...Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007, 5:44 a.m., D.S.T., Nashville, Tennessee~

Dear Journal~

Bill here. I figure I'd write a quick one in here before having to get the troops up for school; might as well take advantage of the peace and quiet~

My wife is sleeping; snoring, actually. She looks like a little girl, with her arms flung all over her face, her lips pooched out. I can't help but smile when I look at her sleeping form. She sure has been enjoying the extra opportunity to rest since being advised to stay in bed by her OB-GYN. She looks like she's been getting the rest she's needed for so long.

Her dog, "Cajun Gold", is lying on her hip, snoring along with her mistress. She won't hurt her; she only weighs three pounds (and I think the good majority of that is fur). LOL

Well, we talked to Michael Doucet yesterday, our friend in Alaska; his wife, Jenna Aurora, is holding her own, but she is still very weak. The baby, Kenai Remington, is being closely watched as well; he's in the NICU, and other than being small and having some (minor) breathing issues, he's doing quite well.

Jenna had complications during the birth of their second son; had to have an emergency hysterectomy after she started hemhorraging uncontrollably; she nearly died, but they somehow managed to save her life.

The weather is cloudy; may get some rain, much needed rain at that. Sure hope so; we are in desperate need of moisture. Our pond is getting lower and lower, and the grass is tinderbox dry; any spark could start a fire. We have to water it twice a day to keep some moisture in. The drought is really bad.

Johnny and Ronee' are feeling better, stronger every day since coming home from the hospital. Johnny, as you know by now, has to be on the oxygen all the time; may end up having to have a trache by the end of the year. Very disconcerting news, but if he wants to live, that needs to be done. Going to be hard, though, for him (and us).

As for Ronee', she is adjusting to her crutches again, not liking it. She has to use the crutches to save her hands. (She was using just two canes before this happened.) Ronee' has been having a lot of problems with pain, and the joints in her hands are deterioating. She will have surgery in January 2008, so she has that to think about. Needless to say, she's rather worried.

Dwerlina is pregnant; it's official. Found out last week, looks like another Sandusky grandchild is in the offing. I personally hope it's another girl; we only have one granddaughter as opposed to six grandsons! (All of the grandkids belong to our oldest daughter, Lightning.) Now Dwerlina and Andre' will become parents, and they are understandably excited about it.

So are we. :)

Emir, Habir, Emma-Ruth, and Opal Lee, as well as Bjorn (our five newest adopted children) have since adjusted into our (crazy) family; they act like the typical kids they are. Only thing is, Bjorn still rocks sometimes if scared, and Emir has been known to hit someone with his prosthetic arms. We have to keep reminding him not to do this. It's a challenge, but eventually he'll learn.

We can only hope.

Vincente, our little foster child, is happy as well: he is such a gentle little boy; nothing hardly fazes him. He is more than ready to snuggle next to me at nighttime, and he loves to be held, hugged, kissed. He'll come up to us and sign "I love you" and then proceed to hug the liver out of us; he's a good little hugger!

We have fallen in love with Vincente; hopefully he can stay with us. We've already started the proceedings to adopt him; it would be wonderful if we could have him as our son!

If not, then that's that; he's only supposed to be with us temporarily, but gosh darn it, we want him as our own! So what if we will have 63 kids (as of December)?? What's one more to love?? We are more than willing to do it, give him all the love he can stand--and more!

We're those types of parents: ready to love our kids at a moment's notice! :)

Doesn't matter to us if they are disabled in any way: in our house, we see the child first, not their disability, no matter how obsious (or severe) the disability may be!

Well, it's a little after six; now the Rising of The Children will begin. Take care and God bless! Have to get them all up and ready, breakfasted/medicated, and then out the door by seven thirty/eight o'clock, when the buses arrive to pick them up for the day.

~Bill. :)