Life as seen by a girl with a hearing impairment who lives in Burleson, Texas. She is the oldest of four children, and she is one of two children who were adopted. (She was adopted from Romania when she was small. She has two younger sisters and an adopted baby brother from China.)
My name is Grace Courage Riley, and I will be 14 in May. I have two younger sisters, Angel Miracle (11), and Heaven Joy (soon to be six), and a little baby brother, Xu Wang, who will be two in June. I was adopted from Romania when I was small, and I am the second adopted child in my family. My little brother is adopted, too; but he came from China. And like my brother, I am hearing-impaired. I was born this way, but I really have never seen it as much of a problem. I communicate very well by reading lips and by using sign language. I am teaching my little brother sign language, and he is learning every day. He is a very smart little boy!
We live in Burleson, Texas. Burleson is a little town made up of friendly, hardworking people, and it is south of Fort Worth by like 12 miles or so. Burleson is the town where the first "American Idol" winner, Kelly Clarkson, is from; and so Burleson is known for that. But Burleson is much more than that; Burleson is growing by leaps and bounds, and it has many places to shop and eat; and there are other fun things to do here.
My dad, John, works for the Burleson (TX) Chamber of Commerce, and my mom, Hannah, is a part-time nurse's aide. She also homeschools us children; so she is always very busy. We have seven pets, four Maine Coon cats named "PurrBucket", "Charles," "Tickly-Poo", and "Wiggles", and three yappy Pomeranians named "Ryan's Hope", "Gigi", and "Silky". Our lives are centered around family and church, and we are usually always together. (We go to Faithville Community Church; it is a nondenominational/Pentecostal style church; people of all faiths are more than welcome to attend our church. We go every Sunday, and we also go on Wednesday nights.)
I am fairly short for my age, and rather chunky in build, with short, straight reddish-brown hair, big, brown eyes, and freckles sprinkled across my nose and cheeks. I am NOT a bad-looking girl, but I am NO raving beauty! My mom has reddish hair, too, but her eyes are green, and dad has brown hair and brown eyes. My two sisters, Heaven and Angel, look almost alike, with their brown hair and green eyes. They look like mom, but they do have dad's hair color. Xu Wang (whom we have decided to call Kevin Charles) has straight, spiky black hair and uptilted black eyes and a fat, round moon face; he is really adorable, and people are always remarking to mom and dad about how cute he is. He is a good baby, but he CAN get on your nerves once in a while! He is ALWAYS wanting to be around us, and it is a pain when we want to be alone!
I don't know why mom gave us inspirational sounding names, but she did; and I guess my middle name--Courage--describes my nature. I really AM brave; there isn't much that bothers me or scares me, and when my little sisters get scared, like during a thunderstorm, I am the one who is usually comforting them, telling them that everything is going to be alright. But I have to admit that my name now--Grace Courage--DOES sound a LOT better than my original name, which was Nadia Ilya! I don't mind Courage, but sometimes I get teased about it; the kids sometimes call me the "Cowardly Lion" just to be mean, and I get mad at them when they do this. They ask me things like if I am going to give some Courage to the Cowardly Lion because I have it, and it really gets to be annoying. (I can't hear them teasing me, but I CAN read lips, and I know what they are saying, for the MOST part!) I tell them no, and I tell them to buzz off and leave me the heck alone!
I like to do many things: I like to read, and I like to draw. I also like to watch tv (our tv is closed-captioned, so I can follow along with the program, and I can watch tv this way), write in my journal, and play basketball. I also like to do gymnastics and dance. I take tap dancing and clog dance lessons at the Dance Academy, and my teacher says I have really improved in my dancing. My desire is to be a famous dancer like Ann Miller or Gregory Hines. Or maybe Savion Glover. Or my favorite dancer of all time, Heather Whitestone, who was the first person with a disability to become "Miss America"; she is hearing-impaired, and she is my idol. I figure if she can do it, then I can too! I think dancing is my favorite thing to do; I really enjoy it. (Sure I am deaf, but I can feel the rhythms, and I can follow along with what everyone else is doing; I am NOT stupid!)
Well, that is my story; I hope you enjoyed reading about me. I am not much into writing, but this was for an assignment in my Creative Writing class, and we had to write a brief biography about ourselves and what makes us unique.
(((((Karen))))
This is a beautiful piece, about a beautiful young girl, how do you keep all the names straight?
God Bless
~Michelle~
Reviewed by Simon Thurlow
3/2/2004
Inspirational stuff once more Karen
Reviewed by Kate Clifford
3/1/2004
Wonderful write. Courage would be quite the name to live up to and your character certainly does. The person that uses the word, "Stupip," is reflecting their own self doubts!
Being hearing impaired doesn't mean that one is stupid...it's us feeling-impaired ones that are stupid:)
Many times it's actually healthier not to hear what the stupid say!:)
As usual inspirational write, Karen! Much love from the desert!
Safi
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