Christmas Day photos

click to view CHRISTMAS DAY 2007 IN SC photos

Christmas Eve photos

Click this link to view photos from our Christmas Eve "family reunion" at cousin Judy's home.

Christmas Eve photos

A few photos taken at cousin Judy's Christmas Eve party/family reunion. I am still working on my online photo book and will post those asap.


Caden enjoyed chasing Darrell's dog, Ginger, around the house.



Emilee and Natalie sing along as Mom plays Christmas songs on the keyboard.




Dylan and Emilee playing with the train under the tree



















Judy with her sons, Darrell and Tony

family news

Special days in DECEMBER

There were at least two family birthdays in December – Meredith, our grand-daughter who lives in WI, turned one year old on Dec 2nd. Kimberly Arthur, our 2nd cousin, celebrated her 26th birthday on Dec 23rd . Of course we always think of Cindy’s dad, J.L. Baggett, whose birthday would have been on Dec 24th. Winnie made his favorite apple nut cake to eat on that day in his memory. Gene and Martha Franklin (my parents) celebrated another anniversary (#56) on Dec 22nd ; Joshua and Janelle Franklin celebrated their 4th anniversary on Dec 27th.


We really enjoyed the Franklin family “reunion” at my cousin Judy’s home Christmas Eve. We do not get to go to this every year with my mom and dad, so this year was special. Our middle son Stephen, Leah, Natalie and Meredith arrived from WI on Sunday night and were able to join us for Christmas Eve in SC this year. Also at the party were Tony Mitchell and Darrell Mitchell, Judy’s sons; Pat Brown and family members: Donna and Mike Daley, Trey and Logan and Greg, Kylee and Emilee Brown; my sister, Loretta Brooks, along with her son’s family, Kenny, Casey and Caden Arthur; Gloria Walker and her daughter’s family, Kimberly, Paul, Dylan and Kaitlin Arthur; and it also nice to see Miranda (Dianne's daughter.)

On Christmas Day we opened presents all day long it seemed. We enjoyed seeing Natalie and Meredith opening presents Christmas Day morning and I think we were all happy with the gifts we received. Just as we finished, the Logans arrived with more presents to exchange (my sister Deborah and Charlie, Jonathan, April and Philip) As the mothers prepared dinner for Christmas, other family arrived with more presents to exchange after the meal. My other sister, Loretta and her son's family - Kenny, Casey and Caden joined us for the day. Mom and Dad were very happy to have there family together again at Christmastime.

IN OTHER FAMILY NEWS:
Leah is expecting their third girl due the first of April - which may or may not conflict with our youngest son’s wedding. Brandon and Rachel will be married on March 29th at Victory Baptist in Jax. Our oldest, Joshua, will perform the wedding ceremony.

Also we are praying for Joshua’s wife, Janelle, as she has severe kidney problems and they are running test on her now. Also we are praying for my cousin Gloria Walker as she continues chemo treatment for cancer.

Philip Logan is a freshman at Stetson University. He is involved in music with his guitar classes and ensembles, the men’s choir. He also is participating on the Stetson crew, the rowing team. April Logan has one more semester and will graduate in May 2008 from the school of nursing at BJU.

time for a carol

The Story of the Birth of Christ
(click on link to read)
the angels appeared to shepherds, who were watching their flock in the fields, with the glorious announcement of the birth of Christ.


There was no room in the inn for the baby Jesus to be born, so he was born in a manger, probably in a cave where the animals were kept. Do you have any room for Jesus in your heart and life today?



It's Christmas time and time for a carol,
Time to sing about the newborn king,
So Merry Christmas to one and all!!

sweet songs of Christmas

Our church chorale sang this song during the "Spirit of Christmas" program at Berean two weeks ago. It has a very powerful message in the words - the text written by Eileen Berry - and the music which fits the text so well is written by Dan Forrest. Dan Forrest graduated from Bob Jones University and recently completed his doctorate in Kansas. He returned to staff at BJU this fall. I was searching for the words on line and noticed several university choirs featured this song in their program this year.

You can listen to "Carol of Joy" at this link to Dan's site and the words are below:

Carol Of Joy

Green leaves all fallen, withered and dry; Brief sunset fading, dim winter sky. Lengthening shadows, Dark closing in. When through the stillness, carols begin.

Oh fallen world, to you is the song– Death holds you fast and night tarries long. Jesus is born, your curse to destroy! Sweet to your ears, a carol of Joy!

Pale moon ascending, solemn and slow; Cold barren hillside, shrouded in snow; Deep, empty valley veiled by the night; Hear angel music–hopeful and bright!

Oh fearful world, to you is the song– Peace with your God, and pardon for wrong! Tidings for sinners, burdened and bound–A carol of joy! A Saviour is found!

Earth wrapped in sorrow, lift up your eyes! Thrill to the chorus filling the skies! Look up sad hearted–witness God’s love! Join in the carol swelling above!

Oh friendless world, to you is the song! All Heaven’s joy to you may belong! You who are lonely, laden, forlorn– Oh fallen world!Oh friendless world!To you,A Saviour is born!

the spirit of Christmas

I really enjoyed being part of the Christmas program, "The Spirit of Christmas," at Berean Baptist Church. Even though I am "extra tired" from the six performances this past Friday-Sunday night, I still have some voice left. And by now, the music is so thoroughly entrenched in my brain that I have to share some of it with you - at least the words. The first 20 minutes of the program were traditional Christmas songs. After a solo of "Chestnuts roasting....(the Christmas song)" the choir greeted the audience and began the program with "The Spirit of the Season." This is a very happy Christmas song with such words as "people smile as they pass you by...the day will be here soon" and "snowflakes falling as you rush downtown...the city seems to glow..." Yes, the spirit of the season does fill your hearts with love and care! Other songs included the teens singing about a "marshmallow world" with a lively Frosty the snowman in person. We concluded this portion singing "Dashing through the snow..." and "there's no place like home for the holidays..." ending with "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..."

The first section of the program was followed by an interlude. It gave us a chance to rest our feet, unless you were serving the desserts and drinks. During the interlude, there were musical numbers and skits as people enjoyed the dessert, coffee and hot chocolate.

The remainder of the program focused on the true story of Christmas with many carols and songs. Between the full choir, the men's ensemble and the ladies ensemble a narrator tied all of this together. We ended with the song "Christmas Pastorale" sung by candlelight. If I had to choose a favorite it would be this song.

Like a lamb so meek and mild,
Softly sleeps the holy child,
Lying on a manger bed
Where the ox and sheep have fed.
Lamb of God, pure art thou,
At thy humble throne I bow.
With the angel choirs I sing
Gloria to the newborn King.


God's own Lamb by Heaven adored
Shepherd's own thee as their lord,
Gifts of tribute have they none,
But their hearts for God's own Son.
Lamb of God, pure art Thou
At thy humble throne I bow,
With the angel choirs I sing:
Gloria, Gloria, Gloria to the newborn King.

Callaway Gardens photo gallery

We met up with our friends, Bob and Linda Benn from Jacksonville, at Callaway Gardens last week.

You can view the photos at this link

AND you can view three short videos I posted at youtube

festival of lights at Callaway Gardens

We traveled to Callaway Gardens at Pine Mountain, GA last Saturday to enjoy the Festival of Lights. We chose to drive through since it was so cold, but you can also ride the "Jolly Trolly" which is a tram pulled by a large truck (bring a blanket, etc). I tried to record the lights with my digital camera, and I posted three short videos. They give you a "taste" of what it is like, because there are lights above you as well as on both sides of you as you drive down the road. It took about one hour to drive through the six miles of lights. Some are animated and all scenes have music. Our favorite was the "Twelve Days of Christmas" from the partridge in a pear tree to the twelve drummers drumming (really drumming). We also enjoyed the light animation of building a bicycle. It was our first trip to Callaway and it will not be our last!

photo gallery

We enjoyed spending Thanksgiving weekend with the family. We ate a lot on Thursday, went shopping on Friday afternoon, visited with Judy and Darrell on Saturday evening, and then went to church with my Mom and Dad on Sunday. And on top of all that, my Mom got to play with one of her great-grandkids!

Click link to view more photos

it's tradition, you know

While we gathered at my parent's house for the traditional Thanksgiving meal, we also continued another tradition. The "Franklin Family Singers" sang an old gospel song, "Do You Know My Jesus?" at Calvary Baptist in Cowpens on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Cindy took a couple of photos of our practice session on Saturday night, and the laughter in the second photo is because of Brandon using his "soprano" voice. Our newest addition to the family is Brandon's fiancee Rachel, who sang "Whispering Hope" as a solo, one of Grandpa's favorites.

Thanksgiving Day Photos

photo gallery

It has been a busy week at work. Since I took off two days vacation for the holiday, I had to work extra to get caught up. I finally downloaded some photos from Thanksgiving.


We enjoyed watching "2nd" cousins Caden and Brielle playing together for the first time.

be thankful for all things

We are instructed by God to give thanks always for all things. This is hard to do when you are going through those "hard times" on the journey of life. But we know God is faithful and will help us along the journey we call life.

Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We hope everyone has a safe trip as they travel this week back and forth for the holiday. Many of the Baggett clan will be traveling from Texas to Arkansas, and I know Grandma Baggett will be happy. Grandkids have a way of making you forget about everything else going on in the world! We are looking forward to seeing most of the Franklin family in South Carolina also. Josh and family are traveling down from PA today, and Brandon and Rachel will drive up for the weekend from FL. Our drive from GA is only 2 hours and 15 minutes, so I am thankful that we are close to "home" now.

be thankful for soldiers who fight to keep us free

I found this short video at youtube that is a nice "Salute to our Troops"

be thankful for granddaughters

Our middle son, Stephen and wife Leah, are expecting and we are going to have another grandchild (#4). We just learned that Natalie and Meredith are going to have a baby sister and the due date is April 2nd. How exciting is that!

be thankful for the seasons that change with color

be thankful

With Thanksgiving Day around the corner, I thought I would post a blog to focus on being thankful. We can surely be thankful that my great-great-Uncle Ben did not get his way! Just kidding, I have no idea if I am related to Benjamin Franklin or not. Ben Franklin actually requested that the turkey be named our national symbol. Other leaders of his day chose the bald eagle instead.

Our pastor reminded us this week that the media like to call this day "Turkey" Day because they do not like to be reminded to be thankful to God. You can watch a short video at this link to History.com about the History of Thanksgiving.

photo gallery

The latest family photo of our oldest son and his family in Pennsylvania

Josh, Janelle, and Brielle (who turned one in September)

Veteran's Day 2007 - post #3

Veteran's Day 2007 - post #2

Nice tribute to all veteran's who fought for our country. The music is titled "I Pledge Allegiance" and is performed by the Air Force Band. This video was posted by "an old retired guy who likes to play with computers."

Veteran's Day 2007 - post #1

US News & World Report has a photo gallery for Veteran's Day at their website. Photos from the past 20 years or so including President Reagan and his wife.

link to the photo gallery at USNews.com for Veteran's Day

Happy Birthday Judy!

Wishing a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to Cousin Judy Mitchell in SC. Hope she enjoys her day and has many more!

(Judy patiently listening to her son Darrell)

cool beans and other stuff

Some of the more interesting web sites I have discovered in the last month include this site from the Family Fun magazine: Fun stuff for Parents, Kids and more... And just in time for the holidays, you can find lots of interesting things to do with your children or grandchildren at their link for Thanksgiving 2007 minisite... There is also a link through this site to smilebox.com where Mom or Grandma can design recipe cards to share via email, print it or blog it.

Several educational sites include one called Letterpop.com which can be used to create newsletters without downloading software. If you need help teaching music to your kids at home or school, you might find this site useful - it is called Songs for teaching.com The website includes lyrics, sound clips, and teaching suggestions for thousands of songs. If you want to read a book but do not want to purchase it, or maybe the book is out of print, you might find what you need at daily lit.com. You can sign up for free and receive a part of the book via email once or twice a week, or even every day. The autobiography I chose was written by none other that Benjamin Franklin (way back in the 1700's) and it will be coming to me in 75 parts via email - about three times a week. You can read the email on line or print it out to read when you are ready.

high and dry in Georgia

We are experiencing this year's unusual drought first-hand in Georgia. Being from Florida, we would usually be complaining about too much rain. It is so bad that you can't even wash your car at home (you can take it to a business that washes cars.) As the saying goes now: "take pride in your dirty cars and brown lawns because you are conserving water!" Atlanta is even going to run out of water pretty soon if it does not start raining. Most of the water in Atlanta is supplied by Lake Lanier, which is at least 16 feet below normal. You can read more about our weather condition in an article from US News & World Report.com titled "High and Dry in the South." At stephenrahn.com, this blogger posted a map showing how The Chattahoochee River begins as a trickle in the Blue Ridge Mountains, then flows in and out of the man-made Lake Lanier (constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950's.) The map shows the many ways this river is used as it flows through the state of Georgia, before it's name changes to become the Apalachicola River (which flows into the Gulf of Mexico.)

Nothing Cuter than Grandkids & Pumpkins

photo album

I have updated my Kodak gallery with photos from the past month of October. We enjoyed seeing friends and family this month - it lessened the "home-sick" feeling.

VIEW FRANKLYBAGGS GALLERY/OCTOBERFEST2007

Happy Birthday Darrell

Wishing a happy birthday to my cousin Darrell Mitchell in SC.

I can hear him singing "Happy birthday to me!"

Happy Birthday Mike

Wishing a happy 47th birthday today to Cindy's cousin Mike Blackstock in Arkansas. Hope you have a great day and we wish you many more!

Wonder if this was a birthday smile from many years ago?>

Fresh Apple & Nut Cake

Cindy pulled out a long-time family recipe to make this weekend. It is called "Fresh Apple & Nut Cake" and she used the apples we bought at the Apple Fest in Ellijay, GA. She reminded me that this was her dad's favorite cake and they used to make it for his birthday. We shared some cake with our new neighbors since it is too much for just the two of us.

Fresh Apple & Nut Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup Wesson oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts

3 cups delicious apples, chopped into small pieces, with peeling

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, apples & nuts. Let stand 30 minutes. Add flour, soda, & salt. Mix well. Pour into greased & lightly floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve immediately from pan.

Happy Birthday Paul

Wishing a happy birthday today to Paul Arthur in SC. (Paul is my cousin Gloria's son-in-law.) Hope you have a great day!

Photo of Kimberly, Paul and baby Kaitlin at Mom's birthday in August

Happy Birthday Aurora

Wishing a happy birthday to Aurora Skavatsos in Texas, who turns 7 today! This photo of Aurora is from last year, but you can see she looks just like her mother, Brandy. Aurora is going to sing a solo this year in the Christmas play. Tyler and Payton will also be in the play so I know Brandy is looking forward to that!

cool beans and other stuff

Some medical news regarding mitral valve surgery - I find this interesting since I had mitral valve replacement surgery in 2002 and have another slightly leaking valve. This gives me hope that I could have that other valve repaired someday because I really do not want to go through open heart surgery again if I have a choice.

Another medical article - this one encourages you to drink warm water after a meal to prevent a heart attack. I have never read this before and snopes.com declares it an urban myth, but it is an interesting article.

Did you see this in the news last week? SanDisk unveiled a TakeTV player. It records up to five hours of video from your computer and plugs into the TV so you can watch it.

One of the few shows I enjoy watching these days on the tube (TV) seems to come and go on USA Cable Network. New episodes were on during the August and September, and then the show will be back on the air in the winter. At this link you can watch all the episodes of PSYCH - Season 1 and Season 2 - if you have nothing else to do anyway. There are also interviews, webisodes, and more at this site.

Happy Birthday Pat!

"Now Pat, we know you're older than five!"

Happy birthday to my cousin Pat Brown in South Carolina - born this day in 1946.

friends are like a cozy quilt

As we settle into our new suburbia, we are making new friends especially at church. But it was nice to have friends and family come to visit us this month. Curtis and Bonnie were on their motorbike vacation in the mountains and ended their trip about an hour from us in Helen, GA. They came by on the way home to Florida and spent the afternoon with us.



Later that week, Cindy's brother Carl flew in to Atlanta (for his job) and stopped by to see her.










The second weekend our friend Paula, who lived next door to us, came to spend a few days with us. We went to the Georgia mountains for the Sorghum Festival in Blairsville and the Apple Festival in Ellijay - all in one day. We have enjoyed the apples, apple cider, and other goodies from there.

Last Tuesday, I took the day off from work and we drove over to SC to visit Mom and Dad. Paula had never been to Chimney Rock, NC, so we drove up for lunch. It was a nice day for a visit - the sky was cloudy but not raining so the sun did not get too hot.



Then, this past Saturday we traveled to SC again, this time for Nathan and Eva's wedding in the morning and to celebrate my birthday in the afternoon.
We were able to catch up on the latest news with family and friends from Jacksonville and Cowpens which made for a nice day.

My 52nd birthday

Finally here!
Today is my 52nd birthday! We actually celebrated it yesterday with lunch at Cracker Barrel. We were in Easley, SC, for Nathan & Eva's wedding at 10 am and decided to eat lunch nearby in Greenville. During the afternoon at Mom and Dad's house, we watched the Gator-Kentucky football game and then we ate the birthday "eagle" cake Cindy made for me during halftime. It was a nice day trip and we arrived back home at 10:30 pm. Brandon and Rachel flew back home this morning, but he left a bag of CD's that he purchased at the Bob Jones University book store in the rental car. We drove over to the airport after church to pick them up for him. Then we decided to stop at the Varsity Restaurant downtown Atlanta for lunch. We used the gift certificates that one my friends in Jax had given us when we moved to GA.

seeing is believing

Our former neighbor from Jacksonville came to visit this weekend. Paula has a house full of bears and I mean wall-to-wall bears but you can never have too many bears! So now she is buying them for the backyard. We had to strap this bear in the backseat to bring it home from the Apple Fest in Ellijah, Georgia yesterday. She bought the set of two bears that face each other with a seat between them. (The other bear was in the trunk for the trip home.) These bears were made from a tree trunk by a craftsman using a chain saw. I am posting this photo because I know only seeing is believing!

toys are now a danger to kids

I always enjoy the humor of political cartoonist Gary Varvel! (check out the link to VarvBlog on my sidebar for more)

updates to my blog

Time for some changes - the seasons change - so must my blog. I have added several new blogs to my blogroll on the sidebar. I have also added a link to my now world famous Gator blog, oh my! :)

At the News & Sports sidebar, I have deleted the link to Braves baseball - better luck next year! I added a couple of links to the Dukies, as basketball season is just around the corner.

lessons from the life of Solomon

Our pastor has been teaching from the Old Testament on Wednesday nights. We just finished the life of David and now we are studying the life of King Solomon, David's son.

1 Chronicles 1:7 "In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee."

When God asked Solomon what he wanted from the Lord, he chose wisdom over everything else. Because of that choice, God not only gave Solomon wisdom and knowledge, but also he was given riches, and wealth, and honor. Pastor Sweatt pointed out that this was an unconditional promise that God made to Solomon. Solomon would later write the Book of Proverbs which contains many wise and useful teachings. He is also recognized as the richest king to ever rule a nation in the history of the world. Pastor pointed out tonight that in the early 1900’s a group of people calculated the cost of building Solomon’s Temple to be about $2 billion dollars. I can only imagine how much it would be worth in today’s dollars.

2 Chronicles 1:12 "Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like."

Link to read the passage in context - 2 Chronicles 1: 7-12

"Amazing Grace" on DVD

Once or twice a year I look forward to a movie being released on DVD. "Amazing Grace" tells the story of William Wilberforce of England and how he led the ban on the slave trade in that country in the late 1700's. Also included is the story of John Newton, a former slave trader, and at this time in history he was Wilberforce's minister. You can watch one of the movie's trailers posted below.

Amazing Grace movie trailer

I am looking forward to the release of this movie on DVD this November 13th.

creation parody

The BJ HomeSat network visited the new Creation Museum in Kentucky recently and decided to use a little humor to spoof the GEICO commercials with a parody video titled - "Creation: So easy a caveman can get it"

You can read about the visit at this link from answers in genesis.org
Watch the video below

GEICO Caveman Spoof Creation

This parody was filmed by the BJ HomeSat network - good job!

history of small town America

It is nice to live in a small town again. I grew up in Cowpens, South Carolina, which boasts of a population of 2,000. Now we are living in Duluth, Georgia, which has a population of about 37,000. Duluth has the small town atmosphere I had forgotten about. When you live in a metropolitan city like Jacksonville with the population approaching 1 million, you tend to think that you could not live without all the conveniences of a large city. My Mom sent an email this week about attending her 56th high school reunion. Imagine that! - graduating from high school 56 years ago from Tri-High in Caroleen, North Carolina, and then getting married and moving to South Carolina (only about 40 minutes away.) Soon in December, Mom and Dad will celebrate 56 years of marriage, if the Lord wills. Her email reminded me of this website dedicated to preserving the history of Cliffside, North Carolina (pictured above.) The website is called "Remember Cliffside.com" Mom lived near Cliffside in a small community called Sandy Mush, just outside of Caroleen. (click links below for more)

Photo of the month

A Short History of Henrietta and Caroleen

Henrietta, Caroleen and Avondale

Photo galleries

Remember Cliffside(home page)

Happy Birthday Morris

Wishing a happy birthday to Cindy's cousin Morris Blackstock in Arkansas!