And a Child Shall Lead Them

Just a couple of Anson's cute events. On Friday, Stella took the day off so she could help Dacia, who had given birth to Joseph just a week ago. She dropped Anson and Tanner off at school in the morning and then picked up Anson from school a little before lunch, when his school day was completed. Stella took Ella with her, and after picking up Anson, they went to MacDonald's for lunch. Just as they were turning in to MacDonald's, Anson said he would rather go to Burger King. So, they went to Burger King, where each of the kids got a kid's meal (which included a little toy).

As they were sitting there, Anson heard a couple of little kids saying that they wish they could have gotten a little toy. They weren't complaining loudly, just kind of verbally wishing. Anson asked if it was all right, and then took one of the little toys over to them and gave it to them. What a wonderful, charitable act.

The second experience of Anson was that at school, each of the kids was given a piece of paper to draw on. Anson asked if he could have an additional piece of paper, as well. He took the two pieces of paper and stapled them together. On the first page he wrote (spelling corrected), "by Anson" and "the Book of Mormon."

He then gave it to his teacher. That's right. He gave his teacher a book of Mormon. She has had contact with the church before, and thought it was very sweet. We should all be so bold.

Book of Mormon cover

Inside his Book of Mormon

The Miracle of Life

"There are two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is
a miracle."
--A Einstein

We had the opportunity to experience the miracle of life Thursday when Joseph Palmer Shumate was born to Devin & Dacia. The birth of a baby is full of tender mercies of the Lord. What a sweet blessing it was. He is perfect and beautiful. We took Tanner, Anson, & Ella to the hospital to see mom and dad and brother. We were going to the room even before Dacia got to her room (she had been in the recovery room until then). As we were walking down the hallway to the room, we turned around and saw Dacia in her wheelchair and Devin alongside her. The kids, especially Ella, just squealed with joy and went running to their parents. What a beautiful sight. The nurse was touched by the scene. As were we all. The nurse was impressed by their family. Two wonderful, loving parents with nice, cute children. How could she not be impressed. It was very sweet to see the children crawl up onto the bed with their mother and baby brother (one at a time). It brought back memories of when each of our children were born and what special times those were.

Proud siblings!

Tanner-biggest brother and exemplar

Anson will protect him

sweet Ella...her world is about to change

Joseph Palmer Shumate-one week old

Anson Shumate--master photographer

Yesterday after General Conference, our family gathered together for dinner, as we do every Sunday. While we were sitting around, Anson (Devin & Dacia's five year-old) wanted to borrow my camera. These are the results.

Stella

Devin (thinking)

Jaqui & Travis

Danielle & Cory (Zombie pose)

Alan (giving Anson the eye)

If you know of someone who is getting married, keep Anson in mind. His rates are very reasonable (due to the child labor laws).

I Love Family Photos

This is our latest and greatest family photo. It was taken at the beginning of the year when Matt and his family were here. Stella and i enjoy it when we all gather at Cory & Danielle's to have family pictures taken. Luckily we have people with artistic ability in our family...photographers, graphic designers, and all those who make our family look like it could be on the cover of a magazine.


And quite the photo shoot it was. With all the equipment, you would have thought there were visiting celebrities and paparazzi gathered for the occasion.



And no photo shoot is ever completed until all the grandkids are gathered together and trying really, really hard to sit still for the photographs.


This is how we bribe them to sit still for the "formal" photos....we tell them that the last picture will be one of them acting silly. I'm not sure if Gwyn and Ella appreciated having their pictures taken upside down.


Now this is the photo of what we seem to do and enjoy best. Eating Sunday dinners together. Now when we are all together, there is an actual children's table. And by the way, the right side of Danielle's face is just as beautiful as the side you can see.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot...

In a ploy meant to decrease the frustration of putting our Christmas tree together and carefully installing the Christmas lights, we purchased a brand-new ready-to-go Christmas tree. One of those new ones where the limbs are already attached and the lights are already carefully wrapped around the branches. That's right...just like in the Norman Rockwell paintings! It was great. All we had to do was carefully place the ornaments on it and presto...instant tree. Just add presents. When our children were little, we went out and cut down a real tree and then decorated it with lights and ornaments. Honest. I have pictures.



One of the fun things we did this Christmas is that Travis & Jaqui took us to see the local presentation of the Nutcracker at the Pantages Theater. It is a beautiful building, one where I remember seeing movies when I was younger. I have always enjoyed listening to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, even when it's not Christmastime. The performance was very good and the live music by the Tacoma Sinfonietta was quite enjoyable. And the company was without equal.



It had been snowing off and on, and when we came out of the performance, it was definitely on. Driving home, I took a picture of this building. It is actually "Tacoma Self Storage," but one year the "S" broke, and so now, every December, they turn the "S" off on purpose. It makes me smile every time I see it.



It is quite strange to have this much snow in December. We rarely have a white Christmas. If it snows at all, it is usually in January. And then it only lasts for a day or two and then is gone. So far, we have had a total accumulation of 6-12 inches. In fact, for the most part, church was canceled yesterday. We only had a one-hour Sacrament Meeting with the three wards which meet in our building meeting together. This is a picture of me shoveling the driveway (after I had cleaned off the car and the front deck). It was quite a workout. Maybe that is why people from Minnesota live so long. I thought about titles for this photo as I was shoveling.

1-Why I like rain
2-Things I DON'T like doing on my birthday
3-Let Al Gore try to explain this "global warming"
4-An hour of my life I will never get back