Our International Girl

With all of the traveling we have been doing recently, it’s not surprising that our girls have gotten really used to packing up and moving, sleeping in various places, meeting and making new friends, and adapting to new circumstances. Overall, they are doing well with this, which makes me very thankful. Chloe, of course, is so young still that she is fairly clueless. As long as we are nearby and she has her pack-n-play to sleep in, she does quite well. It has been interesting, though, to see Clara Anne in so many different locales. Perhaps sometimes she is wondering, “Where am I from, anyway?”

Clara Anne was born in Hong Kong, and at only 6 weeks took her first international flight. More than 35 flights and two years later, we arrived in the States and had to send her passport in to get extra pages added—it is completely full. She has been to several Asian countries, some several times, and then lived briefly in Iowa at Grandpa and Grandma’s house, and then in Louisville. She remembers several homes: our home in Asia, Grandpa and Grandma’s house, but I think after our two weeks at camp, Clara Anne’s heart is truly at home in the woods of Kentucky.

“Why?” you ask. Well, I don’t think I had quite realized the impact the counselors had on Clara Anne. All in all, the majority of them were Kentucky girls, and they spent a fair amount of time watching Clara Anne while John and I were busy these last weeks. They loved playing with her and chatting with her, and she loved playing with them too! It’s not hard to have fun when someone plays with you constantly! The reason that I say that Clara Anne’s heart is at home here, though, is the ease with which Clara Anne picked up the Kentucky accent.

Yes, it’s true, Clara Anne now is speaking as if she was born and raised in Kentucky. Words like “fan” and “again” have added a syllable (“fa-yan” and “uh-gay-an”), and she has started saying “y’all” just like a native. Oh my! It only took two weeks!

Well, Clara Anne, don’t get too comfortable speaking “Kentuckian!” After a two day stay this weekend in Indiana with the wonderful folks at CrossRoads, we are off to Rochester, New York, in the morning. John’s sister Beth and her family are there, and we are looking forward to a week with them, celebrating the Fourth of July, going swimming, visiting the zoo, and maybe even catching a baseball game. It’s going to be fun! (After we make the long drive, that is!)

So leave that accent behind, Clara Anne! New York, here we come!