Louisiana writes again, this time to a woman in Detroit, Michigan, who has adopted six little girls, all from Africa.
Saturday, June 4, 2005, 11:40 a.m., C.D.T.~
Dear LaNelle~
Hi! Thank you so much for telling me about your beautiful family of daughters; your daughters Ayah and Kibibi are absolutely beautiful! I would love to see a picture of your other daughters; if they are as pretty as they sound, then they must be GORGEOUS! I would love to read your book, "African Blessings", and I am so glad that you enjoyed the article in "Adopted Child"! I will be sending you both my books as well, "A Family Made out of Miracles and Rainbows" and "...And The Miracles Continue", so be on the lookout for a package from me! Congratulations on your book! When did you write it? I wrote the first book ("A Family Made out of Miracles and Rainbows") last year, and I did "...And The Miracles Continue" earlier this year; it just went into print just a few weeks ago, and the book is starting to appear in Christian-based bookstores nationwide. The first book sold fairly well (more than I thought it would!), and I am hoping the second book is as successful!
I am so sorry you had such a hard time in trying to have children. I, too, have lost a child, not once, but three times. I lost a little girl, L'Acadia Marie Antoinette, when she was 16 days old (she was born very premature, and she somehow contracted meningitis from another baby in the NICU nursery who had it; she was just too small--and much too sick--to be able to fight off the infection), and I also lost two sons, Pierre Armand, who died of SIDS when he was but six days old, and Aron Jakob, who would have been four on the day he died; it was on his birthday when he died. He had menigitis just a few weeks prior, and he never recovered. He just kept on getting worse and worse. I still miss Aron, Pierre, and L'Acadia very much; had they lived now, they would all be in their teens, and there isn't a day when I don't think of them. So I too know the pain and heartbreak of losing a child. Please accept my condolences on the loss of your son, Shelton Octavius!
To tell you a bit about myself, I am married to William Sandusky ("Bill"), and we have been married nearly 14 years now (it WILL be 14 years in just a few weeks, on the 26th of this month). We adopted our first two children, Johnathon and Ronee' Le-Anne, when they were mere babies; and they have since blossomed into beautiful preteens. They will be 13 years old come December. Both Johnny and Ronee' have serious health problems, but they are still very sweet and loving children who bring a smile to everyone they meet! After Johnny and Ronee' came seven more, and the whole thing just sort of snowballed from there until we ended up with an incredible 52 children, most with special needs! We just adopted two more this year; we adopted a baby boy of one year and a five-year-old girl from Sri Lanka, and they have since assimilated themselves into our International Family beautifully!
I am a registered nurse, and my husband works at Wal*Mart, but we still have lots of time for our kids; our kids are our livlihood, and telling others about them and helping others with the process of adopting kids with special needs is our ministry, "our Calling", if you will. I am a member of a very active adoption community, and we support one another and talk about our experiences as adoptive parents. My kids came from agencies like Spence-Chapin, AASK (Aid To The Adoption of Special Kids), Holt International, WACAP, Hope International, and Rainbow House International, as well as smaller, lesser known agencies like Bundles of Joy, All God's Children, and C.H.I.N.H. (Children In Need of Homes).
Well, LaNelle, I thank you again for writing. I do hope to hear from you soon, and I am looking forward to reading your story. Again, congrats on your book! Do enjoy the books I am sending you; be on the lookout for them! God bless you always, and may He enrich the lives of Grover and your African angels forever and ever!
(((HUGS))) and much love,
In His Service,
Your new Tennesee friend, Louisiana Mayrah Therese Sandusky (Mama to 52 Miracles!). :D
These timeless quotations culled from the celebrated corpus of writings by W.E.B. Du Bois are presented with illuminating introductory essays by Aberjhani. Narration of the Audible book performed by Catherine Byers.
I have written a chapter called I Am That, I Am in this inspirational compilation book by best-selling authors and wonderful people from all walks of life xox :-D (Its sister book is called Adventures In Manifesting - Success and Spirituality)
Saturday, June 4, 2005, 11:40 a.m., C.D.T.~
