Catch-up Post(s)

So much going on lately this fall around C-town and the Stone family!

• We have a new puppy, Pepper.
• We had two birthdays (Tucker and Jenny).
• We had a Children’s Choirs of Southwest Missouri fall concert extravaganza.
• We have had several friends down from Ozark/Nixa/Springfield (by the way, they just invited themselves and came down, so why don’t you do the same (wink)).
• We finished up our Generations Campaign at our church right before Thanksgiving, which was really cool to get people on board to reach the future generations here and around the world.? That took a lot of time and energy and was the focus of all of our staff for about 2 1/2 months, so just when it was over, the holiday season came with a bang and we are rushing to catch up!
• Oh, and did I mention that we got a new puppy?? And did I mention that all I do after I get home and before I leave for work is clean up after the puppy (and also his older friend, who should be potty trained, Henry) all the time?? It is going to be awesome though, when they are completely trained in like 2015!

I finally got my blog moved over to my own personal hosting account at Dreamhost last week.? I had a few gliches in getting it moved over and looking right and such, so I haven’t been focused so much on writing posts as the programing side of the blog.

One of my resolutions and goals this next year is to use this blog to really share my heart with my congregation and show off the family a lot better.? Technology is such an amazing thing–and easy (when it works), that I think I need to harness that much better for my ministry.? In meeting with my leaders here at FP Carthage, I have heard 2 major “issues” that I need to help us do better around here–communication and motivation.? Both of which I believe can be conveyed quite well through this medium and I intend to do a better job using this tool.

There are going to be a lot more posts focused on the things I am passionate about–family, missions, church planting, etc.? They are probably not going to all be original things because there are so many other smart people out there that I will probably use their stuff (and give them link love of course).? Basically, what I do on the sidebar with the “Surf’s Up” section, I am going to do a lot more with the main posts.

So here’s to turning over a new leaf (again) and getting after this thing to keep people up to date!? Feel free to comment and “spur me on” to post when you haven’t heard from me in a while!

Here we go.

Here are some pictures over the last couple of months that I have been wanting to get up on the blog but haven’t done it!? Enjoy!