The 2012 Shaw Family Reunion is scheduled for the last Saturday in June, in Bowie, Texas.

Date:
June 30, 2012

Location:
Carter Lake Road Church of Christ Annex,
412 Rock Hill Road, Bowie, Texas
(Google maps link: Carter Lake Road Church of Christ)

Important stuff you might want to know:

Meals

Lunch, as usual, will be a bring-your-own affair; often that involves a lot of sharing of favorite pot-luck dishes, which is fine, too.

For the evening meal, we’ll be providing brisket and smoked sausage from a local caterer. Please bring side dishes and deserts to share with everyone.

We’ll provide tea, coffee, and a basic assortment of soft drinks, and plenty of ice. Feel free to supplement this with your own favorite soft drinks.

Auction

Don’t forget to bring something for the auction! It’s a lot of fun, and helps ensure we have the funds to continue the next year’s reunion.

Accommodations

Hotel: Best Western Inn & Suites, Bowie

This hotel has good reviews (see this TripAdvisor reviews page), and is offering a special rate if you mention “Shaw Reunion”.

There are other hotels in Bowie (see Bowie Hotels on TripAdvisor.com), but we don’t know enough about them to recommend them.

Camping:

There are two RV sites on the south side of Bowie, both of which seem to get good ratings on various websites offering customer reviews:

• Campers Paradise RV Park
• Lazy Days RV Park

See you there!!

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It’s been fifteen years since Hisae and I pledged our love and dedication to each other, in front of a few thousand of our closest friends. Sure, counting a number like 15 is arbitrary, but it’s a good excuse to remember what a good thing I’ve got.

There have been plenty of ceremonies like ours, before and since, but of course none of them could possibly have been as cool as ours was, simply because we weren’t in them.

Ours was on a rainy day in Seoul’s Olympic Stadium. Click that tiny thumbnail image above for a badly scanned pic, shot with a cheap pocket camera, in the stadium after the ceremony. This is one of the few photos I have from that day — never was big on taking lots of pictures, and I kind of regret that now.

Fortunately there are memories that are stronger than film, and a life together since then, full of experiences more vivid than pictures.

Still, for a more aesthetically pleasing experience, you may enjoy the following AP piece, from a ceremony similar to ours, albeit 14 years later. Best wishes for these young couples, and a happy anniversary to the many other couples who are celebrating today.

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Sweet!  I just noticed that Rick over at Rick’s Hideout, author of the very cool Twitter for Wordpress plugin, included my patch for a bug in the link discovery feature.  Thanks, Rick!

Tech | No Comments »

I noticed the ads on this page today while surfing the web.  Makes it easy to imagine that we’re all very interested in stopping hunger, as long as it’s the hopeless persistent gnawing hunger we feel around Noon every day.

Human Living | No Comments »

Well, it’s begun.  My two oldest girls are in softball again, and all that free time I’ve been complaining about finally has found its use.

I’m also the head coach for the younger girl’s team, the Thunderbirds. This is a fantastic new experience, not without its challenges.  But believing as I do in the power of responsible adults to better the lives of children in community, I consider the whole thing a net win for all of us.  We’ll invest, make the practices and the games, learn new skills, make new friends, and then come back again next year for the next round, hopefully better than we were before.

Opening day is March 28.  Can’t wait!

HomeTown | No Comments »

The need for religion in my world is as clear as the need for justice in the world at large.  For religion is not a code of require beliefs, nor an affiliation or identity, but a path toward liberation, the being reminded of our divine nature and our position as beloved children of God.  To the extent of a person’s awareness of God’s love, of his own value and beauty, that person is free to be aware of the value of others — and herein lies the root of justice.

Human Living | 3 Comments »

Forty-three people drove into Sherman last weekend for the 2008 Shaw Family Reunion.  We shared a delicious lunch and dinner, and heard a great presentation from Gary Hammonds on his research into the Shaw family history.  Thanks to Gary for such great work.

I tried to get pictures of each household together and I’ve posted them in the 2008 Shaw Family Reunion Gallery.  I’d like to be able to add more informal pictures, so if you have any you could offer, please send them my way and I’ll post them up.

Aunt Sandy and I will be wrapping up the records in the next few days, and we’ll send a report out to all those whose email addresses we have, which essentially amounts to those who came Saturday.  If you’d like to get a copy and weren’t there to give us your email address, submit a comment below, and include your email address in the appropriate field (which won’t be displayed on the site).

I hope everyone has gotten home safely by now.  Thanks to everyone for coming out.  We really did have a great time, and I look forward to seeing you all next year.

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The Shaw reunion in Sherman, Texas is just days away now, and we’re making final preparations to have everything ready.

Here’s one of the signs you’ll need to watch out for as you find your way to Shannon Church of Christ in Sherman.

Family Reunion | No Comments »

Mark your calendars now — we want to see you in Sherman, Texas on Saturday, July 26.This year’s reunion will be held in the fellowship hall of Shannon Church of Christ in Sherman. We’ve marked the site on Google Maps, so you can click here to see a map of the location; you can even click here to get customized directions to the site from your own home.

This location has plenty of air-conditioned space for our group, with a full kitchen to make our pot-luck meals a smooth operation. We’ll provide the tea, ice, coffee, cups, plates, and utensils; you bring your favorite dishes — and don’t forget recipe cards if you’re bringing home-cooked fare. (I believe I still owe someone the recipe for King Ranch Chicken from last year…)

We don’t anticipate any changes, but you can always check this page for the latest updates. You can also email me at allen@shawhometown.com if you’d like to receive updates by email.

We had lots of fun times last year, thanks to excellent preparations by Gary Lee Hammonds. You can click here to see some pictures from last year, in case you may not have seen them before. (If you have more from last year that aren’t here, please send them to me by email — I’d love to put them up!)

We look forward to seeing you in Sherman. Last Saturday in July. See you there!

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I’ve added a new section to this site, “Positions,” in which I will attempt to outline the core beliefs that guide my life. I’m hoping that by stating such things clearly I’ll be able to see some of my biases and refine my worldview. The first article is “Life,” discussing the value of physical life and my corresponding convictions against killing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Positions | 3 Comments »