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Dear Audrey: Louisiana Writes To A Mississippi Mother...(For Sarah! :) ) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Rated "G" by the Author.
Louisiana has heard from a woman in Mississippi, Audrey Jackson, who has three adopted daughters, all from Japan. This is her response to that letter.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005, 10:42 a.m., C.D.T.~
Dear Audrey~
Hello! I was pleasantly surprised to have received your letter; thank you so much for writing! It was very nice of you to take the time to write to me!
I hope you didn't have any flooding or any damage from Hurricane Dennis; I pray you guys are okay and that you made it through the storm. We had Dennis (or what is LEFT of him, anyway!) visit us, and it has been raining, but it appears that it has finally decided to pull on north. Still, we DID get a lot of rain, and there WAS some minor flooding (none at our place though; we live on a hill) around. Now it is partly cloudy out and it is HOT! Ahhh, such as summertime in the South, as you and I both know!
To tell you a bit about myself, I have been married to my husband, Bill (William, but we all know him as "Bill") for fourteen years now, and we did have three children of our own (two boys, Aron and Pierre, and a daughter, L'Acadia), but sadly, all of them died. Two of them (Pierre and L'Acadia) died while they were still tiny babies (Pierre died of SIDS at the age of six days, and L'Acadia died of prematurity, plus she caught meningitis from an infected baby that was in the same NICU nursery; she was just too sick and too weak to fight off the infection, so she died), and the other boy, Aron, died of meningitis on what would have been his fourth birthday. Had they survived, they would all be adolescents now; and there isn't a day where I don't think of them or miss them. They are all buried in Louisiana, in Breaux Bridge, and whenever we are down that way, we visit their graves.
By the way, I was born in Louisiana, in Breaux Bridge, and my husband, Bill, was born in Hendersonville, North Carolina. We moved to Nashville, Tennessee, after the death of our last child. We had too many painful memories, so we moved to Tennessee to start anew (and hopefully start a family of our own).
Well, Bill knew I wanted a family of my own, so we turned to adoption; and we both decided to take in children nobody else would want: children with special needs, or children who were part of a sibling group that could not be separated, older than the age of two, or racially mixed or of another race entirely different than our own (we both are Native American Indian, plus I am half Cajun French). We first acquired our son, Johnny, and then our daughter, Ronee'; and from there, the rest of them sort of followed until we ended up with this crazy number of 52 children that we currently have. Nobody knew we would end up with this many, and we didn't know it would happen, but it did, and God has blessed us by bringing in children that were considered "unadoptable". We haven't regretted one bit of it, and now it has gotten to the point to where we can't imagine our family without ANY of the children!
Our children range in age from one year (Arjun Ravi from Sri Lanka) to 23 (Lightning Ntzoke Marie, who is from Kenya, Africa), and all but the four oldest daughters live at home. Most are disabled in one way or another, but not all of them are. They come from places like Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Italy, Germany, France, Iran, The Netherlands, Russia, Mexico, Guatemala, all over the United States, and Canada, and by adoption, they are all now brothers and sisters..and we are their parents. Now we are adding another girl, aged eight, with spina bifida to our family, and she will be here in a few months. Her name is Janice Kryzstina, and she can walk with crutches (for longer distances, she does use a wheelchair).
What do you do for a living, Audrey? My husband and I both work: I am a registered nurse (I am the charge nurse of a metropolitan hospital; I usually work the day shift, but lately, I have been pulling doubles; therefore, I will be off the next few days, so I can recover! LOL), and my husband works at Wal*Mart as a "greeter". I have been at my job for over five years now, but my husband has only had his job for a little over two; before that, he was unemployed, and he was looking for work. People didn't want to hire my husband because he is physically disabled, and he also has mental problems (bi-polar depression, of which is controlled by medication), and he walks with crutches due to worsening arthritis. He also has had several (failed) back surgeries and he is often in a lot of pain, but somehow, he still goes on, and he enjoys life.
I wrote my first book, "A Family Made out of Rainbows and Miracles" about a year and a half ago, and I just did the sequel, "...And The Miracles Continue", earlier this year; and it just came out in print. I also wrote a book (also last year) about nursing, so I have now done three books (and may do more in the future). I love to write, and it has helped me through some mighty rough times!
In addition to writing, working, being a mother to my village LOL and a loving wife to my husband, I also have been involved in helping other families with adoption, answering questions, directing them to different (reliable) agencies, and stuff, and also am in an adoption community where we talk about our experiences as adoptive parents and help each other through difficult times. We have really grown close as a family, and I feel as if I have gained more brothers and sisters through my involvement in this. I have met many great families from as far away as Alaska at adoption picnics and seminars, and we always have the best time. Maybe one day I can meet you; that would be AWESOME! :)
Well, Audrey, I have run on long enough (you probably think I am a blathering idiot by now LOL), so I think it is best I retire and put this to bed. I have bent your ear long enough, so I think it is best I shut up. LOL I do hope to hear from you soon, and I do look forward to your next letter. Give your daughters (((HUGS))) and (((KISSES))) from me, and God bless you all mightily! Know you will be in my prayers!
Most sincerely,
A new friend in Nashville, Tennessee, Louisiana Mayrah Therese Sandusky (Mama to 52--soon to be 53--Miracle Children!). :)
P.S.: We are a rather unusual looking family; I say this because of the large number of children, and also because of the fact that I am under 5' tall whilest my husband is a towering 6' 9 1/2" tall! We look like "Mutt and Jeff" when we are standing side by side, and we always get a lot of stares from people! LOL
Potential meets purpose for great accomplishments in the life of a young student.
A young student is interested in learning coding programs. He applies and is rejected because of his age. He does not give up and tries again and is accepted. Eventu
Tuesday, July 12, 2005, 10:42 a.m., C.D.T.~
