The Exodus

So it's that time of year again. We are experiencing for the 2nd time, although this year with more appreciation for it, the yearly expat exodus. If you don't live abroad you might not even know what the word "expat" means. I sure didn't before we moved here. The formal word is expatriate and basically means a person living outside of their home country.

I come from a nice spot in Pennsylvania. Growing up, I never lived more than 15 minutes from both sets of my grandparents. Sometimes we even lived with them :-) My aunts, uncles, and cousins were mostly all within an hour drive. I went to a small private school and was with many of the same kids from Kindergarten through 12th grade, a few I even went to college with. We always attended the same church with the same familiar faces. I still know some of my next-door-neighbors from the house we spent most of our childhood in. Of course people came and went, but it was not the norm. For the most part I had the expectation that the people in my life were there to stay.

I have now entered a new world with a new normal. It will take some getting used to for me. We now live in a foreign country, in a community of "expats". Since none of us live in our "passport country", our lives here really aren't permanent. Our families don't live nearby (with some strange exceptions :-), this isn't our native language, or our native culture. People move globally for all sorts of reasons; schooling, jobs, relationships, callings, adventure. Whatever the reason, it probably isn't permanent. People in our community are very mobile often moving cities and countries, only staying in one location for a year or two at a time. And now is that time: springtime is the time when people decide what comes next for them. Will they stay another year? Will they offered a visa renewal? Do they want a job, a new adventure? Should they find a new school for their kids? Are they tired of being so far from home?

We have already begun the goodbyes. One friend left for America, and the moving will just continue. Some friends to different cities, some to different countries. We are joining the fray and moving cities. Thankfully our move isn't very far so we will be able to keep in touch with our friends that stay here. I have realized however what a different life from me my children will have. In their short 3 1/2 and 2 year old lives this will be their 3rd home, in their 3rd city and their 2nd country. I looked around and realized that aside from us (by God's grace) my children may never be able to count on the consistent presence of anyone else. I wonder how that will affect them. We listened to a fantastic lecture by Libby Stevens in the fall that opened up my eyes to some of the things my children will face as Third Culture Kids. We have only begun to scratch the surface, and as they grow so will our understanding of this world they will come to experience as normal. They will never be normal in this culture. They will always be the outsiders. No matter how long we live here they will never be Chinese. They will always be the outsiders who fit best in a culture made up of continual change.


This scares me, and many nights I lay awake wondering what this type of life will do to my children. I hope that it will make them brave and strong, and create in them a fantastic global understanding of cultures and societies different from their own. I hope that it will make them realize they are able to live anywhere and do anything, and that they can make friends and find a home no matter where they find themselves. I fear that it will make them isolated, afraid, and unable to trust. Thankfully I am not raising my children to be citizens of any particular country, and above all else, I hope all of this constant transition teaches them, as it is me, that their only real home is in Heaven. No matter what their passport says or where they have lived the longest, their only lasting citizenship will be in Heaven with the only person they can truly count on for stability in this crazy world, their Heavenly Father. I hope that is what they walk away with from this unconventional upbringing, a true sense of hope and trust in their forever home. I will be learning right along with them.