So, I thought the best way to start this out would be to let you in on "the real me".  I am "the youth pastor's wife" but there definitely is more to me than that.  I am a teacher and a mommy to Alivia and Rylee.  I hate to cook but I am forcing myself to learn and am turning out to be fairly good at it.  I hate to vaccuum but LOVE to clean.  It is how I relieve stress.  When I get mad, I cry.  I don't yell...very often.
    I love my life.  The road to where I am now has been bumpy, but every sorted event has made me the person I am today.  My husband, Matt Parker (youth pastor at Oak Grove Baptist Church) is the love of my life!  He is everything I never knew I needed.  He is most definitely an amazing blessing to my life.  We have two beautiful daughters, Alivia (4 years old) and Rylee (19 months old).  We also have one baby girl we named Isabella (meaning "given to God") in heaven and one that we never knew the sex of...I lovingly call her Jesse after my Grandpa Nivens.  
    I was saved when I was 14 years old in the very youth room that our youth meet in.  Ironic...I know.  Have I been perfect since then?  Absolutely not.  Am I perfect now?  Absolutely not.  I am so thankful that God understands that and works with me to shape me into what he wants me to be.  What was that old song?... "He still working on me to make me what I ought to be."  I'm a work in progress.  
Being "the youth pastor's wife" is tough.  When Matt first started out at Oak Grove, I was very freaked out by the whole situation.  I'm definitely not the role model type.  I've made many awful mistakes in my life.  I've hurt many people and have been hurt by many people.  I haven't always handled things with grace.  I just wasn't sure what God had in store and how he could use someone like me.   
    My Dad always told me, "God doesn't look for ability.  He looks for availability." Turns out, he was right on the money.  I get so intimidated when I talk with the students that we see each week.  I am a shy girl,  not good with new people.  I have to really push myself out of my comfort zone to minister as I should.  I don't always do exactly what I should.  So, daily I tell God "I am available.  Not perfect, but available."  To this, he replies with a quiet embrace.  He always knows exactly what I need to get to going.  He's pretty amazing, that God of ours."  
    So, this was me in a nutshell.  A bit scattered, but nonetheless ME!  I hope to use this blog to show you that I am a person... a person saved from my sin.  A person that isn't perfect.  A person that loves God passionately and who's desperate to see that passion spread like wild fire. 

Love,
Jessica Parker

I'll get her started on her own blog.  Hopefully this will be a place where she can voice her frustrations of being married to me, a youth pastor.  It has to be one of the hardest things ever, to be married to ministry.  It is something I do not balance in my life very well.  But with a lot of prayer and her help, I know we can make it through anything.  One thing for sure, she is the best thing that has ever happened to me, I can't imagine my life without her!  Love ya Sunshine!

-Parker

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