Mikey Marshall

My dad doesn't know it, but he is actually posting on my blog today! :) He recently sent me (along with several others) this email about one of this former basketball players, Mikey Marshall. I thought I would share it for the Texas panhandle people that might remember Mikey. (plus I'm proud of my dad since he was his HS coach and all)





Many of you as well as many others often ask what Mikey is doing or how he is doing. I am glad to report that from what I have found and heard, he had a great year in Japan.

The team he played on won their league championship this year. This was Mikey's first year with the team but it was their third straight year to win the championship. Evidently he was a big part of their success from the stats that follow.

He led the team in scoring, assist, steals and free throw attempts. He was second in rebounds, blocks, minutes, dunks, and 3 point %.

His averages:
19.5 pts.
9.2 rebounds
4.8 assist
2.1 steals
36.8 minutes (40 minute games)
35.2% on 3 pointers
48.7% on 2 pointers
77.7% on FT's
43 dunks in 44 games

I guess it can be said he is representing Tulia pretty well. But then we always knew he could. (Must be the great high school coaching he had.)

Oh by the way, my understanding is that he was also named the PLAYER OF THE YEAR IN JAPAN.

Other stuff about Mikey...he is married to a beautiful woman, Jill, and they have 2 children: a girl, Mecailin (1 year) and a boy, Camdon (1 month).

American Idol

I am sooooo excited David Cook won!!!

This is the first year that I have REALLY REALLY been into American Idol. I'm not sure why I got into it so much more this year, but it happened. I started off the season with Brooke White and Michael Johns as my 2 favorites. (even though I didn't think they would win) I didn't really like David Cook in the beginning...then he had 3 weeks in a row that won me over. I loved his arrangements. Don't get me wrong, Archuleta has great vocals...but I'd much rather go to a Cook concert. And I sorta got tired of hearing, "Awww...he's just so cute." I even had to break down and vote. (I've never done this) My 12 millions votes were the winning ones!! haha Not really, I think I got through maybe 7 times.

WARNING: This story may reveal God's greatness

This post is a follow up to help you understand why the song meant so much to me. I knew someday this post would come, but I would have NEVER guessed it would be only a few days later.

To make a long, complicated, frustrating story short...in late April I found out that I was going to have to take 18 hours this summer to continue teaching math at the middle school. (basically they made a huge mistake) I had already signed a contract so if I couldn't get it done then I was going to be a permanent sub until I completed everything and a job came open, or I had to find another job. Finding teaching jobs here is NOTHING like finding them in Texas.

I had been trying to trust God but seemed to spend most of my time freaking out.
Sunday: Spent my day begging God to help me surrender it FULLY to Him.
Monday: It felt 110% in God's hands and I heard encouraging words from our regional office of education about the options.
Tuesday: My boss called me in and told me a PE teacher quit the day before at the middle school and they were moving me into that position!!!!!!!!

You tell me that is not a God thing, and I'll kick you in your teeth. (or punch you in the throat if you prefer the Pastor Bob method)

I am in total awe and praise of God's work. If I hadn't gone through all the junk, I would have never had an opportunity at the PE position. They would NEVER allow a math teacher to move to PE without tenure because the math position is harder to fill.

Part 2 - What If Questions

When I first found out I wasn't quite as excited as I am now. I was asking too many what if questions. (mainly because I am very comfortable where I am)
What if the administrators in that part of the MS or horrible?
What if I don't like the other PE teachers? Or their just weird?
What if she quit because the program is horrible?
What if I have to teach field hockey and completely screw it up?
And yesterday I realized I was asking all the wrong what-if questions. They needed to be...
What if I meet incredible, godly people?
What if I find someone searching for a church home or an unspeakable joy?
What if I love it even more?
What if I get to wear sweats EVERYDAY?

Whatever situation you're in, whatever change you're going through...ask the right "what if" questions.
AND PRAISE GOD for His plan that is bigger than us!!

Whatever You're Doing

A little over a month ago I heard a new song by Sanctus Real called "Whatever You're Doing". At the time I thought, wow, that is a cool song...it sorta describes this breaking free journey to get to the Dream Zone. In the past few weeks it has become so much more real to me than I could have ever imagined at the time. I find myself constantly repeating the chorus in my head. The harder I pursue the journey, the harder it seems I am attacked. Not that I'm surprised...but gosh it's still hard. God will be victorious.

Whatever You're Doing
It's time for healing time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time make right what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
And all I can do is surrender

(Chorus)
Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something Heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Reevaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will
Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything I surrender...
To...

(Chorus)

Time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly
Something Heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house
Time breathe in and let everything out

Mother's Day

Since Kyle and I can't spend Mother's Day with our moms, I thought I could dedicate a blog to them. (and, of course, it would ruin my reputation to have a card arrive on time)

I hereby dedicate this blogarooney to Nece Miller & Valinda Parker!!!
It's official.


Getting married has made me appreciate this holiday more than I ever thought.
Here are the top 3 reasons why.

1 - My mom worked her butt off to make our lives comfortable. I completely took advantage of having someone basically do everything for me. Laundry, clean, cook, drive me places, wait on me when I took my precious time, support me, love me, and actually still LIKE me despite receiving no thanks or help from me. Now that I have a house and a husband...I realize just how hard this work is. Kyle is definitely more appreciative and helpful than I was as a kid, but there is still hard work involved! (and we don't even have kids yet) So thanks Mom...you are super woman...and you deserve to beat me for all those times I needed a shirt the next AM and told you at 10pm. :)

2 - Besides marrying a super, duper, wonderful husband, I also inherited an amazing second Mom. I could not ask for a more accepting, loving, and supporting mother-in-law. She has taken me in like I am her own and spoiled me way too much. She has instilled into Kyle the same values, beliefs, and importance for family that I received growing up. So thanks Mom...you are an indescribable blessing in my life.

3 - Getting married brings on new challenges as we pursue our journey as one. We cannot even imagine how difficult it has been for our moms to have us move away. For that, we are grateful and greatly respect them. So thanks Moms...we deeply miss spending time with both of you, but we thank you for allowing us to pursue the path we know is right.

We love you both and can't wait to see you!!!

April Update

Here is a Parker update from the month of April. We seemed to have crammed all the excitement into the last week since all of these events occured on and after April 24.

1 - Kyle made his speaking debut at LifePoint on the 26th.
Him and Bob did a tag-team thing...did a great job! They did get a little ADD
with their jokes....haha!
2 - My parents came to visit. I hadn't seen them since Christmas...and that is the
longest I have ever gone!!! We had a great time!
3 - I got to visit Brooke, in Columbia, with the parentals, which was fun as well!!
This included me seeing Blue Man Group for the 3rd time...they are awesome!!
(Kyle and I saw them in St.Louis a few weeks ago with great LifePointers and we
saw them in Vegas with his family)


4 - A good friend of mine from HS got drafted to the NFL. (Caleb Campbell) He was
pick #218, but he was the most popular late-round pick due to a controversy over
whether or not West Point people should be allowed to serve the military duty in
recruiting. You can click his name below to read a story & see 2 videos.
(scroll down, look left)
Caleb
5 - Weed pulling is never-ending.
6 - I'm learning what Bob means when he says that God doesn't call us to be
comfortable. It isn't always the easiest thing to follow His will and journey
to great things. Long story, but I get to take 15-18 hours of class this summer.
7 - This is from May (last Sunday)....we had a guitar player, Brandon, get
SHOCKED at LifePoint during 2nd service. He is okay...but it was still crazy &
scary!
You can read more about in his words and Bob's words by clicking on their names
below.
Bob
Brandon