Samantha Pierce

Sometime around 2:00 PM EST there was a magnitude 7.4 earthquake somewhere near the island of Barbados (land of my birth). That particular part of the West Indies is not know for seismic activity so when I saw this a few minutes ago I thought Instapundit meant politics. I followed the link to Caribbean Lionesse and found out that they meant a real earthquake. Then I called dad who confirmed that there really was an earthquake. He said that everyone we know is fine. He's still waiting to hear from one more family member. Dad also noted that at least one news report he heard got the geography of the region wrong. Here's a link to the USGS data if you want the facts. The epicenter appears to be near or on Martinique. Others blogging the incident are: Riehl World Mike in Dominica Steve's Dominica More later. I've got to get the kids to bed now. Updates 9:22 PM EST Global Voices Magnitude-7.4 earthquake rocks Caribbean In Martinique, police and firefighters responded to h...

Today I am thankful for this reminder: But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Matthew 5:44-47 Back to work then.

I am thankful for the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'm thankful for all the frustrating people and situations that have taught me the value of kindness and patience. I'm thankful for all of the rude people who have taught me the value of kindness and grace. I'm thankful for all of the difficult situations have that taught me to appreciate the simple beauty of things. I am thankful for unconditional love. I am thankful for compassion. I am thankful for those who make an effort to understand those who are different from them. I am thankful for God's grace and mercy. I am thankful for sacrifice.

We're in the midst of packing for our Thanksgiving trek. At some point I yelled down the stairs for hubby to bring me a bag to put our toiletries in. Sophia, who was in her room trying to pick out what she was going to wear on the trip, came pounding out of her room yelling, "Mommy, mommy where is it?!" "Where's what," I asked wondering what part of the conversation she was having with herself that I had missed. "Where's the toilet tree?" she asked looking around for said item. Once I stopped laughing I told her what toiletries meant. She looked disappointed. Then she sneaked downstairs to strip off her pajamas and hide under my sleeping bag. I made at least three trips downstairs looking for her before hubby told me where she was. Never a dull moment in this house.

Before people get too worked up about the news that hate crimes are on the rise you should be aware of this crucial bit of information : Lack of full participation by the more than 17,000 police agencies around the nation somewhat undermines year-to-year comparisons. For instance, in 2004, 12,711 agencies reported 7,649 incidents. In 2005, only 12,417 agencies reported and incidents dropped 6 percent to 7,163. But in 2006, agencies reporting rose to 12,620 and incidents climbed 7.8 percent to 7,722. Now why this, the most important piece of information in the whole story, is buried at the end of a rehashing of the Jena 6 and various noose incidents is beyond me. These four short sentences tell us everything we really need to know about the so called 8% rise in hate crimes. With a different cohort of agencies reporting each year there's no way to tell if there is any overall change in the rate of hate crimes. You can't determine a rate of change in anything if you change the na...

My regular readers (all two of you) are used to my unannounced blogging breaks by now. But in case anyone is wondering I'm juggling a lot of details at the moment and don't really have the time or energy to blog about any of the topics that have crossed my mind recently. In fact I'm having a hard time remembering what they are. All I can remember is thinking, "Hmmm, I should blog about that." Then real life happens and everything becomes a blur. Hopefully things will cool down a bit soon or I'll get a bit more organsied (yeah right!). Either way enjoy your Thanksgiving.

Groan, what day is it again? Oh, it's Thursday. When did that happen? Anyway, so today I am thankful for/that: I had already taken all of the merchandise I hope to sell this weekend out of the house when Isaiah found the bottle of Elmer's glue. So far I've had to wash glue out of my spring form cake pan, Isaiah's dinner plate (hubby tried to salvage some of Isaiah's dinner), the floor, the organ, a pair of Sophia's tights, Isaiah, Isaiah's clothes, and Isaiah's favourite toy monkey. Bedtime! No homework on weekends. Job hunting. Modern medicine, especially the little things we use every day like self adhesive bandages, antibiotic ointment, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, soap, etc. Ethan lost another tooth to an apple he was snacking on on Tuesday afternoon with out too much fuss. He went through two cups of salt water when we got back home (we were about to get out of the car at the grocery store when the tooth came out). Ethan managed to hang on to his tooth...