Time Flies-Becca Edition

I truly wish I had kept up with this, It's such a great way to record memories, and I love looking back...but I didn't...so I'm going to attempt to write a summary of each kid. Things will be left out, I'm sure of it, but I'll do my best. Some day I hope my kids are able to find this, and maybe remember some of these things...and know how they have always been my greatest blessing. Becca...Becca did dance for a little while (I blogged about some of that...it was a love hate relationship) As a child she was creative, so smart, strong willed, and incredibly dramatic! She loved crafts (I do not). she enjoyed learning...but wanted to learn about what she chose and on her terms. She was never easily pushed around...I remember a time during Bible School, all the little girls fought to sit next to her, and she did not care...it annoyed her. I didn't understand it, they all wanted to be her friend, she could have been the "popular" one, but she was not interested in the least. She did everything on her terms...and please do not crowd her lol. Ohh the dramatics with this one...There are so many stories, (and truthfully not much has changed) Once (acutally pretty sure this happened more than once) she fell and skinned her knee, don't get me wrong...I'm sure it hurt...but she decided she couldn't walk for days.

Although she's dramatic, and has been known to panic over small things, she is also calm and a voice of reason when big things happen. When Seely was a baby, and Emma was almost 5 she was bitten by our dog...I was in Seelys room changing him whe I heard it, and as I came out the door, Emma was walking down the hallway blood covering her face...I honestly wasnt sure if she had an eye there was so much blood. She was in shock, I couldn't think...I remember pulling her to me, then realizing I had to get Seely off the changing table before he fell, then realizing I had no idea where I had laid my phone...I don't remember panicking outwardly, but inside I was absolutely frantic. Becca would have only been 6 years old, she said Mom, I'm going to go get Aunt Carol to call Dad (why didn't I think of that...I have no idea) She walked to Aunt Carol's, who then came over and started the process of calling Josh, and the ambulance. I remember Becca saying, we just need to pray Mom...so we did that too. I will never forget how proud I was of her in that moment. She knew what we needed to do, but more importantly she knew who we need to call out to in times of trouble. Emma ended up with a nasty scar...but that's for her story:) Another example of Becca's calmness during medical emergencies came when she was a teenager. Our house was full of kids, I was cleaning, and all of a sudden I didn't feel right. My heart was beating fast, too fast, and I felt as if i might pass out. I remember making my way to Becca's room and sitting on her bed. She immediately knew something was wrong, so I told her..."I'm not sure what's happening...and I may pass out...but I think I need to go to the hospital." We of course called Josh (because he's always our first phone call) Becca then helped get me to the car and drove me to the fire station (it was quicker than waiting for the ambulance to find our house) I was so worried about her seeing me like that (honestly there was a part of me that thought I might be dying and was terrified of scarring her for life) Becca was calm, and did exaclty what she needed to do to take care of me. (not her story, but just to close it up...my heart rate was 263 BPM, they wound up transporting me to the hospital where I was diagnosed with SVT.)

We homeschooled up until Becca was in 6th grade. At that point she told me she wanted something else, we found a small private homeschool/private school hybrid, PCAL. I was so worried about Becca starting there...she has always been so strong willed, that I wasn't sure she wouldn't walk out of the classroom if she didn't like it lol. This school turned out to be one of the best things we did. During our time here Becca decided she would like to join the swim team in Conroe (she's always loved the water) She tried out and made it, attended practices, and then at the first meet was like nope, this is not for me (insert crying eyes here) Me, being the mean mom I am, have always told my kids when we commit to something we finish it out...and this was no different. So for the entire season, I tortured myself and her by dragging us to the meets where she never competed...but we got our volunteer hours in. It was legitametly torture...A summer of sitting outside in the Houston Texas heat! But you know what...the kids are grown now, and not a one is a quitter! (in fact sometimes they have to remind me...Mom Parker's aren't quitters, if we've committed we finish)Yea, Yea, Yea.

Today Becca is still dramatic, and very strong willed...she is also one of the smartest, most creative, amazing person, ever. She can do literally anything she puts her mind to...and she's self taught! (cause Lord knows I am not creative) She draws and paints with watercolor, she sews, she crochets, she has gorgeous handwriting...gosh, I really could go on and on. After graduating high-school she started taking online college classes and working. She got a job at an elementary school as a paraproffesional and absolutely flourished. She is amazing with kids (especially special ed and those with behavior issues) She loves with her whole heart...gosh she makes me proud.

Wedding Time?

Something I haven't mentioned is last year Emma and Corbin got engaged...we began planning a wedding, because that's what I wanted...and if it's what I wanted then surely it's what my daughter wanted too! Wrong. She tried to tell me, but I didn't listen...not really anyways. They married on their own, no wedding... but allowed us to throw them a reception...and it was perfect...rain and all. It's not the way I would have planned things, it wasn't what I wanted for them. I wanted the big wedding, the dress, the cake, the guests... I wanted to give them what Josh and I had... but guess what...they're not us. Oof that was hard for me to accept, but when I finally did the end result was perfect. We decided to have the reception up at my parents, Bella and Poppy's, they rented a large tent (in case it rained Bella said...she's smart like that) The week before the reception the rain chances were astronomical...we need a plan B everyone said (this sounded very familiar... same thing happened at my wedding) Emma said nope,(also familiar) I want the reception at Bella and Poppys...so we pushed on. The night before the reception the tent was delivered...it was perfect! We set it up in front because we wanted closer to the house ... you know...just in case it rained

Morning of comes...rain chances are still high, but the sun is out and it's gorgeous...we work all day to get everything set up. We have the best family, Emma's in-laws, and Mrs. Debbie and Camille... who are family, but deserve special recognition because they pulled everything together

Guests begin arriving...sun is still out, but it's getting a little cloudy. We are told that it looks like a storm is headed right towards us...but maybe it'll just go around...right? Wrong. We rushed everyone into the tent just in time for the sky to open. I'm smiling as I type this, because we could have let it ruin the day...but the guests were good sports, and my family...well, we aren't scared of a little rain! ok...it may have been more than a little... and there may have been a moment that I thought we might end up on the 6:00 news. "wedding reception turns tragic when lightening strikes." Thankfully that didn't happen. Everyone seemed to enjoy the soggy food, the kids loved playing in the rain, and the adults seemed to enjoy visiting. It was a perfect, memorable day...everything I could have hoped for for Corbin and Emma.

I get it… I’m behind!

The puppy post that just posted was written back in February, but I couldn't figure out how to add the pictures so I never published. Now here we are in June, and well... there's a lot to catch you up on! I guess this can be an update on the puppies. All 6 found wonderful homes... I told yall we weren't keeping any! True to my prediction, it was bittersweet... tears were shed...a lot of tears! Thankfully we still get updates every now and then from a few of them...it makes my heart happy that they are so well loved:)

That last picture...that's Runt today (I can't recall his new name) the tiny puppy that i wasnt sure would make it, the one who I prayed over, cried over, sang over... he's doing great! oh..and he got his Dads ears藍

2026 so far

So...our dog Indy was violated by a stray (whom we named Fred) and wound up pregnant. It should have never happened, Indy was older, and had never had a litter of pups before. January 7th we woke up to a pup, and by that afternoon there were 6! Indy still didn't seem like herself, but she was being a great mom, and continued to be a great mom until Saturday the 10th. That morning, we let her out and she came and hung out with the family, everything seemed normal...actually she seemed more normal than she had the previous days. Then she got onto the couch, let out 3 haunting howling barks, and died. It was awful, traumatic, unforgettable....something I will never be able to un-hear. I took those howls as her telling me to take care of her puppies...so for almost 4 weeks now that's what I've been doing.

Who knew bottle feeding puppies could be so stressful! Not me! I think along with the bottle feeding, it's just that I felt such a responsibility to make sure they survived. I tell my church kids all the time that they can pray for anything, sometimes I giggle when they pray for things like pets and bumps and bruises...but guess what I've prayed for a lot lately? Yep, these puppies!

I was sure I was losing Runt a couple of weeks ago. He had stopped eating, was super lethargic, and would just cry and cry and cry. No matter what I did he wasn't happy. I slept on the couch most of the night holding him, singing Jesus loves the little puppies, and praying and crying over him. God answered my prayers, and slowly he began getting better...and here we are at almost 4 weeks, and you would never even know that he was the runt! Oh! Then to top it all off (as if I wasn't stressed enough) they came down with ringworm! After a hefty vet bill, oral medicine, and a cream, I think they're finally on the mend. There's been a lot of sanitizing happening ... because Eww!!!

Today we start them on "real" food...I'm pretty excited about that. We've gone from feeding every 2 hours (yes, even through the night) to 3 hours, and now we are at every 4 hours. I'm not going to know what to do when I'm finally able to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep!

A few more weeks and they will begin making their way to their new homes...I know it will be bittersweet...and I'll probably shed some tears...but they're all going to great homes (Ava has made sure of that!) I like to think that I've made Indy proud...and she is irreplaceable (meaning she will not be replaced) I think we are getting out of the pet business...moving onto grandkids...more on that later!

Treasures

Every time I go to visit Mom and Dad I am sent home with some sort of "treasure" what that actually means is Mom wants stuff out of her house, but can't bring herself to throw anything away...so it comes home with me! Sometimes the treasures don't even leave my car and go straight to the donation bin...shhhh...but every now and then something comes along that I love. A sweet book, craft stuff for my classroom, random pots/pans/bowls, a beautiful pink 3 tier candy dish thing that belonged to my Great Grandmother(now that's a treasure!!) Last weekend I came home with a bag of "goodies," as I pulled things out I came across a puzzle box...now if you know me you know that this girl does not do puzzles...at all. Don't be giving me puzzles or plants... if you know, you know. This puzzle box had something written on it...and when I saw it it almost took my breath away. That wasn't just anyones handwriting...that was my Granny's writing. "Dress I wore to Charis's wedding" was scrawled across the top of the box...I could picture the dress before I even opened the box. A chartreuse colored sheath dress with a short sleeve jacket. I opened the box and carefully took the dress out, and immediately brought it to my face...as if maybe that box had preserved some of her smell. My wedding day was one of the best days of my life, outshined only by the births of our children. We chose to have our wedding at my grandparents house. We (really they) worked for a year getting everything ready. My grandparents were so excited that I chose to have my special day on their property ... but it also stressed my Granny out just a bit. She needed me to have a "plan B" because "What if it rains, Charis!?" to which I told her plan B was an umbrella, and rain boots, because there were two things I was sure about ... who I was marrying, and where I was getting married...nothing else mattered to me. The day before the wedding she informed me, that she did in fact reserve her church..."just in case" ..."Oh Granny," I giggled, "I'm getting married right here." so... they (my family) started praying...there was a chance for rain, and I guess they didn't want to get wet...becuase I really didn't care! The day turned out to be gorgeous, complete with butterflies flittering around, or so I'm told...I don't remember the specifics, just that it was the most perfect day, because I was with the one I loved, surrounded by friends and family, at my most favorite place in all the world...Granny and Grendaddys. I got off track a bit (that happens pretty often) back to the dress. I never realized the significance of that color until yesterday. I love Fiesta dishes (Granny did too) and for my registry those are the dishes I asked for...I still use those dishes 23 years later. One of my most favorite colors in those dishes was the lime green/chartreuse color...that of course was discontiued at that time. Granny liked that color too, and kept her eye out to find me some. I don't know if she thought about that when choosing her dress, but when I realized that today it meant something to me. More than that though, I realized how special that day had to have been to her...special enough to put that dress in a box, label it, and save it... I never knew that I would want that dress, but what a treasure it is!!

The Mom

I don't know what possessed me, but I pulled up the old blog, and thought...it might be weird... but I think I want to start up again. When pulling it up I came across an old draft that I never published...apparently this isn't the first time I thought I would start this up again! This post still rings true today...although much has changed, and my children (we added one, that's her story though...and a story for another day) are all older. I still get to parent Seely, but the days of "parenting" the girls are pretty much over. We've reached the age where we get to be friends...and as much as I miss the days when they were younger, this age is pretty fun too! Here's the draft from years ago (and the piece of paper in question is still one of my treasured possessions) Who knows, maybe 2026 is my year to start writing again...if anyone in blog land is reading this,don't hold your breath...but maybe check back, because...who knows! ***************************** Written in 2020************ It's been years since I have written...and I could try and explain or catch the blog up but...I'm not, at least not today. So... on the side of my fridge hangs a picture, and it is one of my most favorite things ever. I am not sure which kid colored it for me, or even when the act of vandalism took place. At one time this picture said "Happy Mother's Day To the Best Mom"...a few years ago I was doing something and happened to notice this picture hanging on the fridge. What caught my eye was the black mark in the middle of this colorful picture, so I took a closer look. What I found was that I was no longer the best....I was now just "The Mom." Now, for some this may have hurt their feelings, maybe made them sad... but for me... oh man I laughed... and I laughed hard. Who did I make so mad that they went out of their way to find a black crayon and deface this picture! That picture still hangs on the side of my fridge and everytime I notice it I still chuckle. Over the years though it has come to mean something more. First... I'm not meant to be my kids friend, sure I want them to be able to come to me, I want them to know that I'll always be here for them, but I'm not their friend, I'm their parent... the authority figure...and they aren't always going to like the decisions I make ... sometimes they are going to dislike them so much that they will dislike me... and I will become just "the mom." Two: I'm not the best mom, shoot, somedays I'm barely "the mom," and you know what, thats ok. i want my kids to know that we mess up, we make mistakes, and that's ok...what matters is that we keep trying, we dont give up... even if we aren't the best we are still important, we are still somebody to someone...even if its just "the mom."

I Am Not A Farmer!

Earlier in the year we decided to join 4-H, Becca is in 3rd grade now so this was the first year she could participate. We had big plans, cooking, photography and chickens. Yep you heard me right...chickens! Funny thing happened, we got busy, life happened, and somehow we skipped out on the cooking and photography...but we still got the chickens. Thursday Feb. 21 we get the phone call to come pick up our 50 chicks (that was the smallest amount we could order), so I head to the fairgrounds with the kids. First we stopped by the store to buy a large plastic tub... I was sure they would laugh at me for only having the one tub, because, well 50 chicks thats alot! They would have laughed alright...apparently chicks are small, like super small, they had them all crammed in this tiny box ready to travel haha. I knew I was in trouble when we walked in to get them and they start sifting through the box to check them and record their tag numbers... the first chick they pulled out had a broken leg, then the second chick they pulled out had...ahem...expired, pretty sure I wanted to run out the door right then...without the chicks, but we didn't, we packed them up and headed home. We get the chicks home and because they are so small and the weather is still cold here at night we chose to keep them in our "office"...ok I can't lie the "office" is actually called the "junk room" around here. So here we are with 50 chicks in a tub, what could go wrong? Day 1, the girls are loving them they are so small and sweet, the kids hold them and help feed them etc. Day 2 more of the same, we did lose one chick but the kids didn't notice, and we didn't tell them. By the evening of day 2 the girls are starting to lose interest. Then came day 3...We woke up to another dead chick. The girls were super sad so I sent them out and tried to figure out what to do with this chick... I look around the room and find a large chic-filet cup (I didn't catch the irony of this until many days later) I scoop the chick up, I put him in a box and set it in the closet for Josh to dispose of when he got home. By this time the girls have decided that chickens stink and are gross (both statements are quite true). They continue to help me take care of them, only now it's because I force them too haha. Day 4 we are cleaning out the tubs, feeding etc when I notice chirping coming from somewhere other than the tub. I send the girls out and listen closer....No, it can't be! The chirping is coming from the box with the "dead" chicken! This poor chicken had been without food, water and heat....closed up in a box overnight and was ALIVE! Apparently I can't tell a live chick from a dead chick....now do you see why I am not a farmer!