Thursday, November 7, 2008, Nashville, TN, 3:49 p.m., C.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux here.  Hope this finds y'all well; thought I'd write about the excitin' time I had last weekend, when we went to the Grand Ole Opry Birthday Celebration, plus the Harvest Festival our church held.

Here goes!

Last weekend was a very special one for country music, both performers and fans.  The Grand Ole Opry celebrated another birthday; she's now 83 years young!! 

Also, that same time, Little Jimmy Dickens, one of the true living legends of country music, celebrated his sixtieth anniversary of being a Grand Ole Opry member!!

Isn't that awesome??  He joined the Opry in the forties; that was before I was even a twinkle in God's Eye!  WOW!!

We went to the celebration; just about everyone was there:  Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Ricky Skaggs, Loretta Lynn, Reba, Kelly Clarkson, Garth Brooks; even Dolly Parton made a surprise appearance.  It was full of joy, laughter, even a few tears (on Little Jimmy's part).

Little Jimmy Dickens is in his eighties; yet he still is strong of voice, and even though he moves a little slower now, he can still bring a crowd to their feet, and make them scream with joy!  He's an incredible entertainer, and one of the nicest people you could ever meet!!

Everyone who attended the party got a piece of Grand Ole Opry birthday cake.  It was yummy!!

I got to go backstage, meet some of the Opry singers, have my piccy taken with them.  They were very nice; it was almost like a great big family reunion!  It was a total blast!!

And on Hallowe'en night, our church had their annual Harvest Festival.  The Kevin Spencer Family singers were there, and they did a super job of entertaining/witnessing to the folks.  Over 3,000 people attended; it was smaller than the projected 10,000 they were shooting for, but it was still a lot of fun!

I sang before the Spencer Family took to the stage, as did my brother, Johnny; we were the warm up acts.  I think the people liked how we sang; we enjoy performing for them!  I just hope they liked us; I don't like the thought of bombing during the show; that's the worst thing that can happen to a performer besides getting sick on stage!!

Our family is doing great:  no sickies, no unexpected ambulance calls on our behalf.  The babies (Ian and Isaiah) are going to be one year old on Thanksgiving Day; it seems hard to believe that it's been a year since they were born!!  They are too cute; I love my baby brothers sooo much!!

On Monday the 11th, our church is going to feed the veterans, and six days later, the Golden Corral restaurants are going to do the same.  Then on Thanksgiving our church is going to feed the downtrodden of our city; it will be a great thing for people who are truly in need.  They will get a lot of love, not to mention, a great Thanksgiving meal!!

After that's overwith, we will have our church Cantata before Christmas.  I will again be singing "O Holy Night"; I've done this for the past five/six years, and I always enjoy it.  I love that song; that song just epitomizes what the true meaning of Christmas is all about!!

Well, I gotta go; have to do my homework; seems I have more homework now that I'm in high school, plus next week, I take my driver's test.  I also have my written exam.  Hopefully I will pass and remember what I've learned.  I never knew driver's ed was sooo hard!!   YIKES!!  Say a prayer for me, pray I pass the sucker!!

God bless you mightily and I'll see ya a while ago!!  C ya!!

~Luv, your pal, Ronee' Le-Anne. :D