Saturday, May 1, 2010, Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, 9:11 p.m., D.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

AAIIEE!!  Laissez les bon temps rouler, mes amis!

I am doing that in a big way:  my family and I are in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, watching Keith Frank and his zydeco band tear up the stage with their infectious brand of music.  The crowd is lovin' it, and I am too! :)

Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux here.  I hope this finds  y'all well!  I am having an absolute blast at the Crawfish Festival:  I have eaten more crawfish, heard more Cajun and zydeco music, etc.; I'll probably be sick of it by the time the festival ends tomorrow evening!  LOL  I performed earlier today with my band, "Cajun Spice", at the Heritage Stage, and I've just now gotten my second wind!  LOL  I performed smack between Jackie Caillier and Sheryl Cormier. 

The crowd seemed to like what I and my band did (or at least I am hoping they did ...  :) ); they were clapping and enjoying themselves; there were also people dancing.  Made me feel good:  I've done my job.  I entertained the crowd; that was my goal.  So now that my goal has been accomplished, I can sit back and enjoy the heck what is left out of the festival! :)

Still have tomorrow to go yet; then we head on home to Tennessee, but alas ...  Tennessee, including Nashville, has had some bad flooding.  I have seen the piccys on my I-phone, and my heart breaks.  I wonder if our house got flooded; we live on a hill, but still, that much rain on top of what we've gotten doesn't sit too well with the rivers and streams ...  I pray we didn't get flooded!  Nashville is surrounded by rivers (the Cumberland comes to mind ... ); I am left wondering if anyone was killed or stranded by the floodwaters.

I will have to do some heavy duty praying when we go to bed tonight ...  but for now, that's on the back burner, as I enjoy myself at the festival, but it's not far from the back of my mind.

And Arkansas continues to get rocked by a second day of devastating tornadoes ...  I can't even begin to imagine what they are facing ...  while Nashville has it bad with the flooding, it's nothing compared to what Arkansas is facing.  I will have to do some heavy duty praying for those people as well ... :(

I am trying to be positive, trusting in the Lord in all of this, but it's hard.  I can't really enjoy myself as much as I would like because of what is going on in my home city and in Arkansas. 

We got here safe Friday morning; by 10 a.m., we were checked at our motel; by five p.m., we were already here at the festival, soakin' in the atmosphere.  Talk about a major rush!  There's nothing quite like the smell of simmerin' crawfish, soaked in Cajun spices, or the sound of Cajun music to get the blood a pumpin' and the heart to racin'!  Man!  I was ready!!

And one day later, all my cyllinders are still going!  :)  And we have tomorrow yet after we go to church!  Then it's all over, and we will probably head back to Tennessee midweek (probably Wednesday, the way things look now; might be longer if the weather doesn't let up up that way).  Just say some prayers that we get back to Nashville safely and that we didn't have too much in the way of damage to our home; I'd greatly aprpeciate it!

Even if we did, we can always find a new place to live; a house can always be replaced.  It would be hard for a while, but we'd make it.  We've got to; we have to trust in God in all things and move on.

Think positive thoughts, Ronee' .... positive thoughts!! 

Well, I am going to get back to listening to Keith Frank and his band, so I will go now.  Take care and may God bless you; pray for Nashville and especially the people of Arkansas; they are the ones who truly need the prayers!  I would greatly appreciate it!  Thanks in advance!

~With much love, your friend in Tennessee (by way of Louisiana), Ronee' Le-Anne.  :)