by Katherine Dear Reverse Culture Shock, I have not enjoyed spending time with you. You are a sneaky thief. Beyond that, your identity is ambiguous. You have made moving back to my passport country horrible. I’m never sure whether I should call you Reverse Culture Shock or Re-entry. And if Re-entry, how do I spell … Continue reading Dear Re-entry
My youngest has been fascinated with finding places on Google Earth. He recently brought me the iPad and said, “Mommy, help me find HOPAC.” My son is in third grade, and Haven of Peace Academy is where he went to school for kindergarten through second grade. But even before that, HOPAC was always a part … Continue reading Leaving Early Has Complicated All the Complicated Emotions of Re-Entry
by Lauren Neal No one can prepare you for re-entry, not even your closest friends and family who have walked alongside of you through this season. Neither can a countless number of books and podcasts nor accumulated hours spent in therapy. Oh, or copious amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and rum (Barbancourt to be precise). Re-entry, … Continue reading When Re-Entry is Hard
by Bernie Anderson White Subarus and silver Toyotas back out of their respective driveways, plodding their way to respective workplace destinations. I don’t know where. Department stores, manufacturing plants, and office buildings with cubicles. I wonder how many of these folks love what they do? That could be me. I sit on the borrowed … Continue reading 4 Ways to Give Yourself Grace During Re-Entry
by Beth Watkins It’s been a little more than a year since my husband, a new immigrant, and I relocated back to the U.S. after I’d been away for more than 6 years. It’s hard being back. They call it re-entry shock – the special kind of culture shock that happens when you’re back in … Continue reading Coming Back From Narnia: What Re-entry Feels Like
We’ve been deep in the throes of transition during the last two weeks. Just after Christmas last year we left Laos in a rush and headed for Australia so that my husband, Mike, could receive treatment for cancer. Now that he’s received the initial all-clear (hooray) we’re in the process of reassembling normal life. To … Continue reading The bumpy road back: Five ways to support families during transition and re-entry
by Shonna Ingram In part one of this series on trauma, I explained what trauma is and what it does to us. In part two, I told you about James’s story. As we think about his story, we notice that he is not in this situation because of one big, traumatic event. Instead, it was … Continue reading How to Start Healing From Trauma: The Unseen Trauma of the Mission Field Part 3
by Shonna Ingram This is the second article in a three-part series about the Unseen Trauma of the Mission Field. Today we will explore the way trauma shows up on the mission field. As I mentioned in Part 1, the first place we notice trauma is in behaviors and reactions. If you do a google … Continue reading How Trauma Shows Up on the Field: The Unseen Trauma of the Mission Field Part 2
by Shonna Ingram In 2008 my husband and I took our four children to East Africa to serve in a Bible translation project. We didn’t go overseas until our early 30s. We thought that having some life experience would give us a little bit of an advantage over those joining missions right out of college. … Continue reading The Unseen Trauma of the Mission Field: What Trauma Is and What It Does
by Jillian Sirianni When we hear the word sabbatical, what comes to mind? Is this just a long sought after vacation that never happens, or is this something we can truly integrate into our life in ministry? For many, the thought of sabbatical stirs up deep longings for personal and spiritual refreshment, while simultaneously bringing … Continue reading What Does It Really Mean to ‘Take a Sabbatical’?
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
by Katie Hoffmann Blurry-eyed after 36 hours of flying with kids, we handed over our passports. The customs official returned a hearty, “Welcome Home.” Those words felt almost digestible as we entered the Seattle International Airport after years overseas working for a Christian non-profit. Although we were grieving all the goodbyes, I felt ready to … Continue reading Strangers in Covidland
