A New Season

Back in March of this year, the Lord started to stir some things in Eric and I. He started reminding us of the big dreams that He had placed in our hearts, and of what we are called to do. So we started praying. We wanted to be good stewards of the gifts and callings He has given us, and above all else, we wanted to be obedient.

We know Eric is called to make movies and to be an influence in media. We know I am called to write and play music, as well as lead worship. We knew that He was calling us somewhere else. We prayed about Australia, we looked at some different film schools. We looked at a worship college for me. All of which seemed wonderful and grand, but not what we felt the Holy Spirit was calling us to do. Through nothing short of the supernatural, we landed on Albuquerque. All of my family is there, and there's a film tech program, which is exactly what Eric had been looking for.

I'm going to take this next year and write like crazy. I'm going to take a guitar class at the college and serve at the church I grew up in. And while Eric has already been perfecting his craft in video work, he's now going to make the leap into the film industry. As well as still doing some contracted projects for Westside Church our home church here in Bend.

We're so excited for this new season.
We're so excited to partner with the local church there.
We're so excited to see what the Lord has for us.

We do, however feel like our move there is only for 2010. We want to go, get trained and grow like crazy, be a blessing to our friends and family in Albuquerque, then come back and apply all that we've learned. We'll still call Bend our home and the church here, our home church. We'll be back in Bend for the summer (because there really is nothing quite like Bend summers!) and then make our permanent move back in January of 2011.

We're officially moving the beginning of January 2010. While we'll be sad to leave our family here (our friends, our church, and Eric's family who live just two hours away) we look forward to spending time with my family, and making new friendships.

So all this to say, if you're reading this from Bend or Eugene, we love you, and we'll miss you. If you're reading this from Albuquerque, we're excited for our season there with you, and we'll be seeing you soon!

Anniversary Part 3

Ensanada, Mexico and the Beautiful Cruise life:

We rode some horses on the beach!

The view we had pretty much the whole time.

At "La Bufadora"

Onto the glorious Towel Friend sequence.
Each night Eric and I came back to a new towel animal.
I made him take pictures with every one.

Towel Friend #1 - The turtle
Towel Friend#2 - The puppy

Towel Friend #3 - I haven't the slightest idea

Towel Friend #4 - By this time we know that our cabin attendant
had run out of ideas for animals, for clearly this is not an animal at all
but a heart.

A not so ghostly shot of our ship.

Our day at sea. We found a cozy little spot with the ocean right by our side.

Breakfast on the deck. This stupid seagull stole the bacon right off of
my plate. Right off.

Formal night, in our formal dining room, with our formal three course meal. Yummy!

Our last night.

Praise Him from whom all vacations flow!

Anniversary Part 2

Now onto Newport Beach and Catalina Island:

Driving like we do...Phil's GPS saved us.

The lifestyle.

It doesn't get much better than Jesus, and the ocean.

Isn't he so handsome?

Catalina Island

They liked us so much, they named a restaurant after Eric!

The famous self portrait:

The view of our ghost ship from the tender boats we took
to get to the island:

Stay tuned for more pics! (I told you there was a lot!)

Anniversary!

Well two years have come and gone. Come and gone super fast I might add.
To celebrate this occasion Eric and I decided that we would hop on a ship and head for Mexico, with a little detour to Disneyland. We took so many pictures that I'm going to break it into parts, the first part being the happiest place on earth:


Never too cool for the Mickey ears
Never too cool for a fanny pack.
Splash mountain. Kinda hard to see Eric and I, but my face is ridiculous.
Eric let me drive, which turned out to be a mistake.
Needless to say it was a very bumpy ride!


A parade!

The castle.

Picture break during the parade.

Fantasmic - seriously one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Some more fantasmic. It was fantastic!

The Celebration of my 23rd Year of Life

For my birthday, Eric surprised me with a trip to Seattle.
It's probably my favorite city right now.
Love, love, love it.
And I loved, loved, loved this trip!


The lovely drive which was so marvelous since we hadn't seen each other
for a week! (summer camp was in sesh)

I know it's a little strange, but I absolutely love hotels! To the point

where I will sacrifice shopping in order to stay in one.
(Okay, not all shopping...)
This was my "We're staying in hotel I'm so happy!" face.

Last year , we discovered this amazing little french restaurant right

by Pike's Place. It's the little place to the left in the picture.
Seriously, soooo yummy.
If you ever go to Seattle, eat there.

What is a Parnell blog without some alley way artistic shot?
Why, it's no Parnell blog at all!


I realize I look extremely unhappy here, but trust me when I say, I'm not.
This was right outside Pike's Place. So pretty!



We were trying to get the water behind us here like in the picture above,
but I guess either Eric's arms aren't long enough, or
our heads aren't small enough.


Cheesecake Factory, Cheesecake Factory, Cheesecake Factory.
Yummy!


Downtown Seattle. Sittin' on a wall somewhere.


We met up with Nicolette Sunday night for the
Linsolette Bday Bash '09.
5 years running strong!

Here's to the best year yet!

The 505

The Party

The Preparation

The Graduation

The Trip to Santa Fe

The Girls

The Nintendo

The Sisters

The Drive

The Saving Grace

The End