Slideshow: Christmas Eve in Cowpens

family photo Sunday

This is our youngest grand-child's first Christmas. Sophia Martha is being held by great-grandma Martha.

Christmas at our house

Christmas morning at our house, 2008








We gathered around the tree on Christmas morning to sing carols and celebrate Jesus's birth. This was our first Christmas in our new home, and all of our children and grandchildren were with us. Also, this was Sophia's 1st Christmas.

family photo Sunday

Another favorite Christmas photo of my three sons, taken at their grandparents in SC in 1985 or 1986.

Christmas is a-comin' ...

Well, it has been just over a year since the Lord moved us from Jacksonville, Florida, to the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. We are still huge Gator fans, but we are in the minority, surrounded by Georgia and Georgia Tech fans. After renting a house in Duluth for a year, the Lord gave us the opportunity to purchase a home closer to our church.

So this Christmas it is our turn to have all of our children and grandchildren with us for the holidays. We are sooo excited and we are busily decorating the house. I finally put some lights up on the front porch last weekend. We plan to buy a live tree this weekend and decorate it just in time for Christmas! Joshua, Janelle and Brielle (2) will be driving from Pennsylvania. Stephen and Leah, Natalie (4 1/2) Meredith (2) and Sophia (8 months) will be driving down from Wisconsin. Brandon and Rachel will drive up from Jacksonville and Grandma Baggett (Winnie) will fly in from Texas after Christmas. After spending Christmas Eve in Cowpens with my parents and the rest of the Franklin family at Cousin Judy’s home, we will drive home (two and a half hours) to Georgia. We have invited our new friends, AJ and Jong and their son Eugene (2) to join us for Christmas dinner. They are a Korean family and this will be their very first Christmas.

Hope your Christmas 2008 will be great!

family photo Sunday

The only time it snowed during the 30 years we lived in Jacksonville was Christmas 1989. We were stranded at home that year, and we took advantage of the only hills in our area enjoying "sledding" at the BMX Bike track.

December Birthdays slideshow

'tis the season...

things that make you go "Hmmm"

>>>President Bush in an interview for Nightline on ABC said that his belief that God created the world is not incompatible with the theory of evolution (link)

>>>Columnist Gideon Rachman writes: "For the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible." (link)

>>>Statement about race at Bob Jones University (link)

>>>CIA personnel lied to Congress in April 2001 about a missionary plane shot down in Peru that killed a woman and her 7-month-old daughter (link)

>>>An anonymous donor gave a huge sum of $50 million to Wycliffe Bible Translators this week making it possible to translate Scripture for the last people groups still without the Bible in their native tongue more quickly. (link)

>>>This "One Preacher's Perspective" thoughts on President-elect Obama reads "Because the Bible says that leaders are “ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1), I do not believe there was any emergency meeting in heaven due to this turn of events." (link)

family photo Sunday

Somewhere in my memories...it appears that this was the year Brandon received no presents - just kidding :) ...Christmas 1992

enjoying the holidays

It always seems like Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season around our home. We rarely decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving and this year will be no different even though Christmas is only three weeks away. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving day with my mom and dad and sister Loretta and her son's family, Kenny and Casey and Caden in SC. It is so nice to be only 2 1/2 hours from my parents now.

Caden is about 2 1/2 years old and now has a "big boy" haircut - he also entertained us by "playing" the piano. I took these photos after the meal so I missed getting photos of the men - they were unavailable:)zzzz

Special, Special! Read all about it! Meredith turns 2

family photo Sunday

We enjoyed a brief visit with our son and his family this past weekend. This photo of Brielle was taken during the children's hayride at their church in Pennsylvania.

Happy Thanksgiving

family photo Sunday

As we approached the cemetery, a ladder truck was fully extended with a huge American flag flying in tribute to my cousin Mark Rice (Click to read Remembering Mark Rice)

tribute to cousin Mark Rice

It was just a year ago that my Uncle Jimmy Rice died. This week we were saddened to lose another member of our family when his son, Mark Rice, died after a courageous battle with cancer. The following obit was posted at the Charlotte Observer:(click to read more)

Happy Fall Ya'll ! (Slideshow)

Photos taken this Fall around and about Georgia, from Lawrenceville to Ellijay. We have enjoyed watching the leaves change colors, but not the raking of the leaves!

family photo Sunday

This photo of Brielle with Uncle Brandon and Aunt Rachel was taken in Sept. 2008 in Pennsylvania.

along the journey

I woke up this morning and the first thing on my mind was an old Knock, Knock joke -

Knock, Knock.
Who's there?
Dwayne.
Dwayne who?
Dwayne the bathtub I'm dwouning!

So I wonder what this means, other than being really weird. Since we are both a little sick with allergies this time of the year, my wife and I both slept in today. Maybe I just slept too long! I guess with the fall season and the leaves falling like snowflakes, we are both allergic to something in the air. Cindy is having a worse time of it, even after one round of antibiotics she still has a dry cough. Just love the smell of vinegar and water boiling on the stove :) If you know of any more home remedies for the dry cough, please let us know.

The school where Cindy is teaching this year, Integrity Christian Academy, just moved from the Oak Road Lutheran church to a larger facility at Bethany Christian Center in Loganville. It is about 2 miles further for her to drive but it still is only 15 minutes with good traffic. The school has room to grow now and everyone is excited about the new facilities.

We are looking forward to the holiday season. We will be visiting my mom and dad for Thanksgiving and will get to see Josh, Janelle, and Brielle while there. I am glad to see the gas prices drop. The Walmart gas station was $1.82/ga on Friday and I really did not think I would ever see it that low again. I filled up my gas tank for $22 unlike a few weeks ago when it cost $52. This should help with everyone's traveling budget this season.

Duke wins 2nd game of tournament

Duke 97, Georgia Southern 54

Duke easily won their 2nd game (vs Georgia Southern) during the Coaches vs Cancer tournament and will play the next game against Rhode Island on Nov. 16th at 4:30pm. This game will only be carried on ESPNU. One notable change in the Duke line-up this year is that Greg Paulus, a senior and team leader, is the 6th man coming off the bench. Last year Jon Scheyer played the entire year as the 6th man, but this year Jon is a starter. Not sure if this is just an early season move by Coach K, but I would not be surprised to see Greg move back to a starting position. Regardless, he scored 11 points coming off the bench in this game. Kyle Singler (photo) had second straight 19 point game.

Recap at ESPN.COM