family photo Sunday

Sophie likes to help with the laundry!

Memorial Day video - Kick for Nick

This was a very moving tribute to the late Private First Class Nick Madaras presented on ESPN over the Memorial Day weekend. For more info click this link to kickfornick.org

family photo Sunday

We are spending Memorial Day weekend with family in SC and maybe we will get to feed Brielle some more cookies!

a special kind of courage

"Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage," Defense Secretary Robert Gates remarked about specialist Zachary Boyd. He rushed from his sleeping quarters to join fellow soldiers (in Afganistan) and an AP photographer just happened to be there....read more at USAToday.com

three grandsons

We are very excited to be having three more grandchildren in 2009 - you would think there was a competition going on here! Brandon and Rachel were the last to find out that their baby will be a boy, at least the nurse is "pretty sure" about this. But they are the first to reveal their baby's name - Charles Timothy - and nickname "Charlie T." The first name is for Rachel's father (Charles Doan) and I think the middle name was for . . . you know who! By the way, Brandon's great-grandfather was also a "Charles" - Charles Clinton Franklin. I think the other expectant parents are undecided on names at this point. The two pics are supposed to reveal that the baby is a boy.

baby boy or baby girl?

This is an exciting week in for us because we hope to find out if our sons are having boys or girls this year. We already know that Stephen and Leah are having a son in July. Josh and Janelle found out Tuesday that they are having a boy in October. And today, Brandon and Rachel hope to find out whether they are having a boy or girl - that is if the baby cooperates! The picture at right was from March 2009.

strawberry season in Georgia

We went to pick strawberries at Washington Farms in Loganville last Saturday (only about 20 minutes from home.) The weather was cloudy and there was a cool breeze, just perfect. After about 45 minutes we had filled our gallon containers with large and small strawberries. I am not sure how many I ate in the process, but for $10.00 a gallon, I thought it was a good deal. After washing the berries, we froze them on cookie sheets over night in the freezer. Sunday night, we transferred them to containers and back into the freezer. We will probably go back again before the season is over in June. Fresh strawberries are so much better than the ones you buy at the grocery store. I forgot to take my camera, so these pictures are from the farm's web site at Washingtonfarms.net.

family photo Sunday

Charlee Anne, the daughter of Cindy's cousin Lori and husband Craig, celebrated her first birthday a few months ago. Now that's what I call a big cake! (thanks to Aunt Rhonda for making it so big.)

new CD by James Koerts

I just learned that James Koerst has released a CD of his piano arrangements of hymns with orchestra, "Wondrous Love" - Christian music with piano and orchestra. James was our choir director at Victory Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fl, for several years, and he is now ministering at Mikado Baptist Church in Macon, GA. Many of us have been waiting many years for this CD and are glad he was finally able to produce it. You may be familiar with his choral arrangements for church choir, but you may not know that he is a fantastic pianist. He has a talent for arrangements and a special gift as a composer of Christian music. Click here to go to Koerstmusic.com and you can listen to 1 minute of each track and you also can order at this link.

first baby of the year is almost here

Cindy's cousin Amy (Baggett) York and husband Josh are looking forward to their first baby which is due to be born in June - and we are excited for them! We have not heard if they are having a boy or girl yet. Our three sons are also having babies this year. Stephen and Leah are having a boy in July; Brandon and Rachel are due in October and hope to find out next week if the baby will be a boy or a girl. Josh and Janelle are due in October also. Looks like we will traveling a lot this year!

video-Gators visit the White House

The Gators, college football champs for 2009, visited the White House and with the President in April.

family photo Sunday

Only a mom could listen to all those instruments for all those years :)
Happy Mother's Day !

Come and Dine

In a follow-up message to the Easter story, our pastor preached on the restoration of Peter. You remember that Peter was the disciple who denied Christ three times when Christ was brought before the rulers. I would imagine many of His followers were scared that they might be killed also. Christ was then crucified, buried, and after three days He rose from the dead.

After His resurrection, He appeared to his disciples three times before He ascended into Heaven. The last time that He appeared to them was on the shore in Galilee. The disciples had been fishing all night but had caught no fish. In the morning, Christ appeared on the shore and told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat and immediately there were so many fish that their net could not hold them all. They all came ashore and Christ was already preparing a meal for them and said to the men, "come and dine." (John 21:1-14)

This passage reminds me of that old gospel chorus:
"Come and dine," the Master calleth, "Come and dine.
You may feast at Jesus' table all the time.
He who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine,
to the hungry calleth now, "Come and Dine."


This was also the scene of Peter's restoration. After the meal, Christ publicly restored Peter so that he could be a leader again. Jesus proceeded to ask Peter three times, "Lovest thou me?" (John 21:15-17)

"What we love becomes the rudder of our life." - Pastor Sweatt

fast food calories galore

Check out this link to msn.com and you can find out how many calories are in that Big Mac or Double Whopper you ate for lunch this week. I read recently that most men can lose weight by eating less than 2,000 calories a day and women can lose weight by eating less than 1500 calories a day. One of those burgers equals 1/3 to 1/2 of the calories you could eat in a day!

There are 17 slides to view at this link: Wallet vs. Waist

*****

OK, the reason this link above is interesting to me is the fact that I have decided to count calories and lose some weight. I am using a neat tool on the web at caloriecount.com. You can log in and enter your profile, age, weight, new weight goal, and the program will calculate how many calories you need to eat per day and lose weight. To use calorie count.com, you log every thing you eat each day under "Food Log" and the program calculates the total calories for the day when you are finished. Also you can enter an activity log to find out how many calories you burned mowing the lawn, riding the bike, etc. You can even track your weight by entering your daily (or weekly) weigh-in under the "weight log" and watch the trend as it moves down.

Braves vs Mets

We went to see the Braves play Tuesday night at Turner Field. The stadium was only about half full - I guess with the economy and rain storms every day this week many people stayed home. Publix has a good deal this year with the Braves. All tickets are half price if you purchase them at Publix, except for the home games against the Yankees and the Reds. So we went to see the Braves and our $12 seats were only $6. My coworker loves the Mets - he is from NY - so we went to the game with him and his girlfriend. Yes, they were yelling for the Mets and we were doing the tomahawk chop for the Braves! The game was not as exciting for the Braves fans though as the team lost again.

But things are looking up now! They beat the Florida Marlins Weds and today. And now that we live about 30 minutes from Turner Field (with good traffic) maybe we can take advantage of those half price tickets more often. (Click to view the official site of the Braves)

early Mom's Day

Cindy had an early "Mother's Day" this past weekend as Brandon and Rachel visited us for a couple of days. Brandon and I spent Saturday morning cleaning out the gutters (he was the one on the roof.) It seems even with gutter guards you still have to clean them out about twice a year. He was able to clean three fourths of the gutters, but we needed a taller ladder to reach one corner in the back. Later that day, they took us out to eat at Pablanos Mexican Grill at the Avenue at Web Ginn and SR124. She really enjoys Mexican food, so this was a treat for her. The waiter made the guacomole salad at the table, and it was very good. After church Sunday morning, we ate a quick fast food lunch and they left to go to Senoia, GA, as Rachel's cousin Jolene was graduating from college at 3PM.

It was a very enjoyable weekend and we hope to visit them in Jacksonville soon, maybe to attend graduation at VCA.

Slideshow - May 2009 Birthdays

family photo Sunday

In celebrating Natalie's 5th birthday, I tried to find a favorite photo from the past, but there were too many for Pap-pa to choose just one. So I combined four photos from her first year or two into one photo collage of the week. Leah will have to verify but I think these were all from 2004 and 2005. (click photo to enlarge)

a special day for a special girl

Natalie turns 5 today, so it is a special day in our lives -






our oldest granddaughter's birthday!
Wish we could be there, but we wish you a happy birthday from Georgia!