Op Camp Jr. High Fashion Show
Raquel was a Fashionista
Shea - previous Op camper - was a Como counselor this year. She's amazing.

We took Selena and Angela to the lake before Op camp. Angela caught her first fish!

Ashley had a great birthday at the lake

Op Camp Como

You'll probably be happy to know that I'm too tired to go into all the thoughts, emotions, etc. of the past week! Ha! But just wanted all of you to know that things went well (you just have to ignore the past 24 hours of fights breaking out about every 10 minutes). Jill, you missed out on ALL the fun! Candice had her own little jail going at the end of camp today!! Thanks for praying for us. Such a blessing to see you last night, Ben and Trisha! I think our overall assessment of this year is that it went smoother because it wasn't the first year and we're beginning to get a clearer vision of what Op Camp Como is supposed to look like. It definitely has a different "personality" than Midland. One short encouraging story and then a few pictures. Last p.m. the counselors were sharing stories from the week and the first one was about Alfonso (one of the Mighty Men). The counselor began by sharing that he had him last year in his cabin and he was one of the worst kids at camp! Last p.m. after a very stressful and high-strung campfire, they were back in their cabin and there was a boy named David who was crying in his bed. The counselors had kept Alfonso and David apart all week because they just didn't get along very well. But Alfonso went over to him, asked him what was wrong and told him that he was "there for him". When the boy wouldn't really respond, Alfonso asked more than once if he could pray for him and then did. There were a few minor incidents with Alfonso this week, but overall, he was a great leader (as were Corey, Dinsdale, Byron, and D'LeeLand, for those of you who know the MM). Just when you think all the time and energy hasn't been worth it, God shows up and gives you a glimpse of the fruit. I'm so proud of my husband. We had great counselors and staff this week, praise God.

Okay, I just spent quite a bit of time picking out pics and then the upload didn't work for some reason - maybe tomorrow! My bed is calling me!

Anda

Cute moments of Lena

Lena has had a few cute moments lately. Here are a couple of stories to tell:

Yesterday in Church, we were singing "Blessed be your name", and when the song ended and everyone was sitting down, Lena decided to belt out, "Maymen!", which is her version of amen. The people around us just smiled. Amen is one of her favorite words lately.

Here's another one. Also from yesterday. Lena picked up James' cell phone and said, "Call." I asked her, "Who are you calling?" She said, "Uh Cary." She punched some numbers, then pointed to the phone saying, "It's Cary!" She held the phone to her ear, waited, then said, "Yo! Bye Bye." We decided to try to call Uncle Cary for real, but he wasn't home. Lena didn't like just leaving a message. She picked up the phone and said, "Get Cary!" We told her we couldn't, that he wasn't home, but we would try again some other time. Lena thinks her Uncle Cary is pretty special. She watched you on t.v. with me, pointing at the t.v. and saying, "Cary!"

These were moments that made me smile. I love mommyhood!

April

April, here's a picture of my kids. Maybe you can print it from here. I'll have to look for one with Uncle Ben and Aunt Trisha in it. I love that you are working with her to know her wonderful family!

Happy Birthday Ashley

Happy Birthday to Ashley! We love you! Hope you have a wonderful day filled with lots of fun and wonderful blessings.

Love,
Aunt April, Uncle James, and Lena

Pictures

Lena has been trying to learn everyone's names in the family, and put names with faces. She has a "Who loves baby" book, where you can put pictures inside the book. I have a few family pictures, but they are a few years old. If you have any pictures that we could have of your family, that would help Lena practice learning the names with the faces of our family. They don't have to be a family together picture, but could be individuals, or small group pictures if that helps. Whatever you have, to where I have a picture of everyone. I already have Tod and Lee Ann's family.

So far, Lena can identify the faces and names of: Tod, Lee Ann (says Ann), Bailey, Cary, Katy, Alex, Ben, Annie, Abby Claire (says Abby), McKenna (says Kenna), Luke, Grandma (says Gama), and Grandpa (says Baapa).

She talks a LOT about Katy and Cary. She always wants to look at Katy's picture, and when I have my phone, she want's to call Cary. Especially in the last week.

Anyways, send on your pictures so that maybe the next time she sees you she can say your name. Email and snail mail are accepted.

Thanks,
April

Math Retreat

I just wanted to invite everyone in the family to participate in the Mighty Men Math Retreat at Providence Point on August 23-26. I was talking with the boys about it yesterday, and I started thinking about how everyone in the family has something to offer. Alan and Tod would be great at teaching math through woodworking. Cary and Dad could teach business math. The sister in laws could teach cooking math. The rest of us can find all kinds of ways to help the boys learn to love math. I'm really excited that Trisha is going to be leading the retreat again this year.

It's pretty clear that these boys need this retreat. As they raise money in their readathon I have asked several of them to figure out how many books they need to read to raise $100 if they get sponsored for $20 per book. Most of them have trouble figuring that out.

I love my family, and look forward to seeing most of you this weekend.

Randy

random thoughts

Okay, I'll just go ahead and warn you that I don't think this blog will sound very upbeat (ha - I just read it and that is an understatement; I'm considering erasing the whole thing!). I can't remember a time when life just felt so heavy (and Tod and LeeAnn, I'm so aware of how trite much of this will sound in light of the heaviness you guys are experiencing - almost seems silly to even express this, but here I am, writing anyway).

We're just in the middle of a grieving season and I think I don't know what to do with it or with God at the moment. Losing Connor was, and still is, a sad, sad, grieving place for all of us. In the midst of that, I (more than RB) have been "grieving" the loss of my "white middle class" world. At the moment, I don't want to see another movie or read another book about racism or the poor (and much of the time, don't even want to walk out my front door - tonight I walked out to my car on my way to rent a movie and ended up giving two rides for some of our friends at the apartments). I'm amazed at how the "homeless" sense won't go away. Feel like I don't belong anywhere. I think the worst feeling is that every time we're out of town I find myself dreading going home. Ugh!! Again, while I've heard this is all a normal part of culture shock, it seems like it will never end.
And today, I'm grieving the loss of my Granny (my dad's mother) who died this morning. She was 90 and it was time for her to go, and this is nothing like Connor's death in most ways. But it is still death and it is still hard. I was closer to her than any of my grandparents and she was the last one living. My aunt, uncle, and cousin basically watched her starve to death over the past week. Hard. Her funeral is Saturday. We'll be there before heading to Op Camp on Sunday.
Some of you know about my VERY bizarre (actually demonic) stronghold/phobia about throwing up and Randy is the fourth one in our family to go down with a stomach virus this week (praise God he got it before he takes his medical board exams on Friday). Luke, Moriah, and I are the only ones left - praying that this STOPS and that we can be healthy for this weekend, etc. And praying for relief from anxiety.
Add to all this the fact that I'm 9 weeks pregnant, feeling very yucky, and have had VERY little sleep over the past month (I think I've developed mild insomnia), and most days feel like only survival. I told someone recently that the kind of depression that keeps falling on me (it's not always this bad) is like having vertigo under water in the dark. You know the surface is up there somewhere, but you just can't seem to find it.

So why am I writing all this to you guys? I have no idea, except that I need you to pray. Want so much to be overflowing with joy and peace in Jesus and one of my consistent prayers right now is please don't let me go.

On a lighter note! I went to the doctor on Monday and was thoroughly pleased to see just ONE cute little baby with a strong heart! For some reason, I was a little nervous that this could have been two. Thankful we'll still be able to fit in large SUV's! I've already had a few of the "do you know what causes this?" comments and have thought of you, Trisha. Ha!

I'm tempted to wipe out this whole blog, but also know I need your prayers (and so does my sweet husband - we're both just so, so tired and he's living with me!). This IS just a season and God is using it for His glory and our good. I know that this is true, although I would be a liar to say that I feel it.

We'll probably see most of you in Midland this weekend. Love you all a lot and I'm very thankful for you.

Love,
Anda

P.S. Alan, on July 29th Ron and Denver (Same Kind of Different...) are going to be at a church about 3 minutes from our house speaking together. Just wanted to let you know because I had heard you say you'd like to meet Denver. We plan on going.

Sun Rays West

Here's our home for the week. The girls love that it is purple. Easy to spot off the beach! We're six houses down from the Ryburns with friends/family houses in between. The house is great with tons of room. Wish you all were here with us!

Allison soaking up the sun!

AJ hunted for "sand fiddlers" most of the afternoon.

Emerald Isle, NC

Annie and Abby Claire love to boogie!

We decided Emily would have made a darling little Amish girl.

Emily LOVED the aquarium we visited before we left Philadelphia. She will have to tell you about almost getting eaten by a shrimp.

Emily phones home to give very regular updates. Here we are on the train on the way from Philadelphia to NYC--her first train ride.

Our hotel room that Larissa arranged for us in NYC was wonderful--27th floor view with lots of room for all three of us.

Of course, this is a very common sight--Grandpa on the phone doing business. This one was taken, however, in the American Girl Place amidst pink boxes full of wonderful dolls. Grandpa can do business from anywhere.

Emily Brown from Midland, Texas--first time to Times Square in the Big Apple.

Emily's first exposure to NYC with Grandpa left her a little overwhelmed. We had warned her about strange sights. and she concluded we hadn't told her the half of it. The sights, the sounds, and the smells can send a first-timer into immediate culture shock.

Emily was a little dubious about the subway at first, but soon became a pro. So far we have managed to all get on the right train and get off together.

Grandpa and Emily at the top of the Empire State Building. What a view!

Do you see what is wrong with this picture? Hint: Notice Marty. Marty is very afraid of heights. She tried to go back about half way up to the top, but Terry wouldn't let her. She actually rather liked it once she got up to the top. The things we will do for our grandchildren!!

This city is simply amazing. Emily took it all in.

We had a lot of fun at the Museum of Natural History finding the things we recognized from Night at the Museum. It really is an amazing museum, and Emily had to see everything.

We loved Mary Poppins. I had a hard time not singing along.

Hairspray was Emily's favorite Broadway musical. It was fun and full of energy, color, and laughs.

We went to early service where they were finishing up their VBS--a little different but fun. We were almost the only ones who weren't wearing a lime green tee shirt.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was fantastic. It has everything from Egyptian mummies to Chinese gardens. We did a highlights tour (free) that Emily soaked in. We had lunch in a classy cafe in the museum overlooking Central Park. We talked about the creativity that God puts within us that comes out in so many different ways.

Walking through Central Park on a Sunday afternoon is sorta a "must do" in NYC. It was very warm, but beautiful.

This is one of the more common sights as the two grandpas, both used to being the alpha dog, find our way through NYC.