When I was six, I lived in an orphanage in Korea, where I was born.  My real parents abandoned me because I had been born with weak eyes and weak legs.  They did not want me, so they left me to receive care from others.  It was a very traumatic time for me.

Eventually, as time went on, I grew to love the other children; I soon regarded them as my "brothers" and sisters".  There were fifty of us: twenty five girls, twenty five boys, ranging in age from babies on up to teenagers.  I was right in the middle: neither the youngest, yet neither the oldest.  I called the other kids my "family".

Most of us were handicapped in one way or another.  Some didn't really look like anything was wrong with them while others (such as myself) definitely did.  I wore thick, Coke bottle-lensed glasses and wore braces upon my legs and walked on a pair of crutches.  It was a happy time, but deep down inside, I secretly wished I had a mother and a father to call my own.  

When I was six and a half, going towards seven, I was informed that a couple in America had heard about me and wanted to adopt me to be tehir daughter.  At first, I was overjoyed that my dream would be coming true at last, but then I realized that once I was adopted, I would be going to America and would probably never see my "brothers" or "sisters" ever again.  I became depressed and withdrawn.  

Nothing, not even the love of my "family" or the support from the sisters who ran the place, could comfort me.  I was beside myself with fear, grief, and worry.  I also fet joy, happiness, and excitement.  I felt mixed up; I ddin't kow what to do or what to think.

On my seventh birthday, the Big Day came.  Two ladies from the orphanage drove me to the airport, where a big silver plane would fly me to my new home in America.  I would be living in the state of Ohio with my new mommy and daddy.  When I got to Ohio, I would meet them and my life would begin all over again, a totally new adventure for me.

I remember the flight (when I wasn't sleeping or getting sick that is).  It wsa very long and boring.  I wanted nothing more than the plane to turn around and fly back to Korea, so I could see my friends at the orphanage again.  I already missed them all terribly.

Once on the ground, I was then introduced to my parents when I stepped off the plane.  A man and a woman, both young, greeted me.  I was scared to pieces; I didn't know these strangers.  They called themselves Mommy and Daddy, but as far as I was concerned, they were strangers.  I cried a lot, but then again, so did they.  It really confused me.

I didn't understand a word they were saying excepting for my name, which was Sun Chi Youn.  They were also calling me by another name:  Alexa Beth.  I don't know who this "Alexa Beth" was, but I didn't like being called by that name.  I wanted to be known as Sun Chi Youn, my real, "given" name.

They kept hugging and kissing me, so I guess they loved me.  I gathered that they were my new parents, so I let them hug and kiss me; I just didn't do much of it back.  I sat there, stock-still, and wondering what the future held for me.  And I wondered what America would be like.

Flash forward five years.   I am now 11, going on 12, and am going into the seventh grade in a few weeks.  I speak English perfectly: have no trace of my Korean accent (plus I've forgotten most of my native Korean, though I still know a few basic words and phrases).  I play soccer on a team for kids with disabilities at school, love talking on my phone or playing my mp3 player, reading any book I can get my hands on, and swimming.  I also write stories and poems.

Even with my visual and physical disabilities, I still have a very good, active role in life.  I refuse to let my disabilities rule me.  I am a typical middle-grade schoolkid.

I hope you liked my story.  I will write again later; this won't be the last you will have heard from me, Alexa Beth Sun Chi Roberts!  Take care and God bless!

~Alexa Beth. :)