Way to go, McKenna!

Anda, I'm really happy and excited for you guys that McKenna has decided to give her life away. It truly is "rebirth," and you'll feel like it was the day she was born - only better! It makes me tear-up just thinking about her sweet heart right now & I will shed some happy tears for her on Sunday! Please tell her that Uncle Cary, Aunt Jill , & her Midland cousins think this is the best decision she'll ever make and we are really proud of her for stepping out in faith and showing the world who she belongs to.

Trisha, you're definitely not a "blog-hog" (that's funny), and I'll be thinking about you guys on Wednesday - it is hard for me to comprehend all you guys have been through - and WHY? I don't get it - I'm sure I never will - but I can see signs of God directing your life right now so clearly that I have no doubt of His love & care for you & your family. Your submission to your church leaders shows your faith in a God who loves you. We'll see you on Thursday, and maybe you guys can go to the pool with us on Friday, or I'll take Alex & Katy, if you want.

We got Mitch home on Saturday & he is the most adorable "punk." The stories keep coming, and he seems much more grown-up. I am ever so grateful for grandparents that would be able & willing to show their grandchildren a different world view. I can't believe he got to experience so much.

We picked him up from the airport & went straight to Cary's 20yr. high school reunion. I "made" him go, but once he got there, I could tell he had a good time seeing some of his old buddies (Keith McDonald, mainly) and hearing how good his old girlfriend was doing (all of her girlfriends filled us in since she couldn't be there :) ).

We're getting ready for Opportunity Camp this week. Tomorrow night we have all the counselors, adult staff, and board members over for a cookout - probably about 100 people. Good news is that it won't be raining - I'll take the 100 degree weather.

I don't know if I'll be able to check internet at camp, so I was wondering if we could go ahead and coordinate the July 4th menu plan this week. I know it's still a couple of weeks away, but we'll be coming straight from camp to the lake. So.....what I was thinking is that we have 3 dinners (Fri-Sat-Sun), three breakfasts (Sat-Sun-Mon), and three lunches (Sat-Sun-Mon). Depending on when your family will get to the lake & leave from the lake, if you could pick which meals your family could handle the planning, grocery buying and food fixing for that would really help. Our family is too big of a job for just one person to handle. Last time, we figured that we're feeding about 26 adult servings every meal, even though we have 33 total people. That breaks down to 14 adults, 6 kids who eat normal, and 12 other kiddos that eat about 1/2 an adult serving. We could make a lot of jokes right now about how the Browns are known for their good cooking, which leads to good eating, and about what an "adult portion" should or shouldn't be. I'll save it for later, right now I'm just trying to give an idea about how much you'll need to prepare for your meal. If families want to go-in together on meals & buying groceries that might be a good idea, too. Cary & I are willing to go-in and buy, or pay, or bring food for any meal that anyone would want to be responsible for cooking. For the 4th, Cary and I will go ahead and plan on doing Saturday lunch and Saturday dinner unless someone else needs those times.

If you could post or blog your thoughts on meals, that would be great. If you could think of another way to do the menu, that would be even better!
Sorry for the lengthy blog - now who's a "blog-hog?" :)