Tuesday, October 25, 2005, 11:06 a.m., C.D.T.~

Dear Louisiana~

Thank you so much for your delightful letter of last week, with the football flying through the air; sounds like you had a wonderful time at your daughter's football game! But don't you worry about her when she is on the field, with her teammates? Some of those football players can be big bruisers; they scare the hell out of me! LOL I would be scared that she would get hurt! But I AM glad that her team won; it would have been a lot worse had the team lost!

I am hoping that your son Johnny and daughter Ronee' are feeling much better by the time you get this. It isn't fun when a kid is sick. I hope that you got to go to the Grand Ole Opry Birthday Celebration; that sounds like so much fun! I just LOVE country music, especially Loretta Lynn! I also love Kata Huddleston (she goes by Kata Hay now), a young singer who is on the verge of stardom. She has been at it since she was but a tiny child, and when she was five years old, she won the Junior Vocalist title on the original "Star Search"! She beat a ten-year-old girl who sang Barbra Streisand for the title, and if you ask me, I was so scared that she wouldn't win because of her age, but she wowed 'em, and she was sooo cute! Now she is nearly 20 years old, and she is an international yodeling champion and a future star! I have followed Kata Huddleston all her career, and she is a marvelous young lady with a gigantic personality and a love for God in her heart! She is going to go places with her singing!

You mentioned in your book that your daughter Ronee' sings. Does she sing country music, or does she sing something else? I would just love to hear her sing! She has been on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, right? WOW! How proud you must be of her!! You will have to send me a CD of hers (that is, if she has one out!!), so I can hear her sing; maybe she is as good as Kata!! Do any of your other kids sing, and do any of THEM have a CD out??

The weather here in Oklahoma has finally cooled off; fall has finally arrived, after a long, wet, hot summer, and it has been pretty the last several days. We have even gone as far as turning off the A/C at night, and we have opened up the windows; it has been delightful sleeping weather!! I just LOVE fall! The leaves are starting to change here, and the birds are starting their annual trek south to warmer climes. How is the weather there in Music City? Have the leaves started changing there?

Boy, wasn't that a mess in Florida, what with Hurricane Wilma there? WOW! I am glad I wasn't there at that time; I would have been sooo scared!! It's bad enough when we get TORNADOES and SEVERE STORMS here!! We have no basements here, so when it storms, WE hide in the bathtub, with a mattress over us, to protect us, and I am sorry, but I would MUCH rather be UNDERGROUND, thank you very much!! I do NOT do storms all that well;  I am something of a storm phobic!! This has been a BAD year for hurricanes!! I will be soooo glad when it is overwith and done; I know the people down SOUTH will be!! SHEESH!!

Well, we have some good news concerning Pearl Xie...it looks like she will be arriving sometime around Christmas!! So she will be OURS!! I am sooo excited I can hardly see to type for all the tears, and I can hardly type without trying to make mistakes!! So if you get a mistake in your letter, plese do forgive me!! I am just too happy about Pearl joining our family!! This is a dream come true ; I am about to become a MAMA!!!! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support; you ARE a true friend!! :)

I will let you go now; the washer must be done cycling; time to put the clothes into the dryer. I will write again soon! Thanks again for your last letter, and thank you for praying for the adoption of Pearl Xie to go through! God bless you and your marvelous family always!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Skiatook, Oklahoma, Wilma Gardner (the PERSON, NOT the HURRICANE! LOL). :D