Lounging in Calypsos Coffee and Creamery on a December Saturday, clad in chicly slim jacket and boots, Becky Kenny looks like any other fashion-oriented American ingenue.

But the 30-year-old who operates a yoga and massage therapy practice in Coeur d'Alene hails from a broader, more painful perspective. After a life abroad, she has experienced firsthand that people are impoverished, that some are starving to death, that so many will never get a better lot in life. She has been among suffering most Americans only observe in the news.

Yet the sweet and earnest Lake City resident says she has enveloped a spiritual acceptance in her yoga practice.

She wears an optimistic attitude about her experiences; kind of world-weary, without the weary.

"I've had such a blessed life," Becky says, eyes wide. "There are so many kids with my story. I'm one in a million who got adopted out."

That's just a preview of the journey that led her to a quiet life of yoga and meditation.

Becky was born in Ethiopia, just before one of the country's many worst possible times, the famine of 1984.

She has vague memories of it from when she was about three, when she and her parents and grandmother sought refuge at a feeding camp organized by NGOs.

"I remember the sounds of the dying, as strange as that sounds. I remember the wailing and suffering," Becky says, speaking in an untainted American accent.

She also remembers her grandmother walking barefoot with the little girl for miles to get to the camp.

It saved Becky's life, though not her parents' or her grandmother's. After they had passed, she was placed in an orphanage in Addis Ababa, where she quickly understood that getting adopted was both highly coveted and rare for older children.

"That was the ticket out, basically," she says, adding that she prayed to be adopted every night.

She was among the fortunate children. Gary and Judy Kenny, residents of San Francisco, Calif., adopted her on her seventh birthday. Gary taught private school abroad, and Judy was a psychologist helping with orphan programs at the time.

"We had that connection," says Gary, speaking over the phone from Grass Valley, Calif., of how the couple found Becky's orphanage. "I got to meet her and spend time with Becky. She was a little tot of 7, and it was immediate bonding, so to speak."

Thus started a childhood of globetrotting. Following their careers of overseas teaching, her parents ferried Becky to Israel, Kenya, Egypt, Taiwan, Canada, Panama and the U.S. They averaged a few years in each country, Becky enrolled in private American schools throughout.

"I love traveling. I didn't have a problem with picking up and leaving," she says.

Gary describes Becky as "adapting beautifully" during their travels.

"She's not typical in any sense. She's strictly an international person," he says. "She's certainly an American citizen and knows American culture, but she's so experienced in international things."

Becky can list epic experiences from those years, like hiking through the rain forest to a volcano in Panama, visiting the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the ancient pyramids.

"It was wonderful to experience them, and not just in a textbook," she says.

She also got an education in racial tensions and class systems. The racial diversity of her family - she having coffee colored skin and her parents being Caucasian - allowed them acceptance among various classes in Egypt, she said, which opened her eyes to how skin color wasn't a defining factor.

She experienced that lesson in Taiwan, too, where her skin color often attracted stares.

"For awhile I'd get uncomfortable. But then I started to realize if I saw myself through their eyes, I'd probably be very curious," she says. "Once I let my uncomfortableness go, I realized that people are people. They want the same things we do. They want the best for their kids, they want health. After you layer people off like an onion, at the base, we're all the same."

Becky has been permanently in the U.S. for several years, after her parents settled on retiring. While they returned to California, she chose to remain in Coeur d'Alene, where the family had owned a home.

"Now that I'm older, I notice that my roots are international. I don't have a sense of routine," she says. "But Coeur d'Alene is a nice community. If you're not used to it, this is a nice way to figure out how it works."

Never married and with no children, Becky's current focus is on pursuing yoga. She teaches at the Coeur d'Alene Athletic club and also one-on-one, while keeping up massage therapy clientele. She is also writing a book about her life.

In her practice, she said, she tries to incorporate philosophies accrued from her life experiences, she said, like pursuing honesty, truth, and sticking to one's beliefs.

"People know themselves better than I will ever know them. If I'm going to preach anything, it's that you have your own answers," she says, pointing to how she gravitated toward yoga after discovering the works of philosopher and yoga practitioner Sri Aurobindo. "There are people who come in your life, like mine, a book or a phrase that will give you that 'ah-ha' connection. We all have those opportunities in life."

Jessica Ray, an employee of Coeur d'Alene Athletic Club, calls Becky an inspiring teacher.

"All of her students are very dedicated. They don't miss a class," she says. "It's just her spirit. She's one of the nicest people I've ever met."

Becky is still committed to learning, she says, adding that she still is pursing a degree in general studies at the University of Idaho and North Idaho College.

She knows she still has travels ahead, she says, whether physically or spiritually.

"I'm making my own path," she says. "That to me is very important."