Sunday, July 12, 2009, Nashville, TN., 6:42 a.m., D.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

Louie here.  Sorry if I haven't written; been incredibly busy.  Between working oodles of hours (including overtime), caring for my parents, husband, and village LOL, and whatnot, I just don't write in here nearly as much as I would like.  Hope you understand.

The family is up; the kids are getting ready, and so is my husband and parents.  We are getting ready to grab a bite to eat from McDonald's (drive thru today; going to drive the workers bonkers!  LOL), then buzz on over to church for both morning services, then go out to eat afterwards.  Going to Pappadeaux's Cajun Cafe for lunch; it's a new restaurant here in town, and we're going to try it out.

See if it's authentic Cajun, the kind of Cajun I grew up with.  (If not, maybe I need to give them tips, show them what true Cajun cookin' is all about.  :) )

Work has been crazy at best.  The heat brings out the crazies, as does the full moon.  Have had a rash of crazy, drunken idiots pass through the ER doors lately, and there have been more accidents (mostly minor, thank God, but there have been some doozies that killed several and injured others).  It's been a living nightmare; this is when I'm glad I'm off for the next three days!

Church news:  now that the revival is over, we can settle back into a normal routine, although the Royal Ranger boys have a camping trip coming up this weekend, and the Missionettes girls have a community-wide bake sale; all monies from this goes towards the Missionettes and missions.  In October is the Harvest Festival, which is getting bigger and bigger each year.  This year they have two acts:  the Bible-Tones from North Carolina, and the Liberty Quartet from Idaho.  Hear both are really good, although I'm not really that familiar with their music.

And instead of one day, our Harvest Festival will be two days, which means twice the fun for all who come!

Also, our senior pastor and some of the staff will be going to Kenya, Africa, later in the year, for several weeks, so we are going to be lifting them up in prayer, to ensure that all goes well during their trip.  It's a missions trip.

Oh!  Almost forgot:  next Sunday, we are having a special guest speaker come talk with the congregation about achieving your dreams.  He is a parachutist with the Army Golden Knights parachute team, and he has two artificial limbs (legs).  He had been diving one time out of a plane and he and another teammate collided.  In the impact, the one guy was killed, and the other had his legs amputated, one below the knee, one above the knee.  It was a horrific accident.  Now the man goes across the country, speaking to people about overcoming your disabilities and reaching your dreams, as well as skydiving.  He is a devout Christian, and he is absolutely incredible!

His name is Dana Bowman, and he's been on different programs on television; he's world-famous.  He is in the process of writing a book about his life (I want it; it would make for some compelling reading).

Should be good; I, for one, am really looking forward to it!

In a few weeks, our city is having a special event to honor our U.S. military forces/veterans; there will be continous live music, military flyovers, a free meal for veterans/service men and women and their families, demonstrations, and so much more.  In the evening will be a mammoth fireworks show; it promises to be just about as good as our July Fourth fireworks we had recently.

The event/festival will be held at one of our local airports; in addition to all of the above, there will also be an airshow with the Navy Blue Angels, the Golden Knights, and others.  It will probably bring the people out in droves.  It sounds like a wonderful time for all!

Well, it's about time we load the kids in and get our butts in gear if we want to make it to church on time, so I'd best go.  I will write another day.  Until then, this is Louisiana saying so long, and may God bless you always!  Take care!  Love y'all!

~As always, your friend in Tennessee, Louie May.  :)

For more information about Dana Bowman, please visit:

www.danabowman.com.