Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, aged 11, writes a letter to her friend's daughter, who just joined the family yesterday from Africa.
Sunday, May 2, 2004~
Dear Anna Grace:
Jambo! Habari gani? M'zuri sana, asante sana! (You didn't know I knew Swahili, did you? Well, I DO!! I have a friend from Kenya, M'buti Moore-Sormiento, and she was the one who taught me. You would like M'buti; she is really nice, and she is very pretty! She is of the Maasai tribe, and she was born in Kenya, Africa, in the town of Thika, near Nairobi; but she now lives in America with her husband and three little kids. She came to America nearly 6 years ago, and she loves it here, but she still misses Africa at times.)
My name is Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, and I am 11 years old. I want to take time now to welcome you to America, and I also want to welcome you into the Williams family! I am so happy for you!
I don't know much about you, Anna, except your name WAS Abayomi Chipo, but now you are called Anna Grace. I also know that you lost your legs; and I was so sorry to hear that! But I am sure that you will learn to walk, and pretty soon you will be chasing your new sisters around the house! I also know that you are from Kenya, in Africa.
To tell you a bit about myself, I am older than you are--I will be 12 years old on December 25 this year--yes, I was born ON Christmas Day!!--, and I am disabled too; but I try NOT to let my problems bog me down. Oh, I MAY have bad days, where I am in a lot of pain, but I REFUSE to let my problems get to me, and I try to go on living as best as I can. I walk with the help of Lofstrand crutches and leg braces because I have JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis), but I take medicine and have therapy to help me with the pain; and I also have asthma, but I am doing much better with that. I have allergies; but I am getting better as I get older, and now my allergies (with a few exceptions) are no longer such a big issue for me. I am a very happy girl, and I love to do things like read (like you, I read just about anything I get my hands on!), write stories and poems (I am right now writing a book about my life), go to church, sing (I am a singer), play with my brothers and sisters and also my friends, collect porcelain dolls (my newest one I got recently while I was in Alaska, it is an Inuit, or Eskimo, doll, and she is really pretty!), travel (I have been to all over the United States; and I also have been to Canada and Mexico), and swim. I also love to go to school. (I am in the fifth grade, and my teacher is Mrs. Thompson. She is really nice.) I also love to hang out with my best friend, Nicole Aldape, and go to camp. (I go to arthritis camp every August for a week; this was where I met Nicole. She and I have been best buds ever since.)
What do I look like? Well, I am short for my age (I look more like eight or nine than going on twelve years of age!) and skinny, and I have longish black hair and black eyes; and I wear braces on my teeth. I also wear braces on my legs and walk on forearm crutches because as I mentioned earlier, I have arthritis. People say I am very cute; but I would much rather be taller than I am and heavier; I look too much like a little kid, and it is embarrassing! People are always thinking I am younger than I am, and it is really getting to be annoying!!
Well, Anna, I just wanted to email you and welcome you to America; you will love your family once you get to know them, and I would love to meet you myself! Congratulations on getting a new family, and again, welcome to the United States of America and to your new family! Until later, Kwaheri!
With much love, a new friend in America (I live in the state of Tennessee with my family), Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, aged 11.
A wicked Cajun Fairy named Robes Pierre entered the impenetrable Magical doll land of Sha Bebe. Queen Faustina, the ruler of the doll land, thought she had destroyed him, but he's back! Will the doll land survive his evil ways?
The familiar lament of dual-career parents raising children is, "I just can't do it all." The Libra Solution provides an alternative - a more satisfying and sustainable work and life approach - to the overwrought modern day norm.
