True confession: I love algebra

I had a conversation this week not unlike many I have had in the past, and they all start with the same comment made by me: “I love math." Every single time I tell someone this I get the same response. It's as if the person I'm talking to has just taken a swig of expired milk. A look of pure disgust crosses their face. 

I do agree it is a strange love affair, but I do love algebra!

So I decided to take a second and explain the calming affects algebra has on me.

You see, we all start off very young learning math truths. When learning to count to 5 we are taught that 2 follows 1, 3 follows 2, 4 follows 3, 5 follows 4, and now at 33 years old when I'm counting I don’t question it; I just count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 

Then we move on to addition: 2+2=4. As very young students we used fingers, popsicle sticks, or buttons to understand the concept that when you have 2 and add 2 more you get 4. Now when someone asks me, “Mrs. Kerri, what's 2+2?” my answer is, "4". I don't question it I just know to be truth.

And this pattern continues as we progress in our education. Then something amazing happens when we get into Algebra. We are given these weird equations that include letters, we call those variables, and then we are told to solve for those variables. We are then expected to take all those math truths we have been accumulating our whole lives and apply them to this problem to get an answer. And here’s the exciting part. If we use those rules correctly we will – every time – get the right answer! 

Isn’t that what life is like? Aren’t we all learning truths and facts that as adults we have to apply to find solutions to problems in our lives? Every day, the moment our eyes open, we start living a life that is full of problems. 

Some are simple: x + 4 = 12, and we know if we subtract 4 from 12 we are left with 8 so we can say x = 8. 

Some problems take several steps: 2x + 4 = 2(2x – 3) and we have to work through it 1 step at a time

                   Distribute the 2: 2x + 4 = 4x – 6

                   Move the x’s to one side and the numbers to one side: 2x – 4x =  -6 – 4

                   Add like terms: -2x = -10

                   Divide out the -2:  x = 5

Then there are days that God pulls out a problem that takes pages to solve. But the facts are still the same. All I have to do is take what I have learned and apply it to the situation and come up with an answer. There is a calming peace that comes when I think that in the midst of the chaos of life I can get through it taking it one step at a time.

Forest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates.” I would say life is very much like an algebra problem!

Confession: I am a terrible blogger

Confession:  I am a terrible blogger!  

I started this blog with great aspirations of posting blogs that would keep people coming back to my sight everyday to see what new and great things I had come up with.

Then reality hit and we had a baby scare, kids had to go to the dentist, I had to get several things done for work, laundry piles needed to be washed, toilets needed to be scrubbed, homework had to be done, kids and husband expected to eat, groceries had to be bought, litter box had to be emptied – you know, this thing we call life happened.

So here’s to a new week and a goal of blogging more - I will get Joe to empty the litter box today :)

Confession: I am not ordinary!

I had a thought for a post yesterday that I didn’t have time to write and I am glad now that I didn't. I was going to write about being an ordinary person, living an ordinary life, doing ordinary things. Then God in one of my middle-of-the-night-can't-turn-off-my-brain moments He reminded me of something: I'm not ordinary. 

Those of you who know me would agree, but beyond my quirkiness (or weirdness) God calls me peculiar. 1st Peter 2:9 says “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;”.( I learned this in the KJV and I love the wording here. I usually read and study out of a different version, but I love the way the King James reads on certain verses.)

 I'm sure the Queen of England never washes a load of laundry, or has a sink full of dirty dishes, or has to scrub a toilet. I, on the other hand, do. And while there are days that I hate doing all the ordinary things, I am reminded that Elohim, the Creator of the whole universe, has chosen me.

 I am chosen, I am the daughter of the King, I am not ordinary, I am peculiar :)

This is me

My name is Kerri Jo Parish Fernandez, but I answer to many different names: Mom, Sweetie, Mr. Joe’s Wife, Dennis and Karen’s Daughter, Aunt Kerri, Mrs. Fernandez, Mrs. Kerri, sometimes just Mrs. I have filled many different roles in my life which have all worked together to create the person I am today.

First, I am the daughter of a minister and his wife, Dennis and Karen Parish.  When I was in 4th grade my parents decided to pull my brother and me out of the public school system in order to home-school us. Over the next several years my mother began working with other families and we soon had small classes meeting in our home around our dining room table. Out of that, my parents formed what is now PCAL Christian School. Not long after I graduated - in 1979 - I began teaching at PCAL. I have been teaching there for 12 years. 

Next, I became Miss Parish when I registered for college. It was then that I began to fall in love with history. I had a history professor  who always gave us 2 assignments to choose from for our homework: we could answer a list of questions, or write something using the facts we had disused in class and in our text. We had things like: pretend you are a colonist settling in Plymouth and write a letter home telling your family about the events that have happened - using specific details from the text. At that moment, sitting down to complete a simple college assignment, history came alive for me. I began to realize that our past is so much more than dates and facts; it is filled with men, women, and children who lived real lives, doing real things, that forever changed my future. 

While in college I met Joseph Fernandez. Joe and I met, three months later we were dating, three months after that he proposed, and six months after that we were walking down the aisle. 

The next name I added to my list was Mom. Joe and I have two boys: Joseph Ryan and John Luke. These two boys are complete opposites of each other, and they keep me busy and entertained. Ryan is my quiet thinker who keeps me busy learning, and Luke keeps the whole family entertained with his jokes and quick wit. We found out a few weeks ago we will be adding one more to our family in October!

There are many other roles I fill using the same names: bookkeeper for my husband’s company he started a few years ago, coordinator for our church’s Wednesday night programming, and Sunday school teacher, to name a few. We have an amazing support group of friends and family that we fill as much time with as possible.

Somewhere in all of this I became Aunt Kerri for the first time. I now have five nieces and three nephews who call me Aunt Kerri.

This is me and this is my blog - we will see what comes next!