Thursday, January 11, 2007, 1:54 p.m., C.S.T. (Written during study hall, my last class of the day!! YAY!!)~

Dear Journal~

Hi! This is your bud, Ronee'. I am sorry if I haven't written in here for the past few weeks, but I have been incredibly busy (plus I have been recovering from my recent stay in the hospital; I was in the hospital for a little over a week; I had a flare up of my JRA, and I had some trouble with my breathing). I am doing  much better now, thank the Lord! :) I hope  you understand!

We are due to get a winter event here in Nashville by the beginning of next week, according to the local weather forecasters. We may get a blizzard if things continue to hold together. NICE. I hope not; I have a lot of problems getting around in snow or on ice; I walk on two canes, and if I fall--that would not be good, especially if I a.) break my body or b.) break one (or both) of my canes!

I had a nice New Year's: I went to my friend Kenya's for the day, and her mom took us to the movies; we saw "Cars", which was cute. I really enjoyed it! We also went out to eat at Cheddar's, and we went to the mall afterwards. I got to spend some of my Christmas/birthday money; I got some new books at Barnes and Noble, and I got some more stickers and pens for my writing. Before I went to Kenya's, we watched the Tournament of Roses Parade from Pasadena, California; the floats were incredible, and there were some awfully pretty ones; really amazing how they can make things out of flowers like that! They really put a lot of work into building those floats!

Christmas was good too, especially since I got out of the hospital in time. That would have been a major bummer had I spent Christmas in the hospital (which I have done before; not fun!). My brother and sisters who live out of state came home, and we had a marvelous time. I got lots of nice things from Santa Claus, and from my family, and I also found out that we are getting two new brothers as well as two new sisters.

We are getting a brother from Iraq (Emir Muhammed, 1 1/2), a brother from India (Vijay; he is five), a sister from China (May Fong; she is five), and a sister from Vietnam (Huong; she is eight or nine; I can't remember which). All but Emir are healthy: Emir lost his arms and legs in an explosion from a bomb; he is still recovering, and he has nightmares, according to the adoption caseworker.There will soon be fifty nine kids in our family!! WOW! That is going to be so cool; I can't wait until May Fong, Emir, Vijay, and Huong arrive! :)

We had our Christmas program at church; Johnny signed and sang during "Silent Night", and I got to do "O Holy Night", just as we do every year. The congregation really enjoyed the Cantata, and about a dozen or so people came up and gave their hearts to the Lord, which made  all of us happy. We got several new church families to join, and the church really looked resplendent in all the Christmas finery! I love Christmas; it is such a pretty time of year, and I love looking at all the decorations and the lights!

Well, I am now fourteen years old. Incredible! Seems like only yesterday when I was a little snot nosed kid; now I am a teenager, and I don't look so much like a little kid any more! I am still short for my age, but then my real parents were short, so I guess I can't do much about that unless I take growth pills or something! LOL Oh, well: I can think of worse things to be upset about! :) At least I have my health (for the most part, that is)! :)

I am going to go now; am going to get ready for church. We are having a prayer rally and a praise gathering. It is going to be a lot of fun, but poor mom can't go; she has to work tonight and tomorrow. She will be off Monday and Tuesday; she has been working a lot of nights lately because one of her nurses sprained her foot, and she is now hobbling around on crutches. Kerry is now back at work, but she is pullin' light duty until her foot  heals and she is off the crutches. Then maman will go back to her usual day shift starting Wednesday.

Takre care, and God bless! I will write about the prayer rally/praise gathering next time; stay tuned!

(((HUGS))) and love, your gal pal, Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux (now 14 years of age). :D