2. My Life Story By Cassie Battles

4. When I was living in the Ukraine, the people were poor. Sometimes there was not a lot of food. Most people who were wealthy used to taunt the poor. Sometimes, Christmas was one of the most horrible days for the children.

6. My experience as a child was somewhat sad, but not all was a loss either. When I was born, my mom had thyroid cancer. She was happy, but something happened to me at birth. I had a stroke, and I was as white as a ghost.

8. A couple of months passed, and at the age of twenty two, mom passed away. My dad’s heart was shattered. So at the age of twenty-eight, dad disappeared. I went to an orphanage because all of my family members disappeared too.

10. The orphanage was small and very poor. Boys got treated like kings, while the girls were punished. The boys slept upstairs. We all had hand-me- down clothing. We had to sleep on a cot, and the ladies were so mean. They made us do work. We were only children.

12. We ate nothing but soup and other small items. We were treated like animals. That was only the first part of my early life.

14. When I was in the orphanage, I didn’t know my mom had another child. I was so happy to find out that I had a brother. My brother’s name is Audrauios, but now his name is Tyler. My name was Iryaina and now my name is Cassie.

16. In 2002, when I was five years old, something was going to completely change my life. The mean ladies told us to line up into four groups. WE were scared.

18. That’s when I met some new people. The first family said, “Ewe! That girl doesn’t have any hair.” My brother looked like a polar bear, because he was a chubby child. Luckily, the second family loved us and took us home to America.

20. So we traveled by plane and flew to America. At first, I thought Americans were going to be like the Ukrainians “Mean” and Rude.”

22. Luckily I was mistaken. Some of the Americans were not mean. I found the perfect family, and I have some great friends now.