Sunday, February 26, 2007, 6:03 p.m., C.S.T.~

Dear Hannah Grace in Oklahoma~

Thanks for your letter; it was nice to hear from you! You sound like you are busy with your family (almost like me! LOL)!

I hope you survived the wind yesterday; it was on our news channel. We had storms here, tornadoes east of here, but the sirens went off several times during the duration of the storms. Needless to say, we did not sleep that well last night; we spent it in our basement/safe room. We had some shingles peeled off our roof and some trees down (including a 100-year-old maple tree that was in the yard when we moved here); now we face a big clean up tomorrow. No other damage, though, thank the Lord! It could have been a lot worse, like it was in parts of Louisiana and Arkansas!

We had wind, too, today, but it's dying down. Nothing, though, to the extent y'all had; Texas and Oklahoma are  famous for spewing dust; makes me think back to the dust bowl storms back in the 1930's. Hopefully the dust has settled there; I wouldn't do well, not with my chronic sinus problems!

To tell you a bit about myself, Hannah, I am an adoptive mother, too, to 59 children, most with special needs. My kids come from places like Africa, the United States of America, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Iran, Iraq, China, Japan, India, Israel, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, Korea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bosnia Hergezovina, Romania, France, and the Netherlands. Our kids range in age from one year to 25, and my husband Bill and myself have six grandchildren, too. So the family tradition continues.

Bill and I have been married nearly 15 years (will be in June of this yeaer!), and we had three children of our own; all died, unfortunately. Had they lived, they would have been in their late teens. We still miss them as much now as we did back then when they first died. (Two died while still infants; the third one died on what would have been his fourth birthday, from meningitis.)

Once we got over the initial grief, Bill talked me into adoption. We first adopted Johnny and Ronee' when they were both several months old; they are now fourteen and are growing into beautiful young adults. We adopted seven more after Johnny and Ronee', instantly swelling our little family of four to a family of 9 seemingly overnight; the others followed, and we have continued adopting until we reached fifty nine. We added our latest quartet just nearly two weeks ago, and we couldn't be any happier! (Our newest children come from China, India, Vietnam, and Iraq. Their names are Opal May, Habir Vijay, Emma-Ruth, and Emir Muhammed.)

Most of our children are what people refer to as "special needs": that is, most are disabled in one way or another, or they are racially mixed, of another race altogether, are older than the age of two years, or are part of a brother/sister group that, for some reason, cannot be separated.

Most of the kids are indeed quite disabled: they are in wheelchairs, or they use walkers, crutches, or canes for mobility purposes. Others are deaf or blind, mentally retarded, or are missing limbs. We have one that is a little person, and we have one that was burned in a fire and is now scarred for the rest of his life. We have one that was abused as a child and now has emotional problems as a direct result, and we have a daughter who has fought mental illness off and on. We have a daughter who has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and a son who has Duchenne's muscular dystrophy and now uses a wheelchair.

Yet despite all their problems, they are all beautiful children, and they have excelled beautifully in a world not geared for their specific disabiltiies. We are very proud of each one of them; they make our world a much better place!

I have chronicled our story in several books, two of which you have read. I am glad you enjoyed them; maybe I will send you copies of the books if you don't have them. Would you like that? If so, let me know; I'll get them to you pronto! (I have also written a children's book about the family as well as two books about nursing and the experiences I have had.)

Unlike you, Hannah, I am not a homeschooling teacher. I have always sent my children to public schools, and I have been lucky to have very few problems with the schools here. My children have done well in school (for the most part); if there were any problems, I made sure they got the help they needed, and I discussed any problems up front. Luckily, they were solved within weeks or a few short months. If there were any problems, I had some of the kids change schools, and they have done so much better, like in the case of Johnny, my son with muscular dystrophy and learning disabilities.

We diddn't plan on adopting as many children as we did, it just happened. God has been very faithful to us; He has given us our kids, and we are indeed blessed ten times over!

Well, Hannah, I will let you go. Time to head on to church; we are running late. Guess time got away from me; I am sure Pastor Bilkey is wondering where we are at by now!

I will write again soon; if I don't answer right away, don't worry, I just have lots of letters to write! I hope you understand! I also have the adoption community and work to worry about, plus take care of my village! LOL

God bless you mightily, Hannah!

(((HUGS))) and much love, a new friend in Tennessee, Louisiana Mayrah Sandusky. :D