Luna Lovegood, and why I like Halloween.

Hello There!
I don't know about you, but I feel like these past few weeks have been absolutely crazy! October is hands down the busiest time of the school year. It's super festive and fun, but it's hard to find time to catch your breath. In fact, I'm only finding time because it's Homecoming and I don't plan on going home before the big game!

Here's what's been going on with the Parrish people lately :)

It's FINALLY starting to kind of feel like Fall here in Northern California. I wore this to school today... it was 55 in the morning, but it's now 85...so I'm regretting the wool coat. 

 

We carved pumpkins this week. I made Jack Skellington. I also used the flashlight on Nate's phone for the sake of this picture. Nate took me to the pumpkin patch, and there would have been more pictures of festive fall cuteness, but the wind just wouldn't allow it. That's okay...not all moments need to be documented on Instagram or this blog.

 Nate decided he was gonna really go for it with his pumpkin and make something really intricate. Look how cute he is when he's concentrating.

 

Aaaaaand last but not least, I carved pumpkins with my kids at school.  I was introduced the pumpkin patch devotion this year. What a great way to illustrate how God picks us up off the ground and very intentionally designs us for something awesome. I know that Christian sub-culture kind of frowns on Halloween, but I feel personally (and you don't have to agree, I'm okay with that) that by not doing something I would otherwise love (wear a cute costume and eat yummy treats) I am letting the enemy win. Jesus owns October 31. You can call it Halloween, Harvest, Harvestween, whatever. I call it halloween. But, why should I be deprived of the awesomeness that is fall-time festivities? I know what Halloween is about. I've even heard sermons about the evilness of Halloween. BUT...How many people will know that I love Jesus if I turn off all the lights and lock my doors, or even worse, hand out pennies and toothbrushes? With that being said, I'm gonna carve my pumpkins, dress up (as a witch...Luna Lovegood to be exact) , and hand out individually wrapped candies that are safe, and do my best to reflect Jesus on a day that could probably use more of that.

Faith Is The Assurance of Things Hoped For... And Other Summer Plans

Hello there! 

I have very exciting news. The recording process is over. The mastering process is over. The CD Baby process is over. PARRISH EP is coming out next month, for reals! Nathan's and my labor of love over the past 6-8 months is coming to fruition

Nathan and I have a love for Americana, old country, and the Gospel plain and simple. I feel like our release is a good representation of that.

We got to record half of our EP in Topanga Canyon at Jackknife Lee's studio "The Garage". If you look closely, you can see Jackknife's Grammy for Album of the Year for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb...yep. U2. My youngest brother works for Jackknife, and it was very kind of him to let us use his beautiful space.

Actually, my brother, Matt (Insta: MathBishop) helped us through the entire process, and for sure without him none of this could have been possible. It was such a great thing to see him truly in his element. He has such a huge talent production-wise, and such a great professional persona about him. 

A lot of love and caffeine went into this project... A lot.

So, what are my summer plans?! This is it. Play music, make music, lead worship, read, read at the beach, drink coffee, drink coffee at the beach... all with Nathan, or the Abina's, or the girls from Life (our college ministry). It's going to be glorious.

and now, I sit here pondering my school year. If you follow me on Instagram (ParrishTheThoughtBlog), you will see that I'm in sentimental mode. The first class I ever taught Bible 10 for is graduating, and they have voted for me to speak at their graduation ceremony. There are so many things I could say about this group of students, but I'll just say this. This is the class that taught me to teach, so I've grown attached. 

It never ceases to amaze and humble me; the goodness of God. His over abundant grace, and how much I do not deserve any of this. This school-year has impacted me in a major way. I had breakthrough many times over, I fasted for the first time, The Lord used me to bring a student to Him, and now I am giving the big speech at graduation. He is good, all the time. All the time, He is good.

See you soon.

Follow God And Do As You Wish

Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! I hope this week has been treating you well thus far. I've been able to stay productive despite the rain, but yesterday the Lord really put this on my heart to share. I think it's the artsy teacher side of me that compells me to post this today.

I went to a tiny Christian high school in Lodi, CA, and when I was a senior I had no plan. College was just the next step, so I went to the local JC and wandered around until I found something I wanted to do. Thats when I found myself in the local music scene, I went to shows and I made new and very interesting friends. I wasn't declared, but I took tons of music classes because thats what I liked enough to stay in school. They were not easy courses (music theory...am I right), but they came easily to me. Being a Music Major wasnt something that I chose. It was almost like music chose me. Almost like... it was something God wanted me to do.

It's about this time of year when "the top 10 worst college majors" lists come out. Here are the top 5.

1) English/Literature

2) Fine Arts

3) Religious Studies (whoops)

4) Performing Arts (dang it)

5) Education (oh, come on!)

It almost makes me laugh. What makes these majors "the worst" is based soley on income. I have two favorite quotes. One of them has nothing to do with this post, but it's from Abraham Lincoln, and he rocks. The other is from St. Augustine, and is the title of this post. "Follow God and do what you want."  This changed my life a high school student who hated the academic side of school. I didn't want to go to school to just have a job that would put me behind a desk, and everything that entails. (Which is totally ironic as a teacher).

So I didn't! I played music! I played shows! I dropped out of College (don't do that though)! I traveled! I worked in ministry! I got married! Then I went back to school...when I realized that no degree meant working at Victoria's Secret in Stockton CA my whole life... and I majored in Music and Bible and Theology. The two things I love the most, and I am getting to do those things all day everyday, ironically as a high school music and bible teacher. I am not making the "median income" as Mr. Forbes would call it. By all worldy standards I am working way too hard for way too little money. But what is that compared to conversations with students about Christ, after class been let out! What is money compared to that which is eternal. What is money in comparison to the peace of mind that comes from obedience? What is money in comparison to love? 

Jesus told the pharisees on the day of conflict before his crucifixion, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God what is God's." If what you love is business (and truthfully, if you're a creative mind, a business major can totally allow your creative mind to be free and fulfilled), or engineering, or math/science, then yay you! Give that to the Lord and be awesome! If what you love is painting, or writing, or unerwater basketweaving, then yay to you too! If you are doing what you love in obedience to Christ, money is no object. Make money so you can live (and pay your taxes), But Give the Lord what belongs to Him...everything else. It's all his anyways.

Spring Break Bucket List - Revisited

Welp... Turns out, the weather is going to be very "springy". In fact it's raining! What about my bible-reading-by-the-river plan? Darn! My New Girl DVDs are calling my name so loudly, but no! I refuse to just sit and do nothing! Well, anyways, so I've been forced to take a new look at my bucket list... They're a little less ambitious, but oh well!! Also, with spring break, we've decided to save gas and only use one car...so I can only travel to places that are within walking distance.

1) Clean my house.
2) Go to Berkeley (much more rain friendly than the beach)
3) Participate in one C2C Challenge (if you dont know what that is, look up the Coast 2 Coast Challenge Blog! The girls love Jesus and clothes and artsy stuff in general... what could be more fun!)
4) Paint something everyday
5) Read my Bible Everyday
6) Write one song
7) Drink a ton of coffee.
8) Post three blog posts

So, Thus far I'm on my second blog post for spring break, which means I'm on a roll! I'm really thinking about how to word my next blog post about obedience and peace of mind. It's about this time of year when "worst majors in college in all of American History" lists come out, and guess what, all of my degrees are on that list! It's gonna be a fun post! See you soon! Try to stay dry you crazy california weather wimps.

Words of Wednesday

Hello Folks! I hope this Wednesday is going awesome for you. I wanted to share a little bit of what the Lord is doing in my life. We heard from Sasha Ivanovic, who runs Teen Challenge Serbia, and while he did talk a little bit about his ministry he mostly gave a message that really struck me. God has been teaching me a very hard lesson this year as a teacher, but it has grown my faith so much.

Isaiah 43: 18-29 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

This was the verse our speaker spoke on. This verse just hit my heart so hard. Every year I have taught (only three, I have a lot to learn) has had such huge and very different challenges. Forget the former things, defeats of course, but sometimes the Lord calls us to forget about our victories! God is doing a new thing... It's one thing to learn from your past, but live in it and feed off of it, that can be very unhealthy. Even if the past was award winningly awesome. The Lord fills us to empty us again. This has been a year of emptying. 

I love being a teacher. It gives me purpose, motivation, and a creative outlet. Just like every year it has been filled with new and difficult challenges. The last two years, the challenges were more tangible. They were objective. Most of the time it was time and intentional organization that would fix them. This year the Lord has brought spiritual challenges. Not so objective. Not at all black-and-white.

God has been saying to me for a while,  "Forget last year. To do lists can wait. It's time to pray. It's time to read. It's time to prepare. Open your door and let students sit in the 'real talk' chair." I obeyed, and they started to come. The "real talk" chair gets a lot of use. There's no walking kids through the sinner's prayer or anything, but there is a lot of listening. 

It's like a light bulb went on. "Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland" We just obey, and he brings streams of live to the lands that are dry, and to people who are thirsty. It's amazing what prayer, listening, and obedience brings.

I'm a 'bound book' kind of girl

Hi Everyone! I got a new toy that I'm absolutely smitten with! The Polaroid 300 camera. It's virtually the same as the fujifilm instax camera except different colors. They also use the same film. I take it with me everywhere!

Nate and I went on a little walking date to Small World Cafe in Downtown Napa, Look at Nate's face! He's such a doll!

Aren't these so fun! I love the ones of my students. My chapel leadership kids were playing Mafia as a bonding game. Let's just make perfectly clear, I'm awful at being the mafia!They love each other so much, it does my heart so much good to be such sweet people to one another. Being a teacher is the best!

I count these last few weeks (only ten left) as fleeting blessing. This senior class means so much to me, I always say that is this is the class that taught me how to teach. I'm not emotionally prepared to see them move on. Oh no! I'm getting all proud and mushy, I have to stop. Have a fantastic weekend! I'm going wedding dress shopping with my brother's new fiance! I love adding girls to our family! Yay!

Before you go though... I am all about this song right now! This is Mount Zion by Cageless Birds. The end... Jesus is so awesome! See you soon!

Walking Dates in Napa

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a great week. Mine was so very busy! I couldn't even take one second to even to jot down a single thought. Life gets crazy for me in this part of the school year. I have two huge field trips that takes a ton of energy organize and prepare for, and three other classes to maintain. It's a lot. Not to mention Spring break is five weeks away. I'm not counting or anything!

This past Saturday we walked downtown to Model Bakery in the Oxbow District for breakfast. This place makes the best breakfast Sandwiches! I get the chipotle breakfast sandwich, and a mocha every time. Sometimes you have to wait in a long line that goes out the door, but it is so worth it. Also, it's just really nice to be able to walk from our house to Model and chat with Nathan about life, and Jesus, and music. He tends to be the best for that :)

We talked about how, Right now the Lord is really showing me the true desires of my heart, which I have been praying that He would do for a while. It's started with the fast, and it is slowly but surely being more and more confirmed as I proceed through the school year. My real desire and passion is ministry and music, and I am praying about the most effective way to do that VCS, and how to make sure the students are being ministered to in the way that they need. I know what the Lord is saying for me to do, but it's about me trusting him and taking that next step. I know he will take care of it. If there is one thing I've learned over these past few years, is that, if it's what God wants, He makes it happen. So I'm trusting Him. Then our conversation moved on to really deep stuff... like which Marvel action figures Nate needs to finish his collection.

See you soon!





Like A Fire In My Bones

Hello everyone!
For those of you who are unaware, I am a teacher at Christian high school. I teach four different subjects at VCS; The Life of Christ According to the Gospel of John, Chapel Leadership (Worship band for chapel), Choir, and Drama. This is right in line with what I studied in school, and since I spend so many years in youth ministry before going back to college, it really is the perfect job for me. Every single day is a true adventure.

Yesterday I took a survey in my bible classes to find out where they were at with Chapel and how they thought it could be better. It broke my heart. While they did come up with some really good objective things that we could change, and we came to a resolution to make chapel better, my students said they felt condemned, not redeemed. I have have never felt that way about Chapel, but it was clear that they were hearing something different than what I was hearing. One student actually said "The God you talk about in class and the God in they talk about in Chapel are not the same. The God in Chapel just sounds so angry." 

Oh my precious students. This is not how God feels about you.

I couldn't and cannot shake the words from my heart. And while it made me sad to hear the frustration of my students, it also gave me an overwhelming sense of purpose and protectiveness (if that's even a word). It reminded me what my job truly is. Not as a teacher, but as a Christian.  

The God in chapel and the God in Bible 10, and the God at my church are all the same God. The entire Bible being about Jesus from cover to cover means that God is about forgiveness, The Word is to point us to Hope! The Word points out that Jesus has come so that we don't have to live up to the pressure of perfection. The Word points to grace! The Word is love. The Word IS Jesus. 

Better Late Than Never Again

Holy! Hello everyone! It been about 5 or even 6 months since my last post, I realize that as far as blogging is concerned, that's just not acceptable! However, I had no clue as to how extremely one-sided my life would become. Seriously though, there were only two things that consumed my mind: teaching and making sure I spent time with my husband. I had very little time for a life. That's probably why my dear pastor, (and more importantly) friend Vanessa was called into ministry, to make sure people keep their eyes on Jesus and remember that their jobs shouldn't consume their lives. But hey, I think if as a teacher, you're not struggling to let school become your life, at least as first anyways, then you might be doing it wrong. Also, I teach the life of Christ, literally, that is the name of my bible curriculum. Im teaching a subject that I really have given my life to. It's not that I've given up part of my life to Christ, I live only in Christ. It's tough to strike balance when you teach a subject that you've devoted your entire self to.

 Anyways!! I'm gonna try this summer to be better about updating this blog, one major perk of being a teacher, summer vacation! I'll have something I haven't  had in almost a year: time. There was a time when I would do this everyday. how? It's a mystery. It really is.

Anyways, here are a few of the high lights from this school year.

This actually has nothing to do with school, but with normal life 3 out of the 4 in this group are Kingdon band-wives, and our men were rockin it at the Sleep Train Arena at the Kings game! Pretty fun!

This precious darling of a lady was my TA this year. She was also in my choir. Three awesome facts about this girl: 

1)She's hilarious! 

2) She's SUPER creative

3) She's a brainiac. She's so so so smart! 

Needless to say, I'm going to miss her. But I know that the Lord's got some amazing things in store for her. Also how do you not love a TA who get your Starbucks?! I mean...c'mon!

This very blurry picture (taken with my iPad) is our Choir rocking it in LA at he Heritage Performance Festival. We took first in our division! I couldn't have been more proud! Also, I'm very pleased to inform you that my group will be twice this size next year. When you have more fun than any other group of people on earth, word gets out!

They might be goofballs, but they're my goofballs, and I truly adore them.

When my seniors in Choir didn't have class they would often wander into my class and hangout. Occasionally they would draw my some awesome artwork. I had quite the gallery. When you're having a not-so pumped about life kind of day, it's always nice to have these kinds of things to look at. I'll probably keep these forever.

My little brother got married!! The one in the middle. Even though my other brother isn't on the market (so back off) he still has some bachelor-ing to do.

Also, I wrote a million tests and quizzes. This fake answer, I'm particularly proud of :)

Also, I got my craft on, and crocheted this cat-hat! I embraced the silly trend, but in a dignified way? haha. right.

And oh yes. Spirit week. This day was Wild and Wacky day. Somehow Symphony totally pulled off those glasses, and I totally couldn't.

Well everyone thats it for now. What a year, What an awesome awesome year. It's amazing how the Lord used inadequate people to do His work. I couldn't have possibly done it on my own. He gets all the Glory. I'll see you soon!

Saturday is coming... And so is Monday

Hi everyone! Ive finally found an app thats way better for blogging than the blogger app itself. I have to honest, since its for the iphone and not the ipad, which i dont really understand why they wouldnt make a version for both, the blogger app is dumb. You can only update your own blog with it, you can't read the ones you follow. Dumb.

Anyways, today is parent teacher conferences. They have all gone really well. Its hard to have a bad conference when most of your students are doing well in your class. One of million wonderful things about teaching at VCS are super nice and loving parents. One parent emailed me this morning for drink order at starbucks! If thats not awesome then i dont know what is. Im just hoping the rest of the day goes just as well.

Here are a few instas to hold you over. Ive been pretty faithful with the outfits on instagram, its easier to post right away.

This is what one student wrote about my outfit today. Its the fur collar that tipped her off I'm sure!

I found this gem of a boxed-set at dimple. Cant wait to start reading them. This are the old school covers from when i was a kid. This is the kind of thing you hold on to for your kids to read. I am in love with this.

School day survival kit

Creative compliments from students once more.

I havent ventured around Vacaville much at all since i started working at VCS but i found this super cute dress at a really cute boutique called apricot lane.

This is how i reward myself after a long days work. A stop the yolo fruitstand. Such delicious treats.

Spongebob photobomb.

Also, in case you didnt know. We are all moved in. Our new place rocks. Our neighbors are nice, they dont grow pot, and the police havent shown up to ask nathan if he was able to identify a picture of an armed robber. Its a real winner. Im now on the hunt for sweet decor items and such. I know that go get exactly what i want im gonna have to make it myself. Yay weekend crafty time! Also, our disneyland trip is officially booked! Ahhhhhhhhim so excited. Im already on the lookout for cute disney outfits.

Thats about it for me. I better get back to work before more parents show up!! See you soon.

Truth can be a dangerous thing.

Hello everyone!! Blogging again from my iPad today. Im currently at alliance redwood conference center on retreat with vcs!! It been amazing. It's crazy to think about what I do for a living. I am a teacher who gets to talk openly about Jesus, and not only that, but I get to pray for the young ladies who attend here. There is very little I have done in my life that has been more rewarding than get to tell the girls in my cabin that they can't possibly earn grace, that Jesus gives it freely, and the second they receive that grace, they are children of god, members of the body of Christ! Not to mention the rumors of the precious girls in choir singing our choir songs around camp!!! They're even singing David's Lamentation!! Look it up. It's not exactly your fun camp song.

Either way, here are a few pictures from the instagram machine depicting the fun of my week thus far :)