The Tale of the Three Trees

Our home teachers came over last night and shared the most wonderful Christmas story with us. I had never heard it before but it was really moving and touched my heart. I would like to share the book with you.

The Tale of the Three Trees

• A traditional Folktale retold by Angela Elwell

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.

The first lettle tree looked up at the stars twinkling like diamonds above him. "I want to be covered with gold and filled with preciouse stones. I will be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!"

The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean. "I want to be a strong sailing ship," he said. "I want to travel mighty waters and carry powerful kings. I will be the strongest ship in the world!.

The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and busy women worked in a busy town. "I don't want to leave this mountaintop at all," she said. "I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me they will raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world!"

Years passed. The rains came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain.

The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and siad, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell. "Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest," thought the first tree. "I shall hold wonderful treasure."

The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters," thought the second tree. "I shall be a strong ship fit for kings!"

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the woodcutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me," he muttered. With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brough him to a carpenter's shop, but the busy carpenter was not thinking about treasure chests. Instead his workworn hands fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals. The once-beautiful tree was not covered with gold or filled with treasure. He was coated with sawdust and filled with hay for hungry animals.

The second tree smiled when the woodcutter took him to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ships were being built that day. Instead the once-strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. Too small and too weak to sail an ocean or even a river, he was taken to a little lake. Every day he brought in loads of dead, smelly fish.

The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" the once-tall tree wondered. "All I ever wanted to do was stay on the mountaintop and point to God." Many, many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams. But one night golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box. "I wish I could make a cradle for him," her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. "This manger is beautiful," she said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveller and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveller fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. He knew he did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through the wind and rain. The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the King of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry, jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hands to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel.
But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled beneath her, the third three knew that God's loved had changed everything. It had made the first tree beautiful. It had made the second tree strong, And every time people thought if the third tree, they would think of God.

That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

At this most wonderful time of year, we turn our hearts to Christ. We celebrate His birth, His life and His gift to us. I we can share His message of peace and love with those around us. Merry Christmas!

Crafting in China

It's the Christmas season again, and I am happy to report that my yearly tradition of card making is alive and kicking here in China. Last year I went to a friend's house and used all her supplies to make cards. Thanks Melanie Bang for helping out last year! But, she was busy that day and I just sat making cards alone watching Ugly Betty. It was nice, but a little lonely. This year I decided that it just wouldn't do to be all alone making my cards. In the States, every year I would go to a Stamp a Stack with my great friend Jacqui. I miss you Jacqui! So, this year, in honor of Jacqui and all our fun times stamping, I got a small group of friends together to work on cards. Even though we couldn't bring Sonic drinks for each other, I have the good taste to associate with lots of Diet Coke drinkers. We stamped, ate pizza and pasta from Pasta Fresca restaurant, and had a great time talking and laughing. I had a new friend come from PuXi (an hour from where we live). I had never met her before, but we had a blast and I look forward to lots of fun stamping sessions in the future with Catherine.

(Ok, I have to write this. Cooper, who is now 4, just came in totally naked yelling "It's wipey time Mom. I'm done pooping!" then "Mom, did you hear that slurpy sound? That was my poop coming out!" I am totally dying right now and just had to share!)

Anyway, here are some fun pictures from our day. Vanna is the tall brunette from Italy. Maya is the cute Japanese American doll with her sweet little daughter Rhianne. Catherine is our new friend sitting with me and Vanna. We are going to start a monthly crafting club because we had such a great time!

Kitty, Vanna and Catherine

Whew! What a mess!

Maya, Rhianne and Brescia the Dog

Cannon Fall Family Trip Installment #2

Here's installment #2 of the Cannon Fall Family Trip. After our rather full trip to Beijing, we enjoyed a little slower pace in Xi'an. Upon landing, we found that the lovely weather we had in Beijing was to be enjoyed no more. We exited the small airport in a light, constant drizzle. In Beijing we were met at the airport by our tour guide and all 7 of us were escorted to a 10 passenger van, which took us all around to the sights. We expected the same reception in Xi'an and were surprised when our guide led us through the foggy, dark and damp parking lot to a 20-25 passenger bus! The kids thought they were in Disney Land! They ran up and down and all around. After we got on our way, again to our surprise, the guide pulled out a microphone and began to tell us all about Xi'an and what we would be doing in our next 2 days. Again, the kids were thrilled. (The tour guide actually let the kids play with the microphone the next day, much to the adults great discomfort and annoyance!)

Our first stop was an ancient village which had been discovered and excavated, and I believe is about 3000 years old. The adults were impressed but the kids didn't see what all the fuss was about. We saw some old home sights and old grave sights.

An ancient grave site.

At that point it was about 11:30 am and the tour guide informed us that our next stop would be the Terracotta Warriors factory, which was just 45 minutes away and that we would be there for an hour and then on to lunch. I took one look at my kids and in laws, thought about my hungry tummy and how I knew the kids wouldn't last that long, and informed the guide that we would have to eat before the factory. She didn't really understand why the 8, 7 and 4 year olds wouldn't last until 1:30 pm. (Of course, everyone who knows me knows there's no way I would last that long either!). So she took us to a Chinese food tourist trap with horrid buffet food that everyone tried our best to muddle through.

The Terracotta Warriors factory was interesting enough, but mostly just a place to sell tourists expensive Chinese crap... OK, stuff. Lee and I have been waiting to invest in just the right "China" memento, so we fell victim to the factory and purchased a great warrior that stands about 4 feet high. He's pretty cool! The only other interesting thing to include here are the kids posing as warriors.

Each child chose a small warrior to purchase. Eve was very, very careful in her selection!

Aren't they all so CUTE???!!!

On to, in reality, the only reason to visit Xi'an... the Terracotta Warriors. Lee was sooooo excited to see this amazing exhibit. We were amazed when we learned that all the warriors on exhibit were found in broken and crushed and painstakingly reconstructed piece by piece. Each warrior takes between 2-3 MONTHS to put back together. Can you imagine the patience required to restore this amazing find? Rather than list what might be false information, I went to Wikopedia and this is what I found about the Terracotta Army:

"The Terra Cotta Army (simplified Chinese: 兵马俑; traditional Chinese: 兵馬俑; pinyin: bīngmǎ yǒng; literally "soldier and horse funerary statues") are the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China. The terracotta figures were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers near Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China near the Mausouleum of the second Ming Emperor. (Chinese: 秦始皇陵; pinyin: Qín Shǐhuáng Líng). The figures vary in height (183–195 cm - 6ft–6ft 5in), according to their role, the tallest being the generals. The figures include strong warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 100 chariots with 400 horses and 300 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits.[1]"

Here's the first pit we saw. Really amazing!

Close up of part of the pit.

Here's the farmer that discovered the warriors.

If you are interested, you can read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army. I really enjoyed everything I learned while I was there. The kids remained interested for longer than I expected. We were there for about 2 hours and they did pretty well. Actually, us womenfolk were totally over it and ready to move on after about an hour!

That night our tour guide graciously informed us that our dinner would be a buffet of steamed dumplings filled with lots of lovely kinds of meat like fish and who knows what. She was really excited to share that all the dumplings were shaped to look like different things, like little pigs and such. As delicious as that sounded, we politely informed her that we would prefer to eat at Pizza Hut. She was surprised and amazed that we would turn down such a delightful feast. We assured her that as disappointed as we were, we would manage quite well at Pizza Hut, thank you very much.

Some examples of dumplings... can be tasty in small doses, but a whole buffet worth???

In Shanghai, we are blessed with many many English speaking Chinese in the service industry. Usually, if I can't get by in Mandarin, there is someone who can muddle through it in about equally limited English. Xi'an, however, is much smaller than Shanghai. There were no English speakers to be found in Pizza Hut! I was very nervous, as the entire group was relying on me to order the meal and get every one's special "with this, but without that" and "half cheese, half meat lovers" properly ordered. To my relief, our meal miraculously arrived as ordered and more importantly (because who knows if what I am saying is what I intend to communicate) as desired by all members of the group! Yeah! Whew!

The next morning we fought the fog and wished for better weather. We toured the city wall of Xi'an, which is quite old and has been reconstructed. We spent a brief time on the wall, then headed to the mall to buy some warm clothes for the kids and Grandma. After that we were off to the airport for another scintillating meal of crappy Chinese food. We have really come to appreciate Ying's cooking! We came home and told her how happy we were that she was cooking again!

Here we are on the City Wall of Xi'an with our tour guide.

Stay tuned for the third and final chapter of the Cannon's Fall Family Trip!

Beijing in the Fall

We are so thrilled that Lee's parents could come visit us last month! Dave and Ginna arrived the last week of September and stayed until the end of October. We really enjoyed having them here. We took a fantastic family trip and toured China for 9 days. First, we hit Beijing, touring the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, the Temple of Heaven, Tiananman Square and the Forbidden City. Whew, what a trip! We were in Beijing for 3 days and two nights and we filled all of our time touring around and seeing the sights. The Great Wall was so fantastic, but so crowded. Here's a great display of just how crowded it was.

We had beautiful weather in Beijing with clear skies that we rarely enjoy in Shanghai. We ate lots of traditional Chinese meals, actually too many for our tastes. After a few not so great meals, we opted for McDonald's! The kids were thankful. One thing we love about China is that McDonald's soft serve ice cream cones are about $.35, so we always get ice cream when we go!

Here we are at a Chinese Dinner - which totally sucked, by the way!

We had a really tough time getting a good family picture on the Great Wall. There were so many people because we went during a national holiday. We knew it would be crowded, but it was our chance to go. We took a cable car up the mountain, which was a harrowing experience for me. I am fearless in many respects, but I HATE heights! Here's a view from inside our car as we are ascending the mountain.

Beijing was so great and there is so much to tell and so many pictures to show. We went to the Forbidden City, which was totally huge! If any of you have seen Disney's Mulan, the Forbidden City is in the scene with the Emperor, when Mulan comes to warn them that the Huns are still alive. It was really fun to stand there with the children and have them recognize where we were!

The Forbidden City

I loved these guards - having to be so serious!

I could show a million pictures of our trip, but I think I'll have to end here. We did so many fun things that it is hard to cover it all. I think I will do a few more separate postings on our Fall trip, so stayed tuned for more amazing travel reports from the Cannon Family in China!

So it's been ages.....

So it's been ages and ages since I posted and I don't even know where to begin. I think that instead of trying to backtrack and cover the whole summer, I will just start fresh today. Maybe you'll get some out of order posts later if I get around to it!

Yesterday was Cooper's 4th birthday. He was soooo excited to be "Big Enough". He spent all day telling me what he is big enough to do now that he is 4. First, he said that he is "Big Enough" to go out of the neighborhood by himself. Unfortunately I had to correct that misconception, much to his dismay. Later he told me he was "Big Enough" to play Webkinz World. After that it was "What AM I "Big Enough" to do now?", as if turning 4 magically changed him overnight into a new and improved, more responsible, taller and all around BIGGER boy. He's growing up too fast!

We went to Johnny Moo's for dinner, per the birthday boy's instructions. We took Dorothy Butters with us, who is Cooper's bestest friend. Dorothy's mom, Tracey, decided that since they were well chaperoned it didn't quite count as a "date". Dorothy did, however, come dressed in her best party dress for the occassion. Here are some fun pictures we took:

Cooper is well known at Johnny Moo's. He always makes friends wherever he goes! The manager loves Cooper and always gives him suckers when we go.

Dorothy Butters has got to be one of the cutest kids I have ever met!

At least one of the kids ate their meal.

Cooper was proud to have his name on the birthday board.

The lego table at Johnny Moo's holds some secret draw that no other lego table can beat. For some reason the kids love legos at Johnny Moo's but don't play with them anywhere else! We have legos at home - not as interesting.....

May/June Birthday Lunch

Every two months we have a birthday lunch to celebrate all the Relief Society Sister's birthdays from that month. Here's a fun picture of several of us at Taylia Olsen's house.

Shanghai Wild Insect Kingdom Class Trip

I was able to attend a field trip with Eve to the Shanghai Wild Insect Kingdom. It's a cute little museum, that although it is supposed to be a bug museum, had far more animals than insects. We still had a blast, so here are some fun pictures of Eve and her class.

Eve and Pareesa (they are inseparable)

Waiting for McDonald's at the mall after the museum.

They taught this lizard to play dead. It was pretty funny. Then, true to Chinese fashion, they put it on a little boy's head! Eve's classmate was none too happy about having a lizard on his head.

Spider on the ceiling. Cooper was worried that is was real. :)

Sorry it's a bit blurry. This is me with Eve and her best friend, Pareesa.

Eve and Pareesa

Eve and her class.

Funny Chinglish

It's a little blury, but I liked this one for the bump on the circle guy's head.

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This is a restaurant's name: "Smart Noshery Makes you Slobber"

The kids didn't understand why I stopped the car for this picture. I was DYING!