Earthly Treasures

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." Matthew 6:19

I haven't blogged for awhile because we haven't had too much of excitement going on; and, quite honestly, I just haven't felt like it. I've spent a good bit of my "spare" time over the past week cleaning out our master bedroom closet - boy, did we have some "treasures" stored up there! In truth, it was mostly just stuff and not any real treasure. So much stuff that my "walk-in" closet was not really living up to it's name - you could barely get in there! I wish I had taken a "before" picture, but I didn't. I did take this shot of some of the stuff I pulled out of there to give away (this isn't even all of it):


I really can't believe how much we had crammed into that closet. Part way through the process I realized what the problem was - we haven't moved in 6 1/2 years! For the first 8 or 9 years of our marriage, we moved about every 2 years. Something about having to pack all your stuff up motivates you to get rid of some of it. Well, since we have no plans to move, it's time for us to start getting rid of some of our stored "treasures." I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with material possessions and I believe God has given us the capacity to enjoy things in life, it just comes down to attitude. When the things of life become more important than the things that are eternal, or when the things become a source of stress, it's time to make some changes. I took a van load of stuff to a local Christian charity yesterday. I have to admit, it was a little difficult for me to part with some of the stuff, even though most of it hadn't been used in years. But, driving away with my empty van and coming home to a clean closet was a great feeling. And, hopefully someone less fortunate will benefit from some of my stuff. Now, if I can just keep my momentum going and clean out all those other storage areas in my house!

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:20-21

Thankful Thursday

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonders."
1 Chronicles 16:8-9

It's been a great week and I am thankful for:

1. Our new pastor! (see previous post)

2. A fun family celebration Monday night. Now that we have a new pastor, Robert doesn't have to spend his Monday nights at Pastor Search Committee meetings (yea!), so we went out for a family dinner Monday night to celebrate.

3. A fun time scrapbooking with a couple of my girlfriends on Monday.

4. Beautiful weather - I'm loving these cool mornings and gorgeous afternoons.

5. Great kids.

We have a new pastor!!

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be able to write those words! As many of you know, our former pastor retired almost two years ago. He was the founding pastor of our church and the only pastor Robert and I have known in our adult lives. We both joined our current church when we came here for college and met each other there. Our former pastor married us, visited us at the hospital when our babies were born, dedicated our children, baptized Kenna, preached us countless sermons and gave us much wise counsel. So, his retirement has been a difficult transition for us. During this transition we have had two interim preachers and God has definitely used them to accomplish His purposes in the life of our church, but it's not the same as having a full-time permanent pastor.

About eighteen months ago, Robert was elected by our church along with eight other members to serve on a Pastor Search Committee. With few exceptions, they have met every Monday night for 2, 3, and sometimes 4 hours at a time. In between meetings they have spent countless hours working on church surveys, reviewing resumes, listening to sermons, making site visits and interviewing candidates. It has been a long, time-consuming, and often stressful journey. But the Lord has honored their dedication and sacrifices and has brought us an amazing couple to serve in our church, Bruce and Donna Troy:


Bruce and Donna came to our church this weekend in view of a call. There were many opportunities over the weekend for different segments of our congregation to meet them. I was able to attend several of the functions and it was so neat to watch people meet them and see the excitement building over the weekend. People's positive reactions and comments were confirmation of what Robert and the rest of the committee already knew - God has called Bruce and Donna to our church. They are both wonderful people who love and serve our God and love His people. God's direction and presence was so apparent this weekend. A couple of weeks ago in my "Thankful Thursday" post I wrote that I was thankful that God gives us what we need and not what we deserve. This is the situation I was referring to. I had met Bruce and Donna for the first time that previous weekend. God has shown us abundant grace in bringing us just what we need, and not what we deserve. I can't wait to see what God does in and through us under their leadership.

Robert tells me that during the interview process, Bruce related the process to dating, and at the end of their third, very long interview said something to the effect of, "It's time. We need to either break up or get married!" Well, last night at a called business meeting, our church voted with an overwhelming majority (94%) to call Bruce as our Senior Pastor - and he and Donna accepted the call!! They came back to the church to accept in person and after the meeting Robert and I slipped out to the parking lot to do a little decoration on their car:

This has been a rather lengthy post. I tend to use a lot of words when I'm excited, so I guess all these words are a testament to my excitement! I can wholeheartedly claim Psalm 126:3 "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Brother Bruce, if you've finally found my blog and are reading this, know that we are eagerly anticipating you and Donna joining our family. And we are praying for you and your current congregation during this transition. Oh, and the shoe polish thing was all Robert's idea!

Finally! He lost one!

Cullen lost his first tooth last night. He's been pretty distressed about not having lost one yet, being in the 2nd grade and all. ALL his friends had already lost teeth, you know. Peer pressure starts early!



He didn't really lose this one in the way one usually refers to "losing a tooth"; this was more like "yanked out leaving a gaping, bloody hole". I'm not sure it was quite ready; he didn't even know it was loose. He sleeps with a blanket that he's had since he was a baby. He likes to chew on the corners (gross!), and the blanket's gotten pretty tattered. Well, apparently his tooth got caught in the tatters and was pulled out when he took his blanket out of his mouth. At that point he really did "lose" his tooth, as in he couldn't find it anywhere in his white sheets. But, never fear, Mommy came to the rescue and found the tooth in plenty of time to leave it for the Tooth Fairy.

Kenna has always been one to hang onto her teeth for a couple of days before leaving them under her pillow - but not Cullen, he was ready for some cash!

Thankful Thursday

"O Lord, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will give thanks to Thy name; For Thou hast worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness." Isaiah 25:1

This week I am thankful for:

1. A wonderful time of worship on Sunday.

2. Health - I have been fighting a little bit of a cold this week, but I seem to be getting over it pretty quickly.

3. I think I'm finding my groove. I have struggled the last couple of weeks since the kids started school with what to do with myself. It's not that I don't have a ton of things to do, or that I haven't done anything (in fact, I've been really busy), but I just feel that I've been lacking discipline and motivation and I've been very inefficient and not accomplishing all that I should. But, this week I seem to be getting into the routine and making some progress on my goals.

4. Bible study. My Wednesday Bible study started back yesterday after the long summer break. Again, that lack of discipline has gotten the best of me and I haven't been very consistent. So, I'm thankful for the accountability of a group study.

5. The anticipation of a great weekend ahead - I'll post about that next week!

The Celebration Continues

Camden's birthday festivities continued on Saturday with a small family celebration. MeMe and Austin came from East Texas and Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Kevin came from Keller.

Camden Celebrates Six

It hardly seems possible that my "baby" is six years old today! He is such a joy to us and to others and always seems to live life to its fullest - today was no exception.

His day started with breakfast in bed. He's actually still choosing to sleep on the floor in his doorway, so he had to get up and get into bed for his breakfast!



After eating, Camden got to open his cards that had come in the mail and gifts from us. He was pretty excited about the money from Granny!

Opening his new "Planet Hero":

This afternoon at school his class sang "Happy Birthday" to him and then had cookies.

After school we went to Chuck E. Cheese. I calculated that this is the 23rd kid birthday in the Pierce household, and so far we've managed to avoid the Big Mouse Place; but, my good fortune could only last so long. Camden was convinced that he had to have his party there this year. When he started talking about it, I warned him that since Chuck E. Cheese is a little expensive, he'd only be able to invite a few friends. His reply?..."That's okay, I only want to invite Elisabeth." He never wavered from his request and never asked to add to the guest list, although we did let Kenna and Cullen come along! It actually worked out great; we had the party right after school and it wasn't very crowded. He talked to Nana tonight and told her it was "the best birthday party ever!"

Camden was so cute with his friend Elisabeth. They were in preschool together last year, and are also in the same kindergarten class. On his last couple of trips to Nana and Papa's this summer, Camden used his craft time to make things for Elisabeth, so she went home with some interesting party favors!

Enjoying a ride:

Camden had originally asked me to make a Chuck E. Cheese cake for him - like a giant gray mouse. Okay. All I could think about was the red velvet armadillo cake from the movie "Steel Magnolias". I convinced him that a "pizza" cookie cake would be better. I used sugar cookie for the crust, red frosting for the sauce, grated white chocolate for the cheese, Fruit Roll Ups cut in circles for pepperoni, and cut up green gummy Life Savers for peppers. I even stopped by Chuck E. Cheese earlier this week and they let me have a pizza box to put it in. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Happy Sixth Birthday, Camden!!

Tubing on Eagle Mountain Lake

We spent the day Saturday on Eagle Mountain Lake with our friends Kim, Kevin, and Caleb. We had a great time with them! The kids loved riding in the tube, and the adults did too!

Caleb and Kenna: "Look, no hands!"

Camden and Cullen: There was quite a bit of spray, so the goggles were a must!

Kim and Amy. We laughed like a couple of school girls - such fun!

Even Robert folded up his six foot three inches to fit in the tube and took a turn with Kenna:

The kids had fun swimming and jumping off the boat while it was anchored. It took Camden awhile to get up his nerve, but as you can see, he finally did and loved it!

All the kids piled into the tube while we were anchored.

We had a fabulous time and are so grateful to have such wonderful friends. As another friend told Robert when Robert told him of our plans to go on the lake, "I'd rather have a friend with a boat than have a boat!" We actually just love having Kim, Kevin, and Caleb as friends - their boat is just icing on the cake!