I arrived on Australian shores a few weeks after my third birthday, in December 1951. My mother, father and younger brother and I were ‘ten pound poms’. The promise of a new life, employment and sunshine had lured my family, along with hundreds of thousands of others, to leave the challenges of life in post war Britain and embrace a fresh start in Australia. We eventually s....
Madeline Jessica Ramsey was born on 15 January 1994 at Gosford Hospital, NSW, Australia. When she was seven months old, she was adopted by Michael and Carol Ramsey. Madeline has Down syndrome and lives with her family in Wollongong, NSW, Australia. Here is a letter that she wrote to her birth mother for Mother’s Day. Dear Lynda, I want to tell you about my life. I have two co....
I had first my dance class when I was 2 ½ years old. I loved it and from that first class I was hooked. I continued dancing all through high school and by the time I was in my late teens I was dancing professionally. To those on the outside it appeared that I had it all. I had been blessed with good looks, talent and a loving family; it seemed like a perfect life. …....
I am a mother of three amazing kids. Their ages are: fourteen, twelve, and six. Two boys and one little girl; each delivered into my life in different ways. My eldest son was delivered “biologically,” his younger brother was delivered out of Russia, and my youngest — the girl — was delivered out of Ethiopia. It is true — the method by which each of my children was del....
I am the middle child in our family of five. My brother, sister and I were raised with a Christian foundation but my family life was unsettled. My parents’ marriage was not a happy one and my dad spent a lot of time away from home, either working or fishing. I craved his attention and it hurt that he was not around for the everyday moments of my life. At times he had a temp....
