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