by Elizabeth Vahey Smith Editor’s Note: Christianity Today recently published an article by Rebecca Hopkins (who has written for A Life Overseas in the past) titled “The Missionary Kids Are Not Alright.” This guest piece by Elizabeth Smith was submitted prior to the publication of the Christianity Today article, but it beautifully addresses the concerns … Continue reading When the Third Culture Kids Are Not Alright
by Chris Moyer Woosh…….Pop! For as long as I can remember I have found immense satisfaction in the sound and feeling of a baseball hitting a mitt just right. Of all places, this love of mine started as a 7- or 8-year-old in suburban Paris while playing countless hours of catch with my dad in … Continue reading To the Fathers of Third Culture Kids
I wrote a couple of posts about questions that Third Culture Kids are often asked. Some they dread, some they love. Same for their parents. There is a problem inherent in these posts and these types of posts. They center the TCK and the expatriate adult. They make us the most important person in conversations … Continue reading Questions Third Culture Kids (and Their Parents) Need to Ask
The last post in this series was a set of questions Third Culture Kids have a hard time answering. Today is a set of questions that might be a little easier for them to address. And next month I’ll have a post about parents and TCKs to encourage us to ask better questions ourselves. How … Continue reading Questions Third Culture Kids and Their Parents Love
Next month I will share Questions Third Culture Kids (and Their Parents) Love, so stay tuned. You just arrived in your passport country. Someone is approaching. You can’t remember who they are. You can’t remember where you are. What time is it? What language do they speak here? They are getting closer and closer and … Continue reading Questions Third Culture Kids (and Their Parents) Dread
It was in the fall that I first saw the announcement from Lauren Wells that she would be writing a book about raising third culture kids. Like many TCKs, I get skeptical any time I hear that someone is writing a book about us. But Lauren’s approach and the fact that she herself is a … Continue reading Raising Healthy Third Culture Kids
This week a university student and I connected over Skype to talk about Third Culture Kids. She is one, working on a really cool project about TCKs, and I’m the mom of three. We talked about how valuable things like courage, vulnerability, and curiosity are. We talked about the gift that I believe TCKs are … Continue reading One Thing I Want to Tell Third Culture Kids
Originally published on Djibouti Jones You can always come home. Home might not be this house but home is always this family. Come rejoicing, come weeping, come whole, come broken, come lonely, come with packs of friends, come in silence, come and spill it all. This table, meaning the table I’ve set in my heart … Continue reading 15 Things I Want to Tell Graduating Third Culture Kids
*originally published at Djibouti Jones. I remember telling you we were pregnant. We had spaghetti because that’s what you served your parents when you announced each pregnancy. I requested it, but you cooked it because I already felt sick. And so, almost before I told you, you knew. I remember telling you we were pregnant … Continue reading A Letter to the Grandparents of My Third Culture Kids
by Lauren Wells The life of a Third Culture Kid is not a simple one. Wonderful, enriching, colorful, and filled with incredible life-altering experiences, absolutely. But certainly not neat and tidy, or without its share of troubles. We moved to Tanzania when I was 13 years old. The first two years of life in Africa … Continue reading GRIT: A Guide to Praying for Third Culture Kids
by Tanya Crossman In my previous post, I discussed the importance of citizenship of heaven as biblical theology which brings hope and encouragement to TCKs. The knowledge that their hearts will one day rest in the comfort of a single home brings great peace. There is also great joy in knowing that this single home … Continue reading Citizens of Heaven: Third Culture Kids and Kingdom Living
by Tanya Crossman When I wrote Misunderstood, there were a lot of smaller topics that came up in interviews which didn’t really fit into the narrative of the book. I was recently able to spend some time on one of these side topics for a research thesis titled: “A place to call home: citizenship in … Continue reading Citizens of Heaven: Third Culture Kids and the Longing for Home
