My name is Rebecca Faith Coleman; I am thirteen years old.  I live with my famly in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  I am in the seventh grade at Oshkosh Middle School.

I have red  hair and brown eyes, not to mention, a bazillion freckles.  I also don't have any arms or legs.  I was born this way.

Yet I have never felt different.  I have always felt that if there was a will, there was a way that I could do anything I wanted.  My parents never treated me any different, and I was truly grateful for that.

Sometimes people stare at me with pitying glances or shocked expressions clearly written on their faces, but I just ignore them.  If there is anything I can't stand, it's people feeling sorry for me.  I can't help the fact that I was born without arms or legs: it was the way God had made me; there was a reason for it, and I have been determined to find that reason out.

I was adopted when I was a baby.  The parents I have are the only parents I have truly ever known.  In addition, I have three sisters and a brother (also adopted).  Meghan who is 16, was born in Korea.  Then after her is William, who is 14, a year older than me.  He was born in Ecuador, in South America.  Then below me is my 11-year-old sister, Harmony Joy, who was born here in the United States (Georgia).  Then last (but never least) is the baby of the family, six-year-old Angelicka Hope, who was born in Ethiopia, in Africa.  That is us, the Family, warts and all.

I get along great with my brother and sisters, though like all members of a family, we do fight on occasion.  Yet I wouldn't do anything to trade them for all the world; I love them all too much.

My brother and sisters try to help me in any way they can.  They know that life can be hard for a kid like me, so they try to make things easier for me, which I greatly appreciate.  Like my writing, for instance.  In order for me to write, I with a pointeer attached to my head and I strike the computer keys with this pointer, trying to find the correct letters.  It is time-consuming, tiring work, but it can be accomplished, and I rather enjoy writing, so I don't mind it one bit.

Or if I need to go somewhere, they pop me in my electric wheelchair (I call her "The Purple Flash" because a.] she is purple, and b.] she is speedy-fast), and then I control my chair with a lever that I push with my chin.  As William so often says to me, "Where there's a wheel, there's a way!" :)

When I grow up I want to be a writer.  I have always wanted to write my very own book and I have scads of journals that I have been writing in ever since I can remember.  I absolutely love to write!  In addition, I love to go swimming, go to church (we are Methodist), sing, visit with my girlfriends, watch Dancing With The Stars and The Voice on TV, and of couse, read, read, READ!!!!

Well, I gotta get ready for the bus; the bus will be coming to pick me up in less than a half hour.  I will write in here again soon; I hope you liked my story.  I do believe I have more to tell.

Take care and God bless; this is Rebecca Faith Coleman saying so long for now!

~Love, your friend in Wisconsin, Rebecca Faith.

~To be continued.~