Cross-Cultural Living

3 Ways to Care for the Heart of Your Third Culture Kid {A Life Overseas}

/ trotters41 / Leave a comment

Jesus loves Third Culture Kids. He knows their needs and he hears their hearts’ cries. He can tell the difference between normal teen angst and deep emotional pain. He feels their searching and longing for home, and he cares. Jesus knows the right thing to say at the right time, all the time. As parents, youth workers, family, and friends, we’re not always so, um, Christ-like.

Yet, in spite of our weaknesses, we have the great honor and privilege of parenting and loving TCKs. So may we, with great tenderness and sensitivity, care for the hearts of the kids we’ve taken with us.

Read the rest of Jonathan’s post on A Life Overseas.

heart1

 

When Friends Do the Next Right Thing {A Life Overseas}

/ trotters41 / 2 Comments

ap

Today I’m talking about the very painful topic of goodbyes over at A Life Overseas. This is the intro, and you can finish the post here.

~Elizabeth

What do we do when the people we love do the next right thing? What if that next right thing leads them away from us?

When we say yes to God, we must often say no to the places we already know. And when God leads us overseas, we enter a communal life that is punctuated by goodbyes. Just like an airport, the missionary community endures constant arrivals and departures. But God is the travel agent here, and He hardly ever places anyone on the same itinerary. Perhaps we knew this uncomfortable truth before we said yes; perhaps we didn’t. Either way, though, we must now live with the consequences of our obedience.

And I, for one, sometimes grow weary of it.

                                                                               Read the rest of the post here.

Finding My Niche Overseas {Communicating Across Boundaries guest post}

/ trotters41 / Leave a comment

Today I (Elizabeth) am writing about being a military kid over at Communicating Across Boundaries:

“Home is Where the Army Sends You.” For the first twelve years of my life, home was, indeed, where the Army sent us. There were good times, full of life and love and happiness. But there were bad times too, full of the ache of transition, the despair of loneliness, and a sense of awkwardness that seemed to follow me everywhere I went.

Click here to read the rest.

ab12

Moto Accidents I’ve Seen

/ trotters41 / 2 Comments

100_3293-001

by Elizabeth

I

We drive to church. The traffic slows, there’s been an accident. There are gawkers galore, but very few helpers. As we inch closer to the collision, see flesh strewn across the road. Death. My stomach turns. I hold my breath, brace myself for more carnage ahead, hoping my children don’t observe the details too closely.

Continue reading →

In Which I Ask God to Take Back His City

/ trotters41 / Leave a comment

by Elizabeth

Over New Year’s, I received my “Word” for this year — a word I am very excited about, a word that brings together everything I have learned about missions so far. But to explain this year’s word, I need to go back to the first time I chose a word for the year, back to January 2011.

Continue reading →