Slideshow - JUNE 2009 birthdays

family photo Sunday

Cindy returned home last night after spending the week with Brandon and Rachel (and Cuddles) . Cuddles probably misses her a lot now, but I missed her more :)

the year of the boy

As someone said recently, "it must be the year of the boy" . . .

Congrats to cousin Amy and Josh in Arkansas, who had a beautiful little boy yesterday, June 3rd - "Easton Daniel" came into this world at 6lb. 7 oz.

catching up with the bears

Remember the photo of the bear in the backseat of my car a couple years ago?(Click link to "Seeing is Believing")

Well,I found them placed in the front yard of Paula, our former neighbor, last week in Florida. She now has a nice sitting bench out of the two bears.

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!

think on these things

Last Sunday, Pastor Sweatt gave us these nuggets to think on regarding Peter's pride, his enemy, his apathy and his failure:

"Be thankful that God allows U-turns." If we are going the wrong direction, we can be "converted" and turn back toward God.

"Remember that all of the devil's apples have worms!"

Jesus asked his disciples to "watch and pray" in the garden of Gethsemane. "To watch without prayer is to trust ourselves; to pray without watching is hypocrisy."

Peter failed to take a stand, denying Christ three times before the cock crowed. "Failure to stand is preparation to fall; If you do not take a stand, you will fall!"

family photo Sunday

Another early photo from my childhood - I don't even remember seeing this one until Mom gave me an envelope full of old photos recently. I was about one year old, so this was taken sometime in 1956.

Expelled: the DVD/movie trailer

When we went to the ACSI convention in February, I noticed that several of the display booths, such as the Institute for Creation Research, were selling the DVD of this movie (actually a documentary) by Ben Stein - "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." I finally rented the movie and watched it this weekend. What an excellent documentary explaining the issues in the science community and universities today of Darwinism vs. Intelligent Design. It appears from the many interviews of scientist presented, that if you do not believe in the origin of the species as taught by Darwin, then you are an idiot. Many scientists and professors have lost their jobs by teaching intelligent design, or in some cases just mentioning ID as an option. I also enjoyed the footage from the past and learned some things about Hitler and the Nazis that I did not know. Near the end, Stein uses footage of President Reagan in Berlin when he made the famous speech asking that they "tear down the wall" between East and West Berlin. Funny how things that happened in the past fade from our memories so quickly. The seven minute trailer for the movie is below and I recommend you watch this and the DVD when you get a chance. There are also clips of the famous Edwin R. Murrow, television news journalist from the 1950's. Note that he is shown smoking a cigarette in the clip, and that is one of the reasons the DVD is rated PG instead of G ("for brief smoking'.) Personally, I do not believe in using the term "ID" but I believe in the Creator (God) and creationism as the Bible teaches in Genesis. God created the world and all that is in it, including man, in six days and rested on the seventh day. I think it is a waste of time to try to disguise the Creator as an "Intelligent Designer." The Darwinistic science community regards ID as a disguise for religion anyway. By the way, did you know the state of Tennessee won the Scopes trial? The media always presents the story in such a way that it would appear that the theory of evolution won and creationism lost.

who needs Joe the plumber

After several weeks of trying to clear the bathtub drain, I had resigned myself that I would have to call our plumber. I had bought a liquid plumber (called "The Works") but it did not work much at all.

Well, who needs Joe the plumber when you have Cindy Lee the plumber and You Tube videos? While I was working in the yard Saturday, my wife was looking for a video that would show you how to un-stop the drain. Much to my surprise, when I returned from the grocery store, she had watched the video below and cleared our drain, saving us about $100 plumbing charge.

family photo Sunday

Stephen must have been our most athletic son :-) Here he demonstrates how to use the hula hoop while on vacation in Arkansas (1990).

Video - D C I 2009

The 2009 drum corps season begins in June. This video uses brief clips of various drum corps performing over the last 40 years and combines them into one video.

Sophie's 1st birthday

Some photos from the big day - birthday #1 celebrated at the zoo for our youngest granddaughter, Sophia Martha. Thanks to Leah for the photos and we wish we could have been there.

close to home

The comic strip writer for ADAM must have been visiting our house. This one is so close to home!

photo gallery of Dad's 83rd birthday

We enjoyed getting together with my family in SC to celebrate Dad's 83rd birthday on March 28th. If I counted correctly, 23 of Dad's family made this an enjoyable dinner at the Wagon Wheel Fish Camp in Cowpens, SC.

The Wagon Wheel is always a favorite place to eat when I go home to visit. We have had many meals there over the years. The first meal that I remember eating there was a special dinner to honor the Cowpens High School football team AND the Cowpens High School Band members. (I was a member of the band) In the fall of 1972, our football team won the championship and the booster club treated us all to a free meal. I am not sure how we all squeezed into that place, but I remember it being a special dinner.

The first few photos are of some of the antique furnishings on display in the entrance hallway. Click to view slideshow.

family photo Sunday

This photo was taken when I was 4 1/2 years old. Dressed in our Easter outfits with Grandma and Grandpa Rice in 1960. My little sister, Loretta, was 1 and Deborah was 7 years old. By the way, Happy Birthday today to my older sister Deborah who turns 56 today!

celebrating Easter

As we celebrate the season of Easter, it is interesting to note how others are celebrating(or not) this week. President Obama hosted a Seder meal at the White House Thursday night. This is a meal to celebrate the Passover, when Israel left the captivity of Egypt after being in bondage for 400 years. This meal occurs at the end of Passover, which began Wednesday at dusk. It is the first time the Seder meal has been hosted at the White House.(link to read the news article) Just another way for President Obama to prove that the United States is not a "Christian nation" now. Even though our nation was founded on Christian principles and most of Americans believe our country is a Christian nation, we learned this week from President Obama (speaking overseas to Muslims) that the United States is NOT a Christian nation, just a nation of citizens who live by ideals. I wonder what kind of history class he took? link to view video


"Come Touch the Robe" is the title of our Easter cantata at Berean Baptist this Sunday. We will begin the day at 9 AM with an Easter Brunch. The choir members have been working on the music for about two months. I have really enjoyed preparing for this Easter musical written by Pepper Choplin.


You will not hear this in the news, but according to Joel Rosenberg (a converted Jew) there are more Ex-Muslims celebrating Easter than ever before this year. Read his blog posted at this link.


One of my favorite choir numbers at Easter is "The Healer." When I first joined the choir at Victory Baptist in the late 1970's, as a choir member under the direction of brother Bob Stewart, I remember singing this song at least once a year. Later when I took over as the choir director, we would sing this song every other year before Easter. I wish I could remember all the words but the chorus reminds us that we are "healed" from our sins "and made whole" by the death of Christ on the cross:

"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquity. Surely He bore our sorrows, and by His stripes we are healed, yes, by His stripes we are healed."

Slideshow - APRIL Birthdays

more vacation photos

I finally completed my photo gallery of pics from our trip to PA in March. You can view the photos at this link to my Franklybagg's Gallery

Cooliris.com

Check out this free download at cooliris.com. Using this program, you can view your images in a 3-D like wall of photos. Cooliris used to be called piclens, and it works well with Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Blogger, and Kodak photo galleries - basically wherever you store your photos online. I have been using it (or playing with it) for almost a year and I really enjoy the way my photos become clearer, sharper and almost a 3-D effect. It works a little differently using the Internet Explorer browser as compared to the Firefox browser, so you would have to download it twice if you want to use it for both browsers like I do. When installed, there should be a "Cool Iris Icon" in the left corner of your picture that you will click on and then your gallery becomes a wall of photos on the screen. You can click on each photo to enlarge it, bring it closer to full screen, or to make it smaller, and there is a full screen button in the left corner of the desktop. To leave the full screen view, just press the "ESC" button on your keyboard. If you do not store any photos online yourself, you can still view your friends photo gallery on facebook, etc. using this tool. link to www.cooliris.com for more info and demos.

family photo Sunday

We had a weekend reunion with my three sons and their families as we were all in Hanover, PA, for Joshua's Ordination service on March 15, 2009.

signs along the journey

Three more favorite bumper stickers that are circulating on the internet....

Slideshow - photos of our grandkids

I thought a quick photo of our granddaughters was a good idea, all dressed up for church. Who said girls were easier than boys?