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.

Crystal Award

The intercom at school announced the faculty needed to gather in the community center real quick because the principal needed to talk with us. (announcements like this always leave us on edge with imaginations of the worst possible situations) In my head I was thinking maybe she wanted to give an announcement about the recent TAKS scores. Since the meeting was going to be quick, we didn't sit at the tables and she started by saying the Houston Chronicle had called a few minutes before to announce that one of our own had been announced as one of four Crystal Award winners. She turned and looked straight at me. "No way," I thought "this can't be possible, you have GOT to be kidding!" This award is given by the Houston Chronicle to outstanding teachers, and my name had been submitted by the PTA president. So for a second time in one year, my mind tried to process how just doing my job had turned into this grander of recognition. After 31 years of comparing myself to my brother and sister's athletic trophies, God was having me realize that He calls us to where He wants us and equips us for His purposes. I truly love teaching and have desired to serve Him in this area with my whole heart. The trophies that I longed for growing up, have come in different shapes and sizes, but only after I have learned that God treasures me more than any trophy that could identify me as valuable.

After six years as a 4th team, this was such a special moment to have them all there to celebrate with me.

My cousin Brian and I had the same 9th and 10th grade English teacher. She had a huge impact on how I challenge students to reach for high exceptations, so it was an honor to have her with me.
This memory can not be described in words because family is so important to me. Support and love are words that hardly seem adaquate. At this point trophies no longer seemed important because to be recognized in such a way with those who love you through the good and ugly days was monumental to who I have become as a person. Thank you Dad, Mom, Amy, Erin, Phillip, and Andrew who I know would have been there if you could!

Cool slide show they played as they read about my accomplishments as a teacher.

Bailey moments

Everyone was right about this whole aunt thing!

Bailey's first Christmas

Sharing my favorite place with Bailey...the Drive in

We watched Gnomeo and Juliet.

Bailey announces shes is going to be a cousin...she Amy and Andrew are pregant!

Hanging on to this new outfit for my chance to be aunt to #2.

She's here (just a tad bit early)

Yesterday Erin went to her regular doctor's appointment, but the doctor decided to admit her to the hospital because of low fluids. So we went to the hospital to bring her and Phillip dinner. The plan was to let them rest and then start to induce the next morning. At 8:00am I got a text saying mom and Amy were headed to the hospital because they had decided to do a C-section. Less than an hour later while teaching my math lesson I heard the beep of my text message and was surprised to see the picture of a beautiful baby girl. Welcome Bailey!

I got to the hospital later than I wanted because of a flat tire, but was delighted to see her open her eyes for the first time.

She wore her "My aunt is my BFF" outfit the first time I went to see her at home.

Becoming an aunt..it's a big job

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9 Life has not turned out as I planned, but as I am realizing things are better when you leave them in God's hands; His hands are bigger and His dreams for us are better.

My brother and sister-in-law have given me much grace and love as I have pestered them with silly requests during this process of "becoming an aunt". Erin has let me "attack" her at the door to "talk" to Bailey, let me lay my head on her stomach to feel Bailey move across my cheek, and allowed me to tag along to Babies R' Us and use the scanner to register. (my excitement can sometimes get the best of me) So for all of those people who have told me that being an aunt is the best thing ever...I can't wait to see if the moment holds true.

At Babies R Us registering.

Setting up the crib,
Baby Shower where Bailey got lots of fun things.

Region 4 District Teacher of the Year Dinner

Region 4 Dinner for all of the District Teacher of the Year winners. We were presented with a nice trophy..of course it has an apple on it.



Valerie, my principal. It's always an honor to be supported by your administration.

And even more of a blessing to have your parents support you!

Other places in Paris and Toulouse France

After my brother left Paris, I was able to sit Sunday in the Jardin des Tuileries in a lawn chair waiting for Eva. This was the view I had for the day...amazing memory of solitude, only God could plan something like this.

Eva and I then took a tour boat on the Seine River.

I then with no phone or form of communication pulled out my notebook paper drawn map from friends, bought a RER train ticket for the latest hour so I didn't have to pay for another hotel that night, woke up in Toulouse France, found my way to the smaller train to take me to Saint-Gaudens and thankfully ran into people who spoke English who let me borrow their phone to call the friends to tell them I had arrived at the train station. Here's the street where they live.

And amazing French cheese.

With a trip through the Pyrénées

This trip was just the beginning of my new spontaneous self, and what an adventure it turned out to be.

Who knew this was on my bucket list too?

We all have those people in our lives. The ones who push and challenge us to try something new and make us realize that we just did something we previously thought was impossible. That person for me is my brother and he has been inspiring me for the last 30 years. Little did I know four years ago how much his impact would begin to help transform me into a beautiful person. This trip up Alp d' Huez with him at my side was a culminating moment.

Who dreams of riding up the world famous Tour de France Alp d' Huez on a bicycle as one of their bucket list dreams, my brother of course. So when he found out about his trip to Paris, he began researching how to get there. These are snapshots of my adventure as he let me tag along for the journey.

The train ride 6 hours south to Grenoble, France. We had to change our plans that day because a bike race was coming through the next day.

At the bike shop getting equipment and ready to start. My face sure says that I am not really confident about this whole thing, so my jersey (King of the Hill) is a boastful but only jersey I had to wear.

At the base of the Alp, about to make the turn to head up.

Looking down from were we came. I don't have a picture, but after that turn the incline increased by a significant grade. I took one pedal stroke, tried to switch gears, yelled out to my brother...he yelled out put it in the lowest gear, and I didn't see him again for a couple of hours when he was on the way back down. Most of my "journey" and it was a journey rather than a ride for me was mixed with riding, stopping, and walking. Phillip actually had to coach me up for a good part of the way with tough love and inspiring encouragement.

We didn't make it back down in time to see the bike race that came through, but we did see a lot of the buses for the teams the next day.

The summer my couch moved to France.

Despite the many amazing awards from my school year, there were a lot of hard personal trials, so when people asked what I was doing for the summer my response was always...relaxing, laying on the couch, doing nothing. Well all of that changed two days before school ended. My brother told my mom he needed to go downtown to get his passport updated, his company was sending him to Paris on Wednesday. She told me later that night and I told her how on the way to school that week I had a French Bakery shop and thought how good a chocolate eclair would taste. So June 5 I bought a plane ticket to leave for Paris on June 9....this was the beginning of my spotantious lessons.

My brother and I in front of the Arc de Triomphe



Notre Dame

Climbing the Bell Tower stairs.
We attempted to get a bike to ride on the streets like my family did last time, but the card didn't work, so this is the closest we got.

Looking out from on top of the Arc de Triomphe