I Spy

I spy....a praying mantis. Do you? copyright- Shelly Parker Nature Photography

TIMBER!

Poppa Lumber Jack Parker used his day off last week to hack down the tree by the driveway. TIMBERRRRRR!
So long, so long... we'll miss your pretty flowers in the early spring time, but not your stanky spring time smell.

Groove Thang

Website definition:

A class reunion: A meeting of former classmates, typically organized at or near their former school by one of the class on or around an anniversary of their graduation.

Our definition:

A class reunion: A meeting of former classmates to catch up with one another. A time to rack your brain ("Do I know them? Should I know them?") Also a time to compare your body image to other people that you know are your age (Too chubby, too skinny, just right, too saggy, botoxed) A time to show off your wealth (fancy car, motorcycle, clothes) Also a time to confess to your high school crush that you crushed them back in high school.

Here are some groovy hippies at Shelly's 35th high school reunion in NC. And yes, a couple of guys at the reunion confessed their "like" for her back in the day. You go girl. Shake your groove thang.

A Letter of Anticipation

Dear Beach House,

We spotted you on a recent visit to the island. Do we sound like cool beach bums when we call it the island? You are the house that Chuck, Anna and Kait picked out on a chilly winter evening a couple of months ago. We'll arrive exactly 1 month from tomorrow. We'll be around in the mornings and evenings, but during the day you will be empty. We will be at the beach soaking up the rays. You might have one person sticking around longer. Her name is Anna and it takes her close to 4 hours to apply sunscreen. We will stink you up nice and good with the smell of pounds and pounds of shrimp. You will have laughter and relaxation fill your rooms for exactly 7 nights.

Love,

The Parker Family

The ParkerII duo

The Suits duo

Compare and Contrast

Kait's bamboo plantMa's bamboo plant
There might be a few differences. Compare and contrast.

A Summer Pattern

Foghorn Leghorn Father

Dad, a lot of your wisdom came from the bible, your time in the Japanese Navy or cartoon shows like Foghorn Leghorn ("Keep your eye on the ball..eye ball!) Click here for a quick review. Thanks for walking through life with us. You & Ma have some mighty nice genes to produce 4 great looking children. You might've lost hair along the way, but you gained a lot of fashion sense.
Happy Father's Day to our plaid short Poppa!
We know you're the best dressed dad around because your daughter in law wants to look like you
...and so does your son in law!

10 years

10 years...

4 high school graduations

2 USC college graduations

2 family funerals (Grandpa Jack and Grandpa Vann)

1 additional job for Pastor Pops

5 overseas mission trips (Mexico, Mexico, Mexico, Grenada, Sudan, Sudan)

4 new drivers

2 totaled cars (Wes was driving both times. It was his fault just the first time)

1 dead deer (This was the reason for the second totaled car)

2 weddings

1 new Mrs. Parker

4 sports (football, baseball, softball, cross country)

2 arts (band, chorus)

10 family beach trips

2 south carolina blizzards

10 family Christmases

2 brand-spankin' new cars

4 used cars

Flashback Friday

This is a special Flashback Friday. On June 18, 2000 we packed up the station wagon (aka: the Beaverwack) and the small Honda and we hit the road. Destination? South Carolina! Chuck and Shelly were newlyweds when they moved to Philadelphia. They lived there 18 years and built our family there. When we moved, the ages were Wes (15, almost 16) Kait (13) Ben (10, almost 11) and Anna (9)

We've lived here for 10 years. A decade. A lot can happen in a decade. A lot of the photos from 10 years ago are a bit embarrassing since the 3 younger kids were going through that awkward stage of tween and teen. Braces, bad hair days...you get the point. So it wasn't the top priority to dig them up and scan them for this post! We will have to find a picture of the Beaverwack though. Priceless. This was the first family picture we got in our new house. We camped out at Embassy Suites for a couple of days until we moved into the house (around June 22nd)
This picture was taken about halfway through the 10 years. This was our first trip back to Philly as a family. Slowly getting out of the awkward stage...

Who will be the first to move back out of the Palmetto State? What will happen in the next ten years?

#1 Picture

And the #1 picture from their trip.....any guesses?......a worm in the foot of the missionary kid!!

This concludes the Sudan posts. You can check out the rest of the pictures by clicking on the link below. You probably have to copy/paste the link because we're a little technically challenged here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/103552202416056597084

The Future

We're coming to the end of our Sudan Showcase. We hope you've enjoyed the pictures. There's one more picture you have to see after this post. Ma and Pa are sharing about their trip at LPC this Sunday (6/20 6PM) if any of you are local. So, what about the future?

Will they move to Africa? Sell the house? Live in the same house for the next 20 years? Move to the country? Buy a beach house? Buy a motorcycle? What will their grandkids call them? Pap-pap and MawMaw? How will they call them all the way from Africa?

We don't know. They don't know (that we know of) They haven't held a big family conference yet so we're assuming that any big decisions haven't been made yet. Feel free to harass them with emails about the future. Pops: cpmd@windstream.net Shels: sgpar@windstream.net It's quite possible that you'd get two different answers from them :)

If you ever visit Sudan, this guy might come out for a meet and greet... and show you his collection of spears and say something like, "We hope you feel right at home."

Where's Chuckles?

Raise your hand if you love Where's Waldo? If you don't know Waldo, we feel extremely sad for you and your childhood. Waldo is the skinny guy hidden on pages. (Some 3rd graders try to sneak Waldo books in during Silent Reading, but Waldo books have little/no text on the pages. Nice try 3rd graders!) Here's our version...WHERE'S CHUCKLES? We understand this might be a wee bit easier than Waldo.

Traffic

As you sit in 5 o'clock traffic on a hot Monday afternoon, take a look at rush hour in Sudan.

Question

How many missionaries does it take to run a tractor?
*blog post courtesy of Shelly

Out & About

We're glad Mom went on this trip because last time Dad only took 2 pictures of his trip! Here are Mom's picture...out & about in Africa! Go ahead, girl, with your point and shoot camera.

In honor of the South Carolina fans.
A big mound of termites. They're everywhere. Sometimes they'll let the fire ants go and fight the termites. Maybe their version of a Friday Night Fight?The missionary kids called these trees salami trees. It has those odd things hanging down.These are the homes that the people live in. Pronounced something like "too-kuls" They're all over the mountains- tons of them!And this is a goat hanging out on the top of a rock. "Wasssuppp?"

Key Terms

So you have to think that if you go to Sudan to build a village, you learn words that go along with the goal. Maybe words like house, build, mud. If you go as a doctor, you learn words to go along with that. Words like fever, cough and all kinds of words that can describe poo. If you get stuck in Sudan anytime soon, call Chuckles. He can string together a sentence that goes something like... "Hi, hi, hi! Do you have a fever? A cough? How long? How is your poo? What about your child? A fever?"

Shout out to New Life Philly! (Dad's t-shirt) Represent in Africa.
Dad in actionWhen they pull up, a group forms because they know there is medicine and stuff like that. Go Ma!!Walking along the mountain.HottieBoomBody reading the purple bible that he bought for the trip.Precious. Gotta frame this one!

The People

Here's a glimpse at the people of Sudan. Dad suddenly seems a whole lot whiter than usual. But his hair style fits right in!

Mom took a picture of these kiddies and showed them the picture- they loved it.
Do these glasses look familiar? They're Mom's! She gave them to this guy and he said something along the lines of "Praise the Lord!" So he can see much better now. Well, as good as you can see with only 1 eye.

Flashback Friday

You saw a recent family birthday party & here's another one about 18 years ago.

The Sudan Fam

They stayed with a family that lived here. The parents met on the missions field and have been there for 10 years! They have 5 children (here are 3 of them. Yes, we can count)Dad said they like to build cities. The first thing that they "build" is a water can because they know how important water is!
The youngest child with their dog, Simon. She's a wonder woman..raising 5 kids in the middle of nowhere! Mom brought them all kinds of goodies. Here they are with some suckers. Cruisin' in style
Here's Mom and Dad's leader while on the trip. Pray for this family when they come to your mind!