Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Food, Fun, And Family Frolics!: Our Picnic (By Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, aged 11 1/2) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Rated "G" by the Author.
Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, one of the fifty adopted children of Bill and Louisiana Sandusky, writes about the picnic she and her family attended. It is an annual affair; it is put on by AASK, an adoption agency specializing in placing special needs children with deserving families, and she and her family saw many friends and made new ones.
She also shares some exciting news: the book she wrote earlier this year about her life was accepted for publication, and she is now a young author.
The weather was something to be desired (it rained on and off all day, and it is still raining, but a little), but we went to our picnic at Centennial Park here in Nashville, Tennessee, where we live, and we had a lot of fun. We played games, ate til our bellies were crying for mercy, talked and laughed a lot, spent some time in prayer and Christian-style fellowship, and listened to music, which was provided by a gospel choir. The picnic we went to was put on by AASK, which is an adoption agency that places kids who have special needs with families all over the U.S. (the agency is based in California, and it is a very reputable agency), and it is an annual thing. We also heard speakers talk about adoption and listened to stories that families shared.
Most of our family members were there, and we saw our friends the Terwiligers from Georgia, the Evanses from Ohio, the Porters from Oregon, the Reichards and Mulligans from here in Nashville (they are good friends of our family), the Yanceys from Pennsylvania, the Pearsons and Rileys from Texas, the Goertge family from New York, and the Diamonds (also from Tennessee; but they live in Memphis, which is almost on the Tennessee/Arkansas border), and we made new friends in the Williams family from California (we have been writing back and forth for about a year now; and the mother, Kendra, has adopted 12 kids, all girls, who are all disabled like herself; they are all really nice!), the the Capp family from Indiana, and the King family from Alaska. It was nice to see everyone again, and it was especially fun in meeting Kendra Williams and her family at last, and it was also fun meeting the King and Capp families!
Of course, a lot of the kids (but not all) were disabled in one way or another, and a lot of them were older than the age of two; but there were quite a few toddlers and even babies there, and I loved cooing and fussing over the babies! I also loved playing with the littler kids, and I loved hanging out with the Williams girls. I especially loved Anna Grace, aged seven, who was adopted from Africa (she lost her legs when she stepped on a land mine, according to her mother); she had such a giggly, lively personality, and she thought that I was the greatest thing since sliced bread. :)
My brother, Johnny, was also quite popular, only because the girls were flirting with him (he doesn't especially care for girls fawning all over him, but he did enjoy the attention they were lavishing on him! He was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and his face was red a lot of the time; he looked so cute and innocent! LOL), and he enjoyed himself too. He pigged out on pizza and was doing his champion Olympic-sized burps to entertain the crowd, much to maman's embarrassment and humiliation; but I found it absolutely hilarious! I laughed my face off each time I heard Johnny let out one of his king-sized burps, and I was like, "I don't even KNOW him...."! :)
Maman and daddy were having fun showing their friends pictures of us kids, and the other families also shared pictures and stories about their families; and a lot of them seemed impressed when maman told them that she had written a book about our family (the book is called "A Family Made Out Of Miracles And Rainbows: The Sandusky Family Story--A True Story of Love and International Adoption"; she wrote it last year), and of course, she gave out (autographed) copies to those people who asked for the book. I also shared my good news about MY brand new book, which I just found out was picked up by the same publishing company that my maman's book was published at, and I promised them that I would send them copies of the book as soon as it was out. (My book is called "People Say No, But God Says YES!: My Story"; it is a combination self-help/Christian biography, and it is written by me. It is for kids with disabilities and to show them that no matter what they may face in life, with God's help, they can achieve their dreams.) They were impressed that I, a kid, had done a book, too, but I just told them to stop making a fuss about it, as it was quite embarrassing, the way they were offering me congrats about it! :)
During the picnic, we ate hot dogs, hamburgers (cheeseburgers or regular, everyday burgers), bratwurst, boudin and andouille, potato and lettuce salad, chips or Fritos, cherry, strawberry, orange, lime, or lemon jello, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee', and so much more; we ate until our bellies were fixin' to bust at the seams and until we could hardly move. We felt (and looked) like fat slugs, and we just sat there, waiting for our food to go down before we got in any wild games or play. Otherwise, we would have more than likely thrown up! :) I never ate so much in my life; I think I gained at least 20 pounds just from my lunch alone! LOL
Even though it rained off and on all day, there was a huge turnout for the picnic, and people were surprised that this many families came; but they were happy that we were there, and the park people went out of their way to make sure we had all we needed and went out of their way to make our picnic a fun and enjoyable one. Luckily, not many people got sick, and thankfully, no ambulances had to be called, and the worst thing that happened was when Sun-Hee, my little sister, got a grape stuck up her nose and had to go to the sick bay to get it taken out. Of course, the kids thought it was hilarious, but Sun-Hee was mad and embarrassed about it. (She put the grape in her nose on a dare. It turned out that the grape got stuck, and she couldn't blow it out, so she had to get it taken care of before she started to have any trouble breathing.)
Jodie also threw up (but then she always DOES; we are used to it, but some people were bothered by it; but maman remained calm, and she took care of the situation), and Roberto got stung by a bee when he stepped on it, but he had no problems, but other than that, nobody else had any problems: no seizures or unexpected breathing crises happened, and we were all very glad of that!
We are still at the picnic grounds as I am writing this, and we are getting ready to have supper; so I will let you go and continue my story tomorrow or the next day. I will let you know how the rest of our picnic went, but I will tell you this much: I am having a total blast, and I love my new friends (and of course, my old friends!)!
~Luv, your pal, Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, aged 11 1/2--AUTHOR! :)
awwwwwwwwwww, this is precious! i love the way you write of families with extra love in their heart who adopt children, especially those hard to place. BRAVA!
maybe one day soon we'll see KAREN'S name on a book--if so, i get the first copy! LOL
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
The familiar lament of dual-career parents raising children is, "I just can't do it all." The Libra Solution provides an alternative - a more satisfying and sustainable work and life approach - to the overwrought modern day norm.
A wicked Cajun Fairy named Robes Pierre entered the impenetrable Magical doll land of Sha Bebe. Queen Faustina, the ruler of the doll land, thought she had destroyed him, but he's back! Will the doll land survive his evil ways?
The weather was something to be desired (it rained on and off all day, and it is still raining, but a little), but we went to our picnic at Centennial Park here in Nashville, Tennessee, where we live, and we had a lot of fun. We played games, ate til our bellies were crying for mercy, talked and laughed a lot, spent some time in prayer and Christian-style fellowship, and listened to music, which was provided by a gospel choir. The picnic we went to was put on by AASK, which is an adoption agency that places kids who have special needs with families all over the U.S. (the agency is based in California, and it is a very reputable agency), and it is an annual thing. We also heard speakers talk about adoption and listened to stories that families shared.
