signs along the journey

sometimes bad things happen...

The other day I stopped on the way home from work to pick up medicine. It was one of those "bad" days, I thought, because the one prescription I really needed was not ready. The dentist had not called in my pre-med. On the way to the pharmacy counter, I picked up a couple of 12/pks of Diet Coke which had "sale" stickers of $2.99. As it happened, the sticker was out of date. The cashier paged the manager who was not very happy to sell the drinks at the wrong price. After inquiring if any other drinks were on sale, I decided to purchase the Diet Pepsi instead at $2.50, a no-brainer. I paid for my medicine at the pharmacy counter and headed to the front of the store and grabbed a Diet Pepsi and Diet Dr. Pepper. Yep, it was just one of those days. The Dr. Pepper was not on sale, just the Pepsi product. So I left the store with one 12/pk of diet drinks and one less prescription. I arrived home safe and sound and stopped to get the mail out of our mailbox, and you guessed it - I dropped the mail and the bags of medicine while juggling the diet drink. What else could go wrong, I wondered! I told my wife about my "bad" afternoon. She listened and had a good laugh over it. I stopped and thought about it and tried put it in perspective.

Sometimes things just go wrong and sometimes a lot of things go wrong. Such is the journey of life. That same evening we found out that Ben Hulin was involved in a motorcycle crash and was in critical condition with a spinal injury. Ben was in Stephen's wedding party, and also in the same society with Stephen and Brandon at BJU. One of their best friends is hurting and it makes you stop and think because it could just as easily be happening to your child.

Terri Irwin, wife of Steve "the crocodile hunter" Irwin, was interviewed this week for the first time since his death. Barbara Walters, of ABC's 20/20, asked Terri how she has been able to handle his death. Her response was "by faith" and then when asked to explain that comment, Mrs. Steve Irwin responded "by her faith in God, and because I know that all things happen for a reason."

A few weeks ago, Cindy's mom traveled to Boston to help cousin Mike and Susan in dealing with Susan's father passing away. When they arrived back home to Arkansas, Winnie found out that her sister Ginny had died. Shortly before this, we learned that cousins Jeremiah, Joel and Brandy's "other" grandmother passed away. Through all of these things that happen in life, we can learn to trust God more and our faith can grow. God has promised to comfort us and to be a help in times of trouble. Our problems will seem overwhelming if we lose our focus. As the song reminds us, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."

think I see a smile

Two weeks old today and it looks like Brielle is smiling in this photo.

blogs of interest

A very, very interesting site devoted to the beauty of waterfalls can be found at SCwaterfalls.com. Even though I grew up in South Carolina, I never knew there were so many waterfalls that you could visit in the Carolinas.

Another interesting blog is a compilation of google map "mashups" from around the world. This site is found at googlemapsmania.blogspot.com. On the right sidebar are links to the "top picks" and "current events" such as fastfoodmaps.com. Not sure what you would do with all of this info, but it is a fun site to search.

Looking for interesting Christian bloggers to read? Check out this one with a unique title called paleoevangelical.blogspot.com.

family photo album

Natalie and her cousin Andrew - future construction workers of America

Natalie had her "official" two year photo taken recently at a studio

the heavens declare...

"The heavens declare the glory of God, all nature is singing his majesty" (these words based on Psalm 19:1 in a song by Ron Hamilton)

The photo below was posted below at Foxnews/AP

The photo below was taken recently in Jax when a waterspout formed in the St. Johns River and moved on to land as a funnel cloud (a very unusual occurence)

cool beans and other stuff

Greg Paulus, freshman point guard at Duke last year, comes from a family of six brothers and one sister. From USAToday.com
Pauluses are family that plays together and stays together

Another Duke basketball link is a recent photo shoot of Duke's Josh McRoberts and UNC'S Tyler Hansbrough. Hey, basketball season is just around the corner!

For those involved in education, teachers or students, segatech.com posted this blog with many links to information about Constitution Day (Sept 18th).

National Geographic, known for is stunning photography, has links to photos "in the news" at this site. Check out the Best Mountain Photographs photo gallery and Rivers of America photo gallery.




NBC will be adding VeggieTales this fall to their Saturday morning cartoon line-up. But according to this article from Citizenlink, NBC wants to leave any reference to God on the cutting-room floor.

Jack Kingston had an interesting blog this week regarding the poll numbers we never read or hear in the news. For example, a CBS poll finds that 51% of Americans feel that President Bush's policies have made us safer. Read his take on this at Jack's Blog - Didn't You Hear?

cartoon of the week

Varvel again gets the nod with the favorite cartoon of the week. Our young people today it seems do not get enough exercise and are all destined to become obese adults. So Varvel wondered what Peanuts would look like if based on today's kids...

what a week!

Mom and baby as they leave the hospital last Saturday

What a difference a week makes! This photo was taken just before Brielle was born.

One thing for sure, I am glad summer is over! Fall begins tomorrow and even the weather cooperated here in Jax as it was about 56 degrees this morning. The air is crisp and seems to give you a little more energy.

The Braves are just about out of any chance at the wild card spot for the championship series. The Jags are having their best start ever after beating the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburg Steelers. A win this week over the Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning and who knows how far they will go this year! That Arkansas boy, Matt Jones is finally playing like a wide receiver. On top of that, the Gators are winning and are no. 5 in the nation this week.

Our family is growing as our newest grandbaby, Brielle, was born a week ago. We are looking forward to seeing her in a couple of weeks in PA.

Isn't she a cutie!

As they say, always Daddy's girl!

web watch

Some things of I found of interest on the web recently include this site about landscaping at whisperingcraneinstitute.com Maybe you will get some inspiration from these renderings or drawings.

Albert Mohler posted a news article from Great Britain about a man who was arrested for passing out tracts. At this link you can read the article titled The Criminalizing of Christianity in Great Britain.

This next web site brings back a lot of memories from 5th and 6th grade, which was a long, long time ago in a far, far away state (South Carolina -OK it's not that far away!). My friends and I would spend recess at school in the 5th grade playing on the jungle gym and pretending we were "lost in space". Another interesting tidbit about this show is that John Williams composed the soundtrack for the first season of Lost in Space. About ten years later, John Williams would become famous for composing the soundtrack to Star Wars. I went shopping on line at Amazon.com recently and was able to find a copy of the soundtrack to the TV show. And now there is this web site. Someone has too much time on their hands, but it is fun to visit this site from time to time which is dedicated to Lost in Space, the TV show.

signs along the journey

Yes, this is the story of my life! I found this at a gift shop in Arkansas awhile back.

proud papa

We received a lot of photos from just after the birth (technology is great today!) Of course most of those I would not post for the whole world to view, but I like this photo of the proud papa!

dash the movie

Our guest speaker at church yesterday was from Clearwater Christian College. Dr. Hodges mentioned "the dash" in his message about our life and how we will be remembered after we are dead. In a cemetery, the tombstone or headstone will read with your name and give date you were born and the date you died with a dash (-)between the dates. The most important thing that matters to God is what you do during those years between the dash (your life here on earth.)
I posted the link to the dash movie on my blog on September 3rd, but just in case you missed it here is the link to my post called reinforcing core values.

new music releases

Here are just a few of the newest releases of conservative, traditional, Christian music. You can listen to 90 seconds of the selections on each CD at the links to OldChristianRadio.com as well as order for your home at this site.

This CD from the Wilds Music is not new, but since Mac and Beth Lynch were at our church last Sunday, I thought I would mention this one again. This is a good collection of mens ensembles, called Everlasting God.(click on link to listen to 90 seconds excerpts of each selection) Mac Lynch has been the Wilds Camp Music Director since 1990 and has been used by God to publish music for churches across America.

Finally, the dean of the Christian trombone, Dr. Frank Garlock, and Majesty Music has produced a great brass choir CD called For All the Saints. Along with arrangements for brass choir by Dr. Garlock this CD also features brass arrangements by Diana Everson.

If you have the first two volumes of Scripture Meditations, I know you will look forward to the third. Dr. and Mrs. Edward Panosian read from the King James 1611 version of the Bible.


The newest CD from Ron and Shelly Hamilton is called Only by His Grace features choir with orchestra.

The Foundation Brass is a quintet made up of music professors at Bob Jones University. The newest CD is title American Portraits is a great collection of patriotic music for brass.

newborn pictures of Brielle Michala

Our first three photos of Brielle came Friday morning via email, but since I was at work I had to wait ALL DAY to get home and post these!! Congratulations to mommy and daddy! You have a beautiful little girl!

future blogger born today

Yes! We are proud grandparents today as Janelle gave birth to an 8lb 8 ounce baby girl!

Brielle Michala

She was born at about 4:55 pm today, she has dark hair and was measured at 21-3/4 inches long.

favorites by Varvel

Some of my favorite editorial cartoons by Gary Varvel. (for more check out the link to Varvblog in my favorites)


It was disclosed that someone at CBS had used "photo shop" to make Katie Couric look thinner in her promo shots for the CBS Evening News.

Varvel seems to see things through a unique perspective

What better way to remember why we are fighting the War on Terror - Varvel's 9/11 tribute editorial cartoon simply reminds us "never forget"

crocodile tears

We will all miss Steve Irwin and his enthusiasm for animals, crazy as he seemed to most of us.

Here are a couple of interesting articles about the "Crocodile Hunter", along with the link to the ESPN commercial he filmed with the Florida mascot. As you will read in the article - Crocodile Tears - ESPN has pulled this commercial from TV and their website. This article describes what the Gators mascot "Albert" had to go through to film this commercial. The commercial is posted at youtube.com and is a quite funny. It is a shame that ESPN decided to pull it from the airwaves.

I also read this article about the Crocodile Hunter by Ray Comfort that helps to put it all in perspective.

updates to the blog

I hope you like the new look of my blog. With Blogger Beta, I am able to categorize each post with labels. It took me a few hours to do this. I have the "Labels" set at the top right of the sidebar for now. For example.e, I can quickly check all the blogs and photos of "Natalie" (16 to date.) I am very pleased with the new features of Blogger Beta, and it is very user-friendly. There are still a few kinks to work out, but most everything is working again.

With the start of NFL this weekend, I have added to my "favorites" the link to Jaguars.com. The Jags started the year with a win over the Dallas Cowboys.

beautiful day for a stroll

I captured this unusual site with my camera - this Great Egret walked down our street, across it and back again. We have never seen these birds except at the Trout River about a mile away. It was funny to see all the neighbors standing in their front yards watching as this bird walked by.

web watch

For a cyber-portrait of yourself, just check out this link to Ryan Terry's Portrait Machine - Enter your first name and follow the directions, answer the questions, and you will be able to view and print out a unique portrait of yourself!

I mentioned this site before, but with the start of school I thought some of you might need some help. So check out WordIQ.com which offers a search tool using various encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc.

First Coast News, TV-12 has a link to videos at Cush Corner. Chad Cushnir is the producer of Sports Final on Sunday nights (with Dan Hicken and Jeff Prosser) and is also known for operating the Cush Cam at local high school football games.

Top story of the week is the ironic death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, not by a crocodile but by a stingray. You can read about it at this link to the australian news.com (not for the faint of heart!)

signs along the journey

This photo was taken in Arkansas by my wife's brother, Carl.

blogger issues

I have upgraded to Blogger Beta which is supposed to be more user friendly, etc. but there is a glitch in the program. Blogger is supposed to be working on it, but if you use IE (internet explorer browser) the screen "freezes" for about a minute. Then a message pops up reading that there is a "script" that is causing IE to run slower. Just click on "yes" to abort and you can scroll through my blog. Hopefully this will be fixed sooner than later.

In the meantime, I hope you like the new look to my blog.

updates to my blog

I have updated my blogsite recently in several ways. On the sidebar, I have moved the archives to the bottom of the page now. I also decided to move the Google search link to the top of my list of favorites since that is the search engine I use most often. I used to use Yahoo for every search. Then a few months ago, I started using both Yahoo and Google. Now I use Google most of the time.

I have added Dave Ruse's blog to my list of favorites. He is a friend of Brandon and is still in school at BJU. His sister married Ryan, who grew up with Brandon at Victory. With his blog at Daveruse.blog and Mounty's Corner blogsite, you can find links to many other students and friends who have some connections to BJU.

My photo link is now one link called Franklybaggs Gallery and you can view all the current photo albums I have published at kodakgallery.com.

I discovered recently that Gary Varvel has a blog just for his editorial cartoons. I think the blog is much better than just viewing the cartoon because in the blog he explains what gave him the inspiration for his drawings. I have changed the link to direct you to his site called Varvblog.


A couple more changes you might notice and then again you might not, but since Drum Corps season has ended I have removed the links to those sites. But don't forget to watch the ESPN2 special presentation tonight of the DCI finals in Madison WI. If you missed it, it will be broadcast again. ESPN2 will broadcast the first hour on Monday, Sept. 11th at 2:00pm and then the second hour on Monday, Sept. 18th also at 2:00pm.

reinforcing core values

watch the dash movie at this link

With great photography, inspirational quotes and stories to
reinforce each point, Mac Anderson shares what he has learned about attitude, leadership and success in his 30 years as a successful entrepreneur. His site offers corporate gift books that emphasize quality, service, respect and integrity as the key words to describe core values.

Find gifts of inspiration at simpletruths.com

September family news and photos

As you can see from the photos, the Lord has blessed us with my mother's recovery from the stroke. She is not quite 100% but she is doing well, playing piano for the church services and teaching her Sunday School class again.

September is here and we look forward to cooler weather, just around the corner. We are in the midst of hurricane season and hope it will be a quiet one. Ernesto brought just a little rain in Jax which is what we need the most right now. School has started for all ages and football season is here - Go Gators! We even have a day off from work to say goodbye to the summer and hello to fall. Hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day holiday!

Speaking of labor, we heard from Josh and the doctor thinks Janelle may have the baby a week later than expected - key word there "may". We are looking forward to this event. I can remember those last few weeks before a baby is born - the anxious waiting for the "right" time to go to the hospital. Of course, all three of our boys came two weeks EARLY! So much for last minute planning (take note Josh)

September birthdays . . .
Kimberly Kay (Baggett) Alexander on the 3rd
Christina (Blackstock) Williams on the 5th
Douglas Anthony Baggett on the 12th
James Darrell Rice on the 12th
Mary Louise (Rice) McDaniel on the 26th

In remembrance . . .
**72 years ago
Uncle Sonny (Ralph) Baggett was born September 5, 1934 (died in 2006)
**100 years ago
Grandpa John Sherman Rice was born on September 26, 1906 (died in 1968)