Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 12:47 a.m., D.S.T., Nashville, TN.~

Dear Journal~

Louisiana Sandusky here.  I am at work as I write this.  Sorry for not writing; have been working lots of extra hours since we got back from Louisiana a week and a half ago.  We had a marvelous time at the Crawfish Festival; saw a lot of wonderful Cajun bands and ate tons of crawfish until our bellies sagged or hurt.  LOL  It's now back to business as usual, now that the cleanup to our place has been completed ...

As you know by now, Nashville recently had some horrible flooding that destroyed a lot of homes and businesses (including the Grand Ole Opry House, which is currently being rebuilt even as we speak), and over ten people were killed in the deluge.  More bodies could be found once the cleanup is completed, but that is going to take a while.  The flood really made a mess out of things here, and a lot of people's lives have been dramatically changed.

I am happy to say we escaped with only several inches of water in our basement, some roof damage, and trees blown down in our yard, as well as having no power, which, in kind, resulted in a goodly portion of food being thrown away.  Our house is now back in order, and the mess in our yard has been picked up or taken away by the city.  I am grateful; it could have very easily been so much worse than it was for us.

Maybe we ended up being more fortunate than a lot of people because we happen to live on a hill.  I don't know what, but we were very blessed not to have more in the way of damage or destruction to our property/home.  God was watching out over our place and over us; maybe it was His will to have us stay in Louisiana for several more days. 

The kids are fine, but feeling remorse:  they will probably be in school until the end of June, the way things look now.  Their schools had some damage, and so as a result, they have to make up the days they've already missed during the winter (and now during the flood).  They are worried that they will never have their summer vacation; I told them they would; it would just be shorter than usual this year.

We are still planning on going to Fan Fair/the CMA Festival, but it may be our last one.  The CMA has decided not to have any Christian artists represented there this year.  Because of this, as a Christian myself, I don't find this very fair or right because it's like they're removing God from country music.  So as a result, we will probably look at something like the Gospel Music Showcase in Kentucky or the Gospel Music Fan Fair (also held in Nashville) to attend from now on.  There will still be music, just not so much in the way of country.

Work for me has been hectic.  I just got home after ten tonight; I have been pulling a lot of doubles until today; today is the first time in a week where I didn't have to stay overnight.  I also sent two nures home (Carmelita Ortiz and Reva Mattox) because they were ready to collapse from sheer exhaustion.  Like me, they'd been working a lot of double shifts, and it started catching up with them.

I haven't been to bed in over two days.  I'm so tired myself I'm doing all I can to keep from falling asleep here at the keyboard.  I can function, just not as well as I should:  meanwhile, poor hubby and my folks have been busy dealing with the kids' shenanigans, and I am sure they would all like a break from them.  LOL

I am glad I am off for the next four days.  I can use it; I do know one thing I plan on doing -- sleep.  I am a wreck and feel even worse.  I feel like a platoon of Marines have marched over me with their combat boots!  LOL  *OW*

Hurts to laugh.  LOL  *OW*

Johnathon, Ronee', Jeraldo, Trude, and Sylvia all graduated last week:  their high school held graduation ceremonies at the Veteran's War Memorial Auditorium; there wasn't a dry eye in the house when Johnathon and Ronee' gave the prayer and spoke to their classmates.  They both did a very good job.  Ronee' was the class salutatorian (one under class validictorian).  Johnathon spoke because he felt he had something to say, which he did. 

Needless to say, Bill, daddy, maman, and myself took lots of video and pictures of the event.  They will be going on Facebook in the coming weeks, so all our friends can see them.  :)

We have been going to an empty warehouse for church; last week, Pastor Bilkey and the pastoral staff at Christ Community Assembly of God Church had their first service there.  Our church building was heavily damaged during the flood, so they had to find a new place to hold services.  It may not seem like church, but once we got the praise and worship going and once Pastor Bilkey spoke the Word, people forgot that, and it soon felt like we were at church instead of in an empty building.

We will be there for a while until the damage to our church can be repaired.  That will probably take several months unless more people volunteer to help fix the building.

Well, my eyes are starting to whack out on me (blurry vision), so I'm going to go now and go straight to bed.  I will probably remain there a lot during the next four days.  Hopefully I can catch up on some needed sleep; I'm turning into a walking zombie.  LOL  I will write in here again soon; until then, this is Louisiana saying so long!  Take care and God bless you always!

~Love, your friend in Tennessee, Louisiana Mayrah.  :)