Tuesday, January 30, 2006, Nashville, Tennessee~

Dear Donna Sue~

Hello there! Thanks for your email! I am sorry for not writing back to you sooner, but with raising my village LOL, working with the adoption community, working in general (at my job at the hospital), and helping other families with their adoptions, well, you can imagine that life for me is very busy, and what free time I DO have is severely limited. Still, I don't mind; I think all of the above is what keeps me young and chipper! LOL And with my renewed health and  not having the severe back problems that I had prior to my back surgery last year has been nothing but a huge miracle! It's like I have gotten my life back, and I couldn't be any happier than I am right now!

I do hope that by now Bethlehem is out of the hospital. I know you have been worried about her with having this bacterial infection and losing her legs; but she seems to be doing better, and she WILL be back with you guys once she gets her strength back! She is a determined young lady, and I know that she will make it! :) I will continue to lift her up in prayer, and I will continue to pray for the rest of the Oliver contigent as well! Please let me know how she is doing, and send me the address of where she will be at; I would LOVE to send her a card of encouragement!

How is the weather there? Here it is partly cloudy; we had some rain yesterday, but the rains have moved on out, and it is now partly cloudy, and it is cooler. The kids had to wear their heavier coats and gloves this morning; it was rather chilly this morning, with the assurance that winter isn't over with us just yet (it IS only going to be the start of February, you know...). I hope it is behaving itself down there in the Peach Tree State! :)

Yes, it IS true . We ARE going on a two week long cruise to Alaska, "we" being the entire Sandusky family. We are going in late October, and we will be going on the Carnival Spirit. As you can imagine, we are very excited about our upcoming cruise, and we are going on this cruise to celebrate the adoptions of Janica, Arjun, and Rani into the family. Of course, this will be the second cruise for Bill, myself, Johnny, and Ronee', but the others will be experiencing their first cruise, and I know that they will have a BALL! :) This is going to be an exciting adventure for sure for us!! :) We canNOT wait!!!! :)

The lucky fella' in Dwerlina's life is a co-worker of hers at Mulate's Cajun Restaurant; they also go to college together at Louisiana State University-Lafayette, and they are really sweet on each other. I met him for the first time when Dwerlina came home for Christmas, and he is a very nice, well-mannered, likeable young man with a good head on his shoulders. His name is Andre' Fonteneaux, and he lives in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. They will be getting married sometime in June, and we will be going down there to Cajun Country for the wedding. I will be in it, of course, as will Bill, and several of the children, and I KNOW I will be crying buckets of tears when we give them away and as they start their journey as a married couple! :) I just hope that they will have a very  happy and long married life, and I hope that Andre' will be good to her!! I also hope for more grandbabies! :) (The more grandbabies, the happier this grandmaman will be for sure! :) )

Well, dear heart, I do hope to hear from you soon. You won't have to worry about my not answering because I just did!! I will try to write sooner in the future, but now you know why I don't write as often as I would like. I also have my writing career to keep me busy, and I do MOST of my writing at night, when the kids are in bed (or if I am NOT working)! Take care, and God bless you mightily! Give Bethlehem a hug, and tell her that we hope that she is feeling better with each passing day!

Love you!

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