've heard and read so much about you and what you have done for civil rights of Afro-Americans. The sincerity in your heart was felt by me and I'm sure others around the world. As time went on, the faith you had in God would change your life and the way you were living before you were introduced to Islam. Eventually your search for truth would cost you your life. Through all of this, I feel I know you through your actions and the way you went about handling situations at that time concerning civil rights toward Afro-Americans.

Malcolm, I feel what you did had a great impact on my life and the world around me. I admire your strength, courage, and truth concerning your religious belief. I see and feel a lot of myself in your actions. If it wasn't for your success in finding the truth, I wouldn't be part of Islam today.

Malcolm, I see a lot of myself in the way you went about your search for truth about a religion that would change your life and your overall outlook as well. I saw your willingness to sacrifice yourself for truth about Islam and its divine truth of brotherhood. You gave your life as the ultimate sacrifice for the divine truth about Islam to the world.

Abraham Lincoln had a very limited education and later in life taught himself to read and write. He educated himself enough to attend law school and become a very successful lawyer. He then ran for Congress repeatedly. Despite being turned down three years straight, he never stopped trying. Fifteen years later, after his term in Congress, he went on to become the 16th President of the United States.

During his presidency, Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, which eventually led to Congress passing a law warning the slave owners that when the deadline came their slaves would become "forever free". As a result of one man's willingness to stand out, this country was changed forever.

Abraham Lincoln also wrote the Gettysburg Address, which is universally regarded as one of the greatest public speeches in history. I find Abraham Lincoln to be one of the greatest historical figures in my culture. On April 14, 1865, his life took a tragic turn. He was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth. Despite having a bullet in his head, Lincoln survived until the next day.

There are few people left today who are willing to stand for what they believe in. Abraham Lincoln gave his life for his beliefs. As a result, this country's people are free. In my eyes this is what makes Abraham Lincoln a famous man.

I have followed him in both sports since he finished school. I am amazed to think that I know a professional baseball player who went to the same school I did. I am so proud to see him on TV. I get choked up when I see him. I thank God we don't hear anything bad about him.

He got his break and the Kansas City Royals picked him up. Mike played his rookie years with the Kansas City Royals for two or three years. Then the Atlanta Braves picked him up and he played with them for about two years. He was a great right fielder. He would do some crazy slide on his belly to get to the ball. Now they have traded him to the Chicago Cubs and they won their division this year.

What I like about Mike is that he didn't change when he made it to the big league. When he comes home he speaks to us every time and doesn't look down on us. I haven't seen Mike or talked to him or his family for three or four years. I would like to ask him how he feels to be in the big league. His Mom still works at Hardee's in the town where he grew up. Last time I saw him I was playing baseball on my kid's play station and he came up on the disc. He was still the same Michael I played with on his Dad's team. He hasn't changed a bit. He hasn't forgotten where he comes from. With the attitude he has he can go far in sports. If I get to see him when I go home again I will get him to say hello to his fan.

MEETING MY DAD

by Glenwood Washington Charlottesville ACE

never met my father until I was a grown man. I think I was over 21 years old.

My mother often told me about him. I can remember when I was four or five years old, he sent me a bike. I was too small for the bike and did not know how to ride it. So I began pushing it up the hill and trying to ride it down. But the peddles would always be turning fast and hitting my legs. One day I figured out how to take the chain off. So I did it. Then it would roll without hurting my ankles or feet. The next thing was to stop the bike. I would ride it down and around the house and start back up the hill so it would stop. I got really good at that after a while

As time went on, I always wanted to meet my father. But it took a long time. My mother worked in Waynesboro during the week, while I stayed with my grandparents on my mother's side. So I would often go over to visit her in town. I got to meet people and they often would ask me my name. One day I was talking to an older gentleman. His name was Mr. Johnson. He also asked my name and I told him. He asked where I was from. I said Nelson County. Then he asked, "Who is your father?" I told him I was named after my father. The man told me he knew a man with my name. They were good friends once. He said he comes into town every now and then.

A few months passed and one day Mr. Johnson saw me in town. He stopped me and said, "Park your car. I have someone for you to meet." So I parked and walked up the street. Mr. Johnson said, "GW, I would like you to meet GW." I thought for a minute, wow, this is my father! So I spoke and he said, "Hi, son." It was a shock, really, but we talked for a long time. He lived out of town. He had come to visit his brothers and sisters. After a while I had to go. So he said, "I will see you, son." I guess about 15 or 18 years went by before I saw him again.

One day I was riding in Waynesboro. I saw a friend and he said, "Your dad is in Staunton and is living up there." So I rode to Staunton and asked a few people about him, and got the address to my uncle's house. I went there and my uncle was outside. I told him who I was and we talked. Then he said, "Let's go over to your father's apartment." So we left. When we got there, we knocked on the door and he opened it and saw me. He said, "Hi, son, come in." We talked for a couple of hours and went to my aunt's house. There we had a snack and had lots of fun. It got late and I had to return home. We exchanged phone numbers and said we would keep in touch with each other.

We did. I often visited him. When his grandson was born I went and picked him up so he could spend a day with us. I got to know him really well. We called each other or I would visit him once or twice a month. He would often talk about his parents.

Then one day I got a call and was told that he was sick. I visited him and he told me he had cancer in the throat. After a while he passed away. I really miss him now. I wish I could have met his parents, my grandparents, before they passed away. Everyone says I am just like both of them.

Two months later I asked a member about joining their group. A week later they voted me in. As we traveled from church to church and to nursing homes singing and praising the Lord, Rev. Hardgrove and I became closer friends. I have now adopted him as my father figure. He is always there when I need him. Sometimes when I am just thinking of him, my phone will ring and it will be Rev. Hardgrove saying, "Hey, bro, it's Reverend, I just called to check on you."

We have also been blessed with his wonderful wife who is very sweet and kind. We visit her often in the nursing home and we take Rev. with us. Now he has moved to Richmond, and we often worry about him being so far away from his family and friends. No matter how far away he is, he is always in my prayers and thoughts. I thank God for bringing him into my life.

would like to meet Davy Crockett because he was born and raised in the mountains like I was, and he was a great hunter. I bet that Davy Crockett hunted bear, deer, turkey, 'coons, and squirrels. I like to hunt too.

I wish it were still like those days when you could go outside and hunt anytime and raise your own food. I could make a decent living if I didn't have to worry about medicine, radio, TV, and electric bills. I would just sit back and listen to the silence and the animals in the mountains. You don't know how peaceful it is. Some people are afraid of the dark. But what you see in the daytime is what you see at night. I go up in the mountains all the time and watch the animals and walk. You can hear the leaves under your feet and the cracking twigs. But people who own land don't want you walking on their land anymore. When I go hunting I don't leave any trash around. It used to be you could go anywhere you wanted when you hunted. But hunters started tearing up fences and gates and throwing trash around, and now the owners don't want people on their land.

Since I can't meet Davy Crockett in person, we read a book about him. He tried hard to take care of his family, feeding them and finding a place for them to live. His first wife died and he married again. He loved to ramble but he did not desert his family. The United States was different then because it didn't have all these buildings and factories and highways. It was all wilderness. I didn't know Davy Crockett was a family man. I didn't know he liked to tell tall tales, and that he served three terms in the Congress. I didn't know he fought the Indians and that he died fighting the Mexicans at the Alamo. I thought he had blazed trails in the Appalachian Mountains. But I would still like to meet him.

dreamed I went to Byalistok, Belorussia in about 1885. Why was I there in the past? I remembered a young man about 20. He dreamed about a simple language, easy for learning but complete for expressing all nuances of the modern life. Suddenly, the young man appeared in front of my face.

"What do you do?" I asked.

He answered, "A language has an easier side and other sides more difficult for a stranger. English sounds are difficult. Therefore, I would choose mediterraneans. I would write one letter for each sound t-ea-ch = t-i-c. I am not going to take the word 'teach' in my project. All people in Europe and America understand the idea of 'instruct'. So I chose, 'instrui' for 'teach'. I am sure you understand 'lerni' without a dictionary, isn't it true?"

He continued, " I wonder that the English conjugation is very simple, consistently systematic. Let us be more consistent! 'I, you learn, but she learns.' I say: 'mi, vi lernas and si lernas' too. Past tense: 'mi lernis'; future: 'mi lernos. Cu vi lernos la linguon?'"

"Yes, mi lernos la linguon. But how can one memorize a lot of words the easy way?"

"Memorizing a lot of words isn't necessary. 'TeachER' = person doing teach, person teaching. 'LearnER' = person learning. 'WalkER' = person walking. In my project, I will use the suffix 'anto' instead of the suffix 'er'. So, 'instruanto, lernanto, promenanto.'"

"But, ... however, ..."

"No, 'but, ... however...' In my project each suffix, prefix has a very precise definition, and it is logically applicable everywhere without exception."

"Fascinating! I'm very happy to meet you..."

I returned from my dream. I was happy to meet even if in a dream a famous man, a real genius in the field of linguistics. Dr. L. L. Zamenhof published his project in 1887 with the signature, Doktoro Esperanto (Doctor Hoping). Soon his dream became a reality. Several writers, philosophers, scientists, simple workers began to use Esperanto in communication: writing, reading, speaking.

Presently, Esperantistare, Esperanto "people" live in Europe, Asia, and in other parts of the Earth too, using Esperanto as a second language, not rarely beside a big world language. There are a lot of organizations to practice life with Esperanto. Akademiopor Esperanto observes the language evolution, and UNESCO supports the Esperantists' activities. It recommended Esperanto as a subject in schools. Esperanto lives on also through literature, press, radio, ...like any active language.

Jesus seems like he would be such an interesting person to talk to. When I read my Bible or go to Sunday School to learn about him, I often wonder what it would have been like to have lived during those times. What's amazing is that his life has already covered the past, present, and future. It would have been exciting to have been one of his disciples and to have seen Him "walk on water", turn a few fish into a multitude to feed his people, and to have parted the sea so people could walk through it on dry land. These signs were truly a miracle of Jesus.

Jesus loved us so much that He died to save us from our sins, even though He never knew us. Would we do the same for our brothers and sisters? Think about it, few of us would! He was also the kind of man any lady would have loved to know. He was handsome, not jealous, had a good heart, and could perform miracles. How many men do you find today that can fill those shoes?

If I could meet Jesus I would start by thanking Him for loving all of us so unselfishly and for dying to save us from our sins. I would ask Him if heaven was as beautiful as the Bible says. I would ask Him to take away all hatred in the world and to put an end to all war, wiping out poverty, hunger, and pain. I would ask Jesus to make our world a safer and better place to live in. I would ask for peace and love for all.

It is my desire that I have spoken of this person, Jesus, so highly that you, too, would some day want to meet Him. Oh, what a glorious day that would be!

He traveled here in a covered wagon from West Virginia. I would ask him if it took a long time to get here, if he stopped, and if the family had to sleep on the ground. If we could go back in time, we could see how people survived back then in the winter months.

I would ask if he'd like to live in this time. I'd tell him about TV, cars, and indoor bathrooms. We'd talk about how people live in this time, like how the time we live in now is a faster paced time. Now we don't have much time to spend with people. I wonder what he'd think of all this.

ave my soul dear master,
Save my soul I pray.
Save my soul dear master
From the gates of Hell.
Feed my soul dear master,
Feed my soul I pray.
Feed my soul dear master
With thy holy word.
Feed my soul deal master,
Feed my soul I pray.
So that I may serve thee
Each and every day.

Steven: Hi, Michael, my name is Steven. I am from Virginia, and I have lived there all my life.

Michael: Hi, Steven, nice to meet you. I grew up in North Carolina. I started playing basketball when I was very young.

Steven: How have you been doing since your dad passed away?

Michael: Pretty good, but it's still not the same without dad.

Steven: How do you feel about playing basketball again?

Michael: It feels great to be able to get out and still be able to play.

Steven: Do you like playing for the Wizards more than playing for Chicago?

Michael: Well, it's a great team to play for, but it will never be like playing for Chicago.

Steven: Do you ever think there's a chance for a team to be as good as Chicago was when you were playing?

Michael: I don't know. It just depends on how good the team is and how well they play as a team.

Steven: It's been nice to meet you and ask you a few questions. I hope to be able to come to some of your games sometimes. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with me.

During these 12 years I always recall the memories of my family, relatives, and my friends. I really miss them a lot. Especially when I see a loving and caring family pass by my sight. It makes me more sad. At the same time, in my heart, I feel that I am just like a dying flower in mortal need of water, sunshine, and nutrition from the soil, just as a regular child who needs every support from his parents when he grows up. Sometimes my dreams take me to my destination to see my family again, but the next day I know it was a dream from last night.

However, I do have contact with my family through the telephone and we send letters to each other. But these things won't fill my desire to meet them. Sometimes I remind myself that I have lived in the U.S.A. with a green card for four years. After one more year, I'll be getting citizenship. Then with a U.S. passport, I can visit my homeland and meet with my family that I haven't seen for many years. Some day I might bring them over here to live with me, and we will have a wonderful time.

My marriage is to those who do not have the same situation as mine. You have been blessed by God and you should feel yourself lucky.

Much has been written about this historical figure. Who among us has not heard the name Jesus and with it felt some emotion? He greets me as his child, and I greet Him weeping with a heart full of reverence for I am such an unlikely candidate to be standing before Him. He is quiet and smiles tenderly. And then asks me the question I have longed to ask Him. My child, you seek words of love to describe your faith, do you not? Yes, Father. The Holy Spirit has given you those words. Speak your faith to me, my girl.

Father, many of your children live each day in pain, never to fulfill their dreams and silent to your call. They cannot conceive you although you conceived them in love. Their stories are their own but many share a common platform: violence, discrimination and poverty. Society has also played a role often describing these folks as undeserving and without understanding and compassion.

Father, please give me the words to express to these fine folks that this is not your plan, and they deserve much more. Show me how to convey that their dreams and their children's are important and may benefit us all. Teach me the words to a song that embraces your rainbow which you have created to teach us diversity and love for one another. Show me how to extend my hand when someone asks for a quarter of a dollar without assuming the money is for an unhealthy purpose. Show us how to live without fear, which often directs our path, silences our dreams and keeps us in limbo.

Father, I know there is nothing about me you do not know. And like my faith, words are in my blood. I love the choices I have to fit them in a phrase, sentence or paragraph. I particularly love words that describe your children's experience, that touch their wounds and heal their hearts. Words describe us, define us, show the world what we stand and are willing to fight for. Like the tone of our voice, they reveal much about us. Words are snap shots into our soul.

I have become intoxicated with the subject of faith and the words to express my thoughts and feelings, and see in your eyes, Dear Jesus, that our work this day is over, and my journey continues tomorrow.

Before I bid you farewell, though you are never far away, please look once more at the child you have transformed. The child who has also seen poverty, who has witnessed violence and the impact on siblings who have never recovered. She dreams of words to share, words that express the amazing love she has experienced from GOD and you, his son. She wishes you to know the wave of peace that washes over us from the Holy Spirit in times of trouble and how she rejoices in the knowledge that something greater than us is standing by to love and protect us until we return home.

ear Deion Sanders,

I've been playing sports all of my life. I have played lacrosse, track, soccer, and your favorite ... football.

My father has been working all of his life. He is 46 years old. I turned down a soccer scholarship to play attack on Carson-Newman (Junior College) in Tennessee. Financially I wasn't ready.

At this point in my life, I don't ever want to give up being an athlete. When I played football at Charlottesville High School, I played wide out and cornerback for Junior Varsity. I also played special teams on varsity and got a little playing time. I was excellent in practice for a guy who started to play football at the beginning of the school year and not the two-a-days and scrimmages during the summer. Deion, I made honorable mention regional and first team districts. In soccer, I played halfback with seven or eight goals my freshman and junior years at Charlottesville High.

I was hoping that you might want to one day come to my dad's church in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. I hope to one day win my dad over so that he gives me my trust fund to go to UCLA, then accomplish a goal of being an L.A. Raider.

Mr. Sanders, if you have the time, consider pushing with me through a little faith that through football I can make my dream to lay out my goal to be a running back at UCLA, then a Raider.

Thanks,
A Fan

Every new school year, during the first week, pupils met their teachers, and they talked about the schedule and the different chapters they would have to learn for the whole year. This new school year, during the first week, all our teachers came to meet us like usual and gave us the schedule. But one of our teachers was absent for the first week. Certain classmates who knew him enjoyed him because he taught very well.

Finally, the teacher came to class on the second week. He tried to make jokes with us but I didn't laugh. For this reason, the teacher got mad at me. He called one of us to explain the exercise that he gave us and make the correction. The classmate didn't explain the exercise very well but the teacher didn't say anything, then he left the classroom. The next time he came, he was serious this time. Ever since that day, when the teacher came, the first thing he did was to ask me to show him my exercise and go to the board to make the corrections because he wanted something to punish me.

So I tried to do my exercise every time until the day I forgot to do it. That day, I stood up at the same moment that the teacher came in the classroom. I went automatically to his desk and picked up the chalk. He turned to watch me, and people started to laugh because the teacher pretended that he didn't know what I was doing. He put his two hands in his pockets and asked the class if they had a new teacher. People were laughing again. He went and sat on my desk and said, "Now I am a student and I am going to ask our new teacher to present us his program for the day." People were laughing again and I couldn't stop laughing too, because everything the teacher said and every action he did was funny - we just laughed. When he arrived at the end of the class, he said, "I am going to the office to ask why they gave us a new teacher." He left the classroom and didn't come back. Since that day, we became friends. When he joked with us, I laughed at his entertainment. And when he taught, I was quiet and listened to him carefully.

I will never forget this teacher. By the time the school year finished, I knew that he was a good teacher. Yes, the best teacher I ever saw.

I was about six or seven years old. Just like all little girls, I just had to help mom make that cake. She looked over at me and said, "Oh, you can oil the bottom of the cake pans." As you can guess, I turned over the cake pans and put the oil on the bottom. I was not sure why they made me leave the kitchen, or why everyone was laughing. It was much later in life when I realized that the oil goes on the inside bottom of the pan, not the outside. It's 30 some years later, and now I see why everyone was laughing.

Just the same way, I laugh at my daughters when they help me make a cake. "You go step by step, and now it's time to put in the eggs," I told them. To my surprise, they just dropped them in the bowl without breaking them first. As I look back, I could see myself. I should have said to break the eggs before putting them in the bowl, just the same way my mom should have said put the oil on the inside of the pan.

We see ourselves in our children day to day every time they put their little feet in mud puddles, just the way we had to when we were kids. And they hear the same warning we did, "Don't jump in the mud puddles!" The mud puddles are just too much to resist.

The next time you need a laugh, take a moment to look at your child and see yourself. I'm sure you will laugh as well as realize you did the same things they are doing now that you did as a child.

I got the orange barrel out of the water. But the water was so cold, all I could say was "Whew! Whew! Whew!" When I went into the water my eyes were wide open because the water was too cold to be in on February 7, 2000! I got out of the water dripping wet and shaking and cold. I went straight to the truck and turned the heat on high, and just sat and waited to dry off. J.C., M.V., D.P., B.W. and J.C. were laughing and laughing until they hurt. I just sat in the truck and watched them laugh because it was cold outside and, guess what, so was I. Not much room for laughing, for me.

But I did dry off and all was well by lunchtime. It was funny afterwards, and I laughed along with them. But it wasn't funny at the time it happened.

We live in U-Heights apartment. Have you ever gone there? There are UVA students and foreign country people who are living here for short time like us. We are from Korea. I know three Korean families in U-Heights. One day we visited one family who will go back to Korea. That time I met another Korean woman. She has lived in U-Heights for just one month and she is a visiting professor. We said, "How do you do?" and "Nice to meet you." She told me, "Your first son is really tall and second son is small. I think the difference between your sons' age is very big." I could not understand immediately. But just a little time after I noticed what happened. She thought my husband was my first son. Oh, no! He is older than me by three years, but he looks very young. Also, he always wears tight-fit blue jeans. When I lived in Korea people thought he was my younger brother. But here people thought he was my son.

The other day I met one of my ESL classmates at Belk. We just said hello. After a few days I saw her in class. She asked me, "Who was the man beside you?" I said to her, "He is my husband." "Really. I thought he was your younger brother or your son," she told me. I just smiled and said, "Yes, he looks very young."

He is 34 years old now but a lot of people think he is a teenager. It may be funny to other people but it is not funny to me. I live with someone who looks young and I love him.

All of this was sent to Washington, D.C. In one and a half months we found out that Helen would take a part in the third round. In the third round she had to collect many different documents: references from a teacher and an adult who knew Helen very well, a health certificate, and information from school about her progress in her studies. Also, she had to take part in psychological games with a group of pupils and a half hour interview. After that we waited for six months for results. Helen jumped for joy when she learned - she was accepted. She was very happy! I should think so! Four hundred pupils took part in our region in this competition, but only eight would go to the U.S.

It means she received a scholarship from the State Department of the U.S. All expenses, including round trip tickets to the U.S., insurance, visa and studying at a high school were covered by the State Department of the U.S.

Helen lives in a very kind, very good family with an exchange student from Japan near Las Cruses, now. The exchange student's name is Kasumi. She is 17 years old. Helen and her exchange sister, Kasumi, have become very close. It is fun to watch them sitting together, teaching each other Japanese and Russian. Both of them have also picked up a lot of Spanish. And we thought she was there just to learn English! It was particularly amazing to hear Kasumi waking up Helen in the morning by telling her to get up in Russian.

Once I received an e-mail from Helen. She wrote me about a situation that happened with her at school.

"Today I was in a funny situation at my school. Last night I had a very bad dream and did not sleep well. Today at school, during third period, everybody was doing some stuff that I had already done. So I started getting ready for my test in history, for fourth period. I took out my folder and started to read the material, and then I closed my folder, put my head on it, and ... fell asleep. Can you imagine what happened when I woke up? They all were laughing at me! I had HUGE writing on my face - all over it - HISTORY!!! In black. With marker! I had this writing on my face. I had this writing on the folder I was sleeping on, so it copied to my face!!! It was so confusing. So, I'm not going to sleep during my classes anymore. It was funny, anyway..."

So, life can be funny.

Every day I am busy preparing for going to school. I have to finish all things to do as a housekeeper. For example, wash the clothes, wash dishes, make the lunch for my husband, and clean up the room and living room. At last I leave my house to go to school. My class begins at 1:00 p.m. It takes about ten minutes from my house to the school by my car. But I leave the house 20 minutes early.

The time when I am on my way to school is my favorite time of day. There are three ways to arrive at school. One way is by highway. It is the shortest and fastest way. The second way is easier to drive. The third way has many traffic signals, so it takes much time, but it has a beautiful road. Naturally, I choose the third way.

Before I go to school, I am nervous a little, imaging how wonderful today is going to be. I feel good when I think my car is running the way. I start to drive slowly in order to look all about and see what the outside scene is like. But don't worry; I keep the speed limit. The way is connected to the University Hall and UVA tennis courts and Corner area and the bridge over the Amtrak.

Whenever passing the UVA tennis courts, I feel the activity, energy and the scene gives vitalization to me. When I go by the bridge, in my mind comes a romantic movie. So I become sentimental. I open the window. Then, I take soft breaths. I meet a gentle breeze and enjoy bright sunshine. I feel like enjoying this peaceful scene as long as possible. I leave for school 20 minutes before class starts and choose this way even though it takes more time.

I have another joy in the middle of going to the school. Sometimes, I meet my classmates on the way to school. I pick them up and we talk about what happened over the weekend and small talk, something like that. I can spend my favorite time with my good-hearted classmates. I also love these scenes and people.

At last, I arrive at school. So I start a day with a pleasant mind.

When I got to his job, he wanted to show me a car, so I went to see it. After I got out of the truck, I realized I had on my pajamas. I went back to my truck and the doors were locked. There I was, out in the cold with the truck running, locked up, and still in my pajamas.

We were on a main street with a lot of traffic but there was no phone close by. My son had to go to a store and call home for my wife to bring us another key.

While we waited, I forgot how cold it was and I ran from side to side around the truck to keep the people going by, in the cars, from seeing me. One of the cars just happened to be the police. He turned around and came back. He pulled in just as I was running to the other side of the truck. He turned the blue lights on me. He wanted to know what I was doing in a car lot, in my pajamas, and ducking from side to side. As I stood still to talk to him, a lot of traffic went by and saw me after all and with the police lights on me. I forgot how cold it was. I had run enough to stay warm.

My son laughed enough to keep him warm and as my wife pulled up with the key, she laughed until she was crying. Now I always look down to see what I have on before I leave home!

We walked on and instead of turning around to go back where we started, we continued following the marks on the trees. Eventually the time got late and it started to get dark. We had gone about a mile or so away from my Mom and brother. I told my sister-in-law that we ought to just sit down on a log which was there in the woods.

We were scared sitting there. We tried to yell for my Mom and brother. They heard my sister-in-law yelling, but they didn't hear me, and they couldn't find us. So we had to continue to sit there. We heard all kinds of noises, and we were both scared that much more.

Finally a man came up to us and asked if we were lost. We told him that we were walking the trail and following the signs, thinking they would take us right back where we had started. The man told us not to be scared. He said he knew the mountains like he knew the back of his hand. Then he asked if that was our family way up on the hill above us and we said yes. I asked him where we were, and he told us that we had walked ourselves into Nelson County.

In the end, we got back to our family after being missed for seven hours. My family and the police wanted to thank the man, but he had left and we had not gotten his name.

Now it is 12 years later. Sometimes we get to talking about it, and we laugh about it.

have a granddaughter that I really love. She is very smart. Her name is Alexandra.

When she comes to my home she says, "Hi Fannie." She knows that I hate for her to call me by my name, but she sneaks and says it. Then she laughs about it.

When she calls my name "Fannie", she looks around to see if anyone is paying attention to her. My husband says, "Did she say Fannie?" and I say "Yes".

Then she says, "Did I really say that?" and she laughs about it. She puts her hand over her mouth, and a big laugh comes out.

When her mother says something about it she says, "I only said 'Hi Fannie.'" Then her mother says, "What did I tell you about that?" and she laughs about it. Her mother says, "I told you not to call your grandmamma by her name", and she says, "I only said 'Hi Fannie'," and laughs again.

When my sister comes over, she asks, "Did Fannie come home yet?" She always calls my granddaughter Fannie, because of the way she calls me by my name, and we just laugh about.

I love my granddaughter so much, even though she calls me Fannie. She gives me a lot to be happy about.

One afternoon, a postman knocked on my door. He wanted me to sign for a certified letter. I was surprised. "Where is the letter from?" I asked. When I opened it, the letter said, "Congratulations! You are a winner in the Kroger Plus Sweepstakes. You have won a GE washer. Each time you used your Kroger Plus Card and purchased selected cleaners, you were automatically entered into our current sweepstakes." Is this true? I doubted it. When my husband came back home, I showed the letter to him. He also didn't believe it. The next day, my husband called GE and was told that it was true. We finished filling in some forms for the contest. At that time, I was happy to be a winner.

After about a month, the washer was delivered to my apartment. All my friends said, "You are very lucky!" But, in fact, it was a big problem. The washer was very bulky. I couldn't use it in my small apartment because there is not enough room. Also, I don't have the plumbing hook-up. So we tried to sell it. Unfortunately, nobody was interested. The washer is still in my living room. I have a 3-year-old little girl, and every day she plays in the living room. When the sunshine comes into the room, the washer always shields it.

Many people hope that they can win a sweepstakes, but in my opinion, it may not be a real lucky thing.

Oh, I am not kicking it because times have changed! We all have grown up healthy in spite of the hog brains. It didn't kill us, but made us all healthy and strong. When we all get together and talk about old times, the laughter gets loud. But it was not funny at that time, back in the old days.

All of a sudden we witnessed a little ghost-looking kid by the door in the living room. At first we were all stunned, then we all started laughing. It was Susan, one of my twins, covered with flour from head to toe. We were still laughing when Diba appeared in the same manner. In fact, Susan was there to tell us that something was wrong with her sister, Diba, not knowing that she looked like a ghost herself.

When I went to the kitchen, I found out that they had opened the bottom shelf of the kitchen cabinet, taken out the flour bags, and started pouring and throwing the flour at each other all over the entire kitchen area. At first we were all shocked and worried when they quickly disappeared from the living room, in the blink of an eye. Later on when we found out what they had done, we could not stop laughing. I also had a long day of cleaning ahead of me!

Oh my Djurja, I am so happy. I would like to tell you what has happened. I came to work on my unit on Thursday. I got a new schedule for the day shift. About ten o'clock one of the nurses called me for help. I was walking behind her and asking, "What is happening?" Then she opened the door of the day room and said, "Congratulations!" I was really impressed by what they did for me. They had a big party because I am employee of the month at UVA Hospital. I got a gold ID card and a lot of benefits. I was crying and very happy.

My co-workers and my husband were happy for me. They took a picture with me, and I don't have enough words to explain to you how I was feeling. I am very happy and surprised.

But ... neither of us got into the faculty where wanted. She entered another faculty in the same university. It was the administration faculty. I was sure I'd stay at home and spend the year preparing to try again next year. Then my parents said, "Enter anywhere, please, because if you stay at home you'll become too lazy to learn." I entered Klaipeda's University to study childhood education.

My friend and I were on different sides of Lithuania. In the beginning we were talking a lot through the phone. And I dreamed that after this year I could enter VDU and we would be able to see each other more than twice a week.

After my year studying at Klaipeda's University, my parents said, "Finish your degree at this university, please. After you finish, if you still want to study economics, you could enter there." Of course, they explained to me why this was their decision. It's simple. My year of studies had cost them money, and they didn't want to throw their money to the wind.

Both Jurgitas (as our friends usually called us) spent a wonderful summer - traveling, walking, telling all the details of last year. But she had changed. She had started to like math and enjoyed being an administrator. And me? I disliked my studies. I didn't want to be a teacher.

September's studies started and I returned to Klaipeda's University. I decided to find something interesting in my studies. In the end of the year I finally found it ... psychology! In the third year I started to study psychology in addition to teaching. I became very busy. Jurgita and I could seldom talk. She found lots of new friends and very suddenly married.

Five years passed very quickly. I got a job as a psychologist in Children House (this was a home for children with unfit parents). I liked it. Jurgita was now only my friend, not my best friend. She liked working as an administrator in the bank. And she was busy in her life.

It could be funny. But that's life. I always dreamed of working with numbers. My friend hoped for a job where she could communicate with people, helping them to understand themselves. We were best friends, complementing each other. But now ... It could be a fun joke if it wasn't real life.

Mama, with her ideals high, taught us lessons that we knew we had to learn. There were proverbs to help us go through life, to know which road to turn. At night we filled the heating stove with wood, as much as it would hold. In the morning, how we shivered as we warmed our hands and toes. The aroma of coffee was always bubbling in the gray speckled granite pot as we combed our hair in the mornings. Dad would carry water from the spring to wash our dirty clothes and dishes. We rolled down the hills in a barrel and we climbed up high and tall in the trees. Grandpa carved a whistle from a willow and made a super duper sling shot. I can almost smell the sourdough biscuits, raised so high and light. We can taste the spicy apple butter, kept cold in our cellar at night. I remember the view from the top of the mountains and the hush of the valley below. The overalls my daddy wore to work so many years ago were so soft and warm.

Times like that stir a fond emotion from a source so deep within. A time of love and happiness where my memory journey ends, a time that has come and gone forever passing onward with the wind. And as I turn my thoughts away, I weep for the child of yesterday.

I like going to my friend's house. He is like family to us. We play together a lot. I also watch football games there with him and his girlfriend. His name is Buck. We watch television and play video games together a lot. We order pizza and eat chips and drink sodas. Also we go places together and shop all the time. My brother, Roy, comes along, too.

I bring in wood to keep the house warm when it is cold outside. Sometimes it gets down in the teens. We saw wood and bust it for the winter months that are very cold. I wash clothes and dry them. My mom washes the dishes in the dishwater. I have a girlfriend who I talk to every night and I tell her everything. I stay in my room most of the time and listen to my radio. I watch television half of the night. I like orange juice. I drink it sometimes because I am the only diabetic in the family and I have to watch my sugar. I have lost twelve pounds and my sugar is well controlled. I also have high blood pressure and I am on blood pressure medication. My mother keeps the house clean all of the time and my dad just does little odds and ends. My brother, Chris, lives in another town a little ways away from me. He visits every Sunday and brings his girlfriend with him. My other brother, Al, lives away from us too, and visits as often as he can.

We watch television together. We like to watch Fear Factor, the Chamber, the Chair, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune. We do stuff sometimes like order fast food or play checkers a lot. We also watch movies together and listen to races or watch college football or basketball together. We very seldom go out to eat dinner at a restaurant. I like to cook; I cook all sorts of food. My mom likes to bake cakes and other desserts. My dad likes to work on stuff and repair stuff. My brother, Roy, likes to play football in the snow. My nephews are a handful; I help my mother watch them. They like to tease and pick on each other. They behave themselves sometimes. My family gets along well and we like doing things together. I like to work on the computer a lot. I like to type up stuff on the computer for my family.

That is my happy family. We do everything together. Like the saying says, "the more you stay together the happier you'll be." We do everything together and we are all so happy.

My hopes and dreams are that one day I will be married to someone who cares about me and I care about her. We will have a family together and raise them up together. My dream is that I will some day own a house with four bedrooms, two and a half baths, and a basement.

I love my dog and I miss her. She is twelve years old, not young. She would be in her sixties if she were a human. Just before my leaving from Japan, she was very weak because of old age. She could neither hear nor take a long walk. I've been worrying about her. I'm afraid that I wouldn't see her again. I'm not sure whether she'll be fine after two years.

Anyway, she looks very fine in the pictures. She likes eating tomatoes my mother raises in the garden of my house. Of course, the tomatoes are for my family, not for my dog. Once my dog stole a tomato. My mother scolded her.

However, she doesn't seem to give up. One day she was alone in the garden. She came near tomatoes, smelled them, and looked up at them longingly. My mother secretly took her pictures while she was hesitating in front of the tomatoes. Those are the pictures sent to me this time.

According to the comment written on the back, she didn't succeed in getting tomatoes. She could reach none of them.

Now I have my brother and my wife in the hospital at the same time. My wife stayed there about five days and she was discharged. My brother was there for eleven days before he was discharged. Just when I thought everything was going fine, I am back at the hospital again. I did not expect to be back so soon. This time, in July, I went to work and returned to find my wife's blood all over the bed. She did not know what she was doing. We called the Gladstone Rescue Squad. They took her back to the hospital again. This time she had a bleeding ulcer.

I spent most of my time in 2001 in and out of the hospital.

I respect the way you carry yourself - your values of self, family, your leadership, your moral and togetherness. For example, when eating we all say grace before the first plate. When problems occur you handle them with control. If someone went astray, you said what the outcome would be. You were a parent first, then a friend; you didn't take any disrespect off me or anyone else. I love the way you stand for your beliefs, keeping the family together.

My Ebony Queen, my mother and friend, I'd like to say thanks. I am very fortunate to have you in my life. There should be a lot more mothers like you with effort. To me you're worth more than what society sees you as. You've prepared me for obstacles and taught me to never give up. You've taught me values and to love myself and others.

I love you for many reasons, not just because you have given me things. You're my hero. I'll never doubt you or your love. You have nourished my mind, body and soul. You have made me understand life. Your boy became a man.

Sincerely in debt,
Your son, Lamont, to a strong woman.

hen I first laid my eyes on you,
I knew you were all my dreams come true.
You were a gift from up above -
A beautiful child for me to love.

I watched as you began to grow,
And I tried to teach you things you needed to know.
I never thought there would come a day
When I would have to go away.

I never meant to cause you shame,
But I made some mistakes and only I'm to blame.
It really tears my heart that we're so far apart.
Just keep me with you in your heart.

I hope you know that I am sad
And I realize you might be mad.
You need to know that I'm okay
And I'll be coming home some day.

I'm asking you to be really strong.
I won't be gone for too very long.
And when I finally do come home,
I promise that I'll never roam.

I want to know about your day -
What you eat and where you play.
Even though I can't be there,
I still would like the chance to hear.

Please don't feel that you're alone;
I'll write and call you on the phone.
I pray each night that God will guide you,
While I cannot be there beside you.

You trust in God and have no tears,
For love will never disappear.
Even though we're not together,
You'll be a special part of me forever.

For me, being in prison has been a very hard and emotional experience. It makes me sad being away from my husband and children. Knowing I can't hug and kiss them and tell them how much I love them before going to sleep makes me sad a lot of the time. I miss the special times we used to share together. We used to enjoy family picnics, going to church on Sundays, and going to the park.

Coping with the bad times as well as the good times has its reward. When one of my family members is sick, we tend to pull together more to help them recover. When my sister was sick and dying of lupus, the whole family shared the responsibility of caring for her only daughter. Having a close family helps me to deal with my time in prison. My sister took care of my children when I was going to court, and she could not have managed without the rest of my family's support. Times like these make me appreciate how important a good family relationship is.

Now that I am away from my family, I feel I am missing so much of their life. I know they are missing me as much as I'm missing them, and it's hurting us all to be apart. But I know I can't keep looking back; I need to look forward to the time when we can be together again as a family. Even though a lot has changed while we've been separated, we can still pick up where we left off - that is, being the loving, caring family that we were striving to be.

There are many things that help me make an ordinary family a special one. Remembering each other, helping each other in times of need, and showing love and understanding are all very important things I learned in my family life. Some things might change, like we'll all get older or we might lose a loved one, but the way we feel about each other as a family won't change.

Most people don't have a close relationship with their family. They go through the pain and sorrow alone with no one other than faith in God to comfort them. I feel that I am doubly blessed, because I have both. I thank God for my family, whom I love dearly and who loves me dearly, also.

I am now 44 years old, and I have been married twice to abusive men who beat me and tried to kill me. Their explanations were "you're too cute to live," or "I want your money for drugs." My first husband beat me and hung me by the neck with a dog chain from our bedroom door. Next he stripped me of all my clothes, poured ice cold water on me and pushed me out of the house with snow knee deep on the ground. I ended up sleeping in my mother's car naked all night until he went to work the next day.

Finally, with my grandmother's help, I divorced him and five years later I married a man whose legs I fell in love with - because they were hairy! We've been married for eighteen years. He also started out being abusive. He introduced me to a life of crime and drugs. We both ended up in prison not being able to write or see each other.

My hopes are to do my time, get out of prison, and seek out my options of obtaining a career and living a happy life without drugs and prison.

In helping myself to change my life, I have obtained my GED. I am still taking positive classes while incarcerated to insure myself of a life change. I truly hope to become a better person by helping others to stay out of prison and working toward a happy life. I hope to remain being a wife and some day become a good mother, friend, daughter, aunt, and grandmother - to be a special lady as I feel today I am.

We're all God's creation and in being so we need to love ourselves as well as others. I'm doing my best to change my life and to become a decent, successful person of whom my family, husband, society and I can be proud.

'm from West Africa, Togo. It is a small country located between Ghana and Benin. I can tell you that my country has four seasons: summer, spring, dry season, rainy season. At Christmastime, the weather is dry and cool. Togo is a wonderful country and has beautiful sunshine.

Approximately 50% of Togolese are Christian, 40% are Muslims and the remainder are Animists. Most of the Christians live in the South and many of them speak Ewe. Togo is bordered at the north by Burkina-Faso, on the South by Gulf de Guinnee, on the West by Benin and East by Ghana. The capital of Togo is the City of Lome. Togo has about 55% of the population being different ethnic groups and around 4 million people total. Togo has one of the most heterogeneous populations in Africa. The two largest groups are the Ewe, who are concentrated in the South and are comprised of many small groups (Adj-Ewe, Peda, Mina, Guin, Plah, etc.) and the Kabye, who are concentrated in the Noreth and Central parts of Togo and are known as skillful terrace farmers. French is the country's official language, about half of its people speak or understand Ewe. The second most widely spoken African language is Kabye.

My best friend from the North is a very nice person, Denise. She and Tantie are two of my best friends. Denise is 24 years old and Tantie is 25 years old. Denise is someone who is very important to me and Tantie is the second person who is very special to me. They love me and I love them too. We love to be together. They are always there when I need them and they treat me well.

Since I left my country 11 months ago, Denise has been writing me letters and sending me e-mails. I remember one time in my life when Tantie wrote me: "Sandra, I thank God for the great times we had together." I'll be so glad to find someone extroverted like them here in the USA. Denise, Tantie and I are all like rainbows coming around the bend, and when I see that they're happy, well, it sets my heart free. I have a dream to go back one day.

Three years ago I got really sick; my family was there for me. My husband, Judson,did the cooking, cleaning, and visited with me every night. Jarrod did the same and also was a big help with his sister. Kelly was a big help although it was hard. I was really sad that I could not be there for them. I love my family very much. I don't know what I would have done without my family's love and support.

We have been blessed and are grateful.

It seemed like the older Stephanie and I got, the better we got along. I think what really made the difference is that when I was 17 I shot myself. I could see how much it hurt her and the rest of the family. Stephanie came to see me every day when I was in the hospital. She showed me how much she really cared. After I got out of the hospital, we became good friends.

Stephanie was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago. When she found out she had cancer it was hard for her to accept it. But she had to. She started doing treatments, and I think they operated, too. Stephanie is still having problems bleeding.

At one point, Stephanie was at a standstill with the doctors. She wasn't getting any better. She was staying the same. We couldn't figure out why Stephanie wasn't getting better until my brother-in-law looked in her car and found nine fifths of empty vodka bottles in the trunk. So when she went back to the hospital my brother-in-law went with her and told the doctors what he had found. Now the doctors knew what was wrong. The doctors told Stephanie if she didn't stop drinking alcohol, she wouldn't be around much longer. She said, "What do you mean?" The doctor said, "You will die." After that Stephanie changed her mind about drinking.

Stephanie is doing better now. She sees the doctors often to check on everything. She is very strong-hearted and will tell you what she thinks in a heartbeat. With everything she was going through, she still had time to help our Dad, because he was sick, too. Our father's name was Herbert. He was a meat cutter for Kroger's. He found out he had cancer, too. So Stephanie took him for treatments every day for weeks. There wasn't anything else they could do for him. The cancer had gone too far. But Stephanie took care of everything for him. The last two days of his life Stephanie and I never left his side. I'll never forget my Dad, and every time I see my sister or talk to her, I tell her I love her.

By that time I had two children, Tony and Monica. I am very proud of them. They both got their education. Tony went to St. Anne's-Belfield. He went on to college in Maryland. After a year he got a good job in the bank. But after making up his mind, he joined the United States Air Force. After basic training, he moved to Wyoming, then to Italy for three years. Now he is stationed in Illinois as a doctor. He has chosen the Air Force as a career. Tony has a wife and two children. I love them very much and am very proud of him for the choices he has made.

My daughter, Monica, is working at State Farm. Monica has recently moved back to Charlottesville after three years in North Carolina. Monica married a marine who was stationed in North Carolina. They have two children. It is so good to have her back near me. I hope Tony and Monica will both show my grandchildren how important an education will be to reach their goals in life.

To my children and grandchildren, I love you and get the highest education that you possibly can!

here are five people in my family: my wife, Denise, and I and my three kids, Lauren, Cameron, and Gregory. My oldest son, Cameron, has cerebral palsy and can't walk without a walker, and he can't do as much as the other kids. So my dream for him is that in the future he will be able to walk without the walker and do more things without it. He really tries to do a lot for himself now because he is in middle school and he is a teenager now. He really likes nascar racing and he had always wanted to go see a race. Last year he won two tickets to go to Richmond. He and I went to watch the race, and he really enjoyed it. That was one of his goals in life: to see a nascar race.

My son, Gregory, likes playing sports. He plays baseball and football and is really good at them. I am hoping one day he will be a big star in baseball or football. He also has a hobby of racing dirt bikes and four-wheelers so maybe one day he will go on the circuit to race. He is a good outdoorsman and likes hunting and fishing.

My daughter, Lauren, is really good with computers, so hopefully when she graduates she will go to college and get a really good education in computer skills. These days computers are taking a lot of jobs away from people, and everything is worked by computers. She is almost old enough to get her learner's permit, so I have to look forward to her asking to drive soon.

My wife has a good job as an assistant manager at Amoco-Dairy Queen in Crozet. She likes working close to home because you never know when one of the kids is going to get sick. She has been there for a year and a half. She has a really hard job because she has to make sure everything goes right and to keep track of the money. She is a really good mother and wife, too.

For myself, I dropped out of school when I was 16. But now I work for VDOT, and I am going back to school to get my GED. I advise anyone that has the opportunity to do the same thing to really think it over and go for it. It makes me feel better about myself, and it shows my children that education is very important. I haven't taken the test for my GED yet, but I am working really hard to get ready for it. When it is done I hope it will benefit me at my job for VDOT or something else in the future.

A lot of people that work for VDOT are kind of ashamed about coming back to school, but they should not let it bother them. They should think about themselves and take the opportunity to take the class to help them read and write better. It is a great opportunity.

A lot of people in Novi Sad are of mixed nationalities, and my family is, too. My father was half German, my mother, half German and half Croatian. My husband is a Serb. Our children are mixed more than I am. The people in our province speak several languages: Serbian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian, Ukranian, and German. In my parents' house, my parents and grandparents spoke three languages: Serbian, German, and Hungarian. I spoke these three languages equally well when I was only five years old. In school, I learned Russian, French and, later, Esperanto, but never English. Now I need only the English, because our daughter has lived in the U.S. for ten years already. We visit her and her son. I need to speak to people, and I can't. This is why I am here, in this class. I am very happy to have excellent teachers and good classmates. Moreover, it is very interesting to be and to talk with people from different countries.

I was an only child of my parents. My father died relatively young, when I was six years old. I, and later my husband and my children, lived with my mother until her death seven years ago. She was 100 years old. We have two children: a son, who is 37, and a daughter, who is 35. Each of them has one son, so we have two grandsons. The older, from our daughter, is eight; the younger, from our son, only three years old. As you see, we are old grandparents. The problem is that the one lives in Yugoslavia, the other in the U.S. We always miss one or the other.

I used to be a teacher, but I have been retired for 13 years already. I worked in the same school for 30 years. There were children from the ages of 11 to 15 years, Serbs and Hungarians, so I taught German to Serbians, and Hungarian. I liked my job, and I liked my students. I sill have contact with some of them, but now I like to cook and to bake, and I would like to be useful to my children and my family. The family is the most important thing for me.

In my spare time, I like walking with my husband along our favorite river, climbing in the mountains, going to the theatre and to concerts, traveling, and keeping company with good friends. We have a little cottage and around it a garden. We have fruit trees: apples, pears, plums, peaches, grapes, and flowers. I like to work there. I like nature very much.

This is all; this is a short story of my life.

To me family is a little more than that. For example, the other day my grandson told me he had four grandmothers, and I think he really does.

Now I come from a family of nine. Six brothers and two sisters and there's me. When we add mom and dad, it's eleven. My family is very large once everybody is counted. I also have two very close friends that are sisters to me.

I have two children and two grandchildren whom I really enjoy. They are very good children. They are doing well and I am very proud of them. I love and thank God for them. That's a little bit about my family.

Now I will tell you what family means to me. A family is all those things, but it is a lot more. Family is people who care about you and are always there for you no matter what. You can always go to your family when there is nowhere else to go.

To me family means love and friendship and safety. This is what a baby feels when he is all wrapped up in his mother's arms. This is what a family really is - love over all else.

My daddy worked on the farm from dawn to dusk. We always had plenty to eat. We raised our own crops. We also raised hogs, chickens, horses, and cows. My mama did all the milking, so we had our own milk and butter. We didn't have a refrigerator; therefore, we had to put the milk and butter in a spring to keep them cold in the summer. We didn't have running water, so we had to tote water from a spring to have water to drink, to cook with, and to take baths.

We were a very happy family. We didn't have the finest, but we had a roof over our heads, food on the table, and shoes on our feet. We were raised in a good Christian home where there was plenty of love. My parents tried to provide the best they could for us. I was very proud of them.

My parents wanted us to get a good education. However, some of us quit school. It was our choice at the time; it wasn't that we didn't have a chance to finish school. Three of my five brothers graduated from high school. One of them made a career in the Navy and two in the Army. Out of us six girls, only one sister graduated, and the rest of us quit school. Some got jobs and married, but all of us are retired now.

After I quit school, I went to work in Richmond, Virginia. I lived there for three years and worked at a hospital as a nurse's aide. I got laid off and didn't really like living in the city, so I decided to move back to the country. That's when I met my husband. We dated for one year, and then we decided to get married. We had two sons and one daughter. Our daughter graduated from high school, but one of our sons didn't. We lost our other son to bone cancer when he was 15 years old. He died in 1982. That same year, I lost my daddy and a brother-in-law. It was a very sad time for us.

I didn't go to work until my children were in school. I wanted to stay with them when they were little. I tried to raise my children like my parents tried to raise my brothers, sisters, and me with a lot of love and in a good Christian home. My husband and I have four wonderful grandchildren, two boys and two girls. I'm very thankful every day for all of my family.

I lost my job of 27 years last year. I got laid off for good. I'm not old enough to draw Social Security, but I do get a little retirement although it's not much. That's why I am now going to GED and computer classes to try to further my education, so I can get a better paying job. I think positive, and I'm never giving up.

Also I hope that the Lord Almighty will grant us peace, health, and long lives so that we will enjoy the fruit of our labor. Moreover I hope my children will have a good education, be respectful and grow up to be good children that anyone would love to have in their lives.

My dream for my family is for each one of them to achieve their goals and live up to their expectations. Each one of us has different goals that we want to achieve in the future, e.g., as for me, my personal dream is to have a good education and to be a good mum, wife and nurse so that in the future I will be a help to old people.

The most important milestone that has ever occurred in my family was when I got pregnant with my twin girls. I was first told that I would never have any more children in my life. When I was in Africa, my doctor, at my request, put me on pills that stopped me from having kids. It didn't bother me much because I was a single mum with two children.

After I arrived in the U.S., in just one month I happened to meet the man who would become my husband. In two weeks he decided to marry me. But knowing that I couldn't have any more kids, I refused the proposal; and gave him the reasons of my refusal as I stated earlier on. He told me that he could feel it that I would have children. We got married, and I was glad that I had let him know about my situation of not being able to have children.

We got an appointment with a doctor. I went into detail with the doctor. He ran some tests. He told me that he was going to try, but he couldn't make any promises. He put me on fertility pills for one year, but things did not work out as expected. The doctor asked me to discontinue the pills because staying so long on that particular treatment, I would get cancer. I did as the doctor ordered me for my safety, but he ordered pregnancy tests before I left. I did as I was told. The result was positive. Our surprise was not only one child, but two. My husband and I were very excited about the news.

In conclusion, never say it will never happen because here I am with two beautiful children and a happy family.

y family is a very important part of my life. It consists of my fiancé, Tommy, and my two wonderful sons, Tyler and Thomas. Tommy is a carpenter. Tyler is five years old, and Thomas is one year old.

I have a lot of hopes and dreams for them both. The most important one is for them to finish school. If they want to go to college I would be so proud of their decision. They need the most education they can get these days. To get a good job, it helps to have as much education as you can.

I want them both to be good people. I want them to have positive attitudes about their future. If they ever need anything or have a problem I hope they come to Tommy and me first. I know they will have lots of friends.

A milestone that has occurred is meeting Tommy. He really changed my life a whole lot. I have never been so happy in my life. Having my two sons was a wonderful thing that happened, too. I had Tyler at sixteen years old but I don't regret it at all. I love my family so much and don't know what I would do without them.

The strength I receive from my family gives me the energy to dream and pray at night that my daughter always will be happy through the good and bad times life will bring. I pray that she always keeps courage to finish school and hopefully become a beautiful model that I dream she will become one day.

I dream and hope for Tywana as well. For example, she always keeps her head up through all the bad times in life. I know they can be hard as a rock when they hit. As for Tywana and me, I hope we can always be friends, together or not together. If we couldn't be friends, I wouldn't have all the power I need because I would be missing the strength and energy that I would be receiving from her love. Then it would be a piece of me missing. Just like a board game, if you don't have all the pieces to the game, it isn't the same nor is it any fun.

So that's why I can call my family my strength because they give me the energy to carry on each and every day of my life.

I feel that I've not had that. I've been separated from my family for so many years. I don't feel I have family. Family to me is mom, dad, brother, sister. Yes, I have all of them but where are they when I need them? No one is there for me.

I have three brothers and three sisters. I just found Dad in 2001. It was a very happy day for me when I met Dad. He was happy also to meet me after 40 years, but it made me very sad to know that Dad was only 40 miles away and never attempted to find me. There are a lot of days when I feel like my family doesn't love me because we don't even see each other but maybe once every six months or so, and that's only if I go to visit them. They never come to visit me; they never call me.

Family. What is that? I don't know. I'm not accepted because I believe that whether you're family or not if you steal you should be made accountable for your action. My mom or sister believes that if you can get away with it then you're not wrong. I believe that whatever you do that's against the law is wrong.

My mom will be 65 years old on February 13, 2002. I know she's getting older; everyone says you need to get closer to mom because she's not going to be around much longer. I just can't bring myself to do it.

My mom has been so abusive to me over the years. How do I forget the things she has done? I've tried so hard to forgive her and forget, but it just keeps coming back every time I see her. I say to myself why doesn't she love me? I feel as though she's treated me like I wasn't her child.

There was even one time my baby brother said to me, "You're not mama's child. You're adopted." So I went to mom and I asked her. She said you came out of me just like the rest of my children did. So why do I feel like I'm adopted then?

If I am her child, why has she treated me as though I'm not her baby? Mom has always told everyone that out of seven children, I was always the selfish, stubborn one, but I don't feel as though I'm stubborn or selfish. I don't mind giving or sharing anything that I have with anyone. So why doesn't my family love me?

Family-family to me is my son. My new family is my fiancé and his two children. They love me so much that I can really feel the love. I thank God that I finally feel loved and know what family love is really all about after 42 years in this world.

My brother was the first to own his own home. He has a place of his own to raise his family. The house has four rooms, a porch, a large chimney, and lots of land. We all dream of owning a house just like his.

And many of my family, including myself, are looking forward to going to college for a better future. We want to take up computer skills and learn keyboard. We also want to learn about other courses. We are planning for a better job and looking for better ways of making more money.

My family and I like to be independent and on our own, and we are planning for our future in advance.

I love him for he treats me well. He always talks with me. He also spends time with me. We never fight; he does not hit me or raise his voice to me.

He means everything to me. I am very glad I found someone like him to spend the rest of my life with. Anyone who gets a good man like I have, better hold on to him. You don't always find a good one like I did. Some men like to get drunk and beat up their wives, but mine doesn't. He is the best loving man anyone would ever want to know.

That is my husband. He is very special to me, and I love him for that.

One good part is that my brother will be paying for my trip, just to come and see him. I sure hope things go well for me.

I want to drive with my sister and brother-in-law in their mini-van, or I wouldn't mind going by train. I don't want to fly.

When I get there, all I want to do is see California, shop, eat, and rest. I want to have a nice time with my brother.

I have four nieces and eleven nephews, two of them I have never met. I have a host of great nieces and nephews. Their ages run from one year old up to thirteen.

One day I would like for my whole family to come together. I would like to get to meet my two nephews that I've never seen.

I have a family of my own also. I am a mother of two, a son and a daughter, and a grandmother of three. My kids are the most important things in my life after God. He always comes first.

My grandchildren are my pride and joy. They bring me joy and happiness when they are around. My grandchildren are by my son who is 23 years old. He has a set of twins who are two years old and a son six months old. We have a lot of twins in our family.

My daughter is 16 and she has one more year in school. Hopefully she will attend college. She is also into church. I am so proud of her because she is not a street girl.

I am also proud of myself for raising two fine children. I'm especially proud because I have raised them by myself.

My family is a big group of people, but they are the most important part of my life. One day we will all get together, and I will see those nephews of mine. I just hope my eyes won't be closed when they come.

I would also like to see my sister and her husband get back together and help raise their grandchildren. Another thing I would like to see is that my brother and his son get along. My nephew has been in so much trouble since he finished high school. My brother has lost a lot of time from work and spent a lot of money trying to keep his son out of jail. My mother worries about them both all the time.

I'm hoping and praying that some day, soon, all of this is going to happen.

It started on November 18th, deer season that is, as we prepared for the hunt. In the morning, J.J. didn't want to go so I took J.R. instead. We saw two deer but did not shoot and we called it a morning. When we told J.J., he got excited and wanted to go, but he doesn't like to sit; he'd rather use the dogs.

That afternoon we ran the dogs and he missed two does. I believe he was a little discouraged, so he wanted to hunt in the morning, feeling for a walking shot instead of running. We went about 6:00 a.m. with high hopes, but returned about 9:00 a.m. tired and hungry. I think he was upset but didn't let on.

That afternoon we decided to run again, so he went to his usual spot, but it seemed that his confidence was low. About half an hour into the drive, I heard two shots come from the bottom, then an excited voice on my hand-held radio. "Daddy, I shot a four-point buck!" Our conversation went on for a couple of minutes until I made my way down the hill. As buck fever had slowed a little, the four-pointer turned into a high-spike buck. We exchanged hugs and congratulations, some laughter at the points and how close the deer had come (15 feet). Then we said a prayer of thanksgiving to God, had a word of encouragement for J.R. and made our way home.

I hope and pray that my Dad and I will also share in this moment with my other son, Johnathon.

We need to stop and look at situations at hand. We need to take time with our children and listen to them; they will let you know what's gong on. Really know your children, love them, and protect them from danger. Moms need to stay home more. Ask yourself, "Do I really need that new car, or can I stay home and be there for my children?" No one will ever love and discipline your children like you do. Be aware of your children's needs. When it comes to love or things, I think they will pick love.

Who are our children watching? Maybe the TV has been babysitter too long for them. We need to set examples and not show them how to drink or take drugs or use profanity in our homes. How can we ever expect our children to do right if all they see is the wrong way to live? We need to show a good example because they are watching us, and our actions speak louder than words. That saying we have all heard, "Do as I say and not what I do." Watch out, parent! This is a wrong message to send to your children. What we do, I promise, they will triple, good or bad. So don't send messages to them that say it is okay to do this when you're older. The bottom line is, young or old, if it is wrong - it is wrong - period.

I have written about many different situations. How are we going to change them? Simple! Just focus on what I have talked about and start living that way. One thing is for sure; if we do the same tomorrow as we have done today, things will not change. We need to be good examples, moms and dads. Straighten up and be a parent; have control over your children. Show them and teach them respect. Be the leader you should be in your home so they may learn to be leaders in the future. No one is born a leader; this is taught and it starts at an early age at home.

Live a life that your children can follow. Don't live a double-standard life and be a double-standard parent. Let's get our families back together and have a strong bond between family members. Husbands and wives, act like you love each other and are committed to the end. Take time to listen to your children and hear their cries. Be humble and keep God at the head of your home, the first in your life. Love one another and work together. Learn to laugh again, parents!

My hope is that my daughter pays attention to what her mother said, for her own benefit and the benefit of others.

Today, I have a son. He is now eight years old. I've been with him from day one. Without him, I can't imagine what life would be like. To watch him grow is to watch a flower grow. Sometimes after a hard day's work, or with the daily problems that come with life, he's there to comfort me. With life, challenges change daily. I believe that life is a balance. For me he is that balance. Sometimes when I'm at my weakest point, he's there. To the readers or mother who reads this, you will probably question what about her? She's the seed that helps the flower grow.

Since last September terrorists' attacks, things seem to be going in different directions. Large companies folding, job lay-offs, racism, anthrax. I can't justify all that's going on. I believe that the only thing we have left is family. This country came together after 9/11 as a family. I urge all people to go home to your families. Take care of your kids and be there for them. As for me, I have Malcolm who's always there for me. Watching him grow healthy, strong, and wise is like watching a flower grow.

As I write this, I receive a phone call long distance from New York. January 25, Thursday, the loss of my sister-in-law who had a heart transplant four years ago. She leaves behind two teenage daughters and a son. I ask myself the question, "Where do they go from here?" I'm driving this route from Virginia, a six-hour ride. My son has many questions. Most of his questions are about death, maybe I should have told him more about life. Confusing as this may sound, I still get up each morning and take on another task.

Sunday, February 10th, is Malcolm's birthday. I'll throw him a surprise party and take him out to a movie. He also wants a play station that he'll find in his room.

While all this is going on, I'll take time out for thoughts thanking him for nine wonderful years. Today I'll rest, turn on the TV to CNN News. Guess what? More problems. Every day things seem to be getting more and more complicated. Family - that's when I'll turn to Malcolm. Watching him grow is a process like a flower that flourishes with love and care.

Our middle daughter is named Sama, she was born in 1994 in Pakistan, and she is in the second grade at Clark School. Furthermore, our youngest daughter is Saher and she is two years old.

I have a dream for them. They get educations in the U.S. because Saha wants to be a doctor and Sama wants to be an engineer.

When I went to work in Kabul and in Pakistan, my mother took care of them. Now I want to say something about my mother:

Without you how can I live?
How can I live without you?
The night seems as long as ages
The day seems as long as ages
Come here my heart says
Lonely I feel again
I miss you again.
I am nervous again
You are making me restless
I have so many wishes and desires
Come here my heart says.
My heart has so many wishes and desires
I am lonely without you
How can I live without you?

I didn't have a good time there because I didn't want to be there, but we must be in Pakistan so my country was at war. Then we came to USA in 2001. We are very lucky because we continue our life in USA and everything is better than Pakistan, but our life changed here. First our language change; I can't speak English very well. I am like a child. I hope I learn English and my English should get well.

When we came here at the first week my listening was too bad so I got English class. I am learning, but now my English is okay.

In here we have a more comfortable life than Pakistan. In Pakistan I was worried all the time because some unknown person force me. They told me that why girls come in our school but now I am relaxed.

TO MY BELOVED MOM

by Duangporn Blazy Charlottesville ESL

or a long time, I've refused to talk about my mother. It is not that I don't love her, but I have so little memory about her. All my life, I have wished I had magic powers so that I can bring my mother back to life or else just be able to talk to her again.

My mother died when I was 5 years old. I've known her only from a few photos we have, and even less from my family. It seemed like nobody wanted to talk about her. I grew up with my father, my brothers and sisters. My sister told me that my mother got sick right after she had me. My aunt said if my mom had not had me she would live another 50 years.

In my memory, my mom was always in bed. She was as thin as a stick. My father took care of us, eight little monsters, and he worked at our restaurant until 2-3 in the morning. My older sisters and brothers needed to help my father at the restaurant after school. I was too young so I stayed home with my little sister and my mom. Later, when I was 3 years old, my father sent me to a convent school behind our house. At first, the school refused to take me, for I was too young. Then, the director, who was a nun, changed her mind after talking to my mom. I guess my mom probably told the director that she would die soon and would need someone to take care of me. Every morning, my sister would walk me to school, then went to hers.

One morning, my mom had a visit from a Chinese doctor. I was curious about what he would give her as a treatment and if he could cure her. So that morning after my sister dropped me off, I walked home. I told my mom that the school was closed. She wouldn't believe me. Besides, the school was just behind our house and we could hear the morning prayer before the classes started. My mom was so upset and started to cry. I didn't mean to be a bad girl. I just wanted to be with her when the doctor cured her. I never had a chance to explain.

That Chinese doctor apparently did not have any magic. He didn't cure my mom. So my father insisted that my mom needed intensive care. Since the very beginning, my mom had refused to stay at the hospital for she wanted to see her children every day, and I think she knew that she would never come home again. She was right. She was in the hospital for four months. I was never allowed to visit her there. When I met her again, it was her funeral. I learned later that she died of cancer.

Today, I'm married and I'm the mother of a 4-year-old boy. I am 32 years old, exactly the age when my mom passed away. I am old enough and I want to know every single thing about my mom. However, my sisters think that it was better for me not to have any memory of our mom suffering and dying. When I asked my father, he usually said I look just like my mom. If he didn't have eight children to take care of, he would go and stay with my mom. It must have been be so hard for my mom to leave such young children behind. She has missed so many things in her life.

Mom, I wish you were there, on my graduation day,
I wanted you to be there when I received my diploma,
I wanted you to be proud of me,
I wanted you to hold me, and cherish my hard working day.

Mom, I wish you were there, on my wedding day,
I wanted you to know the man I have chosen,
I wanted you to give me advice, like other moms,
I wanted you to bless my new life.

Mom, I wish you were there, on my labor day,
I want you to hold your grandson,
I want you to be his grandma,
I want you to help me to raise this little boy...

God, please give me just one more day
So that I can hold her...for the last time,
So that I can say how much I miss her and how much I love her,
So that I can tell her that she will never die in my memory.

MY GRANDMA - THE PERSON I WOULD MOST LIKE TO MEET

by Jing Zhang
Charlottesville ESL f I could meet a person in the past, I would like to meet my grandma first. Although my grandma passed away 20 years ago, she is still alive in my heart. She always appears in my dreams and memory because I am missing her so much. If I could meet her, I would tell her that I love her and I would like her to share modern civilization with us.

My grandma was a traditional Chinese woman. She was honest and industrious. I was brought up until I was seven years old by my grandma. My mother was at a university studying at that time, so I lived in a village with my grandma. She always busied herself with housework and farm work since I can remember. She even cultivated wheat at age 60. We moved to a bigger city after my mother graduated from university, and my grandma lived together with our family.

Life at that time was not so convenient and comfortable. We just had a black-and-white TV and we did not have a washing machine. We used coal to cook and we washed clothes by hand. My grandma always did everything for us in pleasure. She was always considerate to others. In the evening, my grandma always told stories and Chinese traditional myths to us. Although she did not receive higher education, she was knowledgeable about life. She knew a lot of legends and fairy tales. My brother and sisters were always attracted and moved by her wonderful stories.

Time is flying and our life has greatly changed. We now have a huge house with a large color TV, an auto-washing machine and so on. We have a luxurious car by which we can travel everywhere. Regretfully, my grandma could not live to now. The more conveniently we live, the more I miss her. I wish she could sit in my car when I drive to get around. I wish she could live today to share the modern civilization with us. I can imagine how jubilant she would be if all the wishes could be true.

MY FAMILY

by Benny Mathew
UVA, Charlottesville ESL e came to the USA June 3, 1999. My wife and two children and I are now in Charlottesville. My wife's name is Lali. She is a nurse and she took the CGFNS exam and got a US Visa. At first, we lived in New York. Then my wife got a job at UVA so we moved here. I like Charlottesville. It's a nice place. We bought a house last year. We plan to stay here at least five years. We have two daughters, Amala and Alin. Amala is 7 years old and Alin is 3 1/2 years old. Now Amala studies in the second grade. This is a small story of my family.

MY FAMILY

by Deeba Tasleem
UVA, Charlottesville ESL was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and my date of birth is February 17. I grew up in a big, wonderful, and educated family that contained nine persons or members. My dad was a lawyer, and my mom is a housewife. I had three brothers and four sisters and all of them graduated from school and university. My older brother graduated from law school and he worked as a lawyer, too. My other brothers worked as teachers, and my sisters had different jobs. I graduated from the Department of Meteorology and then I worked as a Meteorologist at the airport for two and a half years. Everyone in the family loved each other, and we never thought we would get separated from each other.

As war changes everything in a country and destroys everything in everyone's life, so our life changed too, and I lost my father and one of my brothers in war in Afghanistan. That was the worst part of my life and I will never forget it. After that, my mom, who is so kind and wonderful, was the only person to take care of everyone in the family and did not let us feel sad about anything.

The situation in Afghanistan got worse day by day and finally it made my other brothers separate from us. After that, we couldn't risk staying in Afghanistan anymore and we left Afghanistan for Pakistan. We stayed in Pakistan for about two years; then we applied for coming to the USA in the United Nations High Commissioner's office. After having some interviews, we were accepted as US refugees and we left Pakistan for the US.

We got here on September 23, 1999, and we have been here for two years and five months. We got different jobs after being here two months in the US. My mom is the only one who doesn't know the language. She learns just a few sentences. Sometimes she talks in English that sounds very funny, but I think she will be all right. So right now everyone is fine and happy and we have our own jobs. Now we know the value of peace.

FAMILY

by Arthia Ingram
Fluvanna was born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia. My mother's name is Carleen Griffin and my father's name is Oscar Ingram, Jr. They had a baby girl whom they named Deloris Griffin. After a couple of years, she got pregnant again and told my dad. That's when my father married her in 1970. I was born in 1971. My mother named me Arthia Ingram.

As time passed, she and my father broke up. Well, my mother met this other man, and she got pregnant again. This time she had twins, Calvin and Karen. I think my mother was running from man to man, because later on down the road she had another baby girl. Her name was Rosa Ingram. Well, all of us are Ingrams except my oldest sister.

As I got older, my mother started to leave us at home by ourselves. Her baby brother lived with us. She would leave us and party day and night. She didn't give a damn if we had something to eat or not. One day she met this man from Norfolk, Virginia. She started going out with him all the time and we were at home getting raped by her baby brother. He raped my baby sister first. Then he raped me and I was only nine years old. That's when my life fell apart. I told my mother and she didn't even believe me. She beat me because she thought I was lying. She didn't care about anything except herself. She came home one day and beat my oldest sister so badly that she busted her head open with a broken broomstick. Blood came running down her face. I started to cry, and when she turned around to see who cried, that's when my sister ran out the door. My mother got in her car and went after her but couldn't find her. I was glad.

When she got back to the house, the police were at the door. My aunt and father called the police and Social Services, and they charged her with child neglect. The next day we went to court and the judge gave my aunt custody of her. I was mad because she came out of court laughing. My father said, "You think that this shit is funny?"

After all that was over, the man from Norfolk asked my mother to marry him. We moved to Norfolk where she got married. We were there for a while, but my mother started going off again. Her husband couldn't stand me. He beat me one day. I called my father and told him. My father told my mother I wasn't his child and that better be his last time. It wasn't. He beat me again and when my mother came home, he told her I was going to tell my daddy, and that's when she beat me with anything she could get her hands on.

I ran to the Social Services Office, and they took me away from my mother. We went to court and the judge told her she will never get another job in the state of Virginia. Time went by and as we got older, my oldest sister and I got pregnant, and we agreed to tell mother together. As the years went by, my sister and I ended up getting a place together. One day my sister and I, our boyfriends, and some friends were in the kitchen playing cards and smoking pot. The children were in the living room playing on the floor in front of the television. Somebody knocked at the door. When I answered, it was our mother. She came in and we talked. She introduced us to her Jamaican friend. She said she would be right back but we already knew she was in the car getting high. Later she came back in, and her friend left her. He said he was coming back to get her. She was in the living room with the children. I really don't know what happened, but I heard my son Jemont's cry to the top of his lungs. I went in there. She stood over him yelling at him to go to bed. I said he doesn't have to go to bed. I asked her why she hit him. She left her handprint on his back. We started fussing at each other, and I told my mother when I get high, I don't beat my children and that she wouldn't either. I said, "You had your chance to raise us, but you didn't, so don't come in here picking on my son." She hit me, and that's when I hit her back. My sister tried to pull me off my mother but she couldn't, so she started crying. When my mother and I stopped fighting, that's when I found out how she really felt about me. She told me I was a mistake; the only reason you're here is because the rubber broke. My mother told me after she had me, if she would have fallen asleep and the nurse had taken me out and come back in with me, she would have told her I wasn't her baby. My mother said, "You looked like a white baby and you were the ugliest baby I ever had."

I ran out of the house to my aunt's house and told her what happened. She told me to go get my children and we could stay the night. The next day I went to see my grandparents. My father was there and he had heard everything. We talked and he said I wasn't wrong. You see this was my life, and it goes deeper than this. All I'm trying to say is that it hurts when you find out someone you love never loved you or wanted you. This is why I have so much pain inside me. I still have all these memories inside but now that I'm letting them go. I hope I can go on with my LIFE.

MY FAMILY

by Juan Puente
UVA, Charlottesville ESL y family is composed of five persons: my wife, three children, and me. My children are Juan Carlos, seventeen years old; Eduardo, fourteen years old; and Guadalupe, six years old. Juan Carlos is studying in the preparatory school. We are Mexican and our native language is Spanish.

I have twelve brothers, four girls and the rest are men. My father is Juan and my mother is Crecencia. My father has horses and cows, and they're great parents. I love all my family. All my family was born in Mexico.

When I just got married, a fire devastated my house, and since then I have no house of my own. I wish to buy one here in the US or one in Mexico because it is what we wish, me and my family. When I came to the US, I promised my family to buy a house.

Before, I had cows, but not now, because I had to sell all my cows because no one had food for the cows. Now I wish I could go back to Mexico and live together forever with my family and be very happy. Our lives were very difficult in those days and I do not wish to remember them.

I love my family because it is beautiful.

LIFE CHANGES FOR THE FUTURE

by Lamar Williams
Charlottesville/Albemarle s I sit in Albemarle and Charlottesville Regional jail, I have had plenty of time to contemplate how things have changed for me as a new Christian. Along the way, things haven't been easy, and being incarcerated surely isn't making it any better. As I push forward to try to live a more righteous life, there are many challenges I've overcome, staying steadfast in faith, hope, and love for others. One of the biggest problems I've had to face is trying to stop doing things my own way. It seemed like every time I handled situations on my own will, it resulted in larger problems and that would get me into places I didn't want to be in, such as jail. I have had to make many changes to become a more spiritual person. Some of these changes include giving up cursing and listening to music that reminded me of the old Lamar, and learning to love and forgive those that dislike me.

Slowly but surely I began to progress and as I kept praying, God heard my cry for help. Blessing after blessing just started rolling in. Many experienced believers of the Lord Jesus Christ came into my life, and I felt the Lord our God's work being done in my new life in Christ. September 10, 2001 it was two months of worshiping the word of truth and I just had finished the book of Jude which is before Revelation. Now I must tell you Revelation talks about the coming and judgment of Jesus Christ and the end of time, so I decided to start the last book in the Holy Bible the next morning. September 11, 2001 is one day I will never forget as long as I live. The World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist airplane crashes all those innocent people killed, and that morning I started Revelation.

The way I feel is that everything happens for a reason and the acts that happened September 11 brought the world closer to God. The churches were packed everywhere you went, with many people accepting Christ Jesus into their life. It really hit home in my heart being that I read the Bible from the front to the end for the first time and my attitude towards living totally changed.

Looking back on these last six months from '2001 to 2002' it's really been a journey, and I have achieved many accomplishments like reading the whole Holy Bible, Good News Bible lessons, and now God has blessed me with the GED program. I've come to realize that through life changes and the challenges we as people experience, everything results in some type of end whether good or bad. One thing is for sure - it's not up to us but what God has in store for us. These life changes I'll never forget because I received the greatest gift of all - everlasting life. Even though I am incarcerated, the joy is here with me knowing that one day when I leave this place I'll look back and say what a "Life change".

THE DAYS BEFORE FLYING

by Qimei Ran
LVA, Charlottesville/Albemarle ESL y husband and I got our visa on November 14th from the Embassy of America in Beijing, where we live. And I booked two seats on a plane for November 22nd online. There was only one week to prepare our luggage.

The limit of free baggage per ticket of United Air Company is two pieces of consigned (checked) luggage + one piece of carry-on item. There are quotas of size and weight for all baggage:

Checked item--- 32 kg = 70 pounds, 158 cm (length + width + height)
A carry-on item---23 kg = 49 pounds, 115 cm (length + width + height)

So we can take up to (32 + 32 + 23) kg x 2 = 174 kg luggage.

On the busy, tight seven days we made many purchases like clothes, suitcases, medicines most in use, Chinese condiments (prickly ash, aniseed, pepper, red chilis, dried mushrooms, an edible fungus), in the big and small shops. We also met our friends in my home or in restaurants; called our families. Meanwhile we received a lot of emails to say good-bye to us and our telephone did not stop ringing. We had to take the telephone off the hook in the evening...we got up at 7 AM and went to bed at 1 AM or 2 AM, a long hard day.

In any case, we still felt a little bit sad before we were flying because we didn't know how long a time it will be when we will come back!

STONY POINT FIRE COMPANY

by Tom Lance
LVA, Charlottesville/Albemarle am a member of the Stony Point Volunteer Fire Company. I have been with the fire company for 15 years.

There are 30 members in the company. The department has six trucks: two engines, one tanker, two brush trucks, one utility truck, and one rescue car. We have three to six members volunteering a night. You might have zero to five calls a night.

We are trained to fight fires and operate fire trucks and equipment. We also respond to rescue calls like accidents and illnesses. We have CPR training and training on different fire and rescue topics. We attend classes once a week every few years.

The calls come to me over a pager. Then I go to the station, to put on turn-out gear and get on the truck. We wear jackets, pants, boots, and helmets. We carry flashlights and gloves.

I like serving my community and helping other firemen. I feel good about what I do.

WE'RE JUDGED BY WHAT WE DO

by Charles Martin
LVA, Charlottesville/Albemarle

hen we're born,

We're born in sin
For the whole world is filled with sin.

On the hill of Calvary
They stripped Him from His clothes
But there was an old woman there,
She gave Him her robe.

And when this life is through,
We'll be judged by what we do.
And when that trumpet of the Lord will sound,
I won't be hanging around.
I will be in my new home in heaven.
For I'm a lucky one, walking hand in hand with the Lord, His only Son.

And can you imagine?
I'm living in His mansion.
And I'll be waking in His kingdom,
The Kingdom of the Lord!

HOW WE WON THE LOTTERY

by Renata Celin
Fluvanna County Adult Ed spent my whole life at my birthplace. It's the nicest little country in Europe. I loved the mountains and the beautiful lakes. My husband liked it too, but he always dreamed about moving to America. I really don't know why.

One day, almost seven years ago, he made something that changed our family's life forever. He entered his name for an USA special VISA Lottery drawing. Months went by, we completely forgot about it. One morning checking the mail we found a letter from the U.S. Embassy. "Congratulations, you won the lottery. You are eligible for a special US Visa."

We couldn't believe it. There was an endless list of paperwork that needed to be done. Documents needed to be translated. We even needed a doctor visit with blood tests. Finally, we had everything ready for the interview with the US Ambassador. She told us that we would have six months time to immigrate to the States, otherwise we would lose our chance.

Our little daughter was just five years old and she was going to the preschool. We planned to leave right after the end of the school year. A hectic time began: leaving the job, saying goodbye to relatives, neighbors, friends and teacher, packing as little as possible and leaving all my little treasures behind.

Finally the big day, my whole family gathered at the airport to wave goodbye to us. After a never-ending flight, my entry to the States arrived. The employees at the immigration were very kind. They took our fingerprints and welcomed us to the US.

The first time was real hard: - no people I know, no one to talk to with. When I finally got to speak with somebody, it was difficult to understand each other. I was studying English at school, but understanding the American people was a great challenge. I tried my best. I took my kids to the playground, to the library, to playgroups, and invited other kids over to play.

I felt lonely and I was often homesick. In the meantime our family is growing. My son was born in the States, so he is a real little American. We adopted two dogs and a neighbor's dog adopted us as his new family. Now my schedule doesn't leave me time to get bored. I'm doing the bookkeeping in my husband's little business, I'm busy with my kids' homework. I do a lot of volunteering at school, the dogs always need some extra attentions, and there is always somebody hungry to keep me busy in the kitchen.

I got back to my old country at least once a year. It makes me very happy and I always enjoy my stay. Every time I come back to the States there is something I really love: the way the US immigration officer says: "Welcome home".

THE CHANGE OF A LIFE

by Michael David Yorg
Charlottesville/Albemarle ike most people my life has had many changes. Some of these changes have been much more drastic than others. The most important change I've ever faced is the one I'm battling right now. This is a change that could end up saving my life. That change is to stop depending on drugs and alcohol. Those two substances caused me to lose many things or at least put me on the track to losing it all. When I first started using drugs and alcohol it was no big deal. Just a little here and a little there. As time went on and the quantity got greater, also did the problems.

The first thing that went wrong was how I treated my friends and family. I showed no concern for them at all and began to grow very distant from anyone that didn't drink or drug with me. That was just the start. Next came the large amounts of money I spent to buy the drugs. I didn't have time for school, so I just dropped out my senior year. At this point, I wanted almost nothing to do with my family, unless it was to borrow money. They lost all trust for me and with good reason. To end it all off, I'm sitting in jail right now facing two felonies.

I know to some this might not sound like much, but it was enough for me. After having some time to think soberly, I decided to do something about it. There was too much at stake in my life. I had a family that still loved me and would do anything to help me get on the right track. Being in jail isn't the toughest thing I've faced in my life, but it sure isn't the life I want. Now I just have to do something about it. That will most likely be the hardest part.

Will power is something that has always come hard for me. Right now I really don't have a choice if I want to change. First, I decided that enough was enough. I started reading verses from the Bible to help set my mind right. Once I had my head on straight, I decided to sign up for a G.E.D. preparation class so that I may finally get on with my education. At this point there's not much more to occupy myself with, so I try to work out a lot. I figure sticking with these couple of things will help strengthen my will power enough to make it on the outside. Once I get out I plan to get professional help for my drug and alcohol problems, because it's something I can't do alone.

I haven't had much time to see results yet, but I can see a change happening. Since I have no means of getting drugs and alcohol in jail, I have no real way to test myself. That most likely is a very good thing though. I am able to remove myself from situations that could end up with me getting in trouble. A lot of days I just want to eat and sleep all day, but I always work out just a little bit more instead. The G.E.D. preparation classes are really helping me to use my mind again and that's something I haven't done in a very long time. Right now it's just the little things that really help keep me going and in my mind, the goals that I've set for myself are definitely achievable.

FROM APATHY TO ACCOUNTABILITY TO PEACE

by Duane Washington
Charlottesville/Albemarle rowing up in the City of Charlottesville, Virginia was rough for me. It was a big learning experience for me throughout my entire life. I always hung out with guys that were older than me. We used to be in the streets selling drugs, using drugs, and fighting people. We disrespected the community people who lived in it and the enforcement figures that were around.

The results of my lifestyle I was living took a big toll on my life. I'm currently doing time in jail for previous things I've done in the past. This is not my first time being incarcerated. It's been a repeated cycle for about seven years. My mom is the only person in my family who has anything to do with me.

My turning point came when I stepped foot back into jail. God was telling me something - either I'm going to get my act together now or it might not just be a next time. I sat back and thought for a while it's only two results to the way I was living - death or incarceration. I have three beautiful boys and a good woman. They also play a major part in my wanting to change. Looking back on all the bad things I have done throughout life, I'm tired of living the life that leads me nowhere but in the same place. I've hurt a lot of people and if it is not too late I'm going to apologize to everyone I can.

I've made a lot of changes. I'm seeking to get to know the God of my understanding better. Instead of my sitting around a cell block all day doing nothing I have joined a program called T.C. This is therapeutic community teaching you how to deal or avoid the things that got me here. The program has good structure. It allows 22 people and everyone is one big family who show concern for each other. My big change was learning how to control my negative behaviors.

Right now I'm still incarcerated but have made a big change. My whole outlook on life is different - early in life I didn't care, now I truly do. My ways and actions show that I'm striving each day. Like what I did yesterday. I'm planning on doing better today. My life is based on the Serenity Prayer, to accept the things I cannot change and to have the courage to change the things I can. It's a tough battle in trying to fight change but I can do it living just for the day. The results to my changes, now I'm at peace within myself and feel I can live the rest of my life happy with my family.

MY LIFE CHANGES

by Roger T. Price
Charlottesville/Albemarle y life has been full of many changes due to drugs, alcohol and violence. I have spent much of my teenage and adult life separated from my family, incarcerated in jails and institutions and even in the streets. The year of 2000 I lost two close friends, Mann and Ruru, because of violence.

This lifestyle has not only affected me but my family as well. I have sons growing up that are in much need for a father figure in their lives. I do not want them to go down the same road of destruction as I did.

My life took a three hundred and sixty degree turn July 26, 2001. I entered the program at Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail where I learned structure and accountability and how to apply them to my life. The program is a rehabilitation program for drug abuse and attitude adjustment. I was headed for a long life of destruction. It wasn't until four months later my son was born. Since then, I have been putting forth one hundred and ten percent to change my life around.

Life does change: I'm not perfect, but that doesn't mean I can't strive for perfection. Steel sharpens steel, meaning that which causes pain, is the same thing that will cure or relieve said pain.

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

by Roger Provus
Charlottesville/Albemarle y life began on a rainy day the same year as the Watergate scandal. I don't know if the fact it was a rainy day or that a scandal was taking place that year had anything to do with the way my life was about to begin, but if I were to look at it in that perspective, I may have been a little more prepared for the kind of luck that was in store for me.

I didn't grow up with most of the luxuries many children around me did, such as electric heat, cable television, and love from a warm, caring family. Now, I know a lot of kids are neglected growing up, but as for me my attitude made things worse. Not only did I have a very negative attitude, but I gave up hope on things getting better. My negativity to this day has caused me to get in more trouble than all of my family combined.

I have always been a loner. This caused inexperience in social functions and lesser experience in dealing with problems. In turn I resorted to drugs and violence to try and justify my existence. Because of my continual stubbornness to never look up, my life has changed so much now that I am looking at a possible 40 years of incarceration because I resorted to drugs for answers.

Never in my life would I have pictured this as a realistic outcome for the consequences of my actions. Now I ask myself, "Is this a big enough eye opener to do right no matter what falls in my path?" Can I make my family proud of me again? Can I change?

I may be currently incarcerated, but I am in the process of helping myself through anger management classes, continuing to further my knowledge of addiction and getting a better school education. Right now all I know is I must strive to do better and stay positive. I will never give up or resort to my old habits. If I do all this I know I can succeed in anything my heart desires.

JOB CHANGES

by Bobby Hensley
Charlottesville ACEhe last job that I had was the best. It was construction work. You worked with other people. You got the job done. I worked in construction for three years. They gave me scrap lumber. I would get a truckload. I could use it to build a shed at my house. They were very nice to us. We built walls to hold the dirt so it wouldn't move. Sometimes we had to put gravel in the floor so we could pour the floor.

And then I came to work for the city. I worked at parks. I worked on the grass cutting crew. I was on the grass cutting crew for nine months. Then I saw the opening in the gas department. So now I have passed 52 tests! I work on the street. I put in gas lines for the customers. We put in the line at 18" or more. We put the gas line below the yellow tape so people who are digging will hit the tape first. So they won't hit the gas line and make an explosion. I had it explode in my face when I was making a tap on the line. It was a terrible feeling when the gas hit me in the face. Any minute it could explode on you. It was so lucky that I had my glasses on. Ever since then I have been very alert.

CHRISTMAS EVE

by Qiong Qin
Charlottesville ESL Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas." The song still sounds in my ears. The candlelight still sparkles in my eyes. Last year, we put ourselves in a big church on the most important night for Christians. What an amazing sight! I was drunk with the atmosphere; it was so holy that my heart fell into a peace, which I never had. Though I couldn't understand any word, the tears crept down my cheeks.

But this year, because my husband, Tian, will have a big exam after the holiday, we declined all invitations and decided to stay home. However, sometimes things are not as you expect, and you must do it.

Two days before Christmas Day, we got a big problem. Our friend promised a classmate to take him to the Dulles airport on the Christmas Day morning because the classmate would fly by airplane to China. But now, the friend wanted to spend Christmas Eve in New York. He asked to get our help; we would drive his car because our car is too bad. We worried about it. The airplane left at 7 a.m., and we must arrive before 5 a.m. But we had driven a car for only six months, and never left the city by ourselves. Also we didn't know how to drive car on the speedway at night.

We researched the map, and then we had a plan. We would start at 1 a.m. on Christmas Day. Tian thought there was no problem about it, and he decided to shop after the task. But I still worried because everything was not good. That afternoon we went to "AAA" office, but it had closed early; when we came back home, Tian found that his wallet was lost. We looked for it anywhere; at last we cancelled all credit cards. And his driver license and student card were lost, too. I never felt like this. I even began to worry for our life, and this night I lost sleep.

On Christmas Eve morning, the telephone rang very early. The people who work in the gas station had found Tian's wallet. Oh, it's Christmas! Christmas is luck for everybody. My mood turned good. This night, we discussed the route again. I began to share his optimism. At 12:30 p.m., we called the classmate, and told him we would arrive at his apartment in 10 minutes.

The night was cold. After I took a blanket into the car and made myself comfortable, the car still did not start. The key was weird; it could open all the other locks of the car, but couldn't insert in the keyhole. We used all the way that we know, but the key kept out of the keyhole all along. After 20 minutes, we were disappointed and even decided to borrow another friend's car. We tried the last time. Bravo, the key went into the keyhole! Santa Claus has blessed us, I thought.

Luck always followed us and we did not have any problem. At 3:20 a.m., we safely arrived at the airport and said good-bye to the classmate. After one hour, we found the Korean and the Chinese store. Then we have four hours to wait until they opened. When we came back home, it was 3 p.m. on Christmas Day. We were so tired that we didn't eat anything and climbed into bed. For 18 hours we slept.

What a Christmas Eve! Tian felt sorry for me, and promised to give me an exciting Christmas Eve next year. We will go to New York! But he didn't know that I loved this Christmas Eve, and I already kept it in my heart. I value every experience, which we together own, even if it was too long and not so good.

TO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

by Marcela Estay
Charlottesville ESL everal years ago, I was waiting for the subway. There was nobody in the station except an old man. He had crutches, and his face was sad. Suddenly he walked toward the train track, sat down on the brink and left his crutches beside him. When I heard the train drawing near to the station, I realized that the old man had the intention to commit suicide. So quickly, I ran crying out for help. A guard came to assist me, and I cried out to him, "Stop the train! Stop the train! Somebody is going to commit suicide!" The guard reacted right away and ran to the station telephone to stop the train. Thank God, he stopped the train in time.

Soon, some policemen and curious people appeared at the station. The police helped the old man, while the people asked what happened. I was in shock. Someone approached me to ask my, "Why do you weep? Do you know the old man?" I did not answer.

I thought, why are there so many insensitive people? Why should you know somebody in order to lend some help? What is a person feeling who is planning to end his life? I do not have the answers to those questions; nevertheless, I have always thought everybody has the possibility to make a difference in the life of other people. Maybe in that moment I made a difference.

Although time has passed, I still remember that moment clearly. Consequently, I think, although we all spend time by ourselves, so also we can spend part of our time helping other people. For example, to say hello or give a smile, can make the difference in your and the other people's day. It is easy; you just have to do it.

Small details are enough to make a better world for everyone. The possibility is in our hands.

TOGETHER YOU AND ME

by Tonya Minor
Charlottesville Adult Ed

e've lived our times as
Best as we can the time
For fun is at an end.
Things aren't as good as they
Used to be in the world. But at least I've got
You with me, my love.

Now we are old and frail
And we have collected many a
Tale, and we cannot forget
The love we've shared
Or the pain and sorrow we beared
For now our lives must end you see
But I will not die alone my
Dear friend. You're always with me.
We know what it is to be
We know we die together, you
And me because we love through
Eternity.

MY LIFE

by Ahmad Reshad Khaterzai
Charlottesville ESL

am crying for myself
I am crying for my heart
My heart is so lonely
Lonely at the everywhere
I lost myself in a dry and hot desert and my heart...
My heart cold like snow
Just my god knows how I am feeling
I can't find the life way, and nobody here, how can they help me
I am like a child waking up from sleep
I am quiet as snow
I have a lot to say, but I can't talk
I am like a baby who has not learned how to talk yet
Always I feel sad, because...
Because I am lonely
Oh! How is fear!
I am waiting for my death
It is too hard, but...
But no one understands me
Nobody knows me here
I don't have friends here
Loneliness will be the death me
And...
And the remembrances of my last life will death me
Whey the sky was blue
And I was diamond in the sky
When I was a famous person, and people liked me
When I had a lot of friends
When I was with others
When I was busy, and I had a good job
When I was happy, and I always had winning smile
But...
But now I must force myself to smile
It is difficult to continue my life
Because I don't do anything
I don't have anything to do
I need a job, and I need a good friend
I need a person, who takes my hand and teach me how to walk in a
Dangerous life area
I need a person, who stops my crying and teaches me English
And...
My heart says, I must have hope
The time will come when my life sun has sunshine, and my night life will become day
There is a small light in my dark life, but is far from me
I must try to get that
I hope my life will become better as my last life
I hope as soon as possible I will learn English
I hope I will find friends, and job
I hope I will have money, when my wife wants money I will give her
And I hope when my kids ask me to help them about their schools'
Problems, I will know what to do
I hope I will have a good life
And every hour I will not feel lonely.

CHANGING TO THE NEW YOU

by Kelly Tibbs
Fluvanna here are many ways of changing yourself. You can change your hair color or lose or gain weight. Sometimes when you change your appearance, your attitude changes, too. But it's the change of the heart, spirit, and soul or your inner self that matters most. When you've never been shown love, you don't know how to love. You don't care about people's feelings (friends or family) or the life sentence you've got to do. You care about nothing. Everything is out to get you. You can't change one thing and expect your life to work out fine. You've got to change the way you think, feel, and act. Your state of mind must be ready for that day to come. Everything has its season and time. A question could be asked or something said that could break through the high brick wall and get into your head.

We all as kids have had dreams of what we want to be or want to be or do, but most of our own dreams don't seem to come true. We make changes everyday, hoping that somebody new someway, somehow will love us.

I can remember the day change first came to mind? I knew I had to do something this time. The reoccurring question was: What if the only thing that matters walks through the door asking the warden, officers, and inmates to tell her more about her mommy, who left her standing at the door? They would not say the things I would want them to. It's taken a lot of time and hard work, but I still have a long way to go to reach all my goals. It's now two years later, and if today that little girl I left standing at that door asked about her mommy, they would say great things about me and she would say even more. I'm no longer looked at (for the first time in my life) as a stupid, cold- hearted, troublemaker or thug. I praise God, try to do what's right, and show people God's love. All the old life styles have passed and now are left out in the cold. The way I was is no longer mine to hold. These prison walls can hold my flesh, but only God can hold my soul.

I know who I am and what I want to do to save the world one person at a time. This is my dream. It will come. I have God on my side.

DOWN ON MY KNEES

by Darlene White
Fluvanna As I look back over my life, I can pretty much say that it was rough when my mom passed away back in the year of 1985. After that I started drinking alcohol really heavily and started messing with drugs. When I took my first hit of cocaine, I thought that would solve my problem of getting over my mom's death, but instead it caused me my life straight to the slammer for what I had done to someone else. That took me from my children, grandchildren, and family, as well. I always was a different person when I wasn't on any kind of drugs or alcohol back then.

Now that I know what it has cost me, I never, ever want any type of alcohol or drugs again in my life. My whole life has been destroyed behind what has been happening with me. I asked God to change me from where I used to be, and God did. I asked for forgiveness at the time for whatever I had done to this person, and my response from Him was to get down on my knees and forgive myself, and He would do the rest. I used to have an attitude toward everybody that did me no good, because my attitude was real bad and out of control toward others. Now that I have asked God to put me on this straight road, this is how my life has changed from then on. I also want to get my GED so I can get a good job once I get out of this place, Fluvanna Correctional Center.

I always wondered why I need to be here. It is to help me stop my bad habits. If I don't, I could end up somewhere, perhaps even the cemetery. I just want to say that I thank God each and every day and every night for giving me the strength to carry on in life and for being there when I really needed Him.

by Un Chong Westenberger
Charlottesville GED am a KOREAN and my husband is an AMERICAN. This is my story

In my life is the greatest changing point is that I received Jesus Christ as my personal savior. After I met Jesus my life was totally different than before. The best thing that happened was that the God sent my husband to me. But I also had a painful memory. We had a first child name "Timothy". He was a true angel. He was so sweet; we were so happy but when he was three years old he went to heaven. We thought we lost everything. But Jesus helped us through that hard time and God sent us two wonderful children named Samuel and Elizabeth. Since then my priority of life is to make God happy. But I tell you that's not easy. The way to make God happy I thought it must be something special, but when I met the Martha my thought was changed. I'm going to talk about one Lady who changed my thought about life.

Her name is "Martha". I met her in my GED class. She is 92 years old and she looks much younger than her age, and she is beautiful! And she has a smile on her face all the time. When she works in the room she brightens the whole class. She's been a friend to Nancy for more than five years. Helping her to learn computer (I believe she helps more than that). All of my classmates know Martha. But what I want to talk about is how she changed my thoughts about life. Personally she and I had no relationship, but one day when I was here what she said changed my thoughts about how to make God happy.

One day my teacher, Mrs. Rosenfield, says, "Today is Martha's birthday so I would like all of us to sing the birthday song for her to surprise her." And she also brought beautiful flowers for her. And when she walked in the room we all sang the birthday song for her, and she was very happy and thanked all of us. At that moment someone asked her, "What is your secret to be so healthy and young and happy?" Then she said, "I tell you my secret that is LSTG!" she said.

L = never stop learning
S = serving others
T = always have thankful heart
G = giving

When I heard what she say I praised the Lord! And then I prayed in my heart saying, "Lord help be like Lady Martha, as long as I live let me love myself truly and be healthy, so I can never stop learning, serving others, having thankful heart, and giving. Because making You, O Lord, happy doesn't have to be rich or different because I know a person like Martha truly makes you smile!"

Praise the LORD!
God Bless you, Martha!

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START OVER

by Denise Braswell
Fluvanna y life starts off very messed up. I came up in a semi-dysfunctional family. I abused drugs at an early age, mainly sneaking drinks when my parents had guests. I smoked weed at the age of 13. I didn't have much sex because I dreamed of being someone special.

Even though my mom worked and had goals of her own, she always made time for me and my two brothers. I've always wanted to be like her. At the age of 32, she received her GED and became a certified nurse. Most black women don't accomplish anything because they have to take care of their children.

I chose the streets after having my daughter destroy her life, let alone mine. I've been away from her for several years and now she is 16 years old. When I'm released next year, she will be ready to walk across the stage to receive her high school diploma. I wonder how this could happen.

Is it too late to start over? No it's not! I can't make up for the past, but I can start all over again. My goals are to become a better mom, to stay positive with all of life's challenges, and to attend school until my release. I also want to be very open- minded to any questions or problems my daughter may have, even if they're about drugs or sex. Through everything I've done she's never disrespected me nor disowned me. She truly loves me even with all my faults and my problems. I know it won't be easy between us when I go home, but I'm willing to do my best. I'm truly trying to change and today I'm doing it. Today I look at life for what it's worth and I'm ready to finally make this wonderful change. Our days are getting short, so with the help of the Lord above, nothing can stand in my way. It's never too late to change!

LIFE CAN BE SO CRUEL

by Debra Ashley
Fluvanna was born in North Carolina. When I was six years old, we moved to Virginia. We had a very nice life when I was growing up.

My nightmare started August of 1999. I was always helping people out. I would put my friends before myself. I worked with this guy and he was moving. He asked me if I could run him to his place to get some money and clothes. So I did. I waited in the car for him. I took him to the trailer he was moving into. Then I left and went to work. Then three days later I was arrested for robbery and malicious wounding. I didn't know anything about these charges.

So I went to the police department and they told me they had a witness that said I beat and robbed someone. The police wanted me to lie and tell them that I saw the guy I took over to his home. He beat and robbed a woman, but I didn't know anything about it. Then the two police officers threatened me and told me they were going to see me get the electric chair, and they were going to get front row seats. I just cried and I was so scared. I didn't know what to do, but I wouldn't lie to the police. They put men in jail. Later I got out on a bond and moved in with my mother.

This man was threatening my mother, and I saying he had my life in the palm of his hand. I would go to prison if we didn't do as he said. He wanted money from both of us. My mom put a block on the phone, but that didn't do any good. Then he started writing threatening letters to us. My mother had gotten so scared she had a heart attack and had to be hospitalized. Then after that we found out that she had colon cancer. I was falling apart by then. I had already lost my father and brother, and now my mother in-law was very ill, too. She was also in the hospital.

I went to visit her when I went home. I found my mom at the kitchen table passed away. I went into shock. I was scared to call the police, because I was scared they would blame me for my mother's death. I couldn't take any more. I was going to prison for a crime I didn't do. Also I had lost everybody who was real close to me. My mom and Ivy passed away on the same day. I really lost it then. My sisters blamed me for my mother's death. She said I loved my mother in-law more because I was at the hospital when my mom passed away. I should have been at home, and I could have saved my mother, or at least tried to save her.

After losing both of them and facing going to prison for something I didn't do, all I wanted to do was die. Maybe if I had been there, my mom would be alive today. Maybe it was my fault. I should have been there. So I went downstairs and got my mom's medication and took most of them. I also took some sleeping pills, but that didn't work. I woke up in the hospital. Then I was very depressed and upset. I had all this guilt on me believing it was all my fault. I didn't deserve to live. I was a nobody. I let my mom down when she needed me most. So then I cut both of my wrists with a knife, but nothing happened again.

When I went to court, they said I was guilty and I was sentenced to six years in prison for a crime I didn't do. Now I'm in mental health in prison. I am very depressed and cry a lot. I am hurting so badly inside that I can't sleep. They have me on five different meds, and I am now trying to get better and get my education.

I am working on an appeal for a new trial. I asked God to forgive me for trying to hurt myself. I have a beautiful daughter and grandson that I have to think about now. God is good. He is helping me turn my life around.

LOOKING BACK OVER MY LIFE

by Edith Woods
Fluvannas I sit today and look back over my life, I can truly see how far I've come. Years ago I wasn't proud of who I was. I was a cold- hearted person with a lot of anger, bitterness, and hatred on the inside. After years of being sexually, mentally, emotionally, and physically abused, I didn't know how to love or what in the world love meant. I hated the world, including myself.

I was pimped on 8th and M Street in Washington, D.C. I lived from minute to minute hating myself, my mom, and my stepfather for creating a monster and that monster was me. I was made to do things with people I knew and people I hadn't seen before. I wanted to die, but I wondered why, when I attempted to kill myself, I never succeeded. No matter how many times I was beaten, how many pills I took, or how many times I cut my wrist to the bone, I still survived another day that I didn't want to see. I wondered what it was that kept me living. I did crack, weed, pills, and drank until I couldn't see clearly. I tried to ease the pain, but it was always there when I opened my eyes.

I remember the last time I was raped and was taken to the hospital. I had always loved children and wanted some of my own. When I heard the doctor tell my mother that I'd never bear children because my insides were all ripped to pieces, once again I gave up on life. I really didn't give a damn about anybody or anything. I abused drugs all the more. I was back to prostituting on the corners. I convinced myself that I liked getting money for my body that I was selling to God knows whom. I had lots of scares living the street life, but I still didn't care. I thought it couldn't get any worse than what I had already experienced.

A change began to happen. I ran across a perfect gentleman. He never treated me mean or unkind. He did things for me that no one had ever done. I eventually started to feel funny inside. I felt as if my heart was smiling where it used to be crying. After two years we became a couple. He never discouraged me because of my past or ridiculed the things I did from day to day.

After five more years of being with this gentleman, a miracle happened. I was carrying a baby boy. Six months into my pregnancy I gave birth to my son, only to see him alive for only two seconds. My heart was broken. At this time I began to question God. Why me? If He loved me so much, why would He take my son? I had no understanding. I still miss my son today, and it's been almost fifteen years since he died.

I began to listen to the still, small voice inside. I felt like some type of force was leading me, but I couldn't figure out what. On June 19, 1988, I gave birth to a 2 pound, 12 ounce baby girl. It was then I realized that someone loved me. I always expected the worst out of everything, but this was real. I had someone to love and someone to love me back. I realized that the force I felt was real. My attitude began to change, so I started working toward changing my life. Because a miracle had happened to me, I learned to love myself in order to love my child. In my mind it was like a video on rewind, pausing at the good and bad times. I never wanted to return back to the old me. As I started to move on with my life with help from God, I started to forgive each and every one of my abusers. Then I learned how to love them. And even though I've lived a rough life while I was younger, I thank God for teaching me how to love.

IT'S MAIL CALL - MY LETTER FROM GOD

by Janel Parsons
Fluvanna

nother day has gone by ...
Not a letter from my loved ones
And I don't know why.
I let them down in so many ways ...
There are so many things
I want to hear them say.
As night comes, it's time to sleep ...
I pray for my loved ones
And, oh, how I weep.
As I go to sleep and off to dream world ...
God spoke to me and said,
"This is My Word."
" I have a letter for each day of the week
... This is a promise
I intend to keep."
In my letter God wanted me to know ...
I will have a home
Where I will never grow old.
There will be no sorrow, nor any pain ...
I would not have to worry
About one little thing.
Though I would have valleys and struggles
Along the way ...
In my letters He began to say.
If you need me, call out my name,
I will not forsake you ...
I will ease all your pains.
Each day I read your letters
And see what I have planned for you ...
It will make you much wiser in all that you do.
You may feel that you are all alone ...
But the answer to this is,
"No, you are wrong."
"When you go through the valley,
Just shut your eyes ...
Trust and believe I am here by your side."
The letter that God has told me about
Is the HOLY BIBLE -
It's for the world throughout.
The dream I had is not only for me ...
It's the letter God wants
The whole world to see.

HER EYES OPENED WIDE

by Adrianne Spruill
Fluvanna ere is a newborn baby that came into this unknown common world. When her eyes opened to this wild life, she didn't know what was going on. She started to grow up, to learn to walk and talk. She looked around to see where she was, who she was, why she's here, and why things looked so different.

She grew up in an abusive family. She thought that she had parents who genuinely loved and cared for her. But she was wrong. She was molested. Mentally, physically, and she was emotionally abused. She was molested mentally and physically, and she was emotionally abused. She didn't know why these things happened to her, so she continued to live her life without questions. She didn't know very much about her parents, because they weren't around most of the time. Her mother was an alcoholic and she hardly ever stayed home, while her father was in the Navy and he stayed out to sea a lot.

As a little girl, she had to grow up fast in the home with three other sisters. She was the oldest of the sisters and she had to be the mother and little woman in the family. Being the little girl growing up, she experienced pain and agony throughout her childhood. She was never to talk about what went on in the home, so she stuffed everything down inside.

As a teenager growing up, which wasn't much of her life, she became very isolated from within. She was very rebellious and disobedient towards her family, teachers, and anybody with whom she interacted. Her grades dropped very badly, but she eventually graduated from high school.

She didn't know what to say or how to respond to others, so she did what she knew best, and that was to act out. Some days she would cry and cry for help, and some days she would isolate herself. But above all, she would keep everything deep down inside.

As she continued to grow up in a cruel, cold, and hard way, she began to have tragedies, hurt, and pain. She tried very hard to bury the hurt, pain, abuse, rejection, neglect, and abandonment by family members, but it caught up to her in her adulthood. Then she started to get into trouble with the law by using drugs and alcohol. Marriage problems also developed, resulting in child neglect, being turned away from her family and friends, and the loss of jobs.

When she felt she couldn't take life any longer, she tried to commit suicide, but that wasn't enough. She tried to overdose on cocaine, and turned to prostitution. At the same time, she was raped again. She went to jail. She caught a possession of crack cocaine charge, a prostitution charge, and an unlawfully wounding charge.

Then she got into the homosexual life style and experienced some more abuse, control, and abandonment in that life style. When she reached the bottom, she thought it would be the end of her life and there would be no way out.

Through all of the trauma, terrorism, and abuse that were going on in her life, she decided to try Jesus. Jesus saw what she was going through. He saw what she was suffering from. He knew her heart was hardened and bitter, and He also knew that she didn't have anyone to whom to turn. Jesus talked to her. He told her how much He loved her in spite of all she suffered in her life. He told her, "My daughter, come to me and I will give you rest."

Jesus died on the cross for all our sins so that we may have a long life with Him. Jesus was very pleased. Jesus took that raggedy person and cleaned her up. Jesus also did a mighty work in life to make her pure - as white as snow. Jesus was also pleased. Now that she's been through all her trials and tribulations, Jesus came into her life so she would be a servant for Him.

Now through all of this, let me tell you who she is. Her name is Adrianne A. Spruill - me! If I had not given Jesus Christ my life, I would be dead now, but I'm not. I thank Him for allowing me to tell my testimony, and I thank Him for saving my life. I pray that this story touches someone's life and that he or she may be saved like me.

FEAR OF CHANGE

by Marilyn Flythe
Fluvanna

ear is a defect I need to face in my life -
Trying to overlook all the transparent obstacles
That apparently overwhelm me with strife.

Change for me is being reborn again,
With every baby step I try to comprehend.
When will this roller coaster ever end?

It's a scary road to travel as I see,
Going into the dark misty forest beyond the shivering trees.
Fighting these obscene images of death, I draw up and freeze.

The vision is haunting me with its red eyes and two horns.
I'm asking my God in Heaven, "Why am I born?
Why is my body getting cut by thistles and thorns?"

He said, "My child, come unto Me and you'll feel no pain.
I will stop your thinking from being insane;
Hop aboard on My Highway To Heaven Train."

As I look back over the trials and tribulations I've been through,
No one here on God's earth ever knew
What I am sharing with you could really be true.

Today I can say that change is good for me.
Now that I plainly see
This is the kind of life it should be - Sobriety.

FOLLOW YOUR HEART

by Daniela Weberling
Charlottesville ESLe are young. The world is ours. We can do whatever we want. Reach for your dreams." These are the words one of my friends told me as I stocked in a situation not knowing what to do.

I'm a 19-year-old high school graduated student from Germany who got to spend one year in the United States of America. Before I came here in August 2001 I had the plan to go back to Germany after 12 months and study at the university. But things changed, I don't want to go back. Sure I want to study, but not in Germany. I want to stay in the USA, improve my language and spend time with the friends I made. It would be a challenge, but how can I do it? Is there any way to stay? I don't know yet, but I try.

Why are we always looking for challenges and changes? My life already changed and it is quite a big challenge to live away from home in a new family, but I want to go on.

"We are young. The world is ours. We can do what we want. Reach for your dreams."

A LITTLE GIRL I MET

by Kumiko Hirosawa
Charlottesville ESL worked for a nursery school in Japan. It had Buddhist Precept, so we had service every morning, and we went to temple once a month. We had to stay at our nursery school into the night because of preparation of a lot of events.

But the smiles of the children made us very cheerful. Children gave me a great influence. I especially was interested in their original character. I cared for 25 children. They had 25 sorts. I'll tell you about one of my students. I found this growth interesting which gradually follow change of character.

One girl entered our nursery when she was four years old. She didn't do anything herself for the first year. We had to pull her hands when she walked. We had to say, "Open your mouth, shut your mouth, open, shut..." when she ate her lunch.

Two years passed. Who could imagine that she grew up to be such a cheerful girl? She became able to say her own views. She could dance very well dressed in Japanese kimono. Little quiet girl grew up to be a vivacious girl!

I don't feel that it is not good to have quiet children. But her parents said to me that they were very happy because of this welcome growth.

Characteristics of children are various. I hope every child grows up with their lovely character and at their own good pace.

Now, I have one daughter whose first birthday will come soon. My whole life revolves around her. I'm not sure that I can do good childcare. But I try to care for my daughter with treasuring her character as much as possible.

LIFE OR DEATH

by Elizabeth Tanner
Fluvanna County Adult Ed n October, 2001, my husband, my first love, departed his life with me. It happened in the car on the way to an appointment. It was very scary! See, I was driving on Rt. 15 South about three to four miles from home. Then suddenly, his eyes turned yellowish and rolled in his head. He straightened out his legs. I started yelling at him, but no response. So, I held him up with one hand and drove with the other. Then I stopped for help. No one was home to help, so I put on my flashers and drove about 80 to 90 miles per hour blowing my horn all the way to the Orange Dialysis Center for help.

They took him in and worked on him for about two to three hours. The lady came out and said, "Mrs. ___, I'm sorry." I told her that I did not want to hear that. I prayed that it was not happening at all, but it was. It was one of the worst feelings that I ever had. It actually felt like a part of my body was just ripped...I mean that you could just feel my heart and know my soul was just breaking in half! I keep telling myself that he died with me in the car; therefore, Charlie did not die alone. However, death was officially pronounced at the Dialysis Center.

Charlie was more than just my husband. He was my partner, my friend, the father of my two girls, my love, and so many other things. I sound selfish, but I want him back. Sometimes it seems like life for me is over. Now I must choose life or death. I keep telling myself that he would not want that to happen for the girls need their mother to be with them.

My children had a lot to deal with the last two years. We were back and forth to doctors and the hospital. Charlie suffered from cardio-pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, and lung disease. Sometimes late at night, we had to go to the hospital with him and did not know when we were going home. In other words, we just did not know when we might have to go to the hospital, but the girls were willing. The kids' grades and attitudes stayed the same. They knew that they wanted to be with me and their dad.

Charlie was the head of the house. Now I must be, but I am afraid. Now I must do everything myself - taking care of the kids, the house, the yard, the money, and everything else. I know that God is with me and will be my husband and father to my girls. It will soon be three months since Charlie's death. I have problems eating, sleeping, and thinking. I just don't know what to do with myself. People say in time it will get better, but I don't see how unless he comes back to me. Now I must go through the grieving process and choose Life or Death.

DUSTING WITH LOVE

by Donna Harris
Fluvanna County Adult Ed n September 11th I was changing a diaper; my husband was at work. The kids were in school. A newsbreak came over the T.V. I couldn't believe it. Our country had been attacked. Two planes had hit the New York Trade Center and then the Pentagon. Then the phone rang; it was my husband. He couldn't believe what had just happened either.

September 11th has affected so many people: adults, children, friends, our nation. Thousands of people have lost their lives. Our jobs have been affected by this cruel act. To see so many people hurting is so very heart breaking. To make things even worse, is putting this powder stuff, "Anthrax", through our mail.

Seeing planes hit buildings and buildings falling was upsetting. It was unbearable to see the people running and to see the fear on their faces. To see the fear that my children have on their faces is also very upsetting. My kids were uneasy about leaving home and going to school. They would say this to me, "Are you going to be OK without me being here with you?" and "Just come to school with me."

Terrorism has to stop. Going to war is something we have to do. We have to send our troops in there to get Bin Laden and his army.

Now is the time for healing and to come together. We need to support each other. We need to come together as a nation and have a united front. The world needs to see that even though we have been through a tragedy, we can stand together and rise above the pain. After all, that is what we stand for - the United States of America. Only then can we start to heal.

The song that was written by Alan Jackson says a lot. It makes you sit and think. "Where Were You That September Day?" It says things like, "Did you come home and dust off the dust on the Bible and read it? Did you cut off the violent movie and spend time with your family?"

Alan Jackson says he is just a simple man writing country songs. He also says how he talks to God. I think that alone says a lot. For our country to come together and heal, believe in God. Hold your children's hands, tell them every day how much you love them because you never know what the next day will bring.

LIFE CHANGES

by Demetrius Stovall
Fluvanna County Adult Ed n November the fifth 1990 is whey my life changed. I was only seven years of age - about to turn eight the next day. I used to live in Richmond, Virginia born and raised until one day I was playing around the house, you know doing little kids things - having fun. Then my mother got a phone call. I thought it was one of her friends or something, but it wasn't.

It was my grandma, she told my mother that Grandpa died (my mom's father). So that's when it all started. My mother dropped the phone and started crying. She told me what was going on. That's when my life seemed like it was moving in slow motion. Then, my mother told me we were going to move with Grandma for a few weeks or so.

The next day we were on the road to Grandma's house. We go to Grandma's in like an hour and thirty minutes. So we started staying there. A week would go by, then two more weeks would, too. And every week I would see more and more stuff coming from our house. Then I saw my bed; so I knew what was going on.

On November the tenth I was starting a new school. Day one of school I was so scared. I didn't know anyone in there besides my family and half of them I didn't know. You know I had to get over my fear and make new friends. I started talking to people, made a few friends - about ten. Two or three of them were my family. By the end of the day, I had made a lot of friends. I'm OK now. On that Friday my cousin, Brian, asked me to come stay with him. I went to his house. He and his mother showed me around Fluvanna, but I still didn't know where I was. So at this time, I'd been here like a month going on two.

By the third month I finally got used to the country. It's a little different than Richmond, but it's OK. I'm 17 now and still here with my family. I know just about everybody and could get you anywhere around here.

MY REASON FOR GETTING MY G.E.D.

by Melissa Dudley
Fluvanna County Adult Ed decided to take my G.E.D. because it's hard to take care of my son, work, and go to school full time. In school I had A's and B's, but when my son was sick I had to stay home with him. So then that made my attendance really bad.

All of my absences were excused by the doctor or my parent. That wasn't good enough for the school half of the time. Then after a while, I decided to go to the principal and ask for a pass to go to work without it being unexcused.

Now that I have entered the G.E.D. classes, I can go to work, get my education, and spend time with my son more than I did when I went to school full time. Now I have time to do the extras that I didn't, when I went to school.

When I finish the G.E.D., I think it will help me find a better job. So that I can fully support my son on my own without having my parents help.

GETTING MY G.E.D.

by Linda Deane
Fluvanna County Adult Ed decided to get my G.E.D. after I got laid off from Comdial. I was at Comdial for 29 years. Everywhere I looked for a job you had to have your high school diploma or a G.E.D. So I thought I better go back to school if I wanted a better job.

Everyone is so proud of me doing this. It makes me feel good for doing something for myself. After I get my G.E.D., when I go to apply for a job, I can say on the application that I have my G.E.D.

Having my G.E.D. should open new doors for me as far as getting a job is concerned. I would get better pay, hours, or position in an office. When I was at Comdial, I had to work on the floor in the Assembly Line. I wanted to get a better job, but didn't think I could. Now I feel I could.

HOW MY LIFE CHANGED by Sally Blose
Charlottesville GEDy sister, Pat, came down to put my mother in a nursing home, and she decided to put me back in the handicapped place. I said no! I've got a place to live. I am going to stay with my next-door neighbor. I was around 30 to 40 years old when I lived with Peggy and Jimmy. I lived with them for 11 years. Jay came over to see me, stayed for a while until he decided to go back home. That's when Peggy and Jimmy started holding me and slapping me in the face. I got loose and went to the kitchen to call Jay. I had the phone at my ear to call Jay, and Jimmy yanked the phone off the wall. I didn't care where I stayed at all but not there. Peggy went over to her next-door neighbor to use the phone. Peggy called the rescue squad. I went in a seizure, so the rescue squad took me to the hospital. The Emergency Room doctor checked me over and he said that I didn't have a seizure; I had a nervous breakdown. The doctor called the police and the policewoman asked me what had happened. The police went over to Peggy and Jimmy's house and said to them that they can arrest both of you.

The policewoman took me to Heavenly Hotel and that's when I met Justine. That's when my life started changing. My life started changing when I met the neighbors next door. That's when I met Bernie and Jan and their children. When I was at the house one day, I met Jan's brother. We started dating and four years or so later we got married. I told him that I wanted to go back to school. He said OK.

At that time I met a lovely young lady and her name was Dot and we became friends. When I met Dot, I got a phone call from another brother, Danny, and he said to me your brother George just passed away this morning. I asked him what caused his death. He said it was lung cancer. My brother George worked at A&P. I didn't know at the time, but this was very funny that Jan's daughter worked with my brother when she was in high school. I didn't know until after Jay and I were married when I was introduced to Kathy, her daughter.

I decided to go back to school and that's when I met the sweetest young lady. Her name was Miss Wood. She taught me all the basic things I never learned before. She encouraged me to never give up. She said I was eager to learn.

LIFE CHANGES

by Shavonne Dorsett
Charlottesville GEDhen Corey and I came to Charlottesville, we didn't know anyone. I took my son to day care. There we met Sally. He started to help Sally. Then we met this guy but we didn't know he was going to hurt us. I put my son in foster care. I went into a group home. There I met Banana. Banana taught me how to fix different things. Then Sally taught me how to make biscuits. I have been in a group home for 11/2 years. Banana decided to combine the two houses together.

In September I met this guy. His name is Wesley Sprouse. From then on in we started going with each other. Then on Christmas Day, Wesley asked me to marry him. So I said, "Yes." The day after Christmas Wesley took me to pick out the ring. When he got the ring, he asked me again. I cried because I was happy. Now we are trying to find a place.

MY FIRST EXPERIENCES

by Noboru Yamanaka
Albemarle County ESLver since I was a university student in Japan, I wanted to study in a foreign country. Then, last year I received a scholarship from a foundation in Japan. I came to the United States to study composite materials in the School of Engineering at the University of Virginia. I arrived in the United States in March, 2001. My dream had come true.

I came here with my family, but they went back to Japan in December so that my daughter could take the entrance examination for high school. When my family was here, we went to different restaurants, and tried Italian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cuisine. But usually my wife cooked Japanese food for us. When my wife was here, I ate delicious Japanese food. She is a good cook.

I had never learned to cook because in my hometown, Sueyoshi, there were a lot of restaurants, and many stores sold cooked food that was reasonably priced. But I wasn't in my hometown and my wife was gone. It was time for me to learn how to cook. I tried to cook using recipes and doing what my Japanese friends told me. I tried to cook several times, but I couldn't eat my food, and my friends couldn't either. They began bringing me food they had cooked, and I began going to restaurants. But this wasn't what I wanted. I really wanted to cook by myself.

So, my life now is studying composite materials and trying to cook Japanese food. Both activities are new to me, and I find them very interesting. I am grateful to the foundation, my friends and my family for the support.

PRAYER

by Francis Gibson
LVA, Charlottesville/Albemarle od wants us to pray daily so we can go to Heaven. The Bible says that "if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9-13) I like to pray because it helps me to feel God's presence. That is comforting to me. In 1994, I had a cardiac arrest, but God sent me back to earth, to help me get my life in order and to help others. I use the Bible as a roadmap of how to live. For example, Matthew 6:1-15 tells me how to pray. I have included these Bible verses to help other people find themselves and to not feel sorry for themselves. We need to love ourselves before we can love anyone else. What has happened, has happened, and we can't change it. Here are some verses that are important to me.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. This, then, is how you should pray.

"Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:1-15)

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

"But God commendeth His love toward us. In that we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

"For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

"But as many as received Him. To them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. How Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that He was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures." (I Corinthians 15:3-4)

DEATH OF MOTHER

by James (Tom) Jackson
LVA, Charlottesville/Albemarleother was born in 1900 in Louisa County, Virginia, where she lived with her family until age 16. She had no public schooling or education of any kind. When she was offered a job as a live-in maid in Cincinnati, Ohio, she decided to take it even though it meant leaving everything and everybody she loved. In spite of her young age, she went alone on the train from Louisa to Ohio making the trip without any problems.

Mother met a man in Ohio with whom she had three children, two boys and a girl. Eight years later, at age 24, she returned to Louisa County with her children. Mother met another man and had five more children, three girls and two boys. I was the last, the baby of the family. Momma was 41 years old then. My father left Louisa to work in Baltimore, coming home twice a month. Momma washed clothes for people with a number three washtub and a scrubbing board. Her days were long and hard, but she was always loving. When we were bad, she got out the whipping strap. I learned to appreciate my mother as the years wore on. She was so loving and kind, never talked about dying, only living. She could count her money and raised eight children just fine.

Struggling through school, I grew up and found work at a car dealership where I stayed for 24 years. Then the problems started. There were some wrongs I needed to make right. I went to the Labor Board for help but lost my case. My employer was angry with me for causing him trouble. Things got worse. I was cut back on all the little extras I had earned over the years. Every day it was do hard to keep going. I became very depressed. I drank and smoked more than I should have to bury my hurts. After owning my own home for 20 years, I had to sell it to pay off my debts. My wife (who stayed with me through it all) and I moved into sheltered housing in an apartment in the city. Momma loved me through all that, too.

Momma died at age 97 in 1997. When God accepted her into heaven, I had a nervous breakdown. She was so special to me I couldn't face losing her. I had to go to a doctor for help and he had to put me into a hospital where I was locked up for five days. Gradually, with help and determination, I was able to overcome the grief. I went to church and accepted Jesus Christ into my life. It changed me completely. Now I am a different person, serving my church as a deacon and feeling very happy with myself. I still miss her and will see her again one day.

CHALLENGES OVERCOME

by William Gray
LVA, Charlottesville/Albemarlehen I was a teenager, I got left at home with my mom. I had to take the place of the rest of the family that had left. I had to do things like going to the store and getting groceries and household goods. I picked things like coffee, sugar, meat, bread, and lard by labels on the cans and pictures on the boxes.

One thing stood in my way and that was that I only had a year and a half of school, and I could not read. Because I couldn't read, things were hard for me to do, like going to the post office, the hardware store, the bank, and the feed store. Going to the clothing store was another thing I couldn't do, and going to the DMV for a license was hard because you had to read. Back then, though, you could take an oral test to get your license; I got mine.

When I was twenty-something, I went to the UVA Hospital to work. I was there one year, and then someone came to me and asked me would I like to take a class. I said yes. A woman tutored me in phonics every week. Through the year, things started to change for me. I started to look for bigger and better things. I did manage to get one of them, and that was my chauffeur's license. For 18 years now, I have driven the van at the UVA Hospital, carrying patients to and from the hospital.

I have been attending school three or four nights a week at the Adult Education Center, and for almost five years, I've met with a tutor from Literacy Volunteers of America. Going back to school has brought me a long way. If it wasn't for school, I don't know what I would have done. It opened lots of doors for me. If you can't read and things are hard to do, I urge you to get help.

MY STORY

by Randy Crawford LVA, Charlottesville/Albemarle

When I was four years old, they began to operate on my foot. I had three different operations so I wouldn't drag my left foot. They put a long brace on my leg and I had to do therapy. After a while the doctor thought I had improved enough to wear a short brace. Next they did three operations on my left hand so I could open it. But things did not improve on my hand.

I was in a wheelchair and I couldn't do things myself. My mother made sure I was bundled up and pushed me on to the porch so I could get some fresh air and watch the kids playing.

When I got older I learned how to take a bath and dress myself. The only thing that my mother did for me was tie my shoes. When I went outside she helped me zip and button my coat and tie my hood.

When I started kindergarten a cab driver took me to school every morning and picked me up in the afternoon. He continued this for several years until I got out of the wheelchair and could ride the school bus.

I went to a special school for slow learners through the fifth grade. My desk was always close to the teacher's desk in case I needed help getting to the bathroom. It was a good school for me to learn. I had several best friends who treated me like a normal person and not a handicapped person.

I started regular school in the sixth grade when the special school closed. It was very different and hard for me, and my self-esteem got low. From the beginning I didn't do well, but I kept attending school. I think they passed me from one grade to the next because I had good attendance. I even graduated from high school and my self-confidence had grown, but I had not learned very much.

Along the way I got very interested in sports. I walked with a limp and I couldn't open my left hand, but that did not stop me from playing neighborhood basketball and football. My friends treated me like one of them. One day when I was shooting baskets, someone came up and asked me to join Special Olympics.

After I graduated I went to a program where they train handicapped people for outside work. I stayed there about six months and I was ready to get a regular job. I first worked with special ed kids one summer. Then when school started I was ready to work in the after school program. I worked there for ten years. Since then I have worked in several restaurants.

I feel good about myself and what I accomplished. I can't ride a bike or drive a motorcycle, but I don't think of myself as handicapped.

The year began with installing a new president; most of the country was not sure he had won the election because of the voting in the state of Florida. Along with everything else that had happened, on September eleventh, four 747 planes were hijacked with passengers on board.

Two of the planes the suicidal hijackers crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Many people lost their lives. Another one of the planes was crashed into the Pentagon in northern Virginia. Almost 200 people were killed there. The last of the four planes was crashed in Pennsylvania, somewhere near Camp David. Some of those passengers overpowered the hijackers and caused the plane to crash without hitting what the hijackers were targeting for.

Then there was anthrax and it seemed like one thing after another. This has brought about change and challenges in many lives. The way people have handled this is to talk about it and pray over it. Many people also responded by donating to various charities. With all we went through as a nation, we survived. God bless America!

This definitely was an event that gave us many challenges. It also meant there would be lots of changes in the lives of people, in jobs, and in the economy.

Before you get home, your hair will stand up and your blood will run cold. Then you find out there was nothing out there - nothing but your imagination that followed you home.

The way I handled this challenge was to realize it was just my imagination; then the challenge of needing to be out late at night became a triumph!

nother winter has come to Garden City
Diane has not heard from B for many months.
He has not come to visit the girls.
Diane has worked very hard.
She has worked at her job and at home.

But Diane has learned to have fun
She has fun with her children
She has a friend at work and at church
And she has Aunt and Uncle.

One winter day Diane and the girls are in the park

The girls are running and laughing

My brother and I were children.
We were not ready to play

Then Lawrence came to my house
And sat down beside me and asked
What is wrong with the girl. And
I will have some bad days and some happy days
But I will carry on.

And then my family and I will be happy.

I will sell at flea markets around Charlottesville and the surrounding county areas. Some charge only $5.00 per table per day to sell from. I am thinking about buying a trailer that opens up to sell from; then I won't have to pay table rental fees. And I can store stuff in my trailer. When I buy my trailer, I will paint, "Gentry NASCAR" as the name of my business on the trailer.

I hope to begin my new business around early April of this year 2002. When I place my first order, I am going to invest in inventory like I listed above, and also a few collectible cars by number. Race cars are numbered from 2 to 43. But I will order those numbers that famous drivers used. For example, #3 was Dale Earnheart's number, #24 is Jeff Gordon's, #2 is Rusty Wallace. I could tell you who they all are!

In the beginning, I will sell summer-wear items, like baseball hats. Then I will have a fall collection for fall and winter. The NASCAR name will be bringing people to the table to buy and then I will have a variety of sports stuff, NFL team hats and coats, Hockey jerseys, baseball caps, basketball jerseys, and like that.

I have been planning and saving and researching this for over eight months. Then I found a book on starting a small business. And I found a supplier to order from. Soon you will be able to go to local street festivals and flea markets and buy sporting good from Gentry's NASCAR!

I planted tomatoes, string beans, corn, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, squash, and cucumbers. I must have planted the corn and string beans at the wrong time, because the squirrels kept eating the seed. I put down some animal stuff to keep them from eating the seed. That worked a little bit.

I got a handful of string beans, three tomatoes, and some potatoes. But I never grew any squash or cucumbers.

So this year, I will try again. I really hope the garden will do better this time.

MY BIGGEST MISTAKE

by Lessie Shifflett UVA, Charlottesville

When I was in ninth grade I quit school. I felt that school wasn't important. But, if I had it to do over again, I would have graduated.

Education is the most important thing you can do for yourself. I am going back to get my G.E.D. now. However, over half of my life is gone and I cannot change that part of it. But I can try and help others see how important an education is.

Children, please don't quit school like I did! It doesn't matter how hard life gets, education is very important. Knowledge is one thing that will always help you. Without an education you have to work twice as hard for what you want out of life. This fact I know to be very true. Everything I have achieved on my job has been reached by working twice as hard as someone who has a diploma.

When I go to fill out papers or applications, I have to ask for help. This doesn't make one feel so good about oneself.

To anyone who is thinking about dropping out of school, stay in and get a diploma! Then when you get to be my age, you won't look back over your life and ask, "If I had a diploma, what would I be today?"

All of us love to help children; this is what life is mostly about. However, if you don't get an education then it is embarrassing when they ask you to help them with homework. It is embarrassing when Dustin asks for help and I cannot help. Dustin is a boy I help raise because I love him. It's because I don't know how to assist him with his homework that I would hope young people today do not go through this. There is a lot of opportunity in today's world.

I am in the G.E.D. classes now. I'm retaking the test that I failed. It was a setback, but I am determined to finish for my personal accomplishment and to prove to Dustin how important education is. Children learn by action more than by words. By my actions, I hope that any children who know me will finish school. It does not matter if you are rich or poor, or what clothes you wear. Please always remember that education is the most important thing to help you get through life.

My dream includes a job in government, the police, or my own business. That way I'd be able to make more money, and have some authority. Another part is a really nice house of my own. I also want marriage with the man of my dreams, and kids.

The dream includes having sisters and brothers who can really help out. If anything goes wrong in life, a sister who is a lawyer and a brother who is a policeman could really chip in. My sister did chip in and give me advice on this story! See, that's part of my big dream, when sisters are looking out for each other.

I dream of having someone to wash and clean the house, take the kids out for a few hours, and cook dinner.

Why does life have to be so hard, when some people have it so good, like Oprah Winfrey? Why do the president and government make things sound so great, when it's still hard to make things work out in life?

I gave up drinking and my life started to change. The Lord blessed me with a new home. I wouldn't trade Him for anything in the world. As it says in the Bible, "Behold all things are becoming new."

On that farm there was always something that needed to be done, and I came to enjoy being there. I went to live with my mother in Charlottesville who had other kids along with me. I had lived with my mother for three months when one day my mother told me that my grandmother had fallen and broken her leg, so by me being the oldest of the kids, I had to go and help take care of her until she was able to get back on her feet. I really enjoyed taking care of my grandmother because she was very special to me. I am who I am to this day because of her love. After my grandmother was able to get back on her feel, I went back to stay with my mother.

I had lost a year of schooling and really didn't want to go back to school because my school classmates that I started with were a year ahead of me. So I got a job doing something that my grandmother taught me. That was cooking and I have been doing it ever since.

My life changed because I was a child who was raised with lots of patience and love, and a grandmother and mother who taught me that family and love are all that you need in this world. Life changed from being a young and free person, to being a young and older person taking care of a grandmother with a broken leg. That's a life change.

ife,
Everybody has lived him.
He is a wonderful thing.
Some people will get him,
Some people lose him,
Me I'm living him right now!

Life!
Do you know the meaning of life?
He which is life has been good to me
But he has also been
Bad to me!
He has brought me joy but also
Brought me tears - good ones and bad ones!

Life
He that is life brought me in this world,
So I love him for that!
He that is life has also given me the most wonderful thing:
My daughter!
And I will tell her about him one day.

Life
I love my life, do you?

My father prayed to God that we could find a better life. He wanted all of us in the family to be happy. I come from a family of ten people. He did his best to come to America. We all dreamed of America.

We lived in Congo in the continent of Africa, which has 54 countries. It is a continent of many problems. Africa is very rich, even more than America, because it has a lot of gold, diamonds, silver, and other things, but especially the gold and diamonds. The problem is that the Africans are not organized by a plan. They just keep their money in their pockets. If they could get good leaders in all the countries then everything would be fine. The worst thing is that Africa has so much war because of money. Everybody is fighting and that makes Africans very poor.

The reason I did not get my diploma was because of traveling in so many different countries, with different languages and different cultures. Thank God that I reached a place where I can get my diploma and go to college. I want to go to college because I don't have job experience in my life. I want to get a good job, which will help me to a better life. I am sure that if I do, then things will be great.

The greatest change in my life is coming to America from the Congo. Although I don't like American culture and the behavior of the people, I have a nice life here.

Karen is two years old. I know she loves her mother very much. She likes for me to read books to her all the time. She plays with her toys. When she watches movies on the VCR on TV, she can tell what picture it is by the people who play in it.

Last month I went to see Karen in the hospital. She is a very little girl to be so very sick. When I got to the hospital, she had to take medicine. But now she feels much better. She can run and play again.

I know my family really cares about me and about her at the same time. I hope some day I will get her back to live with me for good. I am her mother, the one who took care of her for two years. I believe she needs to be with her mother again.

For now, I am going to school to learn different things for myself and for Karen. I am going to finish school in June this year. I am trying to get a job for myself. I am glad to have people to help me out at my apartment.

Time has gone by so fast since then. I just kept on working, and trying to buy a home for my kids. I was doing private housekeeping for a doctor. One day he sat down with me and said, "You need a better job, with some benefits for your kids." He told me to go to U.Va. and put in for a housekeeping job. He said he would see if he could help me get in there. So I went and applied, and starting working for U.Va.

After about two years with U.Va. we bought our home. By then a third child had come, so I just forgot all about going back to school.

Now the most important thing for me is to get my G.E.D., because I started having some problems with my back, and need to get a different job. So I'm in a class at the job now, working towards the G.E.D., and after that, a better job.

y name is Maria Guadalupe. Most people who know me call me Lupe or Lupita for short. I'm married and I have four lovely treasures. Their names are Brenda, Sandra, Janet and Erica. They're my life. I love them. I'm also an employee and student. I enjoy reading and like being kept busy.

My story talks about something lovely and sad at the same time. This is something that changed my way of thinking. This tragic thing took place on the Fourth of July at around 10:00 a.m. My whole family and I were really happy because we were going to have visitors and also because w were celebrating the Fourth of July. I was preparing everything for lunch, and when I put the oil in the hot pan, the fire started. It was then when I tried to move the gleaming pan, but it was so hot that it burned my hands. The hot oil fell on my legs. Those burns were second and third degree burns. When all of this happened, I was really frightened because of the fact that my daughters were in the house. I thought that if I didn't do something quickly, the house would burn down, and this would be fatal.

Fortunately, my daughters were fine, unlike myself, whose hands and legs had the burn markings. I was taken to the emergency room. I felt like I was about to faint because of too much pain.

My daughter cried from sadness, and my heart was bleeding with sadness when I saw my daughters shed tears for their mother who couldn't do anything to comfort them. I was in the hospital for almost two weeks, seeing my daughters only when I could.

Thankfully, they're fine. This makes me feel good. Even if I have my hands and legs marked, I don't care as long as my daughters are fine.

The most exciting thing that changed my life was when I was in the surgery room to get operated. It was in this moment when I felt something beautiful, something surprising, something that made my feet so happy. Right after surgery I heard a voice tell me that the happiness and relaxation that I was feeling at the moment could last for an eternity. The only thing I had to do to hold this wonderful feeling was to live the way God wanted (helping people who need our help).

I want to tell everybody who reads or hears about this story to understand that nobody is lonely. There is a person high above who loves us. He loves us all the same.

ver since I heard Vernon Dalhart's recording of the Prisoner's Song, I have wanted a Viola. I have gone through the process in Viola making same as the Violin. At present I am making one. The back is poplar, once a shelf out of an old pie safe, the top from a piece of window frame out of a house, the sides and neck and scroll of curly maple all from the same place. I have got the back and sides assembled. Now I am trying to get the top scraped down to proper thickness (or thinness). (This wood is hard to work with. My troubles have not yet begun.) The cutting of the F holes is going to be a touchy job and what's even worse is inlaying the purfling. I am going to have some trouble with this.

The whole process of making a Viola is pretty much the same as the violin so I need not go into that.

It is believed that the Viola was in use before the violin. The reason is there was a maker by name of Gaspar da Salo who was one of the first to make violins. There was found to be more Violas than violins in his making. There was also another maker, at the same time working at Cremona name of Andrew Amati, grandfather of Nickola Amati, teacher of the great Antonio Stradivari.

A word about how Viola is pronounced. I don't think it really matters. You can call it Vyola or Veeola. You can call it a Tenor Violin or Tenor Fiddle or you can just call it a Fiddle.

In conclusion, let me just say that if this instrument doesn't come out to my complete satisfaction, I am going to scrap it and make another one.

verybody in the world talks about the "crises of marriage". But this theme isn't interesting as long as everybody has a good marriage.

My marriage began be being very nice and very happy. We wanted to change the world together.

My ex-husband was a famous scientist and professor in a Hungarian University, and he worked all over the country. I'm a famous ballroom dancer and teacher. I also do choreography and fashion designing. We decided that we were learning from our job and from everything. Learning was for the bright people and the intellectuals. We put so much emphasis on learning, that we didn't have time for each other. There were always a lot of lessons to learn continually. We were very proud, because we thought we could manage our continuous learning. We didn't enjoy our marriage because always had to be the best at everything we did. We became too competitive and this destroyed our marriage. We became divorced for this reason. This was a very big change in my life. But today I'm very happy for this change. I find myself and my life to be complete.

All my life I liked to learn and to teach. I wanted to know the World, but in my marriage, the wife's work was very difficult. I didn't have enough time for my career. My husband's career was always more important. In Hungary and in Europe too, there are lots of families with similar problems. Can't live together with a high quality life. But there is a good proverb: "Always there is a bright woman near a successful man." But the man must be bright too, if he wants to keep marriage to his wife.

Today, my ex-husband is my best friend. Now, we can help each other. We know that bright, bright people are always lonesome, but the lonesome are always very strong.

Today, we aren't lonely. We can help each other, we can be happy to see the success of each other. We don't stand in front of each other's accomplishments.

his is my story which I want to share with you. When I was a young girl, I wanted to get married to a nice young boy who would love me and make me his Golden egg and live in harmony with me and my children.

I can say that my dream came true because on September 1978, there was a great day which changed my life. I got married to the man I desired and started my new life. Two years after our wedding, I became a mother and had a nice girl. Everything was going okay. I was very happy with my new family. What joy! Success and love!

Every day after work, my family lived and ate together in harmony. I was so glad and thanked God for my dream that came true.

On Wednesday, March 25, 1993, the black day arrived; my dreams, my joys, disappeared because there was some trouble in my country on this day. Early on this morning I left home and came back in the evening. I met my husband at the door; he was leaving and told me, "I must leave to save my life." I asked, "Where are you going now?" What I heard was, "God willing..." I didn't hear the rest of what he said because he was running.

Good-bye job, happiness, paradise, etc. One month later we rejoined him. My situation became hard and difficult; we were living in exile in poverty. The days and the nights were so long. I lost my smile and looked like a woman of 80 years old.

One day, after eight years of cavalry, we received information we were gong to America.

Imagine my joy. America? This country of happiness that many people desired? This was a beginning of my hope that one day we would solve our problem. This is so today. I live in America, in happiness.

ife is so unpredictable that you will not know what every new day will bring. Listen to my story.

I was born to a royal family in Togo, Africa, and I grew up without any problems. Everything was going well for me. I was a healthy boy. I went to school in my village, then to high school successfully. My mother wanted me to be a medical doctor, but I was fascinated by planes which passed high in the sky. So I made up my mind that I would work with airplanes. After graduating from high school, I passed the exam to become a pilot. But due to some friction between tribes in my country, I was forced to attend an electrical engineering school in France. Two years later, I came back with my first engineering degree. Course upon course, promotion upon promotion, things were going well for me.

Like I said, no one can predict tomorrow or know what is going to happen. In 1990, people were in the streets of Togo every week demonstrating for freedom and democracy. The government and the president saw the demand for freedom and democracy like a battle between the south and the north in the United States. Things became worse in 1992 with the killing of leaders of the movement for freedom. Especially in the army, nobody could trust his neighbor.

On March 25, 1993, my life changed. That day many officers and soldiers from the south were killed. To save my life, I left behind friends, parents, everything and fled to Ghana. In Ghana, my first problem was the language. The first six months were very hard. I tried to look for a job, but everywhere I went I was gently told that I couldn't be hired because I was a military officer from Togo. I decided to leave Ghana three times, but I couldn't get a visa. That moment my Togoleese passport was valid. I had to do something. I wrote to my parents, friends and those from which I never received answers. There were no jobs, it looked like I was abandoned. Finally my passport expired. I couldn't get my Ghana passport and I stayed eight years without any documents. I wasn't a citizen of any country.

One day I heard of a stone quarry where I could gain my daily bread. I said to myself, "Why not?" I went to the quarry and began to work there cracking stone without any hope of a better future. Four years after, a friend told me that he heard that the United States wanted to resettle the Togoleese refugees in the States. Automatically, the light of hope which was turned off in my life, turned back on. I started dreaming of a new life, a new citizenship, a new passport, a new sky.

In conclusion, today I am in America. The beginning is not easy, but my life here is ten thousands time better than the one as a refugee. No matter how many changes there are in your life, don't give up, don't lose hope, keep on trying. Struggle, my brother, hang on and one day you will overcome like I did. May God help America to continue assisting the poor.

A simple definition of life is "to live is to be born, and to grow up, and to die." There is no one in the whole world who can say that he understands life. Life is a mystery. It's a miracle and to live is the most difficult thing in life. So, I'm going to go back to the history of my parents who came from a country in West Africa, specifically from Togo. I am their fifth child. As my parents knew how life was difficult, they started training me to face the difficulties of life. They made me know clearly that difficulties might always come to me through many different ways.

When I was very young, they put me under the protection of the Holy Spirit by baptizing me and giving me the name of St. Roger. At the age of four, I started school by going to kindergarten and later on I started in primary school. After that I went to secondary school. At that time, I thought that studying was the only challenge that a person could face in his life. I had to recite my lessons to my mom and dad before going to school every morning.

But life isn't what I thought. It starting bringing its challenges and the first one was very difficult for me. I thought that I could never forget it. At thirteen, I left my nice and lovely motherland to save my life and followed by parents to the next country which is Benin. The only reason was nothing more than political problems. Many people died at that time. I began a new life in that country, but it wasn't easy. I faced many things that I could make a history story if I wanted to write them all down. It's a long history. Thanks to God that a program of reinstallation from the International Organization of Migration (I.O.M.) came to the refugees in this country and I came to the United States.

Finally, I would like to say that anyone who doesn't die will still have challenges that daily life brings. So because I'm alive, I still live by studying and working. I'm sure that I'll accomplish the challenges in my life with triumphs before I take my last breath and return my soul to the one who first gave it to me. To die is a challenge that everyone must face.

This situation caused fighting to occur between the two parties. Soldiers were on the side of the government and started killing the opposition. The leader of the opposition was killed in 1992. That's the main reason why I left my country. I spent nine years in Benin going here and there to do little jobs to gain my daily bread. For nine years, an American organization, which takes care of refugees through INS program for refugees, brought me to America. In America my resettlement is going well. Living here is much better than Benin.

I hope to spend my life and become successful and work hard to take care of myself. I also hope to go to business school, which was my original dream in my country of Togo!

My parents separated when I was very young, and they divorced when I was ten. My mother and I moved in with my grandparents when I was three because of my parents' separation. Not long after, my mother met someone and we moved again. Things didn't go very well among all of us, so I went back to live with my grandparents again. My mother tried to convince me to give it a few more shots, but I always ended up back with my grandparents.

I didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with my father because of all the hard times my mother and I went through. My father had diabetes and things were getting worse, so he moved to Georgia to be with his family. His condition worsened over the years, and he passed away just a little over a year ago.

Just before my father passed away, I got pregnant, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because I was pregnant, I had to pull myself together for the health of my unborn child.

Four months later I suffered the loss of my grandfather, whom I had lived with most of my life. This made living life very difficult, because I had lost two important people in such a very short time. Once again, I had to be strong for the sake of my child.

Two months after my grandfather passed away, my daughter was born. She has made me realize how important life is. If it weren't for her I don't know how I would have dealt with this trauma. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure she doesn't have to go through all of the hardships that I have had to experience. My daughter has made my life worthwhile, and I have learned that life is not always a fairy tale. My life started off bad, but now it's great for me and my daughter. I wouldn't change a thing.

When we checked into a hotel that night, we asked a receptionist for directions to the nearest supermarket. According to her, all we had to do was to make one right turn and one left turn. However, it took us about fifteen minutes to find it after wandering around. In the huge parking area, we got very tense and told the kids to behave well, or someone might shoot us, although the receptionist said it was safe and alright to go there even at night. Then the timid family tightly held each other's hands and went into the store. There, to our surprise, we found various kinds of sushi, seaweed salad, and many different Pokemon products. The store staff was kind enough to listen to my husband's English and helped us to find what we needed. We felt delightful and went back. The next morning, we found that our hotel was right behind the shopping mall.

Since that day, our living environment has totally changed. Everything is in English, naturally. My little computer in my brain has to work all the time. Every time when I want to do something, I have to wait for a minute and think what I should say. I was on cloud nine when I could make myself understood easily and was very down when I couldn't. I was on an emotional roller coaster. The situation was the same with my husband, or it could have been worse for him as he had a job to do at the college. We often had an argument for the first couple of months because both of us were exhausted and things did not go as we wanted. My two kids were bored without any friends and didn't like to be taken to tiresome offices or car dealers where they had to keep quiet.

Things seemed to be changing when one of my children started attending a local school. His teacher told me later that my son was sitting alone and in tears without a word at first. He must have felt that he got lost in wonderland. However, he soon began to show great progress. He once said it's strange that his classmates looked different, but still he could make friends. I was glad that he noticed that and told him that everyone should be different and unique. I think it's wonderful to know there are many different people in this world at a very young age as his.

Well, our adventure is still on its way. We don't know what we will encounter next. However, there are always nice people who make friends with us and help us. And with a little patience, which we gained through our experience, a sense of humor and family ties, we can overcome it in the end.

here are many costs associated with falling in love and following one's heart. One of the prices that I paid for this concept was an immense change in my life and the losing of my independence. I used to be and felt very independent when living in my country. First of all, I spoke the language. I was able to "get around" easily and develop my career. However, coming here to the United States was an enormous change: in language, culture, and societal customs. I am married to an American man. When I came to the U.S., I felt very gloomy. I left my country, my family, my job, and my friends. However, I was with my love and our daughter starting a new life and new family.

When I began my new life in America, I experienced certain difficulties, for example, to do simple things like go to the grocery store, get around, and make friends. In addition to these things, I missed everything that I left in Peru. When I was living there, I never imagined how I would emotionally suffer here. I felt that my independence was gone because I was married, had a baby, and was living in another country. Knowing that I was not single anymore and was responsible for others was very hard for me. There were so many changes in such a short time.

To regain my sense of independence, I began studying English and meeting new people. I know how to "get around" town and I am hoping/planning to soon begin my master's study at the university. Once I am able to do that, I can further my career aspirations and opportunities more so than had I stayed in Peru.

Children grow up and move away from home. I accepted the big changes in my life and followed my heart. I am here for love.

That very night, I left my house with my children and for three days we were hidden in friends' houses. The third night after leaving my own house, I fled with all my family members to a neighboring country (Ghana) where we lived for nine good years. From then the Ghanaian government organized a program for voluntary repatriation for which most commercial refugees took grants. Some of us who knew that we would die if we returned home stayed.

At the end of the ninth year, the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) made a program for the refugees who can't be granted voluntary repatriation. First, we had to apply for local refugee status and I was qualified. Second, I took one, two, and then three interviews with all my family members down to my child who is five years old and we were again qualified. Finally, we waited to meet the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for an interview. They also decided we were qualified.

Then, my family, we were number 10; we were programmed to fly to the US on March 21st, 2001. I conclude that it was through a refugee asylum program that I came to the US and my family's life was saved. I thank so much the beneficial organizations that helped and continue to help refugees in the whole world.

The day that we had to move, all my friends, sisters, brothers, and my mother were sad. But me, I was very glad because since I was a little girl I wanted to travel in a plane to go far from my country. That Tuesday, in March 2001, in the afternoon, we took a bus to Accra Airport. At 9 PM, everything was closed in Africa. Thursday at 10 PM, we reached Charlottesville. My sons were happy. The next day, Friday, the people at IRC came early in the morning to take us to their office. After that, they bought clothes and shoes for all of us.

It is wonderful to be in America, but my only problem is that the language is completely different from African English. But my little sons were happy because they started school. Soon they heard and talked American English, so thank God.

Although the trip was very tiring, it was very interesting because I knew a young man and young woman on the plane from Hong Kong to Los Angeles. They come from Korea, and went to Charlottesville, too. I was very happy because when I first came to America, my English was not good. Everything was new for me, and they often helped me on the trip. I will never forget their help. Now we are very good friends.

Have you ever heard the word war? I'm sure you have. And you probably have thought that you know what it means. But you haven't heard the war itself. Here is what it meant to me, this simple word with all the horror it radiates.

War. It's about the fear. Pure. Strong and inevitable. The fear about being left to the mercy of forces so inhuman that you cannot imagine their existence. War is about long nights lightened by explosions and silent people with sadness in their eyes. War is about a fifteen-year-old boy and his father being together in the battlefield. My son. And my husband. But mostly, war is about waiting. For bad news. For someone to return. For a quiet moment. Or just waiting.

And I have waited. Every day. I have stayed alone in an empty house with no one to cook for, with no one to argue with about all those little important things. I have imagined eyes and voices of my children, hoping they were safe, and crying for them being away and alone. I thought about my husband, under the bullets, about my brothers in the battlefield and about the tears of my old parents. And I have seen faces changing from friends to enemies, or being forced into something they have failed to understand just like I did. My husband, a teacher, said once: "I can't stand the thought that I might be pointing my gun at some of my children!" Yes, war is about losing love and faith. Yet I have survived.

I have survived to see my house gone, my parents left without a home, and their children scattered all over the world. I have waited enough to see a river of homeless people traveling toward a hope, a little hope of the possibility to survive and to see the smile of a child again. And I have seen death. It has touched me at the moment I thought I was safe. Its cold breath was even colder because it had no meaning at all.

We came to the country where we hoped to be safe. But people were chased and arrested, sent back to Bosnia, to fight in a meaningless war, to fight someone else's battles. My youngest brother was among them. For six months we didn't know if he was alive. Hope and fear came together. His life has been taken away by the anger of an animal. How can man be capable of such cold-blooded murder for one reason: you were born of another nationality! I cannot forgive. I cannot forgive them all the tears. I cannot forgive them of a two-year-old boy left without a father.

I cannot forget. But I have survived. Again to see more . . . To see Kosovo. I have survived. To see America. The land I thought about as an abstraction, far away. I have survived to try again, to gather what has been left of our lives and our beliefs. I am grateful for this chance I have, a chance that many dear and close people could never have.

War is loneliness and coldness that stays forever, yet life is stronger. Life means a smile of a child. Don't forget to live.

When my brother-in-law came here, his children were small, and they all went to school. So I think he had many problems with money. His wife is a nurse. She got a job in the U.S. That way they came here. He tried to bring his brothers much later. In 1984, he filed papers for his brothers. In 1995, we got a thick form from the U.S. At that time my husband was working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I also stayed with him. We came back to India and went to our American Embassy. Then we had an interview and fingerprints there. After our interview we went back to the UAE.

In 1996, we got a call about our visas. Again we went back to India and went to the American Embassy. That time we paid some American dollars there and we gave some photos. Then we got a visa and we came to the U.S.

When we reached America, the American immigration took our fingerprints and stamped our passport. First we came to Houston. My husband's brothers are living there. The next day we went to the U.S. Embassy and we signed papers for our green cards. The next month we got our green cards.

Then we visited my brother and his family. He is living in Charlottesville. After five months I went back to India, and I stayed in India nearly one year. Then again I came to Charlottesville, and I lived with my brothers' family. My brother helped me to find a job. That way I got a job at UVA. After six months I called my husband and he also came here and we are working at UVA.

I had to become independent. I started from the bottom and worked my way up. I worked a small job in the hospital in transportation. I transported the medication to different units. I felt very sad because I couldn't speak English. I graduated from a university in my country. I worked there as a nurse midwife for 12 years. Here, they didn't accept my degree, and because I didn't know how to speak English, I couldn't find a job where I could use my experience. I started the way I did before. I took an ESL class. I improved my English.

After one year of being on my own, I started to attend college. I got a better job and bought a car. I established relationships with people.

Now I help people from other countries when they want to adapt to life in the United States. If they want to continue their education I help them go to college; I give them all the information they need. I have gone with them to college, to apply for jobs, to go to the doctor. I give them rides. I translate English for them.

I work very hard at work and at school. I want to be a good example for the people who are disappointed.

My country is warm, with a wet and a dry season. Some parts are forests, plains, mountains, and hills. It contains natural resources and minerals such as gold, silver, copper, and many more. We produce different varieties of food. My country is rich, but due to the politics the transportation and communication are very poor. That is why most of the population is very poor, although people are joyful and cooperative.

I did not know that I would leave my country.

In 1993, I was forced to leave my country because of persecution of my religion. I was forced to live as a refugee in a neighboring country for seven years. Life was too difficult for a family of ten people. Imagine ten people living in one room or a tent with no food, eating once a day with no job. We were many refugees in that country - more than half a million from different countries.

In 1999, I applied for resettlement to go to another country through UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees), but it takes time and is a long process. It made me tired and impatient. The INS interview and medical check-up took six months to come to us.

I came to the USA in 2000. I started a new life, even if life is still too hard. I have a job. I am learning English. I have many privileges to be here in the USA. I pay my bills, like a transportation loan from Africa, car credit, house rent, insurances and others.

I like America, but some of American cultures are not good. I like freedom, but American freedom is too much. If something is too much, it is bad. It can make some people stupid, like I have seen. We need education and discipline. The Americans talk and do what they want, especially the young. In the future, this country may fall even to a superpower because of freedom.

I would like to thank the U.S. Government and NGOs for humanitarian assistance. I hope for a bright life in the U.S. Thanks. God bless all of us.

Before I graduated from my college, Dr. Liu gave us a lecture. In this lecture, she introduced her new research to us. This research is about applications of the DNA fingerprint. From this lecture, I learned why different populations can carry different diseases, and why people know that humans are originally from Africa. Dr. Liu told us that all the interesting things are based on genetic codes. I wanted to know more about the mystic genetic codes. So, I decided to apply for graduate school to do research on Molecular Biology for more understanding about our Humanself.

As expected, I joined Professor Liu's research group, and started my research life. Now, I am still working in this field. I am very excited when I find something new. I love my work, and thank Dr. Liu for giving us the nice lecture.

When I was a little girl, I had many different dreams. Some of them were silly, but one was very special to me. Even when one year ago I decided to go to the USA as an au-pair, I didn't expect that my special dream could be real. I thought this is the best way for me to learn more about the culture and traditions of the United States. I could also improve my English language skills.

When I successfully passed the screening requirements of the Au Pair in America program, all the procedure began. The first step was waiting for phone calls from American families. I had many phone calls but I chose the Barrett-Johnson family. Later I went to the Embassy in Warsaw to get a visa, but the consul denied my visa application. I was very disappointed because the office "AU PAIR IN AMERICA" had told me that there would not be a problem getting a visa. I felt as though my whole plan had collapsed. I didn't want to do anything about my refusal, but my father asked me to write a new application. I told him that I would do this only for him, because I believed that it would not change the consulate's decision. Thanks to my father, I am here, and can gain new experience that will help me to become more fulfilled as a person, and independent from my family.

Before I came here I had been living with my parents. When I had some problems I could go to them and ask for advice. Now I have to take all my decisions by myself. My parents also helped me when I had financial problems, but now I have to plan my expenses in advance. This year means a lot for me because it is the best school of my life and has taught me how real life looks. When I return to Poland, I will not live any longer with my parents in one apartment, because they have moved to a new house.

I've been here six months and I have learned some important things. One of the best things in the USA was my trip with my Host Parents to Orlando. Thanks to them I saw Disney World, and my dream from childhood came true. I will be living here six months more, so I hope that some more changes are waiting for me in the future.

When I was young, I thought I could handle my life. I thought if I did my best, I could do anything. If it didn't work out then I blamed myself, because my effort was not great enough to attain my aim. I always thought it was a shame when I saw people blaming God for their misfortune. It was likely that their misfortune came from their own mistakes.

My marriage was the happiest moment of my life because I loved my husband very much. When I got pregnant I did my best for my baby: I ate healthy food for my baby and avoided things that might have harmed my child. I gained 20kg after being pregnant so I thought my baby would be very healthy.

The event that changed my life happened on December 9th, 1993. My baby was in critical condition when she was born. She had heart disease and blood problems and she only weight 1.6kg. The doctor told me I'd better take care of myself, then my baby. But a few weeks later the doctor said she was improving steadily.

Three years later my daughter had heart surgery and it was successful. She is very healthy right now. Thank God. I didn't believe in God before my delivery. After delivering I changed my mind. Strong power existed above me. Someone controlled my life. I couldn't figure out who He was, but I could feel Him. And I became a Catholic.

I can still remember that when I was just an elementary school student, living with my parents at a small mountain town in China, my father bought a bicycle as his means of travel. At that time, bicycles were not very common like today, especially in the eyes of a small girl who has never touched such kinds of stuff. The brand new bicycle had attracted all my attention once its first appearance at our backyard. I started imagining that it must be like birds flying when I was riding on those two magical rolling wheels.

In my memory, it was not possible yet at our small town to buy a kid's bicycle. Therefore, after adjusting the seat to a comfortable height for me, my father taught me riding a bicycle almost every Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock on an empty playground of a school that is very near to our home. After several months, I could ride easily; then my father allowed me to ride on the playground alone. But there were also some limitations for me: I must go back home before 3 PM and never ever ride in the street, and I promised not to break them.

One beautiful sunny Tuesday afternoon, just like what I had imagined - when I could ride alone on the playground, wind was gently blowing to my face, birds were singing like inviting me to attend the music conference they were holding. An idea suddenly came into my mind: why not ride outside this small square and find some other better place? Forgetting all the promises I had made, I rode out from the playground into the street. When I was complacently riding on an empty narrow road, I saw an old man walking steps away on my right side. "I must be more careful," I told myself. But just a couple of minutes later, the condition of this road changed suddenly. A car was running toward me on my left side, and I was approaching that old man in my right side, at that very moment, I was losing the control of my hands and feet, then my bicycle rushed directly to the front left wheel of the coming car.

An unhappy thing happened, the front wheel of that poor bicycle was twisted into a '8' shape, but the luckiest things were that that old man on my right was ok, and I was just thrown away to the side way and only rubbed by legs' shin. Then the 'aftermath' was police coming and my father coming later. Father was so unhappy that my leg was hurt a little and his bicycle was also hurt 'a little'. I can always remember my father's words, "Huan, you haven't keep your promise, right? Don't you know how worried I was when you didn't come back home after 3 PM?" I cried and apologized for my fault. After that day, I didn't ride a bicycle for several years.

Since then, I began to realize that keeping promises, no matter how big or small they are, will always be the most important things we should do. Or else, we probably planted 'fruits' poison to ourselves. In our life, some things, they are tiny, but we just can't forget them; and they will influence our life forever.