Chloe's Winter Wonderland

So it sounds like we are going to be having another crazy winter this year after an extremely mild Winter of '09. With this brings a ton of snow and a lot of my dog Chloe's favorite activity, shoveling. From a dog who plays fetch every waking minute of the day, I bring you Chloe fighting snow. She is a bit ridiculous, but there is definitely never a dull moment from her that's for sure.

Back to Blogging

It has been over a year since my last blog post, but I think I will start blogging again. I have always been a big fan of journaling my thoughts about what I read, what has been happening in my life and just random thoughts on things.

Since my last blog post I have received a Masters degree in Education Media Design and Technology and found out that Whitney and I will be having our first baby this May (which is probably the coolest thing that has ever happened to me).

With today being Thanksgiving I should probably tell you what I am thankful for. I am first of all thankful for a loving God who has always had his hand over my life. I find it hard to understand how you could think there isn't a God with the amazing things that happen in our world. I look at the kids that I teach everyday and the mini-miracles that happen frequently and know that God is definitely behind it. I am also thankful for an amazing wife, great family, incredible friends and for having a job to go to everyday. All of these things may sound small to some people, but to me these are the foundation for a great life. Being surrounded by people who are supportive of what you do and who you are is essential.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and may God bless your family throughout this holiday season.

You Tube Videos

Check out the new videos I posted to the right. They are from a karaoke session before school one day with Shawn. The Grease one was shown at the end of our school slide show this year. The kids loved it.

Summer Break

Well, my 3rd year of teaching 6th graders has come to an end. It is a little sad though because I really enjoyed the group of kids I had this year. So many great personalities and awesome kids willing to have a little fun while they learned a lot. They are by far my favorite class I have ever had. Congrats to them though for making it through the year and moving on to the middle school next year.

Now that the teaching season is over, I am a little bored. Not that I lack "things" to do, it's just when you are used to talking and taking care of kids all day, being at home by yourself is a little hard. Hopefully I don't start talking to my dogs too much! The best thing about being a teacher though is that people continue to have kids and supply me with a job.

I'm Back...

Well, I think it has been a long enough hiatus from blogging for me. To say Whit and I have been busy would be an understatement. I personally right now am teaching 6th graders, Mentoring Junior Highers at Youth Group at Timberview and coaching baseball at Mt. Spokane High School again. So, if we get a couple of extra minutes in the day to see each other, it is great.

Baseball is going well, I am coaching the "C" team this year because I don't get out early enough from school to help with any of the other teams. It has been a great experience though. Most of the kids on my team have never played a significant amount of innings before, so for them to play a whole game and get to start most of the time is enough for them. It has really made me appreciate just playing something because you love it.

I played in a 3 on 3 basketball tourney out at Eastern Washington this weekend and we took 2nd. Not bad considering the 4 of us had never played together before, so I'll take it. Well hopefully those of you who read my blog haven't given up on me, I'm making a comeback!!

1/4 of a century

When I was growing up, for some reason I had this belief that I would never be older than I was at that time. I always saw people that were older and thought that they must have always been that old and that I would forever be as young as I was. Looking back now I see that was wrong, but I still seem to do that a little these days.

The first instance I was finally "older" was this weekend when Whitney and I were serving at Forklift. Hanging out with the high school students and having them ask me questions about events in their life that were soon to come and actually looking to gleam some advice from me was a little new to me. I mean I get asked for advice everyday from 12 year olds, but that is different. These were pivotal questions about what to do in certain life situations and how to handle adversity when it means disappointing a friend or family member while growing their relationship with God. The funniest experience of getting older this weekend was playing sports with all of the high school kids. My team was able to win the basketball tourney, which is cool, but when it came to the dodgeball tourney, that was a little different. We did really well, but the funniest thing was how sore my arm was the next day after playing. Now, I have played baseball since I could walk and have been throwing things whether for sports or at my brother for a very long time. But, my arm felt like it was going to fall off. I think I got my first glance at the limitations I am going to be facing with my body for years to come.

I told Whit last week that I don't miss being in High School at all. All of the experiences we have had since then often make me forget that it ever happened in the first place. I also said that I don't think I am going to miss being 24 either. I think that every year I have been alive, life has gotten just a little bit better. Whether it is gaining experience in the job I am in, deepening and strengthening my marriage or going farther in my daily walks with God and seeing that relationship really start to take off, I think that there is so much more left in life to experience and I for one am looking forward to seeing it come, in due time of course.

I have had some amazing birthdays in the past, but I think this one might be the best so far. Not because of any gifts, money or "things", but because of the phase of life I am in and the people I get to share it with. I feel like this is a huge moment in mine and Whitney's lives and I am looking forward to yet another year of learning, laughing and loving with the people we are fortunate to have in our lives.

Checking in...

This is me checking in and letting you know what has been going on since Christmas. Well, during the huge snow storm Whit and I ended up staying with the in laws for two weeks with the puppies. After moving back into our house, we found out that our main water pipe downstairs had been leaking slowly and soaked about half of the carpet in the basement of our house. Yeah.

When we finally got back to school it was tough. I had started to slip into summer mode because of the amount of time we got off from school. The kids were showing signs of this dangerous condition as well. I also started coaching 6th grade basketball at Shiloh, and I am loving it. It is so much fun to be able to spend time with some of my students doing something they really love doing. Plus, it gives me free reign to make them run if they don't listen to me. Like I would ever do that...

We have had a lot of great opportunities as well to hangout with friends and family and rekindle some relationships we had let slide over the past year. We are looking forward to some great things happening in '09 and possibly moving to a new house... so if anyone out there knows of a good realtor that we can trust to help us in this HUGE undertaking, we are more than willing to welcome and names.

Christmas Cards and other Christmas Expectations

(This is our Christmas Card replacement for this Christmas)

Well, I am thinking we are finally getting to the age when it is expected that we send out Christmas cards to those we know. In this age of technology and email, it is still very cool to get Christmas cards from friends and family. I have been plotting our next year's Christmas plan. I am calling it, Assault on Christmas '09. This assault will involve: Baking everything Christmas (sugar cookies, no bakes, rice krispy treats decorated with red and green frosting etc.), sending out Christmas cards, watching all of the classics and hopefully not shoveling 40+ in of snow before the 25th.

Of course I am just kidding and I love to celebrate Christmas in any way that involves hanging out with family. Hopefully this snow fall has forced some families to spend some much needed time together reconnecting and sharing memories and maybe starting new traditions for years to come. Have a Merry Christmas and to all of you kids out there who convince your parents to let you open just one present on Christmas Eve...GOD JOB!!!!

Spreading God's wealth to his children in need

About a year ago now, Whit and I decided we needed to sponsor a little boy named Quy from Vietnam through Christian Children's Fund. No one twisted our arm or guilted us into it, we just thought we should. We have loved every minute of it. I do have to admit, that we thought originally, "Can we afford the $30 a month?" Well, the answer is YES. We have enjoyed it so much, we decided to sponsor a little girl from Africa named Nacha through World Vision. Now, both of these are tremendous Christian organizations and do amazing things for God's people, but I just learned from Cathey that the Free Methodist Church has its own child adoption program. I am going to try and put this as delicate as possible, because it is hard to say exactly what I want to say without offending someone I am sure, if you are concerned about the $30 a month you can always do the International Childcare Ministries children for $21 a month. I am not trying to imply by any means that one child is worth more or less than another, it just happens I guess that they can do the same with less money. They probably have less operating costs, and I guess Pastor Glenn says that more of the money you donate actually goes to the children directly as well. So if you are looking for something to shake up the holidays a little, think about sponsoring a child and changing a life forever (click the link below to go to the website). I know Whit and I cherish the letters and pictures we receive from our kids like they were actually our own. God bless and stay warm through this blizzard we are having. 

International Childcare Ministries

Do we not exsist??

After watching the national news a little the past couple of days, all I have to say is, "Does the West Coast not exist"? All they can talk about is how the East Coast is going to get hit hard and not how much snow we got. Oh well, I just want to tell the East Coast, we are here too, and we get to watch sports before midnight, HA!!

Less than a week to go...

Now that we are officially less than a week away from the best holiday of the year, I think back to all of the amazing Christmas' I have been fortunate to have. My parents did an amazing job making it a special day for our family growing up regardless of what they had to do to make it happen. A couple of the more special Christmas' I can remember, and they usually had to do with our extra bedroom downstairs being transformed into something:

1) My Dad turned our extra bedroom downstairs into a full on slot car racetrack. My brother and I opened the door and found ourselves looking at a gigantic racetrack that we would play with until the next Christmas. I have no idea how long it took him to build it, but it was awesome.

2) Another Christmas my parents got Casey and I a Sega Genesis and turned that same room into a little arcade.

3) The bike Christmas. I know everyone has a Christmas or birthday when you get the bike. But, I would challenge anyone to say they rode their bike more than I did. I used to go out in our yard and just ride in circles for hours on end. I rode it so much, that my knuckles got wind burn and I had to coat them in vaseline for the next two weeks.

4) Every Christmas that I got to spend with both my family and Whitney's family growing up. When you have been with someone for 10 years, you tend to spend a lot of holidays with their family. They always made me feel welcome from the very first Christmas. The very first Christmas present Whit ever got me, 2 weeks after we started dating our Freshman year of High School, was Michael Jordan cologne. I still have the bottle.

5) I look forward to the Christmas' with kids and taking them over to the grandparents house and watching them be spoiled by the people who can now justify doing it.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and hope that you remember all of the great Christmas' you have had as well. Even though we tend to focus more on the gifts and my stories did a little as well, but what I really remember is the amount of time spent with family each one of those presents brought me. So, when Christmas morning rolls around, take some time to look around the room and just enjoy the fact that it "forces" us to spend time with those we love, what a great holiday!!

2 Years in a row??

Usually when you live in Spokane you expect to not see positive temperatures from the end of December until early February. But not this much snow!! I went out and measured around 10:00 AM and we already had 22 in.! I don't think it is supposed to end anytime soon either. I feel like I will be recreating this scene in my backyard by noon.

Christmas at Shiloh

Buddy the Elf has landed at Shiloh!! Today is a Christmas spirit day, even though the district has told us repeatedly that we can't celebrate Christmas at school, and I chose of course to go all out and wear Charlie's Buddy the Elf costume. I am sure this is no surprise to those of you who know me.

Black Friday

So as you may have read in my Mom-In-Laws blog that we have plans to go out and brave the craziness that is Black Friday. Now, I was talking to my kids today about it and I asked them if anyone of them was planning on going out for Black Friday. One of my kids raised his hand and said, "Mr. Franklin, I thought you said racism was bad." I said, "What do you mean?". This kid said, "Why would you celebrate a day that is called Black Friday?" So I had to explain to him that it was called that because it was the time of the year when businesses get out of the red, meaning owing money, and got in the black, making money. Although this year it may still be red on the ledgers for most stores even after Friday. I love kids and the questions they come up with. You would think it would be the same every year, but they come up with new questions that make me think as well, I love it. Anyway, I think I found a good place to start. Cascade Station in Oregon.

Here are the good points:
1) The stores (Best Buy, Target, Ross and IKEA all in the same place)
2) It's in Oregon, meaning, no sales tax!!!
3) Everything is within walking distance of each other
4) Whitney and her Mom throw good elbows and are aggressive shoppers when pushed to be

Downfalls:
1) Craziness (can't be avoided no matter where we go)
2) With that many high volume stores in one area, the parking situation could get interesting
3) My need to eat every 3 hours, this could really handicap our ability to marathon shop with my blood sugar dropping so easily

Now, let me make it real clear, we have no intention on buying anything when we go to the stores, I just love to watch the people and the way they act. It makes me want to ask them in they have read The Lord of the Flies.Anyway, if you chose to go out on Friday, bring your A game and watch your back. There are people out there who would put a spear through your forehead just for a Tickle Me Elmo and not bat an eyelash doing it.

Polaroid Pics on MAC

So, I am a devoted MAC-Man. I grew up with PCs and played around with MACs a little. But after the school district so graciously purchased me a MacBook Pro, I have converted. Anyways, I am really into getting the most out of my machines with using all of their features and I have found a great little program that is only available on the MAC at this time. It will take any pictures you currently have and turn them into a Polaroid version. Now, I know it doesn't enhance the quality by any means, but it looks really cool and is kind of fun if you want to do some sort of retro invitation or you are putting your older photos on a website. It is really cool too because it actually takes a while for it to "develop", I tried shaking it on my screen, but it didn't make it go any faster. Here are the pics I have done so far for samples:



The website is: http://www.poladroid.net/

Enjoy!!!!

CBS Evening News Last Night

Watch CBS Videos Online

Last Night CBS Evening News ran a story on the factory in Iowa that my Dad would have ran if he didn't go to China. Sounds like they are doing some real good for that community they are in.

Maybe not...

I have followed the Falcons for the past probably 14 years as my NFL team of choice. The reason why, I loved the colors black and red when I was a kid and my parents got me a Falcons winter coat, and back in those days, whatever team was on your winter coat, was your team. So here I am, in the 4th grade, rooting for a team on the exact opposite corner of the US for that simple reason. Anyways, As I grew up I got to know some of the better players, Keith Brooking, Patrick Kerney, etc. and endured some of the more questionable players, Jeff George, Chris Chandler, Deion Sanders. So to me, Atlanta Falcons football has been mediocre, but acceptable, except for a couple years of glory when they went to the Super Bowl in 1998 and lost to the retiring John Elway and when they made the push for the Super Bowl again in 2004 only to lose to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.

I as a life-long dirty bird watched as the Falcons wasted a first round draft pick on Michael Vick instead of taking the leading rusher in the nation, anybody remember....?? LaDanian Tomlinson. He hasn't really done anything with his career either though right?
While on my lunch break today, I jumped onto MSNBC to see the most recent news article postings to find out what was happening with the pirates of the Indian Ocean, and came across a news article talking about fans finally getting over Michael Vick leaving Atlanta. Now, I have been alright with him leaving from the beginning, 1) Because he will probably go down as one of the most selfish on-field players of all time but more importantly 2) Because he starved dogs to the point where they would fight each other to the death while his friends gambled and made hundreds of thousands of dollars on their unfortunate deaths. The article disagreed with me however. They claim that many people in the Atlanta community are upset with the way his trial was handled based on his race. They say that the main reason why he was presumed guilty before innocent was the color of his skin. Now, I don't know what wa the bigger smoking gun, the massive amount of dead and badly injured dogs on his property, or that everyone else involved in the case pointed a finger at him as guilty while they were amitting their sins as well, but it seems like race doesn't usually play a factor when all of the bare bone facts are right in front of you. Like I said before, nothing really amazes me these days.

Time Travel Fund

Ok, so about four years ago, when I was still in college, I found this website called timetravelfund.com. I was blown away by the craziness that followed. Not only do these people try to convince you that time travel is possible, but they outdo Dr. Brown by one step and actually expect you to contribute, hence the fund, to their experiment. The upside though is that they help you figure out how much money you will have when your "investment" has had thousands of years to mature in their account. It always amazes me that people like this have found a big enough niche in society to make a group. You know what though, as long as they have found other people to share their dillusions with, what can be the harm? I guess they won't be too disappointed when they die and no one but God comes to get them. Please check out this website to see just how amazing this is: www.timetravelfund.com, and remember, it's your ticket to the future!!

Pirates??

I'm not sure how many people have been watching the news, but off the coast of Somalia, which has been without a national government since 1991, there has been a series of Pirate raids, yes Pirate raids, on Oil tankers. The most recent oil tanker captured is 5 times the size of an aircraft carrier and holds $100 million worth of crude oil. Sometimes I watch the news and with all of this craziness with the economy, stock market and the three major car producers going bankrupt, it feels like I am stuck in a bad dream. But, when they start talking about actual pirates on the news, that is where the dream takes a whole different kind of tangent. What is happening in our world??

The discussion over holidays

For those of us who have been noticing the recent attacks against anything and everything Christian in our world, and especially the nonsense we will have to deal with on tv, the radio and in the schools during CHRISTmas, this is for you. My Mom sent me this and I got a kick out of it.

FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY

In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter & Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews & observances of their holy days. The argument was it was unfair that atheist had no such recognized day(s).

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, 'Case dismissed.' The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, 'Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter & others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur & Hanukkah. Yet my client & all other atheists have no such holidays..'

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, 'But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant.' The lawyer said, 'Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.' The judge said, 'The calendar says April 1st is 'April Fools Day.' Psalm 14:1 states 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned.