Monday, April 9, 2007, 6:30 a.m., D.S.T., Nashville, Tennessee~

Dear Journal~

Good morning! :)

I am sittin' at my desk in the office at work, came to work to check on things, then am going back home. (Am on leave until Bill gets back on his feet. Bill is having back surgery on Thursday; Wednesday he goes into the hospital.)

Don't worry about finances; my church family will see to that. So will my kids who work; they want to help out in any way they can. I am so blessed to have raised such thoughtful, compassionate kids! :) Plus I have God; as long as I have Him, I don't NEED to worry because everything is gonna' be alright! :)

Yesterday was Easter. We had a beautiful day in the Lord. We had our final day of the Cantata yesterday; during the first service, three people gave their hearts to the Lord; the second, twelve. It was awesome! :) The church was packed for both services, and the Presence of the Lord was really strong!

There were a few problems (mostly with the sound system), plus Mack (he was the one who played Jesus in our production) had a bit of a (*ahem*) "showing", a showing he (or the rest of us) hadn't bargained for. As he was "ascending" into Heaven, we realized that his robe was tucked inside his underwear; you could very easily tell he was wearing red underwear. It was quite funny, but I thought poor Pastor Bilkey was going to lose it for a minute there. *grins*

The congregation (not to mention the rest of us) had a good laugh about it later, but other than that (and the sound system acting up), our Cantata went without a hitch, thank the Lord! :)

After the services, we went to Golden Corral, as we do every Sunday, where we sat down for a good, home-cooked meal and shared fellowship with family and church family/friends. It was wonderful. Of course, the poor employees didn't like it much, but the boss sure did; that meant big money! :) We sat in the back, in Section 8, and we were there a good three hours or so. (Takes a while for all of us to eat, ya know??)

Well, my patients aer doing well; nobody died over the weekend, thank goodness, but some are still hanging on by a thread--barely. Tense times in the NICU sometimes; life in the NICU is never dull! Ya never know when a crisis is gonna' hit!

My co-workers were glad to see me; most wished me a Happy Easter and were sorry to learn that Bill needs surgery this week; they told me he would be in their thoughts and prayers, which I greatly appreciated. I told them I'd come to the cafeteria to have a drink of java with them, which is what I am doing now--and writing on my laptop, too, of course! :)

Wherever I go, my trusty computer laptop goes with me. When I am not at work, I have the added bonus of my sweet little baby, "Cajun Gold", my little four-pound Pomeranian who thinks she is a pitbull! LOL

Yesterday the kids had their annual Easter Egg Hunt, but we had it indoors. It was successful, and the kids enjoyed their Easter baskets full of candy and goodies. Yet we stressed to them that Easter isn't just about chocolate bunnies or candy: it means more--much more. That was the day Jesus rose from the dead, and this is the main reason why we celebrate, why we go to church.

Well, the kids are doing great: no unexpected medical emergencies; the last one was when Johnny had his seizure, but he's recovered from that, thank goodness. The new meds seem to be doing the trick.

Ronee' hasn't had any problems with her arthritis (oh, she hurts, but that's normal for her; what I meant to say was she hasn't had any flares), but the allergies sure have been kickin' her in the tail. She coughs, she wheezes, and she sneezes--a LOT. She's miserable at times, but as long as she's armed with her Kleenex or her allergy meds, then she's okay.

Yes, spring has most certainly sprung--and so have the allergies. TRUST me on this. I have allergies too, to pollen, grasses, and certain soaps. I sneeze, wheeze, and cough a lot too. This is why I have my Benedryl with me at all times. (I take the non-drowsy kind.)

Now that I have had my java juice and visited with some of my co-workers, I can continue writing in here. Here goes...

We have found out that Bjorn is due to arrive in a month, sooner than what was originally planned. The news has left us all excited; pretty soon our sistieth child will be arriving! ('Course I will have to be the one to get him, since Bill will be recovering from his surgery; he'll be in no condition to travel--except to doctor's appointments, that is).

Bjorn is just about ready to come to the United States; he has been given the "all-clear" by his doctors; we're just waiting on some last minute paperwork to be completed by the Finnish orphanage where he is currently at. Once that is done, then Bjorn will come, and he'll be ours. :)

We did find out something else about Bjorn, something else we weren't aware of. Bjorn is an albino child. That means he has very llitle pigmentation in his skin. His skin is awfully pale, he has white hair, and his eyes are so light blue at times they appear that they have no color whatsoever, and in certain lighting, his eyes look pink. It's bizarre. We are ready to welcome him with open arms, and we are more than ready to love him! :)

I am going to go now; am going back home, where I'll probably go back to bed. I won't be able to do this after Bill goes into the hospital and has his surgery, might as well take advantage of any extra sleep while I can! Take care, Dear Journal, and catch ya later! God bless!

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