My Grandmother is Celebrated
November 18th, 2011
My Grandmother died November 9, 2011, aged 99. She was such an incredible woman. She gave tirelessly of herself to her community and to her God. She also knew how to have a good time. She was always doing.
I traveled to my Grandmother’s funeral in Tucumcari, NM (Tucumcari Graveyard pictured above). It was wonderful to be able to celebrate my Grandmother’s life with so much family that I hadn’t see for so long.
I also had the good fortune of driving back to St. Louis with my mother. 14 hours of conversation talking about family and how to make the world a better place.
I’ll remember the trip forever.
Arianna had Leukemia. Now she doesn’t.
November 18th, 2011As many know, my daughter Arianna was diagnosed with Leukemia in May of 2009. In this post, I will share with you some images and thoughts of her journey from a normal two year old girl to that of a cancer survivor.
Below is a picture of Arianna two months before she was diagnosed.
This next picture is after maybe two weeks of intense chemo. Here, she is completely bewildered, scared, and sick not understanding why this is happening to her. This happens to be one of only a few pictures I have of her in a distressed state.
This is a picture of Arianna being taken from the ER to the Intensive Care Unit at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. All throughout Arianna’s chemo, her immune system was dangerously low. Whenever she got even a whiff of a fever, off to the ER we went. This particular visit, when she went to the ICU for a bad infection, was the scariest for us.
Yet another hospital visit. We had dozens of ER/Hospital visits over the past three years (not including weekly, then monthly Hematology/Oncology Clinic visits). Many visits were just over night (in the middle of the night). Some were days long, some were weeks long. While on vacation in LA, we even spent 2 weeks at CHLA.
A dear friend gave us a Barbie car for Arianna. Isn’t she fabulous? Look at her pretty head.
Eventually, Arianna got comfortable with Clinic visits. She now doesn’t cry when her porta-cath is poked with a needle and she also doesn’t even flinch when she’s getting a blood draw from her arm. We still have to get blood draws every month.
And Today, Arianna is healthy. She’s got no more cancer.
That’s the end of that.
I’ll upload a current picture when I find her in the right moment.
New Job at Engine Yard!
August 11th, 2008After almost 10 years at Ameren as a developer, I will be taking an Account Manager position with the internet start up Engine Yard out of San Francisco.
I’ll still be in St. Louis though – too many friends and family here for me to leave just yet….
Parkers in LA
June 2nd, 2008
We spent this past week in LA. It was mine and the baby’s first trip there. (First airplane ride for the babies too). We had a great time with Uma’s cousins and their families. They were all gracious hosts.
We managed to eat breakfast the whole week at a place called Uncle Bills Pancake House – which is interesting because we used to go to a like-named place in St. Louis. The LA version was much, much better: Fresh squeezed Orange Juice, awesome pancakes and hash browns, great coffee, and superior service.
The biggest difference between LA and St. Louis is the people. There are many more people and many more types of people in LA than in the Midwest. Plus, the pace is just much faster. LA is like New York in that sense.
Anyhow, we all can’t wait to go again. Though the next family trip is going to be somewhere East Coast. Maybe NC? Florida? New York? Boston? Who knows.
Checkout all of our pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jiparker/
Big Update
April 15th, 2008
I’ve posted lots and lots of pictures on Flickr.
We’re all caught up now. Time to take more pictures!
Enjoy!
Baptism
October 13th, 2007Our babies, Arianna and Ethan were baptized June 10, 2007. Click the pic to see the pics!
May & June 2007
October 13th, 2007Enjoy some pictures from May, June 2007. Click on the pics. Each one is different.
