Jude is seven (almost eight) months. he is a chill baby. that is no joke. this little guy has been crawling for a little over a week. his ma-ma-ma-ma-ma brings a smile to my face. even though he has no clue he is saying my name. while in his jumper he does a series of jumps and then immediately stops with his legs in a strong upside down V position. it could almost be called choreographed. almost.
every person in this family will admit that J is the all around favorite. at least for now. that is why we let him do crazy things like sharpen his two emerging teeth on our own fingers or hold him in spite of the fact that he likes to decorate us with spit up.
Walk the streets of Africa.
See the beauty of India.
Keep a journal.
Date my husband in NYC.
Hike a mountain. [i need to redeem the donkey ride]
Bring our child home from Haiti. February 9, 2010
Own and decorate a bungalow style home.
Join a book club.
Give a large sum of money away.
Own a Vintage bike with a banana seat. May 09
Spend time with Carly in a dusty foreign place sharing life.
Take my family to Hawaii.
Write something. January 09 Published June 09
Physically help dig a water well.
Photos in an art exhibit. March/April 09
Have the courage to meet my birth mom. did this in 4th grade
Grow a garden and eat from it. Summer 2010
Tour the White House.
Watch Ernest live his dream.
Go dancing and actually dance.
Host a sweet Etsy Shop.
Go to a taping of The View with Susan Taylor. March 2010
Do a Project 365.
Spend a day at the beach alone.
that was my list and then there is the family summer list.
am I just crazy or anyone else have some lists?
Let's get this party started.
That is how the Parkers feel about the new school year. Today was the day my kids wait for all summer. School supply shopping. They run the aisles like it is Christmas morning and I work really hard to stay calm in their happy chaos.
Vinyl gloves. That has to be the most strange item on the middle school supply list. We bought them in purple for some added spice. I am pretty certain that was the right decision.
I also bought 6 sticks and 3 bottles of glue. That is a lot of glue, people.
If any of your children run out of wide ruled lined paper just tell them to ask a Parker kid. Surely we will have enough to pass around.
Two stores later, all supplies are home and separated. Now I get to focus on less eventful days like tomorrow when I take the boys for more shots or our upcoming vacation. This year is the one where we go camping in Texas in August. Today I did not make it to the car from Target without breaking a sweat. In other words, there will be no photos from our week of camping.
That's it for today.
It was fun chatting.
Bye. : )
Mr. Mom and the four did life without me Friday night. Blockbuster is one of our kids love languages. And let me just say, E did not disappoint.
I spent the night away with girlfriends. It was so good. In fact, I did not worry about diaper rash or meal choices once. I remember loving it so much that I felt the need to share it often. I kind of loved girls day.
The girls and me made or way to Galveston. Once there we did fun stuff like laugh at silly sayings, eat fried food, stay up way too late, display talents, talk up happy no depth conversations. It was as carefree as it sounds.
After I changed my shirt four times, we left the beautiful San Luis hotel to find dinner. I ordered a platter of fried shrimp. Large fried shrimp. I might have eaten every last one of those large pieces. They were so good that I am wishing for more right now. Thank you Fisherman's Wharf, you are a new favorite.
After dinner our plan was to take a short walk to La King's Confectionery. Our walk was not boring. No, not at all.
It turned into an impromptu photo session. In case you are wondering, I played photo girl. And I loved my role.
It seems we found a super star.
or four. : )
Amanda + Missy + Heather + Lindsee
My camera battery lost it's charge right after that sweet photo.
It is kind of a good thing. After getting back to the hotel we changed into our swim suits for the rest of the night + next day. We were either pool side, beach side, or jumping on our beds. One of us has lots of jumping on bed photos. Um, hello, we definitely need to remember that.
Anyway.
I was challenged to come up with twenty four somethings for twenty four hours. I guess I like a challenge.
sonic drinks + twitter + seagulls at night + oh, sweet mercy, this is dangerous + river dance + breakfast buffet + super star + fallen yogurt + dolphins and their fins + y'all + Ma'am, I promise I did not steal your chair + water slide + hot tub + three musketeers + pool hair + red chips + yellow towels + sunflowers + valet + orange bracelets + water with ice + Missy's sweet treats + you rock a one piece = fun girls night/day.
I really wish I could end this post with the a video of Amanda and her talent. I am not sure anything would be better. Too bad I cannot do that. And too bad I will leave you guessing as to what her special talent could be. Instead, I will leave you with a few photos I shot with my iPhone.
I am amazed each time I find a new album of photos from R's homecoming.
I love that everyone told the story from a different aspect. Together you all told the story so well. I am forever grateful.
The below photo is one of the best I have seen. Besides showing how short I am, this photo also captured how happy + excited + nervous + HAPPY, I was that night. I loved that someone caught me and Amanda together. This woman deserves a gold star for putting up with all of my emails. She did our home study. I was overjoyed to see she followed our story all the way to the end (or should I say beginning).
After looking through the album I just thought it would be fun to do a little remembering. Most days around here are mundane. Dirty laundry, clean laundry. Dirty dishes, clean dishes. Grumpy kids, happy kids. Grumpy mom, happy mom. But, this one day, was anything but mundane. In a matter of seconds, I hugged my new son, my kids met their new brother, I hugged my hero husband, and a lot of you were there to celebrate with us. It was a moment we had waited for years to experience. And when it became our minute, it was good. So good.
After all the waiting, I finally saw the smile I had longed to see. My next memory is looking into E's eyes and trying to hold back tears. I think the kids beat me to R and E and I somewhat remember bumping into a big microphone thing. But after that hugs. And more hugs.
The funny thing is after our hugging and our first seconds I had no clue what to do. We had such a wide group of friends there waiting to see R. I remember turning him around and I believe I showed him everyone that came to see him. Soon enough we were all sharing hugs, photos, news interviews, laughs, tears.
Oh, the last photo for our little memory walk is the best.
I love that Carly is hovering over R. That is Carly's language. And Colt is carrying his creole phrase book. He worked so hard to say those welcoming statements correctly. Look at the photo and read the chapter he had it open to. It still warms my heart. (I need to remember these minutes when they are arguing in the back of the minivan.)
Plain and simple. It is good for me to remember.
:Where any of at you IAH to welcome Ronel home? What do you remember?
Lia's Drive-In. Cheeseburger for E. Steak finger basket for D.
MetroRail train stop.
the Magnolia's rooftop hot tub + Friday night Houston Astros fireworks = FUN
fresh roses on every table. so fancy.
oh, look, we smile even after 14 years + 4 kids.
chocolatey cheesecake. YUM.
I love sun flare. really, love it.
let's call this vintage. this sign and gray hair.
The Magnolia Hotel.
Mom + Dad use to bring me here for ice cream cones. Lia's Drive-In.
a little elevator lighting. it makes me happy.
Mia Bella. you HAVE to visit this little happy place. Main St. downtown Houston.
MetroRail. it is just fun to ride. sometimes, different is fun.
the view from our hotel window. I watched the nightlife happening below. sometimes different is weird.
Mia Bella. you had me at Hello.
dear Magnolia hotel, thank you for a wonderful night. oh yes, and, your green couches made me happy.
Year 14 :: tortilla soup. date nights in the minivan. Parker party of six. birth. earthquake. embassy. free calls to Haiti. two pair of underwear. missing each other like crazy. we only thought we were best friends before. humanitarian parole. loving students. muffin tops and diets. lots of laughs and lots of tears. God intervention. surrender. farmers markets. kids needs ranging from mascara to burp cloths. movie nights on the couch. Christmas in the hospital. friends who ran to our rescue. relentless dreamers. a big year.
::
Year 1 :: fresh. late night grocery trips. eating dinner on the floor in front of the fireplace. working. school. 1014 C. Cocoa the baby dog. love. candlelight dinners. airplanes landing outside our window. finding out we were pregnant. (how did that happen?) lots of laughing.
Year 2 :: purchased our first home. surrendered to ministry. moved to BBC. Carly was born. sweet pink moments. dinner around the table. big bellies and massages. first snow. growth. sunflowers. finding out that we were pregnant. (how did that happen..again?)
Year 3 :: moving out of married housing. Prospect. Baby blue. no sleep. drama and friendships. vacation bible school. internship. paper routes. lemonade.
Year 4 :: first ministry job. back yard sunflowers. garden. grilling out nightly. lightning bugs. picnics in the grass. laundry. date nights. smiles.
Year 5 :: school. work. kids. ministry. diapers. bottles. the time out chair. jesus being thirsty. friends.
Year 6 :: hard. hurt. growth. big love. learning what love means. larry boy and barbie hair. houston. mosquitoes. astros. galveston. dates. rebuilding. honest.
Year 7 :: finally graduation time. second ministry job. abilene. kids in school. lunch dates. writing. worship. paper in trees. love. security.
Year 8 :: baseball. valentines day dinner. family time. canterbury trails. new friends. bible study by candlelight. growing every day.
Year 9 :: mission trips. students. family. love. birthing dreams. more new friends. possum kingdom. laughter.
Year 10 :: new house. pto. church. movement. intercession. cruise. europe. black dress. celebration. kids. life.
Year 11 :: change. faith. time. dream. late night talks. new car. christmas lights. photography. camp. loving. coffee. blockbuster online. books.
Year 12 :: testing. adventure. selling. going. learning. adoption. discovery green. love. search for community. haiti. houston. camps. ecclesia. laughter. tears. new. lace. doilies.
Year 13 :: hurrication. home. porch swing. gray hair. baby oh baby. tough questions. fresh bamboo. texting. students. beach house. hugging Ronel. money in the mail. God. hope.
big sunglasses. Mama, you were wearing some big-big glasses. me and you took a photo together. and later that same day you helped me find the right colors for my picture.
out of the blue, Ronel shared what he remembered about our first meeting. a normal afternoon riding around in our now full minivan turned into a five minute conversation that I will remember for the rest of my life.
I first visited Haiti in 2008. our team spent a few hours visiting the rescue center where R lived. I knew of Ronel but at the time was still praying through an older child adoption. my heart was racing when finally I saw the boy that my family had prayed for day after day. I walked over to him and his friends. I tried to make small talk which I was not good at. I took photos of all of them. AND THEN I asked R to take a photo with me. I will never forget his shy smile at the thought. and I will never forget how nervous I felt to ask.
there are many random memories I have from that day. I could tell that R knew I favored him but I never imagined that he would remember that meeting.
so when he told me detail after detail of our first meeting I was shocked. it is such a God thing. teams travel to the rescue center all summer. many people take photos. those same people color pictures with the kids. they play games and blow bubbles. all the same things we did.
out of all the people he met.
he remembered me.
just like I thought him to be so special.
he thought the same of me.
I cannot express how this makes me feel. I love that we will always have that special meeting. I love that he knew I loved him. and I love that he felt that love.
lover of words and the color gray.
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