Anticipation

so i cant wait til this weekend! Hannah is coming out to see me! I miss her so much!

long distance relationships are def not for the faint of heart.  it kills me not being able to see hannah for weeks at a time.  it makes things difficult but we are making it through it.  it doesnt help that both of us hav a pretty high love language of quality time either.  So we have to make the most of the little time that we have together.

i dont know what the future holds for us but i pray everyday for Gods guidance and thank Him for all the blessings He has given me especially involving Hannah!

God Bless,

Parker

Hiking Mountains and Admiring Beauty

i am currently in gatlinburg with my father and sister. dad has his yearly work meetings/convention that he attends and luckily laura and i were able to join to take a mini vacation. tomorrow laura and i are planning on hiking to Grotto Falls in the national park which should b a fairly simple hike, only totally around 3 miles roundtrip. then we were planning on goin on a zipline tour but we lookd up the prices and they seem to be just a bit outta our price range esp with school coming up. so we are goin to hav to discuss wat we r gonna do instead tomorrow since she and dad have been asleep for quite some time already. We did get to go play mini golf tonight though which was a lot of fun. i won of course hahaha!

well quite a bit has occurred over this lat week. i went on the youth and college ministry's intents hiking/tubing trip this last weekend which was amazing! we got to townsend friday after and went and tubed the river that flowed behind our campsite. and definately the highlight of that trip would have to be a tie between finding an awesome rope swing and stephanie white popping her tube while going down the river! It was hilarious! the next day we drove out to cades cove to begin our long trek to rocky top. this hike was without a doubt the hardest hike i have done! it was relentlessly steep and was like climbing stairs for about 6.5 miles! i was able to look up the difficulty today online and it was considered to be one of the top 5 most difficult trails in the smokeys. It was difficult but more than worth it esp when we got to rocky top and saw the incredible view and got to sing along with taylor reeves as he played 'rocky top' on his mandelin! Also there were many spiritual lessons that could be derived from this hike which was point out by laura to me. For me I just find it spiritual to be able to get away from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life and spend a little time in God's creation and just admiring it. After all he did make all of these wonderful things for our pleasure, and i whole-heartedly believe that when he sees us enjoying the things he put on this earth for us, then that is what gives him pleasure!

Though i thoroughly enjoyed my time on the hiking trip, it is not the highlight of my week. The highlight is, without a doubt, that i am now officially dating hannah! we have been going on dates for a few weeks and i believed that we needed to sit down with each other to discuss and make decisions for what we wanted for our future. so we did and it was one of the best discussions ive had in my life. im not gonna go into all the details but i am so excited for us and thanking God for this great blessing!

A Bit Of Catching Up To Do

Well i have not blogged in forever. i guess i just got busy doing other things and forgot about me even having a blog. I spent all last night trying to find my blog, and when i finally found it, i had forgotten what my login info was. so i ended up creating a new one and for whatever reason it combined it with my old one so i got it back up and running.

ive gotten in to cycling here recently. ive strtd off well biking prolly 25 miles over the first 2 days, but i got to my 3rd day and about a mile away from home and i hear my tire losing air very quickly (it was so loud i could here it over my music in my headphones which were turned up pretty loud). so i got back home and strtd taking the tire off to see what was wrong. the tread on the tire was down to the threads at a couple places, but inside the tire is the inner tube which actually holds the air. the inner tube was messed up around the valve im guessing because it was so old.

so i decided to make a trip to REI in brentwood. along with getting new tires and inner tubes for my bike i had to return a couple things i ordered a few months ago and i traded for a new camelbak. its a rlly good thing i dont live that close to REI because i would prolly spend most of my time and money there if i did. unfortunately when i got home to put the tires on my bike i realized that i have gotten one of the wrong sized inner tubes so i fixed the flat and im gonna get my dad to exchange the inner tube with the right one sometime next week.

before i went to REI i was graced with the presence of one of the most wonderful women for lunch. we went to Qdoba and had a great time visiting with each other. i am so glad God has blessed me with having this amazing woman in my life!

I am really looking forward to the in-tents trip the youth and college groups are taking to the smoky mountains. this trip is always one of my favorite trips we take. its so great to see all the wonderfully beautiful things God has made. this trip serves as a reminder of how awesome and powerful God truly is and how evident He is in our lives.

college is fast approaching and thats both exciting and a bit scary. i like the idea of being out on my own and making my own decisions, but i realize that i don't always make the best decisions. though i guess that is part of becoming an adult and i'm just gonna have to learn from the decisions i make and the consequences that come from said decisions.

recently i have aided in beginning a group in which myself and a few guys that i have been mentoring and become very close with get together once a week to discuss things that affect our lives and how we should focus our lives towards God. we have met once and it went ok, but this saturday we will begin really digging in and sharing our testimonies with each other. i'm really excited about where this group can go and where God will take it! i pray God will take it further than i can even imagine.

well i know that was a lot, but i felt like catching my blog up to speed.

GOD BLESS

so i gave blood today. it was quite an interesting event. i got there at 9 30 this morning and waited for about an hour and 15 min before i was called to get my info. during this time that i waited i (along with others) sat and play tanks on Coles iphone (after i convinced him to let me play ha) and talking to each other.

then i got called for them to get my info. the woman that was getting my info seemed to be slightly high and reeked of smoke. then i had to answer a questionarre asking me questions about myself. many of the questions asked about having sex (prostitution, hiv/aids, explained different kinds of sex, etc) which were really easy to answer(no).

Then i finally got on the table like 1.5 hrs past my appointed time. i got stuck and then everything went downhill from there. my vision strtd to blurr. i became really weak and light-headed. it felt like a pillow was covering my ears. the only thing i could hear was the women saying my name. and i wanted to answer but i couldnt for some reason. i was also sweating profusively.

they laid me down completely flat and got a cool rag and put it on my forehead. i strtd to regain vision and hearing. then i see loggie(logan waldron) at my side with a sprite. this sprite made me feel loads better. So loggie basically saved my life ha. it took me a while before i was able to get up. then i went and ate cookies and pretzels and had another sprite and grape juice. in all before i went back to lunch, i had been there about 2hrs and 20 min.

so now i am feeling a bit better but not great. i will not be practicing this afternoon for soccer though we have a game tomorrow at webb. hopefully i feel a lot better tomorrow.

please pray for me

So i am currently sitting in mrs. wright's caculus class with taylor reeves and brittany gibson. We are the only 3 people in the class today due to the seniors being out for valentine's day. The seniors use valentine's day to sell things and raise money to give to some charity or good cause. I think this is a great way to help someone out, although i do not believe in the whole idea of valentine's day.

It seems like valentines day was made to boost sales of flowers, jewelry, etc. It has become far more materialistic then it should be. I believe it was originally meant to be about expressing love towards each other and showing that you care about someone.

often times i see advertisements, movies, tv shows, etc that implant in peoples minds that you have to go and "buy" something for someone to express your love. i believe just the opposite. i believe that everyday, not just valentines day, you should do the little things(like opening doors for others, being kind, being chivalrous(*spell check), etc) to show that you truly care for someone. Just buying them something for one day(esp that could blow your bank) just seems ridiculous.

I'm not saying don't do anything special for your loved one for valentines day. im just saying to not do something crazy, a small token would suffice. Because truly once it comes down to it all your loved one really wants is you, not some stupid gift.

so my brother went to dicks last night and got him some soccer boots for this year. he showed them to me and i just went into soccer mode.

unfortunately this is probably not the best time for "soccer mode." i have basketball district tournament starting saturday and i really need to focus on it.

well i ended up going online and ordering new soccer boots and goalkeeper gloves for myself. they were pretty expensive too. $100 pair of boots and $130 pair of gloves. Pretty ridiculous. But i am totally greatful for my parents who paid for them.

this makes me think of all the things my parents do and give up for me. once i look back it seems kinda ridiculous that they would spend that kinda money on me. they pay for my gas and food also. all in all im a pretty expensive guy. but i know they do it bc they love me.

so i guess to help them out i will probably have to get some kind of job during the summer(oh joy).

just take a look back at what at what your parents have done and sacrificed for you. And then go thank them and tell them that you love them.

So i hardly ever do my homework at night. i normally wait until the day that it is due to complete it. i just finished an essay for my college american history class that is due in 5 min. cutting it pretty close ha.

unfortunately i think i have hit my senior slump as a junior and i have hardly any motivation to go to school and do my homework. i'll still do it but i will def not enjoy it and not pay much attention in class.

hopefully i will get over it.