Home Sweet Home

After being in our apartment with our stuff for a little over a week now it feels like home! God has been gracious in allowing us the time to settle in before Aaron starts school. We've had sweet family time as we make our new apartment home. Here's some pictures!


Living Room




Other side of Living area 



"Dining Room" - right off living room. The futon begins right behind the right chair




Kitchen - No microwave and no dishwasher so I get to spend a little more time here!



Dining area and kitchen. Taken from living room so you can get an idea of space/layout.



Boy's room. Daddy was so proud to hang the Texas flag over Austin's bed!



Changing area




Second window - Nana's homemade quilt!




Our bedroom



Another angle of our bedroom - closet open intentionally so you can take note of the size...it's not a walk in. You are looking at our ENTIRE closet!

We are in much tighter quarters than in Texas..."every thing's is bigger in Texas". I was thinking yesterday that in our apartment in Texas we had more faucets in mine and Aaron's bathroom alone than we do in this entire apartment! All that to say, it's a great little apartment. We don't feel crammed. The only thing I'd change in the closet size, but we've made it work!

I asked a women whom I respect a lot and admire her family how she was able to cultivate such close sibling relationships. She responded simply...we lived in 1100 square foot house and there were 6 of us. We are living in 700 square feet and there are 4 of us. The ratio's about right! 

My prayer for our family during this time is Jesus' prayer in John 17:21
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

May the Pierce's be unified during this time that others would look onto our family and know that Jesus came to save! May He be glorified in and through our home!

Thanks for taking the tour!

Jonathan our little rascal!

There's so much to blog about. I haven't settled down enough internally to document in writing more of our transition. But there was a moment in our lives today that can't wait to write about. I promise there will be a post on our move and adventures thus far...complete with pictures! But for now, laugh with me on this story!

We went to this crazy Chinese restaurant today with our friends Mario and Cintia. We were all invited to go to this restaurant by Qu and Cailee a Korean couple. Upon walking in, we knew it was going to be a wild experience. Aside from the hustle and bustle of the masses of people already in the restaurant, our table was chaotic in itself. There were 15 of us total and 4 of those were under three years old sitting in the laps of their parents...not a good recipe for leisure eating for anyone involved!

 The best way I know to describe this restaurant is a Chinese Tapas resturant. There were women who carted around all different kinds of dishes. You just flagged them down and asked for an order of the dish. They would stamp your card documenting what dish you took. Austin was not interested in hardly anything. Jonathan on the other hand was a bottomless pit. He ate some roasted pork sandwhich, egg rolls, brocolli, and full order of rice! That was all I say him eat. Cintia was feeding him. I am fairly certain he ate more than I did. After the meal was over, we are all standing up trying to hurry out. At this point the toddlers have claimed control over the situation. I am standing next to Cintia who's directly in front of me in very tight quarters. Jonathan is in my arms facing away from me. I begin to feel dripping. Cinta also notices that liquid is hitting her as well. We look up and look down trying to discover where this is coming from. Suddenly I realize Jonathan has managed to not only snag a bottle of SOY SAUCE...in addition...HE'S DRINKING IT!!! Everything in Jonathan's vicinity is being bathed in the soy sauce. Its down his shirt, all over Cintia's shorts, down her leg, on the stroller, down my legs, into my flip flops. I couldn't do anything but laugh histerically.

No matter how hard I try, Jonathan is always a few steps ahead of me! This was quite a comical occurance. I am sure we'll be telling him that story again!

Picture Diary

Thought it would be fun to do a picture blog post of our adventures thus far! Here goes!

Central Park Zoo on Jonathan's Birthday! He's sound asleep in the Boba -
a special gift of cuddles for momma on his first birthday!

Jonathan hanging with the big kids checking out the polar bear!

Auntie Debbie time!

New York Pizza!

Us at the pizza shop! We filled 3/4 of the resturant!

Jonathan riding the skateboard with the park with Tia Cintia, Tamym, Calebe

Austin's turn!

The new Pierce family car!

Mario and Cinta's neighborhood in Sunnyside Queens  -
our interim home until our moving truck arrives!

Jonathan's already adapting to city life - morning nap in the stroller!

In front of our new home!

Aaron and his boys on Columbia University Campus

Happy First Birthday Jonathan!

Jonathan, Jonathan sweet baby Jonathan....



We sung that to you so often after you were born. Today, you turned one, sweet baby Jonathan. This year has been filled with joy brought to us by your presence. Your smile has lit up the room since you first showed it to us. You hold so much personality in that little body of yours - it's astounding! You've made us laugh out loud often with your funny reactions and your daring nature. We see in you a little baby who has so much potential to draw people to our Lord with your magnetic personality. You will do well in life through your flexible nature and ability to roll with situations without being bothered. You are our gift from God. We thanked Him upon knowing He'd entrusted you to us, but today, a after a year of having you in our lives, our hearts overflow with gratitude that the Lord knew you would add so much color to our little family. Thank you for all the smiles you've brought us. We look forward to watching you grow. Happy First Birthday my sweet baby!

Big Day!

Today is a big day! We get the keys to our apartment this afternoon. Normally that isn't such a huge deal, but for us it is. We HAVE NOT SEEN OUR APARTMENT!!!! Yes, we've moved across the country to move into a place we haven't even seen pictures for. Yesterday we went to the building and looked through every window we could see, but of course weren't able to see much from the outside looking in. I'm excited to enter in our new home and picture what life will be like there. Our stuff still has not arrived in NYC, so for now, our boys will have a lot of running room!

Speaking of those sweet sweet boys - that's another part of the big day...Nana and Papa are flying them to NYC to be with us today. I can't wait. The time here with just Aaron and I has been wonderful. We've been able to explore, dream, and enjoy one another. But the reality is we aren't complete without these precious faces!

Jonathan Thomas - turns 1 tomorrow :)

Joseph Austin - 27 months

They arrive today at 5:30. We will go joyfully to the airport to pick them up. Nana and Papa get to stay until Wednesday. It will be great to have them here so they can see where we will be living and help us transition. We are praying our stuff will get here while Nana and Papa are here so the moving in will be easier!

God is good and we are so excited for this adventure before us! Now...off to the big day! I get to start it with a mani/pedi with my dear friend Cintia!

New home with Old friends

We arrived safely in New York City after a day of travel. It was a relaxing day where we were able to just sit after so much running around with the move. Aaron and I enjoyed good uninterrupted conversation which hasn't happened in a while with the chaos of the move!

Last night was a super sweet evening. Upon arriving we learned that our friends Mario and Cintia whom we are staying with (more about them in a future post!) had to go to their church. Cintia was teaching an aerobics class and Mario had a meeting. Their intention was to allow us some time to rest, then return after their meeting to have dinner. In our excitement to be in city, we couldn't stand to be home, so we decided to join them! I loved taking aerobics from a long time dear friend I hadn't seen in 5 years. Aaron got to relax and get somethings done on the computer. Here is a picture of me buying our first metro card!

After we returned to Mario and Cintia's they had arranged for Debbie, my best friend from college, to join us for dinner. We enjoyed an incredibly sweet time. We talked for hours about old memories and new experiences to come. The Lord was so faithful to provide these friends to welcome us into our new home. The Levy family and Debbie Hill are very very dear to our hearts and spending the evening with them last night spurred great excitement in our hearts for the adventures to come!

Left to right - Debbie, Me, Cintia, Mario, Aaron
Tamyn and Calebe (the kids had already gone to sleep as it was almost 1am when we took this picture!)



Engagement Anniversary!



Portifino Bay Hotel - Orlando FL - August 2003

Woman I love, that's who you are to me, given by God to me.
You're beautiful, beautiful

Won't you be one with me?
Joyce, will you marry me?

          I heard this on August 3, 2003. It is part of the song Aaron wrote for me. I had heard the song, but he added a verse! I was shocked to hear his proposal in this song. My excitement was enormous. He followed the song by telling me that he wanted to establish a Christian heritage with me. The idea of being at Aaron's side establishing a firm foundation for our family to be grounded in the faith was thrilling! Aaron and I are different in MANY arenas, but the Lord has given us a gift in how we come together in our pursuit of Him and His Kingdom. I loved the invitation to join Aaron in establishing a Christian hertiage.
         Here we are 8 years later and I am still thrilled at the invitation! This engagement photo we took symbolizing that our union was a great adventure we were embarking on. This has proven to be true! Today we are on the verge of transitioning to another crazy adventure. The beauty is that we get to do it together and we have two amazing little men who get to watch us as we pursue God's call on our lives. Prayerfully, this is the beginning of that Christian heritage we committed to the Lord as I agreed to marry this incredible man!

Community Con't - More bullets!!!!

I just published the previous post seconds ago and realized I missed huge ones! I bet I'll be doing this several times...my brain is so scattered!

• Little garage sale "angels" that showed up to give structure to the chaos and make the garage sale a huge success.
• Friends who got together and paid for our family to have two days at Parents Day out so we could tend to the move.
• An amazingly talented photographer who will volunteer her services to capture a picture of our family before we go for a prayer card for our advocacy team.

God is good!

*If you haven't already - read the previous post. This one will make more sense!*

Community

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42

So here we are this little family preparing to go on a crazy adventure - packing up our two babies and moving across the country. Life as we know it is no longer. Nothing about our life in NYC will be the same. No big huge cart full of groceries to load up in the car to drive home. No carrying laundry "all the way across our apartment" to clean our clothes - there's no washer and dryer in our new apartment! The list can go on and on. Yes, these facts are intimidating, but as I sit among my boxes this morning what is heaviest on my heart is the community that's embraced us and spurred us on toward this next move. I can't help but document the many things that have been done to help meet our physical needs during this time. The list is lengthy so for time sake, I will do bullet points!

• Many friends and family donating belongings to sell in our garage sale where we were able to make enough money to cover our moving costs!!!!
• Friends eagerly asking to meet with me to tell me about life in NYC - down to maps and lists of favorite places right in my new neighborhood.
• Family gathering "From Texas to NY" with food from both places, a slide show including our new home, and cards to send us off
• Any incredible gathering of women where each woman chose a charm that represented our friendship and gifted me a beautiful necklace packaged in an incredible custom made mahogany box with the same cross from my church's welcome center.
• A friend dealing with me in my extreme annoying nature to make this move organized and still coming over and essentially packing me up while I handed her things!
• Friends discerning that I might need help with feeding my family in this time and spontaneously bringing meals to us!
• An awesome grandparent that's taken my little Austin once a week for over a month so Momma could tend to things at hand.
• Various friends taking Jonathan while Austin was with his G-daddy so I could be kid free for one day a week.
• An incredible prayer team who has thanked us for the opportunity to serve as our advocates as we go into this next journey.
• Grandparents willing to be whatever we need them to be and take kids, move things, host garage sales, allow us to move in, and much much more to support us in this move!

This is by no means exhaustive. Typing this out is just overwhelming. What I love about this list is that these things were volunteered to us. People in our community perceived needs of our family and stepped up to fulfill those needs. I feel as though we are living the Acts 2 church as the scripture above tells it. WOW - what an incredible privilege to live among these people!