It’s hard to communicate what it’s like to live in an environment surrounded by stories of sexual abuse, human trafficking, and rampant prostitution. Thailand is seeped in the darkness of it, as are so many other countries around the globe. Just before we left for the States, in fact, Matt and I were sitting outside [...]
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We had heard that ex-Navy SEALS go in under cloak of darkness. We had heard they relocate entire villages minutes before the Burmese Army descends to destroy homes, families, and lives. We envisioned them in full army gear with green paint on their faces and ninja-moves like Jackie Chan. For about five years, actually, we’d [...]
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Asking for money is not something I enjoy. Nor is it something I do all that often. In fact, over the past year and half of blogging here, even though our family’s salary is completely donor-based and even though we are surrounded by poverty on a daily basis, to the best of my memory, I’ve only [...]
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Remember this? It’s a video I took briefly back in October when we started raising money for new bathing/toilet facilities for the 42 girls here at Breanna’s House of Joy Children’s Home. . . Because of the generous donations of so many across the United States, construction finished this week on a brand-new, indoor locker [...]
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This past week I heard another story. Not a pretend, theoretical one about a nameless girl in some country I can’t really locate on a map. But a real story, about a real girl, sold underage into a brothel, right here. And this girl, this story I rubbed shoulders with this week, is only one [...]
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As I continue with my short-series looking back over our first year here in Thailand, I can not escape the impact the people of this place have had on my own heart. I remember our first awkward evening with the girls and staff at Breanna’s House of Joy, and I remember the first time I [...]
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We watched this 3-minute video this week, and we were reminded of the ripple effects the life of one girl can have, for generations. And I sit here, and I think of my own daughters. And I think of myself. And I am floored by the realization that I so seldom stop to give thanks [...]
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Remember several months ago when my brother and sister threw a dinner party at The Cowfish Sushi Bar in Charlotte, NC, to raise money for the construction of a new bath house for the Girl’s Home here? Remember how encouraged I was by the way they chose to practically love and give– even a world [...]
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I graduated college with a mild appreciation for the diploma in my hand. I was on the college track since I was a kid– it was an assumed path, paid for by parents and government grants, worked-for, but not worked-too-hard-for, on my behalf. Not so in this part of the world– Especially if you are [...]
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The following post is my final writing for the IdeaCamp Conference on Orphan Care which is happening next weekend in Arkansas. If you will be attending, I pray the following encourages your discussions while there. If you’re not planning to go, I hope the following inspires you to embrace whatever shape service and love happen [...]
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Just in case you would prefer listening to reading, here’s a vlog I did while I was processing the Guy in the Orange Shirt post (above). Essentially, the same “confession,” just spoken outside a coffeeshop . . . Thanks for your grace as you’ve journeyed through this first year overseas right with me– mess and [...]
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ALifeOverseas.com / LauraParkerBlog.com.
My family is living overseas in Thailand, where my husband is directing a Christian Humanitarian Foundation. This blog is the honest recording of our journey– squatty potties and all. 
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