Louisiana answers an email from one of her Florida friends, Eddie Galen Greene, who lives in South Miami.

Weds., April 6, 2005, 3:11 p.m., C.S.T., D.S.T.~

Dear Eddie~

I was happy to get your email; thanks for writing! It is always a joy to hear from you! I am doing much better; thank you for asking! I am in hardly any pain, and it has been nothing short of miraculous! I also have a bit to go on the walker and the back brace, but they may be off before too long! I hope so; the back brace is so cumbersome, and it bites me on occasion, which always seems to take me by surprise! LOL I am very happy at the moment: I am looking at our two newest children, Rani Kalpana and Arjun Ravi, who came to us from Sri Lanka on Saturday, and they are both so very beautiful! Arjun is as healthy as a horse, and Rani is on a walker due to a severe head injury she had back in Sri Lanka (both Arjun and Rani survived the deadly earthquake/tsunami back in December); but doctors think that once she has the appropriate therapies, she should fully recover, and she won't need to walk with any assistance whatsoever! Now we have an incredible *52* children in our family (you ought to see me trying to fill out forms for our kids; HA! What a laugh THAT is! LOL), and pretty soon, it won't be long before I can't imagine the family without Arjun OR Rani!

I have been busy emailing while the two new Miracles have been asleep; I already have emailed my friend in Anchorage, Alaska, Jenna Aurora Doucet, and I got to thinking about you; so I decided to email you as well. I am glad you are all well there, and I hope you got some of our Tennessee Sunshine! We have had storms here, but nothing to the extent that Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, or the Carolinas have had. Sheesh, I am glad I am not there; I'd just as soon turn into a DUCK! LOL *QUACK* LOL Hopefully the weather has been a LOT nicer now there in South Miami!

How do I handle rejection if one of my manuscripts have gotten rejected? Well, I am always upset (anyone would be, really!), but then I try to improve on the manuscript, send it in again, and hope (and pray) for the best. It has happened before, and I am sure it will happen again. Writing is a very tough business to get into; but once you have a book to your name (or BOOKS, as in my case!), then you can't imagine the satisfaction it brings to you, especially if you happen to get a royalty check based on book sales, or whenever people come up to you and ask you to sign their copy of the book! It is so exciting to be a writer, and I just LOVE it! Now I have two books to my name, and will soon have a third (the third is the sequel to my family's story). I have more books lined up in the future; so it appears that I will be writing for a very long time to come! LOL I will have to check out some of your articles; let me know what magazines they are in, and I shall take a "look-see"! :)

My daughter, Ronee', wrote a book last year ("People Say No, But God Says YES!: My Story of Hope and Healing"), and my husband is toying around with the idea as well, as is my son, Johnny, but so far, they haven't really worked on it yet. They are too busy, for one thing! LOL But nobody else in my family has written a book--only Ronee' and myself for now.

I am glad you want to see Ronee' 's performance on "AMTK". She did well, according to Bill and also Louisa Mason and Rebekkah Rachel Cohen. I can't wait to see it on PAX this summer! I am just glad it is overwith! LOL Ronee' was so nervous! Speaking of Ronee', she was just in the hospital, but she is now out and is on the mend. She went back to school on Tuesday, and she went again today; she is glad to be back there with her friends! She absolutely HATES to miss school! (Ronee' had another flareup of her JRA, in case you were wondering. She went in the hospital on the Monday after Easter, and she just got out this past Saturday, almost a week ago.)
As for Johnny and Barbara, you are so right: they ARE excited about their upcoming trip to Alaska. They will leave for Alaska come Saturday, and they will be gone for a week. They are both already packed, and they can't WAIT to get on that airplane! LOL This is going to be a fun adventure for the two of them; and I hope and pray they have the best time EVER!

I hope you had a nice Easter. We did, but then Ronee' got sick, so that kinda' put a damper on things. Still, we did go to the Cantata, and we really enjoyed the special Easter services. We also had an Easter egg hunt and a "dinner on the grounds", and that was enjoyable too, but Ronee' was quieter than usual, and I was worried about her; still, she wanted to come, so she did. She just didn't do much except hurt and sit there, looking miserable! We then took Ronee' to the doctor, where he immediately had her admitted to the hospital, and she was there for five days; so between running back and forth from the hospital, working AT the hospital, and getting the house ready for Arjun and Rani, well, you can probably see that my free time has been severely curtailed as of late. Which is why I haven't responded until now; and I am sorry for that!

Well, Arjun is now crying; he is awakening from his nap, so I will tend to him. I will also get Rani up, and get them both something to snack on; it is about time for their midday snack. I will also be looking for the other kids; the buses are due anytime! So I'd best go for now. Until I hear from you, you take care, and God bless!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your Tennessee friend, Louisiana Mayrah. :)