The tooth fairy

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Taylor went to our new dentist this Tuesday and came away with NO cavities! He has been really slow at losing his baby teeth. He had one lose tooth that started coming out this weekend. Then he lost two teeth in one day yesterday!

Here is the note that he had his mom leave fir the tooth fairy. (He made Jenny do it because he lost (literally) the second tooth somewhere between church and home…therefore he needed a credible source to varify that he did indeed lose two teeth!) I think the cost of living has effected the Tooth Fairy’s fee schedule–I think I only got like a quarter per tooth…Taylor got a dollar!

How much did you get per tooth? Any good tooth fairy stories?

Wow, what a weekend!

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We have had a crazy busy and productive weekend so far!? Tucker and Jenny went to Springfield on Friday so Jenny could do an inservice training for the Elementary music teachers in Springfield Public Schools–she’s so stinking talented and smart it’s pretty amazing she hangs out with a schmuck like me!! While they were gone, I took the opportunity to fix the brakes on my car that were about 3 weeks overdue and the rotors showed!? Thanks to my friend Devin Bobbett for helping me change my first set of brakes probably about 7 years ago.? I have always tried to repair them since then after I found out how “easy” it is.? There is always something that goes wrong when I try to do anything it seems.? This time, I stripped out some screws and had to go get some screw extrators from the store to finally get the brakes repaired.? Of course, I had to put the old brakes back on, go to O’Reilly’s and then come back and finish them.? I finally got them fixed at about midnight last night. Henry (our new puggle) and I went to pick up Taylor after school and decided to go to the pet store to get some stuff for the dog.? The pet store has another puggle for sale and the girl was really pushing hard for us to get another to keep Henry company.? Funny thing happens–Henry poops right in the store–while Taylor is supposed to be watching him on the leash!? I told the girl, “see I’ve got one that poops all over the place, I don’t need another!” Jenny and Tucker got home and we went to eat at the Ranch House.? We walked in and saw our good friend Kent Doyle and the Ozark High School varsity girls softball team that was in a tournament here in Carthage.? It was awesome getting to hang out with him for a bit.? Sweet people!? Taylor got to talk to Kaleb on the phone and Morgan got to talk to Jenny.? Pretty cool deal for everyone. Had our first CONVERGE this morning.? It went pretty well.? The next CONVERGE will be in January.? I am really excited about what God is going to do this fall through Forest Park Carthage! Went to Crosswalk tonight to hear John’s message “Dirty Jerseys.”? We are starting a spiritual growth campaign tomorrow called Generations.? It was an awesome message and I am really excited to see the response from our people tomorrow morning.? We have the potential to really reach a TON of people for Christ in the next decade or so through this campaign. The key verse is, “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.” Psalm 102:18.? Stratton, McBride and I went out on Thursday and shot some videos for our children’s ministry classes.? It was a lot of fun!? The best part is related to this verse. . . we have an opportunity in this campaign to reach people of the future generations by our faithfulness to get involved with God in this generation!? I am excited that we are helping Taylor and Tucker’s generation to have a great facility here in Carthage.? My hope and prayer is that they will in turn, because of our example, build His Church for their future generations!? I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through this campaign!? Fasten your seatbelts.

‘To Do’ list

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I have been really trying to get my act together and be more organized. (Go ahead and feel free to insert your smart remarks here!) I have begun a process of carrying a list in my pocket of things to do on one side and what I have done on the opposite (to help me complete my “ministry report” each week.). Taylor must have seen my list sitting on my desk the other day, because he has a list of his own. I found this the other day in my car. Man, how awesome is this kid?

Feed dog. Play. Scool. Play. Sleep. Oh to be in 2nd grade again!

New Family Member

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We have some great friends, the Terrells, who “inherited” a dog from a family member who was heading off to college and couldn’t keep the dog. Enter “Homeless Henry.”

Taylor and Tucker have been wanting a dog for quite some time now. Jenny and especially her mom have been lobbying hard for a dog since we have more room out here in Carthage. After Justin’s football game, we went to dinner and heard about poor Henry the homeless Puggle (half pug, half beagle). The boys both have pug stuffed animals and Taylor overheard the breed and it was a full court press for this dog.

We got these two photos via email and Henry showed up here in Carthage this morning. I took lots of pictures with a good camera and will post them later. In the meantime, here are pics from Justin’s game and Henry. Enjoy.

Friday is for…

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Friday is for friends, family, and football! Our Friday’s many times constitutes of Chick-fill-a Chicken Minis with just Tucker with mommy and daddy in the mornings. We also then like to go to football games with friends.

Tonight, we are headed to a game with Kevin Stratton, our new associate campus pastor. Here are some pics of this morning and last week at Nixa.

flickr.com test with a great pic of Taylor boy!

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SANY0303

Originally uploaded by dalestine

I am trying to get an easy way to get pictures up on my blog and have come across flickr again. I think I will be able to post pictures from my iPhone and blog them with relative ease.

This is a great picture of Taylor is one of his last games of his season this summer. The guys did an awesome job of growing and improving this season and actually won the post season tournament. (I like to call it our own little World Series . . . but who’s keeping track!) The guys only lost one game the entire season–their first game against the Mudcats! They kept working hard and getting better. I am really proud of them!

Monday Night Reflections

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  • Mythbusters was AWESOME!!! It is really great to be a part of a church that is willing to be creative to share the Gospel with a hurting world.? Yesterday’s message was one of the clearest Gospel presentations I have heard in a long, long time.? I am really excited about this series at Forest Park!
  • We had a really good staff meeting this morning!? Our staff is really coming together as a team and I am pumped about this group of people!
  • We have a new staff member coming on board September 2nd!!? I am TOTALLY pumped about that deal!!? I will save that for a post of its own an announcement of that magnitude!
  • We had over 300 people at church yesterday!!? WOW!? There were a TON of kiddos running around.? I love that!
  • I am praying for some dear friends that lost a baby last weekend.? Jenny and I lost a baby in between Taylor and Tucker.? We really feel for them in this time of grief, anger, helplessness.
  • I am praying for Ronnie Sanders dad.? He is having open heart surgery tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6:00 a.m.
  • Tucker goes to the doctor tomorrow.? Hopefully he will be released completely from the doctor and won’t have to wear that silly brace anymore.
  • I thought I put on the belts correctly on our new (to us) lawn mower on Saturday.? Boy, was I wrong.? I wondered what that smell of burning rubber was on Saturday!
  • The boys finally got to jump into the pool this evening–bugs and nastiness included.? It is really not that bad, mom!? WAY BETTER than the pea green nastiness that I started with!? Just in time to winterize the thing!
  • Wow, Michelle Obama is a great communicator.? That is difficult to do that and pull it off.? Two very talented communicators in that family.? No matter your politics, that was an amazing speech.
  • The Olympics just called–they said I can have my life back until the Winter Games!

OK, so I live in the sticks now!

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Ok, so you might live in the country if:

You have to get a riding lawn mower (there’s really no option).

Your water has little black particles in it because it’s a well. Well, we are “off the grid” with the water anyway!

Cable “doesn’t go that far. ”
DSL, therefore definitely “doesn’t go that far.” Are you kidding me? Dial up?!?! Say it isn’t so! That is so 1991.

You are “about twenty-five minutes” from everywhere.

You have more frogs, bugs, and algea than chlorine in your cheesy above ground pool. (definitely not a selling point for mom & dad!)

Did I mention there is no Internet out here?

You have one bar on your cell phone…if you’re lucky!

I’m pretty sure I mentioned we don’t have high speed Internet.

And finally, (drumroll please!) you are at least 10 minutes from “civilization”–AKA Wal-Mart! (thanks for the idea Jenny Long on my Facebook wall.)

Friday is for . . . Friends and Family

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A buddy of mine said today, “You know a true friend when they help you move.”? My thoughts exactly!!? We had some of our dear friends and family help us move the “easy” stuff of boxes.? There was nothing “easy” about unloading our storage unit and filling the biggest Penske truck we could get with stuff–lots of it should have been let go of years ago, but you know how hard it is for pack rats to give up their stuff.? It is amazing how much stuff you seem to accumulate over the years.? We had a step smaller Ryder truck when we moved from seminary to Ozark–packed yes, but we made it in one load.? We probably won’t have a totally full truck tomorrow, but full enough to think about cutting out some things.

My friend, Eric Barb wrote a little about this need to have way too much stuff in his “Barb Wire” in the CFC Current. He is a really good writer. I miss the guys.? The were always a lot of fun.

Better get to sleep . . . huge day tomorrow.? Still can’t believe this is our last night in our house.? Tomorrow we will officially be home in Carthage!? WOW.

Little League “Champs”

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The Blue Bombers won their end of the season tournament tonight with two last inning come-from-behind games.? The first game, they won with a walk off base hit.? The second game, they beat the Mudcats, by far one of the best teams in the league, by holding on to a 3 run lead in the last inning.? The guys played awesome defense to win first place in their post season tournament!? It really has been a lot of fun helping coach with my friends (and making several new ones in the process!)? Here are some pics of the team with the trophy and their medals.

We are thinking the trophy ought to be like a traveling trophy like the Stanley Cup.? It could go on family vacations, children’s camps, school trips, etc.