Julie Henning To Speak At Luncheon

"One of my favorite sayings is 'Bloom where you are planted,'" said Julie Henning, author of "A Rose in a Ditch," published in 2019, which tells her story of learning to bloom wherever she found herself. "We cannot always change our circumstances, but we can change our responses to those circumstances to be the people God wants us to be," said Henning.

Henning will share her story, which begins in Korea and takes her to America as the adopted daughter of Pearl S. Buck, author of "The Good Earth," on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Lancaster Christian Women's Club luncheon at noon at Bent Creek Country Club, 620 Bent Creek Drive, Lititz. Advance reservations are required by Friday, Oct. 28, and there is a cost to attend. To make reservations, call 717-951-0773.

Henning's life began in South Korea. Her mother had escaped from the north and married a South Korean who was killed in the Korean War. Henning's mother met her father, who was an American soldier, and later gave birth to Henning. "Growing up in Korea as half American and half Asian was a very difficult life in the 1950s and 1960s," said Henning, who noted that while America is a melting pot, Korea is not. "In Korea, everybody had black hair, and I had yellow hair," she noted. "I used to come home crying because of the teasing and ridicule."

Bullying was not Henning's only problem. For Henning and her mother, life was hard, as they lived in a one-room house with no electricity or running water. "I sold gum and shined shoes on the streets and helped my mom wash clothes by the creek to earn money," recalled Henning. "We looked for free food - mushrooms, dandelions, snails, grasshoppers."

In spite of their difficult circumstances, Henning's mother had hope for her daughter. "She said, 'Soonyi' - which means sweet - 'work hard in school and go to America one day.'" Henning followed her mother's advice, and when a social worker from the Pearl S. Buck Foundation came to their town in search of Amerasians, Henning left her mother to live at the Pearl S. Buck Opportunity Center in Sosa, Korea. Henning was 13 years old. At the center, Henning studied while her friends played and slept. She was rated first of more than 600 students, but then her mother died. Henning returned home to bury her, and with no family to go to, she returned to the Buck Center, where Buck herself noted Henning's efforts. "When (Buck) came to Korea to visit her foundation, she met with me and asked me through an interpreter, 'How would you like to come to America to live with me as my daughter?'"

Henning did so, but when she was 19, Buck died. "I felt like everything crumbled, but God did not leave me there," said Henning, who was adopted by a couple who were had always believed God would send them a child. "God's hand has been with me every step of the way," said Henning, who added that at the Nov. 2, event, "I will share about my journey to becoming a Christian." Henning has spoken at venues in America, Korea, and China, and in September of 2020, she was honored with the Pearl S. Buck International Woman of the Year award. "I felt very humbled by that," shared Henning.