Tuesday, November 8, 2005, 10:40 am., C.S.T. (Dang, I have to keep remembering we went back to our regular time just before Hallowe'en!! LOL)~

Dear Wyndi Storm~

I was sooo happy to have heard from you; it HAS been a very long while! I am sorry for not writing sooner, but raising a village DOES keep me busy, and trying to keep tabs on fifty-three children is a Hurclean task at times! LOL But the kids are well, and that I can be very thankful for! Speaking of kids, I am so sorry to learn that Karla is in kidney failure and that she is on dialysis. That must be so hard for you both! Please know that you and Karla are in my prayers and thoughts today!!

I wish I could come out there to offer you some moral support and prayers, but I have my own problems and my family (and my job) to be concerned about, and trying to get away is not easy! But I AM off Thanksgiving weekend, and I can get some more of our Christmas shopping done! (We usually start in August, and we continue until the first week in December; we sometimes get a few "last minute gifts" on Christmas Eve. With fifty-three children, PLUS a husband, and parents, as well as grandkids and OTHER family members to shop for, we have no choice BUT to start early! (This Christmas I work; I alternate every other Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sure it would be WONDERFUL to have BOTH major holidays off, but unfortunately, people DO and WILL get sick during the holidays, and hospitals never close! So I have to work, even on Christmas. That CAN be a pain at times, but we then have our Christmas when I get off work, and then we go to church for Christmas Day services, and that is always something nice to look forward to!) This Thanksgiving, my daughters who live out of state, will be coming, and I will get to see my son in law and my grandkids again, and that is always a happy time! I also may see my friend in California, Kendra Williams, and HER daughters, but I haven't heard from her in a while; sure hope she is okay!...What are YOU doing for Thanksgiving? I hope you can get some turkey and all the trimmin's! :)

Did you see the meteors last night? There has been a meteor shower going on for the past several nights (the Taurids), and some of the fireballs have been quite spectacular, especially last night. They will go on until at least the twelth, and then we will have the Leonids to look forward to, and that is always something! During the Leonids, we can expect to see upwards to 100 or MORE meteors PER HOUR!! But unlike the Taurids, they are fast, and they can be hard to catch! But they WILL be visible to the naked eye...JUST as long as it does not cloud up, thus, ruining our chances! We have been going out the last several nights, enjoying the meteors blazing across the night-time sky!

Yes, Janica is here; she came in August, and she has since adapted to her new surroundings, and she is really a sweet, even-tempered little girl! We don't think we will adopt any more children (we already have more than enough now, with FIFTY-THREE!! LOL), but you never do know what God will have in store for us in the future! We didn't plan on adopting Janica until the adoption agency called, and once we got her picture in the mail, we could NOT say "No"! But I am also busy helping other families get children with special needs, and whenever an adoption is successful, we celebrate and rejoice! We also keep tabs on one another, and we share our successes and failures, and we are a very close-knit adoption community! I have made many wonderful friends form all over the U.S., and it has been a blessing to have met so many wonderful people! Our other two adopted children, Rani and Arjun, are also doing very well, and now Rani is walking with just the leg braces when she was once on a walker and then crutches!! Arjun is learning new words each and every day, and the world is an exciting place for a bright-eyed little guy who is just discovering life! It is so cute to watch him experience new things; the look of wonderment on his little brown face is just priceless!

The weather is nice here; pleasant temps and clear nights, but we may get more rain in a day or two. Oh, well...I just wish I could send some of this rain to places that NEED it--like Texas, for one thing! I have two sisters who DO live in Texas, and they said that they are HURTIN' for some needed moisture!!

Well, I have to run; they are paging me to the Emergency Room...hope it isn't anything serious, especially since I am going to be eating right after! LOL Don't NEED to be eating spaghetti and meatballs after dealing with a person who is bleeding uncontrollably or a person who has been mangled in a devastating MVA! YIKES! LOL Take care, my dear friend, and God bless you mightily! Again, know that you are in my prayers and thoughts!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your Tennessee friend, Louie May Sandusky. :)