Maddie Rheese Vlassopoulos is my name.  I live in Ponca City, Oklahoma, with my mother, Athina, my father, Stavros, and my two little brothers, Gianpaul (12) and Stavros, Jr. (10).  I am fifteen.

I am in the ninth grade; just started back to school last week.  Not sure if I like it yet; we shall see how it goes for the next few weeks.

I am a typical teen:  that is, I love talking on the phone or texting my friends when we can't be together, going shopping at the mall most Saturdays, reading, drawing, writing poems or stories, and just being a royal pain in the tukus, just to drive my parents crazy!  LOL

I am also hard of hearing.  I wear hearing aids; without them, I am quite deaf, but with them, I can hear quite well, all things considering (though loud noises make them squeal, which drives me bananas!).  I was born this way; I was born very premature, and it affected my hearing.  I weighed about 13-16 ounces, just under a pound.  I was teeny-tiny.

It was only by a miracle that I lived. 

I love going to church every Sunday.  Our family attends Ponca City Baptist; I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart when I was like eight. 

This weekend, we will have our annual presentation of the dramatic play, "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames".  We are all excited and looking forward to God's blessings upon those who see it or participate in it.  In the play, I am a teenage girl who is part of the background scene while my best friend, Chloe Washington, plays the lead role; she's a girl who takes drugs.  She ends up going to hell; it's a very intense drama.

Don't know if I go to hell or not; that part hasn't really been established.  All I get to do is stand around and dance to my heart's content to the thudding rock music that's playing.

As long as I don't get dragged to hell, that's all I care about.  That'd be a little intimidating!  LOL

Anyway, back to my story.  I am a typical teen, even though I do have a physical handicap.  It's just not that noticable unless someone sees my hearing aids or hears my slurred, unclear speach patterns.  I do manage to get by, though; for that I am grateful.

Well, I am at school, in study hall, as I write this, so I will go for now, before I catch hell from the teacher for not studying.  I will write in here again soon; until then, this is Maddie Rheese signing off!  Take care, and may God bless you!

~Love, your friend in Oklahoma, Maddie Rheese Vlassopoulos.  :)