Cannon Family Reunion (Part 1)

posted by Anna

The past few weeks have been overflowing with joy as we have been able to spend some wonderful time with extended family! Our vacation began with our family attending a Redhawks baseball game with a large group from our church. Our choir was requested to sing the National Anthem for the presentation of the flags at the beginning of the game. It was great, and we all had a ball :) 

The next day was Saturday, and we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa's for a couple of days to enjoy some time with them before heading to The Ozark Folk Center in the Ozark Mountains of Northern Arkansas for the Cannon Family Reunion. 

Our family was able to be the welcoming committee and get everything set up and organized before the rest of the clan arrived. We had a wonderful set up with the hub of everyone's lodging being right in the center of activity. They all got there monday night, and our family along with Grandmama and Grandpapa went in together and fixed Taco Salad (a family favorite) for the welcoming meal. Mama and her brother, Titus, did a wonderful job organizing the whole thing and working as a team to keep things moving smoothly :)

Happy Birthday, Grandmama!!!

On Tuesday morning, the morning of her birthday, we all congregated to The Iron Skillet Restaurant for a delicious, home-style breakfast. It was a sweet time of fellowship, food, memories shared, and celebrating the life of the dear wife, mother, grandmother, and friend that she has been to each one of us. 

Elisabeth wrote a sweet poem dedicated to her, very eloquently portraying the legacy of faith in God that she has exemplified beginning in her early childhood, and love for her family, both of which has impacted our lives more than we may ever know. All of us grand children were able to sign our names around the poem and it was presented to her after Elisabeth read it aloud. 

We are so thankful for her example and want to follow in her footsteps of continuing that glorious legacy, which is being abandoned in our day and time, through to our grandchildren in years to come. 

Then each of the five present siblings read a letter they had individually written to her just thanking her for being the kind of mother she has been, for loving them through thick and thin. Different memories, humorous and heart-touching alike, were shared of their growing up days, as well as recent accounts that were brought up which have meant the world to them. 

The Ozark Folk Center

After Breakfast we all headed to the Folk Center to enjoy a day looking into the past of how people used to do things. It was so refreshing walking into a non-hurried culture where people took time for people. They enjoyed every moment and noticed the little things in life. 

The staff who worked there did a wonderful job explaining the answer to any question we had about anything, plus more! We got to try our inexperienced hands at several activities, and they were very patient with us and encouraging, even in our short comings.

We got to watch the process of how brooms were made and had the privilege of listening and learning about the history of brooms, the different kinds of brooms and broom corn that was used and how they "evolved" into what we use now. It was very intriguing!

This lady's husband is know as the father of flame painting. Formerly, he was a plumber, dealing with copper lines in his work, and discovered that copper turns different colors depending on the oxidization and how hot it gets. He now travels the country giving classes on how to "paint" copper. We got to watch his wife demonstrate the pieces captured below. This was one of our favorite shops!

This area reminded me of the known, but often neglected truth that we are God's workmanship. So often we like to think that we are in control of the circumstances of our life and that if things don't go the way we think they should then God is not not kind and loving like He says He is; but that is not the case! We were created for His glory, not our own! He made us so He could have fellowship with us and then so we could enjoy Him forever! When man sinned, that separated us from being able to have fellowship with Him, But God, being so merciful, already had a plan to redeem us through His own Son. We are not our own! We are bought with a price!  As the prophet Isaiah stated so well, this should be our attitude towards our standing in God's hands, "But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." (Isaiah 64:8). Ron Hamilton wrote a song called "The Clay and the Potter" which very adequately expresses the feeling we so often have in this journey called Life. 

Does the clay ever say to the potter: 

"Tell me why have you made me this way?

For my sides are all thinning; I'm tired of spinning 

Around and around every day!"

Does the clay ever say to the potter: 

"I'm afraid that I just don't agree!

For so often I feel that life on this wheel

            Is not all it's cracked up to be!"

Does the clay ever say to the potter:

"All your plans are much different than mine.

And I do beg your pardon, but if I must harden,

I'd like a much different design!"

Does the clay ever say to the potter:

"This old oven is getting quite hot!

If the pot you're designing requires refining,

I really would much rather not!"

It seems rather strange to imagine

That my life is also like clay,

Until I remember that God formed my members

And made me in His special way!

So instead of a life of complaining

About things that I don't understand,

I will simply be grateful that my God is faithful

To finish the work He began!
(Ron Hamilton)

"My life is but a weaving

Between my Lord and me,

I cannon choose the colors

He worketh steadily.

Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper

And I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Shall God unroll the canvas

And explain the reasons why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the Weaver's skillful hands

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned"

(Author Unknown)

One shop I really enjoyed was the Printer's shop. All the machines in the room were operated by hand, and had to be so precisely worked. Christina and I walked in just as he was working on raising the printing foundation so the ink would be pressed evenly on the Christmas card he was going to stamp. It was such tedious work, yet he was so patient with it, taking the card as it came out and carefully inspecting it, then adding a little more raise here or there behind the press to make sure the whole card got thoroughly pressed. I was reminded that, whether it be teaching a musical instrument, or training a child, or anything else that involves discipleship, a consistent, patient eye and caring, gentle hand will do so much in the lives of teaching them the mastery of the skill, or what it means to be a godly man or woman who eschews evil, and follows after righteousness.  It was not a "Type Writer's Shop" but it reminded me of the poem called "The Type" that Elisabeth wrote a few months ago.   

Another shop and the final one for this trip was the candle shop. We all enjoyed dipping our candles in the different colors of wax. Some had rainbow candles, others attempted a swirl look with a couple colors, and others stuck with simple tradition and went for one color :)

It was a fun day, filled with learning experiences, and life application, as well as the simple joy of looking into a window of what part of America's past looked like. 

Another Graduation Recognition 

After a very fun-filled day touring the little shops, we all regrouped over a large pizza dinner and enjoyed hearing about what everyone else did that day :). At the end, we recognized all the Graduates. including those who graduated from kindergarten. Then Elisabeth got up and read her poem "Done?" which tied very well into her explaining what the Lord is opening up for her.

"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." 
Jeremiah 6:16a