Pictures

Here's our cheerleader, Laura: "Logan's home! Logan's home! Hip-hip-hooray! We've been waiting two long years and now today's the day!

Elder Pierce meeting with Bishop Pierce for the first time.

There ought'a be a program...

Before a young man or young woman goes on a mission, there are all kinds of helps to get ready to go. There are classes to take and books to read. But when you return from a mission, there really are no helps to re-aclimate one's self back into a tv-watching, music-listening, non-scheduled society.

(Here is the last picture of "Elder Pierce" before he met with the stake president to get his release)

The first night home we wanted to show Logan our movie room that we had built in his absence. He could not believe how many movies we had. It was hard to imagine actually watching a movie for two hours when he could be out tracting, or doing anything else productive.

We are taking it easy and letting Logan do what he wants to do. No movies so far. He did play a little Super Smash Brothers Brawl with his brothers. We went to bed early on Friday. We were all pretty tired.

Saturday, Logan and I went to Target and Kohl's to shop for some clothes. He did not really want to. He said he was fine wearing his white shirt and tie. (haha) I convinced him that he did need a few new clothes. He has been wearing suits for two years. He needed something else to wear. So off we went. It was really nice being able to have some one on one time with my son. I missed our conversations. Logan was still reluctant to buy anything. I talked him into getting a couple of pairs of jeans and some shirts. He got polo shirts. At least these had collars. (haha). I wanted to get him a pair of tennis shoes. He was not ready for that, yet. After two years of black dress shoes, he settled for a pair of dressy casual brown shoes. I can live with that.

We did not have a lot of time to shop. We had to get back home and ready for the Saturday morning session of General Conference. This was an important conference. After the death of our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley in late January, this was the first time we had assembled as a church, world-wide to sustain a new prophet to lead and guide our church. Thomas S. Monson will be the new prophet. He is such a wonderful man with such a strong spirit about him. We will miss President Hinckley. He was our prophet for a long time, but we are excited to get to hear President Monson's stories. He's got a million of 'em.

As for Logan, he's taking it one day at a time. He said that he needs to get a planner and schedule things. I told him that it might be hard to get used to "doing nothing" for a little while. Right now, two days home, he's not sure what he's going to do. He and his dad will probably take a class or two at the local college this summer. He would like to go on splits with the missionaries. He isn't sure about what his future will be at this point. That's okay. He has time to figure it out. College, a job, marriage...so many choices lie ahead for this young man. We are so proud of the missionary service he gave and the example he has been to his family and friends. Well done!

We would also like to thank those special people in Virgina that befriended our elder. He met some wonderful people that he will love forever. Thank you for watching over our son.

The Greatest Adventure is What Lies Ahead

Elder Pierce is home! It has been a long two years, but he is finally here.

For those of you who have faithfully checked this blog for updates, I am sorry. I am not sure what I am going to do about the unposted days, but I do want to continue to add to this blog. I would eventually like to get Logan's journal published, if only for his posterity.

In the meantime, I am posting some pictures of his return and an update.

Here we are at the airport. That's me (the mom) on the end holding "Tickle Me Elder Pierce". This was a gift from Sister Blour in one of Logan's first areas. Laura (sister) and Josh and Jared are next. Standing next to me, is Lane (brother), Sister Lyon (friend), Leiden (brother) Evan and his dad Brother Cole (friends) Elder Pierce, Brother and Sister Poyner, Luke (brother) and dad/Bishop Pierce.

That's the picture. Now here's the story...

We got to the airport about twenty mintutes before Elder Pierce's scheduled arrival. The Pierce family seems to always be running late to everything, but we did make it on time to the airport. The Coles and the Poyners were already there waiting. Sister Lyon was rushing from work hoping to make it on time and she did! Several family members would have been there if they could have, but it was not possible.

So, there we were...waiting patiently...sortof...watching the gate...his plane was on time. In fact it was three minutes early. Where was he? The sun shone brightly into the huge windows at the end of the walkway. It was hard to see faces. Lots of people walked through the gate, but not Elder Pierce. There were three planes that arrived at the same time, so we were waiting...patiently...to see a glimpse of his face.

Suddenly we heard a voice from behind us. It was Elder Pierce! That stinker had gone to the other exit on accident. He looked around and saw NO one waiting to greet him. He looked further on down the terminal and saw us all standing eyes front waiting and watching. Slowly he turned...step by step...inch by inch...and walked quietly up to the group. He stood next to Sister Lyon and said, "Who are we waiting on?" She turned and screamed. I turned and screamed. Everybody turned and there he was! Two long years! What an entrance!

We hugged, took pictures and then went to get his bags. We needed to meet with the Stake President in order for him to release Elder Pierce from his service. Then it was on to Braum's, a local ice cream and hamburger eatery. We got it to go so that we could get on home.

Man! It's good to have all my chicks under one roof again if only temporarily.