My husband says I’m the writer of the family, and that he’d rather just stick to the speaking-bit. And maybe he’s right. Because he rarely writes but every time he speaks publicly he brings people to cry tears or draw swords. The man seeps inspirational leadership. And these last two years, I’ve seen him endure [...]
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I’ve written lots over the past year about the realities of sexual slavery and exploitation as we’ve come to witness them from our time in SouthEast Asia. I’ve written about street children and prostitutes and the men who visit them. I’ve told stories about stumbling into one of the worst red-light districts in the world [...]
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As I send my kids to public school for the first time this week, I have been reminded of the importance of asking them the right questions. Matt and I have been doing little “coaching sessions” for them in the mornings– how to be friendly, how to recognize a bully, how to respect the teacher, [...]
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This is potentially one of the most difficult posts I’ve had to write in the three years I’ve been blogging. I don’t know how to communicate in my online life the detours, false-starts, apparent-dead-ends, and surprising corners the journey in our real lives has taken– especially in the past year. I don’t know how to [...]
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I remember back in 8th grade North Carolina History class when I first saw that horrific picture of the African slave ships- those bodies crammed inhumanely on top of one another. I remember learning about the deaths and the abuses, remember watching all eight parts of Roots with 30 other 12 year-olds. And for the [...]
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Heads-Up: The following is a more mature post about prostitution in SE Asia, potentially inappropriate for younger readers. The girl in the story moved to the city to work in the bars, of her own accord {not being forcibly trafficked}. She was born into a world of poverty, little education, and a culture that in [...]
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Two years ago, today on April 1, our family was on an airplane moving to SE Asia. I don’t remember much about the plane ride except that it was long, and that I was really thankful the kids watched the movies on the seat-back screens. I remember being so excited and so hopeful and so very [...]
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So they say that you need to look back to look ahead. Okay, well, I’ve actually never heard anybody say that. I just made it up because it sounded like a good introduction for a post about favorite posts from the past year. Though, really, I guess if you did that, you would just end [...]
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Merry Christmas, Friends. Thanks for journeying with our family, for entering conversations here, and for supporting us in a million different ways this past year. We hope your holiday season is full of rich, take-your-breath-away-good-kind-of moments. We hope, too, that the gift of the King-who-came-down truly overshadows everything, everything, else. Happy Holidays, ya’ll. And we’ll [...]
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The recent discussion we had here about the brutal cycle of hope and disappointment had me nodding my head as the conversation developed about dreams and the eventual crash-and-burning of those very ideals. And this early morning light finds me watching the farmers begin the process of harvesting the rice. Over the big white wall that [...]
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Yeah, so neither Matt nor I have ink yet. But as I’ve worked with the generation right behind me (the 20-somethings), I’ve noticed a trend for tats which is much greater now than even in my own college days. It used to be that only the wonderfully-edgiest people sported some kind of celtic symbol on [...]
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LauraParkerBlog.com.
My family has just returned from living overseas in SE Asia, where we were (and still are) involved in counter-human trafficking efforts. This blog is the honest recording of our journey– squatty potties and all. 
