Laura Parker

So, on a lighter note from my previous Help-Me-I-Might-Explode-Post, here’s a true account from my week . . . Just a few days ago, I was crammed into a sawng-taw on my way home from Thai Language Class.  It was afternoon-tropics-hot. It was stop-and-go-after-school-traffic.  It was too-many-cars-and-motorbikes-fumes.  It was five-people-too-many-people-in-the-elevator. And I was practicing my [...]

I wrote this post several days ago, but am just now having the access to post it.  I’ll warn you, it’s an honest one.  Okay, I’ll say it, I’m angry right now.   Angry at the kids for needing help during my afternoon naptime, and I’m angry at myself for not driving, rendering me more [...]

So sorry for the last week of quiet!  As most of you have suspected, the recent move has given us fresh ways to practice patience with our Internet (again).  I won’t have access at home for a while, so things may be a bit quieter around these parts.  Until then, I wanted to show some [...]

Since Matt is not here with a specific missions organization {rather, he is working for a Christian NGO}, our church in Woodland Park, Colorado {where he has worked for the past four years}, has become the group that has sent us out into the wide world.  And, as it turns out, they are doing a [...]

A Later Note:  After I wrote this, I got to thinking that a post like this may communicate that you have it “easy” if you are called to stay in the same place, to develop roots and routines.  Please know that I believe the planting is just as challenging (in different ways) as the moving.  [...]

If there’s a video about our life and work here in Thailand that you must take 30 seconds to watch, this is the one.  My amazing, photography-video-genius husband stayed up until the wee hours of the morning tweaking this quick and powerful glimpse into our life on Latitude 18.  Enjoy.  {Click on the photo to [...]

I watched her tonight out at the orphanage. A five-year-old body and a twenty-something-soul, though the age on her legal papers claims ten.  She ran out, clutching a blue worn bear.  It was the quality of stuffed animals handed over at a fair after winning a 50- cent game of darts.  But, she doesn’t care, because it is hers. And an older girl takes it away. [...]

Time for another question of the week.  Jump in, be creative, don’t think too hard (and you can’t answer ‘Jesus’). If you could have one lunch with anyone in the world, from the past or the present, whom you have never met, who would it be?  Where would you have this meal, and what would you [...]

The taxi drove away today, and the wails erupted. The car pulled from view,  and I was left with three sobbing children on the street corner of my Asian neighborhood. I tell the story {and talk about the struggle of living away from family} here . . . {Sorry the last two sentences of the [...]

“A person will worship something, have no doubt about that.  We may think tribute is paid in secret, in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will play out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives and our character.  Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for [...]

We have been assaulted with the different in this exotic place we now call home. From the way we shop for food (every other day at open air markets) to the way we get around town (on the left side of the road, on the back of a motorcycle or in a truck-turned-taxi), daily life [...]

If there’s one thing my friend Kelley taught me (okay, she’s taught me a truckload of other stuff, too), it is the power of asking good questions. And then the power of shutting up long enough to listen to the answers. By nature, I understand that a blog is a place where I, the wanna-be [...]

Do you have thirty days of flirt hiding somewhere in your marriage?  Would you rather view your spouse as a romantic love instead of a comfortable roommate? Consider committing together to the 30-Day Flirt Challenge. It may not be as exciting as the 30 Days of Sex challenge, but {personally} I think it is much more attainable.  Pop over [...]

We started Thai Language School! I write that with an exclamation point because it was a last-minute opportunity that we are so thrilled about taking.  Matt and I both are learning conversational Thai for the next six weeks, five days a week, two hours a day.  Matt goes to the morning class, and I go [...]

They bow with hands pressed together, knees grinding tile, face grazing floor. They press coins into putty and tap their merchandise with cash, all for luck.  Luck of a sale, luck of wealth, luck of success. And they sacrifice.  Burn incense and offer food and leave flowers at shrines, sometimes in the neighborhood or at [...]

I have snapshots of my mother stored away in the photo album of my 30-something-year-old memory. There’s the picture of her singing resolutely “It is Well With My Soul” at a funeral- my dad’s, a 35 year-old father to four.  Then there’s the picture of a gaunt face and a bald head- hers this time, as [...]

Living in a foreign country serves you with constant reminders that you do not belong. Just this week, we spent four hours in the waiting room of the Thai immigration office. Four hours.  Waiting.  Vulnerable.  Nervously offering paperwork to officials in hopes that our passports would be stamped worthy of remaining in their country for a year. [...]

In honor of Kelty’s seventh birthday, my mom and I took her out for a fun salad dinner, a little shopping, and our first exposure to the ever-popular fish-spa therapy here in Chiang Mai.  Essentially, you pay money to stick your perfectly-healthy feet into a tank to let hundreds of fish nibble at your toes.  [...]

A Look Back On my own journey to Thailand {Dropping the Nets} A Look Around On orphans with special needs, my friend Adeye shares {I Left My Heart There} On how to beat summer boredom, [In]courage {20 Indoor Activities–Besides TV} On marriage, Sarah Markley {What I Wished I’d Known} On lost friendships, Grit & Glory {Friendships Lost} On [...]

I never gave much thought to birthdays before . . . But then I was able to celebrate on Saturday with girls who seldom, if ever, get individually recognized.  And as I blew up balloons, I was struck by the harsh reality of life for an orphan.  What must it do to a little girl’s heart to never [...]