July 4, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, 4:05 a.m. (couldn't sleep; too excited, I guess ...  LOL)~

Dear Journal~

Happy Fourth of July, and Happy Birthday, America!!

Louie here.  I could be in bed, still slumbering the night away, as my family is at the present, but I cannot sleep.  Too excited about today, I guess. 

At church, I am singing a solo during our presentation of the program, "United!"; I don't sing soloes thaf often.  Oh, I'm not worried about whether I will forget a word or two or go off key (and throw the entire choir off!), but I am just not what you would consider to be a regular singer.  I consider some of my kids or my husband as the singers in the family, not me.  LOL

That's at nine, and again at eleven.  Since I am singing today, I have to be there no later than 7:15, so that means I will have to rouse the troops up at five thirty.  They are not going to be happy getting up at the crack of dawn, but you know how that goes.  Mama is performing, so there you go.  LOL

And after we have our special services this morning at church, we will head out to the Red, White, and BOOM! Festival, which is being held downtown.  They expect a crowd of at least 50,000 people (or better), especially for the fireworks, which is being touted as one of the biggest in the entire nation.  The fireworks show is said to last at least forty five minutes.  So there's going to be a lot of boomin' and bangin' going on!

The parade was yesterday; it went very well.  I, Bill, and the kids participated; it was a lot of fun!  I'm just glad the weather wasn't too warm, although it was rather humid.  Gemini marched and twirled her batons; the rest of us rode on floats (or, in the case of Porter, Jeraldo, Sergei, Tammi, etc, they rode their bikes).

Today, Ronee' is singing; she sings at 1:00 to 1:30; she sang yesterday at 12:00 to 12:30; she did a very good job.  She is a little pink though; she got sunburnt.  LOL  Her cheeks are redder than usual, and her nose is a tomato.  LOL  Ronee' also sings during the special Patriotic Tribute! program tonight, prior to the fireworks.  She is singing God Bless America.

Johnathon is doing his thing:  signing for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.  I do know this much:  he misses singing, but he just doesn't have the lung power like he used to anymore.  And it is hard to sing when he has to use a ventilator in order to breathe.  Still, he is blessed, and he is still a very happy young man; life is good for him, even with all that he's had to go through most of his life.

I just pray this continues for Johnny.

Bill and Deborah are also singing during the Patriotic Tribute! program, and they always do a wonderful job.  Deborah is singing Independence Day by Martina McBride, and Bill is singing God Bless The U.S.A. by Lee Greenwood.

Today, the festival cranks up more than it's done for the past three days.  The Red, White, and Boom!  Festival started Thursday evening at five, but it really gets cranking today.  There's an air show, military tributes, speeches, food galore, contests for every age group, rides for the kids (and the young at heart), a free lunch for all serving mlitary members (and Veterans) and their families, continuous live music (Cajun, country, gospel, rock, rap, jazz, polka, etc.), and so much more.  And it culminates this evening with the Patriotic Tribute and the mammoth fireworks display I mentioned earlier.

The weather gods are smiling down on our festival:  no chance of rain, just sunny and hot, with highs in the middle to upper nineties.  So there will be lots of sunburned faces by the time the first of the fireworks go off! 

Well, I am going to take a quick half hour nap ("power nap", Bill calls my fast naps), so I can be at least somewhat human for church today.  I will probably end up snoozing after lunch anyway, the way things look now.  LOL  I will write in here again soon; until later, this is Louisiana saying so long!  God bless America, and America, bless God!  Happy birthday to our great nation!  Stay safe and have loads of fun!  And enjoy the fireworks!!

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