“Setting the New Standard for Funeral Service.”

NEWSLETTER

November 5, 2006

 

I will not even ask the question, but still I can’t keep from it.  Where does the time go?  When I was a kid, it took forever to grow up, now I cannot slow it down enough.  Little League football has ended.  WOW!!  Playing Big Tulsa teams seems almost unfair, but hey, the kids did not complain, so who am I?  Next year will be better.  Now it’s my favorite time of year, High School football playoffs (yes the Pirates made it), wrestling season, Thanksgiving, and eventually CHRISTmas.  I have had to add basketball to my activities now.  It is hard.  I am clueless when it comes to this sport, plus I am a wrestling fan.  Will has chosen to join the dark side (basketball).  One day I am gonna have to have a long talk with that boy!  He loves it (of course), so again, I have to ask, who am I?  Caleb has chosen to keep wrestling.  He is doing better than I expected, he is still just a baby.  This is his second year and he is just in Kindergarten.  I didn’t start until the 3^rd grade.

 

I have to share something the boys and I were able to do… without my wife’s complete blessing, so if you see her, do me a favor, don’t ask her about it.  Anyways, the boys and I went to a TV taping of WWE Smackdown in Tulsa.  We were able to go with my cousin “Little Donnie” Hamil, Vernon Ward, Alex Halbert, and the Hoggats, Mark, Tina, Nick, and Cole.  It was a blast!!!!  They even got close to some of the wrestlers.  They even got an autograph of one of the ECW wrestlers.  Get this…. His name…. Balls Mahoney.  What a crowning moment (tongue in cheek).  PLEASE NOTE: My kids know the theatrics behind this entertainment.  Oh yeah… no, we do not try this at home.

 

 

Will is another year older (8 now) and my wife seems to be melting away.  She looks so good, no, GREAT!!  Yuck, I know.  You didn’t want to read that.  But she is working hard to get in shape.  Her biggest obstacle is me.  I’m next and she is training to be my trainer.  We’ll see where this statement gets me.

 

One of the neatest community projects I have ever been a part of happened September 30, 2006 at the Locust Grove Community Building.  It was the first Health Fair I have ever heard of in Locust Grove.  I know, a funeral home at a health fair seems like an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms.  Unfortunately, part life is death which in turn is a result of health, good or bad.  But as Grandpa Bill Grass used to say, “You don’t have to be in a hurry, just be prepared”.  This health fair provided that kind of information, for better health as well as the inevitable.

 

Also, a new one for me, I am now officially a part of the myspace community.  Yes, there was a day I was bored and now I have something else to help distract me, as if I needed the help to be distracted.  For those who do not know me, distraction is a typical problem for me.  Check out my personal myspace, then check out my wife’s, and even the business has a place.  Watch out, myspace can lead to finding all your old friends - thus leading to more time on the internet.

 

Continue to pray for my family and the families we serve as we continue to pray for you.  Please check out our Useful Links page, this Heritage Makers thing is a wonderful way to tell a story through the art of storybooking/scrapbooking.  Until next time--

 

 

May Gob Bless and Keep Each of You,

Shawn Bates

 

PS: If you want this newsletter emailed to you, let me know where to send it by clicking here.  I will keep archives of this newsletter on the website.