Abby...Bad Dog

Okay, so tonight Steve and I are watching the news when I hear some commotion in the play room...which is odd because the boys are in bed. I go in there to find this...a half eaten chocolate bar and Abby sheepishly slinking away. I clean up the mess...and close the door. Then after Steve goes to bed I start thinking about all the stories we've heard about how chocolate can kill a dog...so what do I do? GOOGLE...well yeah, you ignore it if you want your dog to poop or vomit all over the house, or go into a coma or die because it's toxic to their sytem. So I make the call to the vet's office, and the girl says "Oh yes, you'll need to bring her right in so the vet can see her." I wake Steve to let him know there's no way we can let our dog die because of a chocolate bar, and we're off at 11:00 p.m. to the vet's office...during emergency hours. $95 and 30 minutes later, I learn that it would take about 30 giant size chocolate bars to be toxic to a 75 pound dog. Ooooohhhh, could that not have been covered over the phone? But Abby doesn't care...all she could think was "A chocolate bar and a car ride all in one night? Sweet!!!"

Urgency

In Sunday School right now, we are studying the book of Acts which deals with the early church. We covered 6 verses out of Chapter 2 today, and there was a word someone used when we were discussing why the early church devoted themselves to fellowship and taking care of each other. That word was "urgency." It got me to really thinking about why we do what we do as Christians. It seems like we've really lost the feeling of urgency...we act like there's plenty of time to witness to the lost before Christ's return. But the truth is, we need to feel the urgency more than ever. We devote so much of our life to being the perfect mom, wife, employee...to making sure our homes are showcases and our children are dressed and coiffed appropriately, to making sure we're happy and our children are happy...there's very little thought about things that last forever.

Erwin McManus says this in his book "The Barbarian Way" (one of my favorite books!): "To claim we believe is simply not enough. The call of Jesus is one that demands action. Jesus began His public ministry with a simple invitation: 'Come, follow Me.' His closing instructions to His disciples can be summarized in one word, 'Go.'...The invitation of Jesus is a revolutionary call to fight for the heart of humanity. We are called to an unconventional war using only the weapons of faith, hope and love....And for those of us who embrace the cause of Christ, the cost to participate in the mission of God is nothing less than everything we are and everything we have."

I want HIS mission to be everything I am and everything I have. I want to feel the urgency of people that need to see faith, hope and love.

Please pray for Cody, Caleb and myself, who along with 21 other women and children from our Families in Training Sunday School class are going to minister and serve others in New Orleans during Spring Break.

My Hero

Just had to brag on my sweetie. Steve received his second "Life Saving Award" at the annual Police Awards this past January. I won't go into the details here, but I keep telling him he needs to write a book with all his stories...they're scary AND exciting! Not only is he a great cop...but he's a great husband and father. He is my hero!

A Good Day

This totally cracked me up today. Steve and I got to sleep in a little because Caleb's basketball game didn't start until 11am...and I stayed up VERY late last night scrapbooking (mm..smile)...so we needed to sleep in. Anyway, when I walked out of our room, this is what I saw. Cody & Caleb were doing aerobics with an exercise show on TV. Caleb said, "hey mom, you should do this with us." I seriously laughed out loud that they were in there doing aerobics at 9 a.m. That was a GREAT way to start the day!

Caleb had a great basketball game today...very exciting and nailbiting. They won by 1 point in the last few seconds of the game! Also, Caleb scored a basket today!!! He's doing great...and he also excels at snack time after the game!

Oh, and I have to end on a very funny thing Cody said tonight. He went to a birthday party for a friend where they had Xbox, Wii, and Nintendo systems set up and the group of about 14 or 15 boys all played different games. Sounds wild? Oh, I'm sure. Anyway, Cody got to play the game "Star Wars Battlefront." I need to give you a little history first...We got this game for Cody when he was in 2nd grade and checked it to make sure it was okay for him to play and we thought it was...except that Cody really became obsessed with the game. He wanted to play it night and day, talked about it at breakfast, at bedtime...it even affected his schoolwork because that's all he could think about. Steve and I decided that the game had to go...and boy did we encounter some opposition. We explained to Cody that we just felt like there was something in the game drawing him in...and that wasn't good. He was literally depressed for weeks...constantly asking if he could have it back. We finally sold it so there was no way he could have it back. Ever since then (3 years), Cody still talks about that game...not in an obsessive way...but HE REALLY LOVED THAT GAME. We are still not ready for him to own it again, but we have told him that it's okay that he play it at friends' houses if they have it. So, tonight at the party, they have THE GAME! When he came in the door tonight after the party, I asked him "did you have fun?" And he said (and I'm not lying or embellishing...he said it just this way), "They had Battlefront. Oh yeah...reliving the glory days." Where does he come up with that? Priceless!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Even though this is a man-made holiday, it's fun to set aside a day just for expressing love to others. We should really do it more often! Steve and I celebrated by having lunch together at Chili's while the boys were at school. After we picked them up from school, we went and bought them new tennis rackets at Walmart and went to play tennis at the park. It was alot of fun...and I must say, tonight I feel much different than the way I felt just a few hours earlier...moving a little slower and feeling a little older. I'm sure tomorrow will be even more fun! And as I'm looking at this picture, my only thought is..."what is up with my hair?"

After we went home and cleaned up, we let each of the boys tell us their top 3 choices for where they would like to have dinner. When both of them named "Chuck E Cheese" and "Studio Movie Grille" as 1st and 2nd, we promptly changed it to their top 5 choices...but we applauded their initiative for their obvious attempt to score dinner AND a movie together! We finally decided on Chick-Fil-A (or "Chick Fur Lay" as Caleb pronounces it). It goes without saying, but I love those little guys more each day!

The Cutest Pirate Ever

Rrrrr Matey! This picture was taken at one of our trips to Long John Silver's. Hope Ne-Ne doesn't get sick just looking at it!

The Ultimate Treehouse

Most of you have heard the tale about the TREEHOUSE...which is less "house" and more "mansion." One of Steve's fondest memories of his grandmother was of her building him and Doug a treehouse...when she was in her 60's! It was basically a pierce of wood up in a tree, but a treehouse all the same. So, now that we have lots of trees in our/Grammy & Pawpaw's backyard, the Steve and the boys scouted out the perfect tree for their creation. It's not finished yet...but it's coming along.

Happy Birthday Mamaw!

My mamaw, Loraine Looper, turned 89 on January 28th. Even though she doesn't know who we are anymore, we know her and all the wonderful qualities she has displayed throughout her life. As you can tell from her picture, she really enjoyed the cupcakes mom got for her birthday!

Let's Rodeo

We went to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo with Steve's parents and his aunt & uncle from Missouri, Butch & Glorious.

At one point during the llama auction, Caleb turned to me and said, "Mom, can we buy a llama?" I guess that's not something you hear every day. It would almost be worth the price to see Grammy & Pawpaw's face when they walk out in their backyard and see a llama! Sidenote: We left the llamas at the rodeo.

Thanks mom and dad Pierce for a great day at the Rodeo!

And of course, what do you think the first thing the boys did when they got home?

Talent Show 2008

Both boys were in the annual Talent Show for their school in January. Of course, I thought both their acts were the best of all...Caleb did "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" with his friends Connor and Zander. They were a big hit with the crowd because they threw out real peanuts and cracker jacks!

Cody's group did Dancing with the Stars where they danced 4 different kinds of dances to 4 different snippets of songs. They were practically professional after hours and hours with the choreographer and their awesome outfits. Cody's dance partner was Samantha.

Here's to More Fun with Guns in the New Year!

Let's just put it this way...guns are a big part of the Pierce household. Not for violence...but for fun. Both boys are proud owners of new airsoft guns and are presently saving for even bigger and better ones. I could complain...but really, it's useless...daddy's on their side. Happy New Year!