The Franklin Update: Summer is Officially in Full Swing

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Summer is Officially in Full Swing

Last week, while Anne and I were chillin' at Sasha's house, Jarod and Russell were at Scout Camp. I thought I would give you a photo documentary of the week. They had a lot of fun!

Because they had to leave early Sunday morning, Russell's dad filled in for Russ at church. It was a special treat for me. Having been in the family now for almost 15 years and Russ always serving at our own church, I have only heard Carl preach a handful of times. This man has preached over 60 years and has retired twice! You just can't keep a preacher from preaching! It's his love and his passion - I see where Russ gets it from. Carl is nearly 82 and still going at it.

I couldn't help but pull out my phone and snatch this photo. I wanted to be able to capture this moment for us and for Russell. Funny thing was, as I was putting my phone back into my purse, I accidentally "pushed Russell's face" (his icon on my phone) - and I pocket dialed him. They were driving to camp and he got to hear his dad preach for a little while! Ha!!!!

So Russ and Jarod headed to Camp Thunder in west Georgia this year. They had a great time! Jarod worked on Merit Badges while Russ worked on some service projects and was able to relax some.

Their home for the week

Russ said it rained ALL day Sunday and Monday but then cleared up and they had a dry week.

Jarod got to launch rockets for his Space Exploration Merit Badge.

He learned swimming survival skills by jumping in fully clothed and then learning how to take them off and use them for flotation devices AND he had to swim 150 yards for his Swimming Merit Badge.

He traveled to FDR's Little White House as part of his Citizenship of the Nation Merit Badge. He really enjoyed this. He's such a history nut - just like his dad!

Russell hiked to Mossy Falls. The photo on the left reminded him of the trail in the first Lord of the Rings movie. Pretty cool!!!!

I love this photo of the Chapel area - How cool is that?

While at camp, Jarod got to try Mountain Boarding! He has not stopped talking about this since he returned. He did take a nice chunk out of the side of his leg from falling on the tires while they were moving. But I think it was worth it to him.

The other fun "Field Trip" they took was to the Atlanta Motor Speed Way! They all had a BLAST!!!!

They returned on Saturday excited, exhausted and full of fun stories! I do believe it was a successful week at camp!

On Sunday we celebrated Russell as it was Father's Day. I am so thankful to be married to a man who is such an active father. As a pastor, he is pulled in many different directions, but always makes time for Anne and Jarod's events. One of the MANY things that I LOVE about him.

We celebrated him by giving him a new coffee maker - along with some of his new favorite coffee from Haiti! (Thanks to Sasha for picking this up at EPCOT!)

These were just small tokens of appreciation (and my replacing the nasty white coffee maker on my counter. NEVER buy a white one! I don't care how much I tried - I could not keep it clean!)

Anyway - the other gift we did this year was having this preserved and re-framed:

When Russell's dad would preach, he would do chalk art like this. He would take a completely blank piece of paper, mount it on an easel, under lights and begin to draw as he spoke. He could do a picture like this in about 8 minutes. He was known for this! People still talk about it today. Unfortunately for the family - he always gave each piece away to someone in the audience so they are very rare.

Russ met a lady recently and she asked him if he was Carl Franklin's son. She went on to tell him that she had a piece of chalk art that he had done at her church years ago and she wondered if Russ would like to have it! Of course he jumped at it and she brought it by the church a few weeks ago. The frame is old and heavy and I took it to have it matted, preserved and re-framed to hang in his office. It was supposed to be a Father's Day gift - but it won't be ready until next week.