Four Generations of Greatness

While I was visiting YES, a little bit of magic happened. For the first time ever, we were able to get four generations of amazingess together in one room. Katie, on the far left, was my mentor when I was a first year teacher. She made my life bearable, provided endless support, anecdotes, advice, and more than anything, gave me an example of what a truly great teacher looks like. Not only is she phenomenal at her job, but she loves the kids with every bit of her, and watching her showed me what really matters in teaching. The next year, I had the chance to be a mentor, and my little precious Pears (middle right) came to YES. Now, she didn't quite need the mentoring that I did because she became a master teacher after something like 3 weeks in the classroom (no lie, she's a phenomenon), and in truth, she took care of me MUCH more than I ever took care of her, but we definitely passed on the legacy of fabulousness and love that Katie started, and we turned into team Best EVER. Then my little one grew up and now she has a mentee of her own, my grandbaby Cara (far right). This was my first time meeting my grandbaby, and I couldn't be prouder. :)

A new building for YES Prep Public Schools

On my last day in Houston, Victor and I went to visit the school where I taught for two years: YES Prep North Central. When we pulled up, I was absolutely stunned to see the progress they have made on the compound. I teared up to see that it looks like a real school. When I started teaching, the school was in its 3rd year of operation, and we only had a warehouse for a building. My second year teaching we moved to the current location - we bought the building from a church - having a real building was the ultimate luxury, and slowly over the first year, we made it into a school...

While I was in Malawi this year, I was heart-broken to hear that large portions of the building had been destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

HOWEVER - it turned out that the hurricane was a blessing in disguise, because it forced renovations on the school that otherwise may not have been made for years... and the final result is amazing - it is a school as nice as any I've ever seen.

I don't believe, and those at YES don't believe, that buildings mean much when it comes to education. In fact, they don't mean anything really. We were ranked an exemplary school while we were still in the warehouse. Its the dedication of the teachers, the administration and the parents that make this school successful - but the building makes things easier, and it is a testament to the success of the school, since the money to build the building has all had to be fundraised (as a charter school, the capital costs are not paid for by the state.)

It was wonderful to see that the teachers who put in such insane hours to make a difference will now have an amazing building to work in every day, and that the students who attend YES will spend their days in a school building that they can be proud of, especially considering it was they who helped build it.

If you want to know more about YES and its vision for providing an excellent education to all children, regardless of academic background, email me or check out their website:
www.yesprep.org

Working at YES was one of the best and most defining experiences of my life.

Rock band

I had a lot of game 'firsts' on this trip. I played Wii with Victor's family (and I swear that my arms are STILL sore) and I played Rock Band with these lovelies:

It was a little stressful at first,

But clearly I am a natural.

And Vic of course could do it like he was a pro. I hope our children land his musical genes.

Houston

On New Year's eve, I flew to Houston to be with Victor and his family for a few days, visit with my beloved friends, and give my final report to my Sponsor Rotary Club, who financed and supported my travels in South Africa last year.

Vic and I are getting pretty good at this long-distance thing... and I've found the perks... the biggest one is that reuniting is AMAZING. While I was in town, we took an afternoon and walked around Rice Universitity's campus, just like old times. It was so surreal to be back on campus, and it brought back a wave of memories and nostalgia.

Here are Lanese and Elisa - 3/4 of our Bible study group (Come to think of it, I'm not sure that we ever studied the Bible, but that's a side point)

We had an impromptu salsa night, and met up with another set of Rice friends. This is Jean-mark and Suzanna, such an adorable couple. Kudos to Vic on taking this picture, it is one of my favorites.

Here I am waving my hands around and giving my Rotary Presentation. It was one of the first times that I gave one without a powerpoint, so I winging my talk (and the more I wing, the more I wave, just ask my former students). My club, the Galleria Area Rotary Club, is one of the most gracious I have ever been to, and giving my presentation there was a reminder to me of their amazing support and dedication. They literally changed my life by sponsoring me to go to South Africa, and I am forever indebted to them and grateful for them.

More reunions ensued the rest of the trip. This is Jen, one of my old roommates and one of my heroes.

Elisa and I went to Ecclesia together. It was both of our first week back, as Elisa just returned from Kenya a few days before I got to Houston.
And this is one of the reasons I love Ecclesia.
Vic's best friend, Jose-Miguel, had a birthday while I was in town. This is JM and his wonderful girlfriend Alesha at the sushi restaraunt where we celebrated.
After dinner we went to hear Andy Vargas play. Andy is the singer for Santana.

Most of my time in Houston was centered around food. I had an entire list of meals that needed taken care of, one of which were GIANT blueberry pancakes at Buffalo Grille. Here are the remains:
I shared the pancake experience with three of my dearest (who you may recognize from pictures from South Africa - they came to visit in June). Kate and Rachael:
And, of course, the Best Ever herself, Pearsy:
We left the pancakes and went over to Rach's house to play Rock band (more on that later). We invited along Victor and one of his friends Bonnie (whom I LOVE), and it turned into a full on randomly amazingly fun day/evening event. Here are Pears and Rarthur jamming hardcore at Rarth's house. Watch out American Idol.
Victor rocked it out too:
Here's the whole group after dinner that night.

Reunions

This holiday I had the opportunity to reconnect with some of my oldest and best friends. It was so wonderful to see everyone and to reconnect. Our lives have surely taken us in different directions, and it is truly beautiful to see how each of us has found what we are passionate about in such different ways. I love you girls.
This is Robyn and her wonderful son Lucas. I am in awe at what a wonderful mom Rob is. I will surely be calling her when I have my own kids for advice.

This is Rob and Lucas, me, Karlee (who just texted me saying she was asked to interview for vet school at her top choice - whoooooooooooo!!), and Cat, who is hands down the most successful and motivated person I know. These girls are all part of what I think of as home.

And here is my favorite person on earth, my brother. He took me out on a date to the classiest restaurant in town (ha!) - and it was perfect. Love you Bri.

Christmastime

My heart warms just thinking of Christmas at home. My mom and dad have always been incredible about making holidays extra-special, and Christmas is no different. Our house is literally bursting with Christmas cheer - here is a picture of our living room in all of its glory.

Even the squirrels in our yard want in on the action.

We didn't have any candy canes in the house this year, so Mom and I decided to fill the gap:

And on Christmas morning, we had a very special visitor come and visit - humpy bear. I'll have to let one of the boys in our family explain that one.

This is a picture of Sophie, the adorable bulldog puppy that belongs to my aunt Donna. She is one of the most precious puppies I've ever seen.

Family Time in the Mountains

My dad arranged for a mini family vacation before Christmas, so that we would actually all have some quality time together before the chaos of the holidays fully set in. Though I was VERY skeptical about this idea (mainly because the HIGH was supposed to be 3 degrees), I think we all agreed that it was an absolutely wonderful time.

We stayed in a condo overlooking the mountains of Ketchum, Idaho. It was snowy and wonderful, but cooooooooooold cold cold. Here is the view from our condo:
The first night we were there we took a sleigh ride to dinner and froze the whole way.... or I WOULD have frozen the whole way, but fortunately for my time in South Africa, I had one of THESE tucked under my sweater:
Yes, that's right, a hot water bottle. I am telling you, they are the best things EVER. Everyone in South Africa uses them since there is no central heating, and they make a world of difference. Trust me. I could do an infomercial on them.

Here are the gigantic horses that pulled our sleigh.

Here's me and my cute little brother on the sleigh ride. I am personally impressed that I kept my hands out of my mittens long enough to take some pictures.

The cute padres.

My mom and I spent the days shopping for last minute Christmas gifts and enjoying the snow. :)

On the drive home we drove through Hailey...