Hannah is 7!

The past year has been a whirlwind. It is hard to believe that our youngest is now a 7-year-old 2nd grader! She is quickly growing up in many ways, but in many other ways she is still our baby. :)

Hannah has learned a lot in the last year. She and her siblings have been working with a Khmer tutor for an hour each day to learn the Khmer language. We had hoped they would have some Khmer-speaking friends in our neighborhood and could learn that way, but though they do have a couple of Khmer friends, they go to English schools and so speak English with our kids. Hannah is a quick study, though, and a very auditory learner, so she has picked up a lot in her class and from listening to Nathan and I in our own studies. She doesn't have a very broad vocabulary yet, but she isn't shy about trying out what she knows, and she often understands the Khmer that Nathan and I speak to each other. Lord willing, once we move out to where all the kids speak Khmer, she will pick it up more quickly!

Hannah has also taken off in reading this past year. A year ago she was slowly working her way through picture books, but now she is enjoying easy chapter books like The Magic Tree House. She would still choose listening to chapter books over reading them though. Since she has less school work than the older two, when she finishes her work, her favorite thing to do is go play with her dolls or color in her room while she listens to audio books. The Chronicles of Narnia are still her favorite by far, but she enjoys many others as well, such as Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and Ramona. She listens to so many audio books that sometimes we can hear her narrating her own day in storybook form as she goes about her daily activities, though she doesn't do this nearly as much as she did a year or two ago. She also has a great memory, and will often quote books or movies.

Hannah is our drama queen. Everything matters to this girl, and she has strong opinions which she very willingly shares! She gets emotional (happy, sad, excited, angry) very easily, and as she grows we are working at helping her manage and channel those emotions! She has such a strong, magnetic personality that she could be a very influential person - for good or for evil. She tells us that she came to know the Lord as her Savior a few years ago, and she gets very excited when we read stories about other people accepting Jesus, but we are still looking to see more evidence of faith and obedience to Christ in her life. We pray that she will grow to exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit in her life more and more and that her exuberant spirit will help open doors for the gospel here in Cambodia!