My Cool Mom

Go to this video now and I guarantee you'll be laughing your head off at minute 3:22... It's a YouTube video of my mom winning a car on Hollywood Squares.

This brings back memories. Now I don't feel so sad that the VHS tape is practically melted.

I'm a Proud Wife

Last weekend Nathan spoke at the annual "Converge" retreat, a weekend for about eight youth groups in the PCA from all over the Southeast. We were up in the Tennessee mountains with nearly twenty of our own kids and probably around 200 total people. Nathan's topic was "The Great Sin," which really freaked some parents out when they saw the flier and the t-shirts. He spoke four times, and he did a FABULOUS job! It's hard to speak about pride and humility without coming across as proud and condescending, but he did it well.



I just now realized that I titled this post "I'm a Proud Wife" without giving thought to the irony of it.

Strike a Pose Junie

Click on any of these to enlarge the cuteness. A family friend, Lorie, took these. Thanks Lorie!

What Nathan Does to Babies

Last night Nathan and I went to visit some Taylor friends for dinner. Nate and Brit spoiled us with some amazing food and conversation. Their 7 month old baby, Jensen, was in bed for most of the time, but he stirred a bit before we left, so Nate got him up for me to cuddle with. He was so wonderfully squishy and nice-smelling. This is his "What time is it? I just woke up." face. I love how his fist is wrapped around my sweater in this picture. He was holding on tight!

Nathan kept trying to make faces at him to smile, but he was getting increasingly attached to me throughout the process. Brit said that at this stage in Jensen's life, he much preferred women. He rarely cried but stuck out his lip to communicate discomfort. So! We decided to pass him to Nathan to see the pouty bottom lip.

He's mustering up the strength not to cry here!

Jensen looks very wary of Nathan here. Doesn't it remind you of the last picture of Nathan and June in this post?

There it is. I love that pouty lip!

J.B.'s "Poetry"

Today in class my students were working on an essay for another subject. I was waiting in my "office" for someone to come edit with me, and a student named J.B. came up to my desk. He is one of the sweetest and cutest kids I've ever taught, and I've had a lot of sweet and cute ones. He also has a severe stuttering problem. Amazingly, when he's on the golf course (he adores all things golf), his speech is fluid and fluent, but he struggles everywhere else. Anyway, J.B. held up a paper and asked, "Mrs. Parker, w-w-w-would you l-l-l-ike to see m-m-my poetry?"

I smiled, "I'd love to!"

J.B. placed the paper in my hands and I knew immediately something was up. I read:

I can't believe the news today
Oh, I can't close my eyes
And make it go away
How long...
How long must we sing this song?
How long, how long
'Cause tonight we can be as one

Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I won't heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall

Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday

"Um..." a smiley smirk escaped out of the corner of my mouth. "J.B., I could be mistaken, but this looks a lot like some U2 lyrics. See? Even the name of the song is listed there."

"Augh! W-w-w-why can't you let me have the spotlight for once in my life!"

J.B. stormed off in mock frustration and muttered, "She caught me!" to his friend on his way back to his seat. I didn't stop chuckling to myself for quite some time. At least he has good taste in music.

Flowers That Move Me

Last week Nathan and I were at our friend Bev's house for dinner, and I complimented her on some beautiful hydrangeas in her dining room. She said that she just realized that flowers that come from bushes "move" her more than cut flowers. I thought it was interesting that she said that the flowers moved her, as I had been moved by pictures of these flowers that same day, courtesy of The Bride's Cafe, not even being able to articulate what happened.

It's just a simple cluster of sweet peas (the light pink and white flowers) and ranunculus (the darker flowers), but it moved me for two reasons: 1) Sweet peas tie for my favorite smelling flower (gardenias being the other), and ranunculus tie for my favorite looking flower (peonies being the other).

I planted sweet peas in my parents front yard, and their fragrance takes me back to my high school days. I made my own Senior prom bouquet of sweet peas from my neighbor's yard and my own. I remember the photographer at prom commented on how wonderful they smelled. My parents gave me a bouquet of them from the florist before my Junior Miss pageant for good luck, but they didn't smell nearly as good as the home grown ones. I haven't seen any since moving to Georgia, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't grow them here if I tried, between the red clay and no sun in my yard.

I'm not sure why, but I have a vivid memory of ranunculus growing in the beds of the San Luis Bay Inn in Avila Beach. They were so "petally" and beautiful, and in combination with the beach sunshine and the gorgeous view and my family, I immediately loved them.

So here they are... be moved! :)

Prayer for Anne

Nearly a week ago a mother from our church and her three kids were in a serious car accident near our house. Kathryn (mother), Canon (oldest son), and Kate (youngest daughter) have been released from the hospital, but Anne (middle child) is still in the hospital in critical condition. It has been amazing to see how our church family has come together to pray and support their family! If you would like to follow their story, you can go here.

Josh and Taylor, church members and missionaries now in Bosnia, sent their love through song. I want them to play and sing at my funeral. :) Check their message out here.

Please pray.

Happy Easter

We celebrated Easter with the usual passel of Parkers at Hannah's this year.

Here are the usual suspects.

Why is no one surprised about this one?

The whole clan... the Parkers plus two friends and two dogs.

Friends Natalie and Bridget made our Easter even more special!

A Visit With the Mosers

One thing Nathan and I love is visitors. The only thing better, in my humble opinion, is TAYLOR visitors. We ate up every moment with the Moser family. Unfortunately, we didn't get a complete family picture on with the digital camera, but we got a Polaroid for the refrigerator. :)

Sunday morning we had a pancake breakfast, so we got a few pictures while Drew and Bekah traded off showers and kid duty.

Isa had her eyes closed for this one, but I thought it was so funny I had to post it anyway.

The one with her eyes open may be funnier yet.

Benjamin was like a third parent, making sure everyone had their needs met and was using the best manners. I've never heard "please" and "thank you" from little ones so much. Great job Drew and Bekah!

When it was Sam's turn to have his picture made, he yelled "CHEEEEEESE!" at the top of his lungs.

Thanks for the fun visit Mosers! Let's not wait five more years before seeing one another again.

Our Last Night in England

After our long day at all of the free museums we could race around, Nathan and I walked past Buckingham palace and took the tube to get dinner yet again at Whole Foods. As the British would say, it was scrummy!




Spinach, mandarin oranges, craisins, pecans, warm goat cheese, lemon vinaigrette dressing salad... heavenly!

And one more helping of gelato for two!

Nathan Loves Books

Anyone who knows Nathan knows that Nathan loves books. Here are some shots of him at the British museum and again at a rare and old books shop.






This little pamphlet is called a chapbook. It's a condensed version of a larger work for laypeople. John Flavel is the author of this one. He's the guy that Nathan wants to do a PhD on.

June's Party Pictures

If you're interested in a moment-by-moment photojournalistic journey of June's birthday party, head over to my cousin Robin's blog!

British Sign Language (BSL)

As we were leaving the British Museum, I noticed that the front desk was selling audio tours in different languages. They even had video tours in British Sign Language! Since the museum was almost closed, there wasn't really a line, so I asked the man working there if I might be able to look at the BSL video guide. It looked like a black iPod and had a touch screen with over 200 different descriptions of artifacts.

I find the best way to describe BSL is with an analogy. British English : American English :: British Sign Language : American Sign Language. The basics are the same, but sometimes it's hard to understand one another's "accents."

Cool, huh!

Appropriately enough, I should now wish my brother, Matthew, a happy birthday!