so Phillip and I visited the Golden Gate while we waited for him. The clouds were hanging low that day and the wind was very cold.

That night dad got in sooner than expected because he got to the airport early, so we made our way to the hotel. Did you know to get good hotels you have to plan like a year out to stay anywhere near Yosemite? This was another huge blessing because during the planning we went back and forth about what we wanted to do for the three days. Well the week before we left, I got back online to look one more time (the guys said it would be fine to sleep in the car and while I am okay with that as a last resort, I would rather a good night's sleep) Low and behold, one of the hotels that was 10 minutes from the park had one room open that was not unreasonable. Here's the view from the balcony:

Amazing adventure #1

We started at Glacier point that morning and while taking pictures a man told us we should hike up to the waterfalls. So we did...

Amazing adventure #2

Who knew repelling into a cave and crawling around would be something I enjoyed! This was so much fun and again a somewhat unplanned blessing. My dad had found Moaning Caverns online, we planned to go, but then my brother had us talked into white water rafting. (Did you see the river in the picture above?) Every place we called first of all said "Today! You want to book something today?" Guess we have always sort of planned in the moment. The second thing they would say is that the river was too high from all the snow run off. To top it off it was raining that morning. I secretly was glad because the big rapids scare me and who wants to raft in "ice water" with no wet suit gear. So as we stood shivering in the parking lot they called off the trip. This did lead us to another unplanned find...the biggest redwood I have ever seen. And after walking through the forest to find the river we came to a sign that said 3 more miles. Phillip and I without needing to have a conversation turned around and walked back (we had spent the whole day at Yosemite doing the same thing)

Another blessing how we got our own private tour of the cave. This was her first group and we beat getting lumped with the girl scouts by a few minutes.

Dad got to repel down into the cave after we finished our climb out...so much fun and a memorable experience.

Amazing Adventure #3

Group #2 and 3

I thought this was just going to be another check the box I have done it tourist thing, but this was so cool. The way they have the prison set up with self guided audio tour makes you feel like you are the only person in the area. Good facts and history about the whole island. Biggest things that stands out to me is how daily the prisoners could hear/see the sounds and joy of life happening just across the water.

As you can tell by the pictures, by this time everyone else had joined us and it was fun to still be enjoying the different groups of my family. Phillip, Erin and Bailey shared a suite with us, so we got some one on one time. Amy and Andrew joined up with us each day on the adventures. After the island we spent some time walking on Pier 39.

Then off the see the Golden Gate Bridge with everyone. Bailey loves the wind, so she was in squealing heaven. I wish we had more video that captured her delight. This girl is going to be one whirlwind of a roller coaster rider.

Amazing Adventure #4 (although there really are more, but who really wants a page full of pictures :)

Another great find by dad, the steam locomotive. He has always love the train since my grandfather worked for the railroad company. This was something we talked about doing, but almost didn't have time for...sure glad we did. The cable car was really the last family thing we did, but that's a whole adventure for it's own post and my sister has the pictures.

They had the area set up like a small town, so it included a school. I just had to ring the bell.

Showers of blessings-Getting ready for Colton

With the time quickly approaching, I "helped" give Amy a baby shower for Colton. The reason I have "helped" in quotes is because despite my love for my sister....her and my mom are the ones with the gifted creativity.  They both love to have all of the i's dotted and t's crossed when it comes to excellence.(I keep hoping it will rub off on me, but it doesn't seem to be happening) So here are some of the beautiful things they were able to put together for the shower.

I did however get Colton a fun bag of goodies. I am hoping we will be able to use the frog bag equipped with a magnifying glass on some adventures in the future.  He also will now have a fabulous wardrobe that will include an outfit about how much his aunt loves him.

Of course Nana is looking

forward to having another grandbaby to love on.

The afternoon was spent being showered in gifts and pictures books by those who love Amy the most.  The best thing about showers is the people who come to give them.  Thankful to have learned from the GREATEST AUNT how to be an aunt.