Brown Family Blog

This is the online journal of the Dale and Rita Brown Family.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Please Pray for my family!

Many of you have heard the terrible news and have already begun praying for God's comfort and healing presence for Tod's family. So many of you have already made the trip to San Angelo to be with us, to weep with us and to help bear the immense pain that the family is in. So many others have blessed us with countless expressions of love.

Thank you so much for your prayers and love. Oh how we need it right now.

We have set up a website on caringbridge.org under the name "Tod Brown Family", so please visit there for more information and to leave messages for the family.


Please continue to pray us through this.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Random thoughts

I am sitting here with more to do than I can even think about, so I thought I'd blog a bit.
I'm thinking about kids lately. Anda is reading a book that 2/3 of the people that become Christians do so before they turn 18 years old. If someone reaches the age of 21 as a non-Christian, they only have a 23% chance of ever becoming one. That makes it seem logical that focusing on children is a wise use of time.
The problem is, even if we spend an hour a day with a child, that means he or she has 23 hours of influence that will almost certainly be non-Christian, and much of that will be downright anti-Christian. So if the parents can be reached, the atmosphere of the home changes and the kids are able to see what life God's way looks like.
Sunday I took a mom and 3 boys to church. The boys are certainly difficult at times, but the entire time they were with me Sunday, their behavior was excellent. But from the minute the mom got in the car she was yelling at them and telling them to stop being bad. She was mean. I cried during worship as I thought about how difficult it must be for those boys to have any comprehension of the loving God we were singing about. That same mom is living with a boyfriend who is not a Christian.
The hard thing is that Sunday she told me how much better she was doing. She told me she had turned her life around and stopped doing the bad things she used to do, and she has. I believe she genuinely wants to follow God. But as she reads her KJV Bible she says she's not able to understand it. She's working at a nursing home and trying to get her real estate license so she can make a better living. She lives with the boyfriend mostly so she will have someone to watch her boys as she goes to work.
So what does she need? A friend. She needs hours and hours of sharing life with someone who knows Jesus who can lovingly lead her along the difficult path she has to walk. But she's hard to be friends with. She can't even afford gas to come over for lunch, and if she does come she won't be able to pay for her share of the lunch. As much as she tries to be nice, her misery is thinly veiled. And yet, when we spend time with her our life seems easier to keep in perspective.

I pray that you might have someone like her in your life that you can be friends with. I am painfully aware that most people don't finish the race. We have all loved those who dropped out at various points along the way.
Thankfully, God keeps filling me with hope, even in the failures.
And hope does not disappoint us. My sense is that for every one that I love and lose, I gain a taste of Christ that I would have never known without them.
A friend once said that loving the poor is a sacrament. In loving the poor, we experience Christ in a physical way through our senses as we touch, smell, see, hear, and even taste Him in our interactions with people.
May you be blessed to taste again the tears you cry for the poor in your life.
I love having a family like you who is doing it already.
Randy

Friday, May 18, 2007

Lena's First Program

Here are some pictures of Lena's Preschool Program, that was last friday. The pictures aren't that great because we couldn't find the good camera in time to leave for the program. At least we got pictures. We got a short video of her too, but we didn't know how to put it on the blog. It's a cute video, so if any of you know how to post it to the blog, let me know. Looking forward to seeing you all.

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Friday, May 11, 2007

Book Idea

Hi guys,

Cary went to a John Maxwell simulcast in Midland today and got a really good idea. John Maxwell's dad used to pay him money to read great books. We're trying to put together a book list of great, classic books that our kids should read sometime in their childhood/lifetime, etc. In addition to our kids working to earn money, we think we're going to implement a price point/book. We would love your help in coming up with some great books to put on our list. What books did you love as a kid? As an adult? What books really shaped your thinking and who you are? If you get a minute, we'd love to hear from you.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Emily and Allison at the 6th grade banquet - 'Fifties-Style!'
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Josh caught a baseball with his eyeball - ouch!
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Josh and Papa - true Cardinals
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Strawberry picking in Marble Falls
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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Lessons of a first time mom

Lena is over her fear of going to sleep alone in her room! Yay! Last night I left the lamp on in her room and let her cry it out. She was in and out of crying for nearly 10 min. before falling asleep. She also woke up at 6:00 am, but she did sleep completely through the night in her own bed all night. We were so happy to get sleep last night. Now I know not to put her in her bed right when a storm starts, but rather just wait a little till it ends. The lessons you learn when you're a first time mom.

First time mom lessons I have learned:
1. It's okay when your toddler refuses to eat meat. She substituetes it with veggies, and
it's just a phase.
2. When you encourage your child to foster a love of reading, be prepared to read each of her
books a million times a day.
3. "No" becomes a favorite word, even though you're sure you weren't the one to teach
it to them.
4. Your child surprises you every day with something new they have learned.
5. Slobbery kisses are the best.
6. Toddlers are good at hiding things :)
7. How to multitask beyond the meaning of multitasking.
8. You don't have to buy the expensive diapers--the cheap HEB brand works just as well.
9. Getting a puppy is like getting another baby--only with a lot of bark.
10. What the meaning of a schedule is--and it's okay when it gets changed. Tomorrow is
always another day.
11. Meals and food prep. are scheduled events.
12. Babysitting trade-off with other moms is a wonderful thing.
13. No matter how much you thought you knew about children before having them, you still
learn new things every day.
14. Sleep is a luxury.

These are just a few of the things I have learned in the last 17 months. It's been a blast!

Monday, May 07, 2007

New Life milestone

Ben and Trisha have invested in the New Life Church in ways and to a degree that indicates a level of committment to serving that is very impressive. Yesterday was the official dedication of the new facility and the evidence of hard work and God's blessing was everywhere. I am proud of all the New Life family but especially pleased to be honored because of the leadership Ben and Trisha have provided over this past year and a half! They have not only 'made Jesus famous' in Odessa, but for miles around. There is still much to do (especially get the youth facility, THE HUT, put together) but it is time to celebrate a great milestone of blessing for them and the church they love deeply and serve unselfishly. Thanks, Ben and Trisha, for being such good examples for us all. We love you.
Dad

Friday, May 04, 2007

Fear and no sleep

Hello all. I'm glad that people are blogging again. I like to hear about everyone's news. We plan on being there for Bailey's graduation and excited to see everyone again.

Here's what is going on with us now: Lena is now afraid to sleep by herself alone in a dark room. On wednesday night, when it stormed, I put her to bed at her normal time, but that was when the storm was just starting. The lightening and thunder scared her, and since then she won't sleep at all in a bed alone in a dark room. Last night I tried putting an extra night light in her room so she would have 2, and it not be so dark, but she wasn't going for that. I even tried putting her in the pack n' play in our room to sleep. The only way that she would go to sleep is to sleep in our bed with us. That is not a normal thing for us to do. Sometime around 12:30 am, I moved Lena from our bed to the pack n' play. There was a night light right by her bed, so she had plenty of light. She slept there till about 5:30 and then woke up with her scared cry. I was so sleepy, I just put her back in our bed. She sleeps just fine for her daytime naps in her own bed. It's just at night now, she doesn't want to sleep where she can't touch us and know that we are there. I'd love to break her of this, I just don't know how yet. I don't want to have to go to bed every night with a toddler in my bed.

Anyone know what to do?

Thursday, May 03, 2007

You are invited!

Just so you will all know, you are invited to New Life's official "Grand Opening" on Sunday. I thought it might be of help to include the schedule here.

10 a.m. Grand entrance and worship (Doug Robison is going to be the pied piper. He'll play his bagpipes and we'll follow him in to the building.)

3-5 p.m. Tours of the building and bounce house for kids

5-6 p.m. Picnic (hamburgers and hotdogs)

6 p.m. Shades of Green concert (I think this is going to be good--a sibling group from Florida)

If any of you are coming for worship, maybe we can do lunch after.

We have sent flyers out to the community and advertised in the paper, inviting anyone who's ever celebrated anything--weddings, graduation, played golf, whatever...to come. I hope they will show up!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Alan does us proud - again

Well, I was going to include an image of the front and and an inside page of the Texas Monthly Super Lawyers edition but could not get it done. None of you will dispute my claim to being rather technologically challenged.

If I could have done it, you would see (maybe Alan will figure out how to post a blog with the proof) where Alan was selected as a Rising Star among Texas lawyers. I am not exactly sure how the Texas Monthly folks found out about it but I have not a doubt at all that it is true. It is a really big deal that they noticed.

Alan, I am extremely proud of you as a lawyer and as a man. Frequently I enjoy hearing comments from someone who has encountered you professionally about how they are impressed with how good a lawyer you are, and a super nice guy to boot.

Your 'rising star' shines brightly on all of us. Love you.

Dad