Friday, August 8, 2008 (Olympics Day!!), 10:56:05 a.m., D.S.T., Nashville, Tn~

Dear Journal~

Bill Sandusky here.  Lots to talk about in a short amount of time, so here goes.  Hope this finds y'all well or happy!

Today is the start of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.  It is a very highly touted Olympics; many dignitaries (including our President) are to be in attendance, and they expect record crowds, not just those in attendance, but television viewers around the world.

We will be among the billions watching the Opening Ceremonies.  We always enjoy the Olympics; there's always great moments that will go down in history!

I pray the Olympics go without a hitch, and I pray peace/protection on those who are at the Games as well as the Olympic athletes themselves!  We don't need any tragedy there, like the Olympics back in 1976 (I believe), where several Israeli athletes were either killed or kidnapped (memory getting a little fuzzy here...).

And my gymnast daughter, seventeen-year-old Gemini, only works harder in her quest to go to the Olympics.  She would love to represent the United States of America at an Olympics, possibly winning a gold medal. She's just recently made it into the elite category of gymastics; she's just as good (if not better) than some of those gymnasts we see at the Olympics!

Last night we watched "America's Got Talent".  It was the Las Vegas callbacks, to see which top forty acts go on to the next step of competition.  As usual, there was much drama, surprises in store.  Several acts whom I found questionable advanced, while more deserving (if more talented) acts got the boot, were sent home packing.

Case in point: little nine-year-old David Militello, this kid who has autism.  He may not have had the greatest of singing voices, but the kid had guts, heart, and he was not bad in my eyes.  In fact, he was quite good.  He didn't go through, much to our shock, disappointment.

Meanwhile, a little four-year-old songbird named Kaitlyn Ashley Maher advanced.  She sang "When You Wish Upon A Star" pitch perfect, didn't forget a single word, didn't seem nervous.  She was fantastic.  Yet compared to some of the older, more experienced acts on there, she really doesn't stand a chance of winning it all.  If she does it will be a total surprise (and will probably cause a huge uproar!! LOL).

I was happy for Kaitlyn; however, I felt bad for David.  When we saw that he didn't advance, the kids protested.  Loudly. Vehemently.  It was a regular near-rumble in our house last night.

I know some of them are probably going to write letters of protest to NBC regarding the show!! LOL

On to other news:

Louie's friend in Australia, Tottie Witherspoon, is getting married tomorrow.  She has a fiance' named Bob ('Bobbo') Brighton; they met cute while at the beach around Christmas time, and it was instaneous love between them.  Now they are about to become husband and wife.  I wish nothing but the best for them, pray that everything goes without a hitch!

Kendra Kent and her family are also busy:  they just added two little girls from Afghanistan to their burgeoning brood, and we are getting ready to have a foster child come to our house, a little six-year-old boy named Billy Ray.  From the pictures I've seen of him, he looks like a real little character. 

It's going to be fun; at the same time it's also going to be very interesting around Casa Sandusky!  LOL

The weather here has been incredibly hot this past week:  temps soaring into the upper nineties with rain some days.  Some days we've had storms; they were not severe, per se, but they were strong.  Lots of high winds (small tree damage in our yard, some shingles blown off the roof of our house), frequent lightning, continuously loud thunder, heavy rains that caused some flooding in low places,  minor flooding. 

We've been awakened several times by thunder crashing during the middle of the night; Louie and I then spend the next several hours quieting scared, nervous, or crying kids, trying to reassure them that they are safe.

I will be so  happy when fall comes!  I've had enough of this heat; it aggravates Louie's allergies (as well as mine), and my asthma gets worse when it's hot.  I've been hitting the inhaler a lot; I pray it doesn't go into a full-blown asthmatic episode, to where I'll need to call for an ambulance on my part!

That would NOT be good!

Well, gang, I am going to get my grub face on, then go back to work once break's overwith.  I work 'til six tonight; then I'm off for the weekend (whee! Lucky me!  LOL).  I will write in here when I can.  Until then, this is Bill saying take care and may God bless y'all mightily!

~Bill. :)