A girl who is part of a large adoptive family shares her story. She is the twin sister to Sarah Joy, and both girls are in wheelchairs due to cerebral palsy.
My name is Sally Ann Williams, and I am 10 years old. I live with my family in Soulbysville, California, which is close to Truckee. We live in the hills, and it is a very small town, but it is nice.
I am adopted, and so is my twin sister, whose name is Sarah Joy. We were both born premature, Sarah and myself, and we weren't expected to live; but we did; but not without a price: we were granted the pleasure of having cerebral palsy, which affected our co-ordination and our movements. We are both in wheelchairs, and we can't talk too well yet (but we ARE learning, but at a slow pace!). We will probably never walk; our muscles are just too damaged from the cerebral palsy, and we will probably always need help with a lot of things. We can't feed ourselves or get dressed without help, and we wear diapers because we have poor bladder or bowel control, which is embarrassing, but to us it is a fact of our life, so we have had to learn to get used to it and put up with the inconveniences that c.p. has put upon us.
We have nine sisters: Keisha (2), Wendy (4), Mia (7), Mariah (9), Kim and Kelly (they are cousins, and both are 11), Francine (12), Mary (13), and finally, Linda, the oldest girl at 14. All of us girls are disabled in one way or another, and so is our mom, Kendra; but she had enough love in her giant heart to give us all a home, and a chance to have a family and to be loved. We are getting another sister, Abayomi Chipo, in May, but we are going to call her Anna. Anna Miracle will be her name once she gets here from Africa. She is from Kenya, and she is disabled, too, but what or how, that we don't know yet. We will find out more about Abayomi before she gets here, but all I can say is we are all excited about her, and we can't wait for her to come to America or meet her face to face!
Mom may get more kids in the future, and she may even add boys to our family, but right now, it's all girls, and mom has really been a blessing to all of us! She was the one who taught us about Jesus Christ, and she were so happy when we accepted Jesus into our hearts! We go to Living Waters Church in Jamestown every Sunday (and again on Wednesday, depending on if one of us or if mom is sick or not; if mom or one of the kids is sick, we don't go), and we really get a lot out of the services!
Mom has hydrocephalus, and she has gotten severe headaches in the past, but she just had surgery recently, and she is now back home from the hospital, and is recovering. We have been good little helpers, helping mom in the best way we can, and each day, she feels a bit better and a bit stronger. She was depressed somewhat, but then she heard from a lady in Tennessee, Louisiana Sandusky by name, and now she and Louisiana write regularly. Louisiana and her husband, Bill, adopted many kids with disabilities, but their family is a lot bigger: they adopted a grand total of *50* kids!! It's wild enough as it is here; I just can't imagine what it must be like for them to raise *50* kids!! YIKES!! (Bet their house is a ZOO!!! LOL) Mrs. Sandusky has written a book about her large family called "A Family Made Of Miracles And Rainbows: The Sandusky Family Story--A True Story Of Love And International Adoption". (WOW, what a long title, hunh?? LOL) It just came out in January this year, and she was nice enough to send mom a copy, and now the older girls are clamoring over it, in the hopes that one of them can read it after mom is done reading it! LOL
While I am in a wheelchair and can't do a lot of things for myself, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy life. In fact, I DO enjoy life, especially since I accepted Jesus into my heart, and because of it, I am now going to go to Heaven and become an angel...and be HEALED of my cerebral palsy, if I don't get it here on Earth! I like to read (I am a very voracious reader, and mom says I am super smart!), go to school (I do very well in school, too; I make straight A's in all my classes, and my teacher is so proud of me!), go to concerts (I like country music, and I have been able to meet my favorite singer in country; and that is Reba McEntire! She is so nice! I have also met my other two favorites, Garth Brooks, and also Loretta Lynn, and they are just as sweet and nice as is Reba!), go to church (of COURSE! LOL), and watch TV ("America's Funniest Home Videos", "Doc", "Sue Thomas, Private Eye", and "It's A Miracle" are my fave shows; I also watch "Hour of Power" and the Christian shows on TBN and CBN). I also like to go to the football games whenever we can get the chance, or just be with my friends.
As I said earlier, I am a twin, and my twin sister's name is Sarah Joy. We get along famously, but like many sibs, we DO fight on occasion. Since we can't talk or walk, we pinch one another or bite one another, and mom always gets mad at us; she is afraid we are going to hurt or kill one another! (Hey, we gotta' settle our differences SOMEHOW! LOL) I was the smaller twin: at birth, Sarah weighed 1 pound, 7 ounces; and I weighed just 1 pound, 4 ounces. Only three measly ounces separated us! LOL But we survived, and we are still annoying one another years later! LOL
Well, that is my story. I hope you liked reading about my sister and me. I will write again soon, but right now, I have to do my homework (reading only; I have three chapters to read for Science; we are studying the skies and stuff like the stars, planets, the moon, and the aurora borealis). Mom may get mad if she sees I haven't done my homework yet, and if she sees me on the computer writing (I write by way of a pointer I wear attached to a band I wear on my head; it takes me a million years to type! LOL), I surely will catch it from her! So I gotta' scoot before she toots (meaning my mom hollering at me!)! LOL
'Bye!
~Love, Sally Ann Williams, aged 10.
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Reviewed by Simon Thurlow
4/3/2004
Another wonderful story once more Karen. I'm sorry if I am missing any of your writes but I still have major problems with my email and am not getting notified of everything new that appears on AD from the people I track
Gee Lady do you ever sleep?
I think you type while you are sleeping.....lol!!
It takes me a long time to type...if the keyboard was a piano maybe i could go faster...but hey I still look at my hands doing this typo thing!!
Take care okay!!
Love Tinka
Reviewed by Robert Blackwell
3/29/2004
Another beautiful tale...but from you, I would expect no less.
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