Monday, January 22, 2007, 10:15 a.m., C.S.T.~

Dear Eileen Weston~

Howdy! My name is Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux; I am the daughter of Louisiana Sandusky, whom you write to. (She said I could write to you.) I am fourteen years old; I turned fourteen on December 25, Christmas Day. I am in the eighth grade right now and am doing very well in school.

As I write this, I am in study hall. We can do basically anything we want to (just as long as we don't disturb the teacher or others!); I decided to spend my time here writing, so here I am! :)

What do you like to do, Eileen? Do you have any children? Mama never said if you did or not. Anyway, I have over fifty brothers and sisters, and at times it can get crazy around here! We are going to get two more brothers (Emir and Habir Vijay) and two more sisters (Huong Vu and Mai Fong), but it won't be for several months yet. We are excited about that! :) I know mama is crazy to adopt more kids, but she has an awful lot of love in her heart! :)

I like to sing (that is probably my favorite thing to do; I sing country/western and Cajun mostly, but I can do other styles of music), play music on my instruments (I can play the Cajun accordion, fiddle, pedal steel guitar, regular guitar, piano, mandolin, and banjo), read (I am a regular bookworm!), draw, write songs or poetry (and also stories), play with my brothers and sisters (as well as my friends), go shopping, go to the movies, travel, collect porcelain dolls, and write in my journal. I also love to play games or write to my friends on the computer and go to church. Churc h is very important to me. I go every Sunday and Wednesday, and I go on Thursdays (for choir practice; the other two days are for services).

I am disabled. I have arthritis. I walk with two canes now, but for years I used crutches. I had surgery on my hips nearly two years ago, and the surgery has been a godsend once I got past the therapy and the recovery. I have had JRA since I was four, and it is a pain--literally! LOL I take medicine to help my joints, and sometimes I get "flares", where the arthritis affects certain organs in my body (heart, lungs, stomach, etc.), and I can get very sick.

When this happens, I usually end up in the hospital, and it is no picnic. I do have asthma, but as I get older, it is becoming less of a problem, thank goodness! I also have allergies (mainly to peanuts or any kind of nut or penicillin, also bee stings, but as long as I stay away from these items, then I am okay).

I really don't have any problems with being disabled, but what drives me crazy is sometimes people notice my disabilities first before they notice me, and I am more--much more--than my disabilities! They stare or make stupid comments, and it drives me wild!! That is probably the biggest issue I face right now in my life, besides worrying about boys making comments about my chest, which I find embarrassing. Or they pick on me because I am short, but that is something I can't do anything about! GRRR!!

How is the weather there in Texas? Here it is partly cloudy out; we have had rain the past few days, which did not sit well with my arthritis; but at least it's scooted on out of here, and now I can enjoy the sunshine! We may have some ice later this week. We had a blizzard about a week ago, and we still have a lot of snow on the ground (just not as much, thanks to the recent rains we've had). We had been under flood watches and warnings, but no floods came here. (Our house sits on a hill.) I hope the weather there is behaving itself; heard it's been cold (and icy) that way.

I am sorry to learn that you have arthritis and that you fell last month. I hope you are feeling better. It is scary to fall, and you often feel stupid for doing it (especially if you do it in front of someone). I hope you weren't hurt, and if you were, I hope that it wasn't serious.

Well, I am about to go now; class is fixin' to end. Take care, Eileen, and God bless! I do hope to hear from you again!

With much love, your new Tennessee pal, Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux. :D