Dec. 30, 2009  (New Year's Eve Eve LOL), Nashville, TN., 6:07 a.m., C.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

Bill here.  Sorry if I haven't written; been busy trying to manage my wife and the troops here at Camp Sandusky.  LOL  (Not so much the little woman, but the kids:  that's a whole different ball game altogether!  LOL)  Plus working at Wally-World and church:  that keeps me busy as well.  Hope you understand.

Other than some issues with health (Jodie's surgery, Johnny's surgery, or Ronee' battling with her JRA again, et. all),  plus arguments among friends, the deaths/illnesses among friends or acquaintances, making the (painful) decision not to adopt any more children, my trial, worrying about bills, et. al, we've been doing quite well for ourselves.  God's gotten us through the rough patches; now it is time to forage ahead and reflect on the year that's about to be history in just two days.

Two days from now it will be 2010.  Can you believe it??  I certainly can't!  Seems the older I get, the faster the years blaze by while when I was a kid, they just dragged!!

The kids are currently in bed; I hope they stay in bed until at least nine, before I leave for work.  That would give me some leeway or get things done around the house as best as I can.  Right now it's quiet, and the only ones up are myself and some of the animals.  Louie is at work; she left at five thirty, nearly an hour ago.  (The hospital wanted her to come in early; shortage of workers.)

We had a wonderful Christmas; it helped having most of the kids who live out of state home.  Dwerlina and her family are here from Louisiana, Anh and his girlfriend are here from Oklahoma, and Steffi and her boyfriend are here from Texas.  Johnny's brother, Erick, who lives in New York City, is also with us, along with his girlfriend.  So we have a pretty full house.  (Unfortunately, Lightning and her family couldn't join us.  They live in Colorado.)

They will be leaving tomorrow (Steffi, Erick, and Dwerlina) or the next day (Anh).  Meanwhile, the rest of the family remains here:  all fifty-odd members of 'em!  LOL

The kids got tons of stuff, including a brand new computer (Johnny).  That one 'bout broke our backs in more ways than one.  We'll be paying on that until next Christmas!  LOL  Yet it is something that Johnny needed, so we decided to get it for him.  I just hope he gets plenty of good usage out of it! 

And Ronee', she got the cell phone she wanted.  I told her it was specifically for emergencies only; no calling her friends at all hours of the night or day.  And definitely no texting.  She was a happy kitty.  She loved it (natch, as she would say).

Last night, the kids got into a rock-em, sock-em snowball fight with some of the neighborhood kids.  You can probably guess who won.  Yes, "Team Sandusky" obliberated the Neighborhood Kids!  They threw snowballs and shrieked with laughter for over an hour; they were having such a good time!  Then Ronee' fell; thank God she had a soft landing!  She also lost one of her canes; that was rather interesting, but she found it shortly thereafter.  (That was why she fell.)

Since we got several inches of snow (plus sleet on top if it), I told Ronee' she is not to drive on the icy roads.  Either she takes the bus or I drive her to school.  She understands, especially since she's not too graceful on ice.  She falls a lot.  LOL

Yet since the kids don't go back to school until the sixth of January, that's one less worry on my part.  LOL  (Same goes with all of the kids who use crutches/canes/wheelchairs to get around.  Wheelchairs, crutches, or canes were not made for getting around in ice or snow!)

Watching the kids play last night made me wish I could join them, but my arthritis was meowing big time (more like hissing!), so I stayed put, right by the nice, roaring fireplace, which sang a happy tune  a good part of the day yesterday.  It is cold outside, baby:  only in the upper teens!  BRRR!!! 

I heard from several of my brothers; they are doing well, but I still miss my baby brother, Jimmy, who died several years back.  He was only in his thirties; he died of complications resulting from his severe cerebral palsy.  (He was also mentally disabled, with the mind of a very young child.  He required twenty-four hour care.)  My dad and mom are gone, too.  (My brothers live in Tennessee, Utah, and Louisiana.)

My brothers' families are doing well; on Christmas Day and the day before, I spent lots of time on the phone, talking to them, catching up on their lives.  I hope they come to see me; I miss them!  I haven't seen Daniel, Charley, or Joe in several years; it's been too long since I saw them last!

I did have eight brothers until Jimmy died several years back.  Now I have seven.

Well, what now, what now?  What shall I write about next?  Hmm.  Let me see. Hmmm. ...

Our Cantata at Christ Community Assembly of God Church was probably one of the best ones we had in a long time.  Everything just came together when it needed to, and hearts were challenged/changed by the Message we were trying to convey.  Over fifty people gave their hearts to the Lord, so we must have done something right!  Tomorrow night is the Teen Lockdown, where the teens of the church stay all night and have a sleep-in.  Quite a few of my kids are going, including Ronee', Sunshine, Andre', Kwame', Sergei, Michelle, Megan, Jodie, Loueva, LaVella, Christina, Heather, Trude, Sylvia, Danica, and Jeraldo.  That will leave us with a little more breathing room.  LOL

Next event for our church is the Valentine's Day Gospel Sing with special music by several of the church members, plus the headline act the McGruders, who were last with us back in October for our Harvest Festival.  They did such a marvelous job, people asked to have them back, so they agreed.  So now we have that to look forward to.  It is going to be a wonderful time with the Lord!

Well, I hear somebody stirring, so I'd best see who it is.  I will write in here again; until then, may you have a wonderful new year, and pray that it is better than 2009 was!  We need a better year!  And continue to pray for our country, especially our leaders; they need all the prayer (help) they can possibly get!!

Thanks in advance~

As always, Bill.