Transitions

Getting Settled

Family, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

As I am writing this, I am looking at all the boxes stacked around me that still need to be unpacked.  It’s a familiar scene. Last Saturday, we moved into our third house in two years. We’re hoping to stay in this one for awhile. “Home” has become very relative to me over the last two years. I feel like I have several homes… and no home. “Home” is where I live now, in El Salvador. “Home” is also Maryland where I grew up and where my family lives, and “home” is Pennsylvania where I lived for the last ten years before moving to El Salvador. I don’t feel completely at home here, but I know if I returned to the States, I wouldn’t feel at home there either. But […]

Good-bye Bailey

Family, Our Animals, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

On this blog, we write about what it is like for our family to be living and working in El Salvador. We share the daily ups and downs, and our thoughts on the whole thing. Well, our life has been a bit interrupted this week. One of our beloved dogs died yesterday afternoon. Bailey became sick with kidney failure very suddenly on Saturday, and yesterday we had to put her to sleep. Bailey was my dog, and I first met her when she was just two weeks old. She just turned 8 in June. We were expecting more years with her, and it just comes as a shock to us that she is gone. When we moved to El Salvador, we couldn’t imagine leaving our dogs behind so they made […]

Let the Packing Begin

Transitions -

So, apparently we’re moving. We live in a great house, with a great view, a great landlord, and a great avocado tree. But we were given an opportunity that we just couldn’t pass up. We have friends just up the volcano from our current home who offered us the chance to rent a house on their property for a very reasonable rate. The pros are many: more outdoor space, a more functional kitchen, and a little path where hopefully the kids can finally learn how to ride a bike without training wheels! But now we have to do the endless packing, cleaning, organizing, and reorganizing necessary to move a family of four (plus two dogs!) up a volcano. I hate it because I get sentimentally attached to every home we […]

I’m Not a Gringo!

Crossing Cultures, Family, Thinking About God, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

For those of you know my son Ian, you know he doesn’t talk a whole lot. He’s a quiet kid, and nowhere near as outgoing as his big sis.  But when he does speak, he makes it count for something. Today a man stopped by the YWAM base. Ian went with Judy, one of the other staff members, to answer the front gate. The man asked Ian where he was from. His response was classic Ian, “Yo no soy un gringo, soy salvadoreño!” The English translation is, “I’m not a gringo (that means American by the way) , I’m Salvadoran!” Because in his mind he is. And of course he had to be forceful because he’s sick of people thinking he’s American because El Salvador is his home, darn it! Anyway, […]

Another Perspective

Prayer, Transitions, Urban Ministry, YWAM -

We have been doing this whole cross-cultural missionary thing for almost a year and a half now. Sometimes it feels like forever, and sometimes it feels like just weeks and like I’m still the “new kid.” This past weekend we had the privilege of hearing the perspectives of three individuals who have been doing this for a whole lot longer than us! We spent Saturday as a training day with some of the YWAM Central America leaders. The Central American director was there as well as another couple who are part of the leadership committee that is over all the Central American bases. The couple, who are American, stayed at our home. I loved hearing their stories of 30 years of ministry spent in first Guatemala, and then Nicaragua. I like hearing from those on […]

A Pair of Ducks

Crossing Cultures, Family, Third Culture Kids, Training, Transitions -

My life can be described as a pair of ducks…uh, that is, a paradox. We had a lesson about this way back in our cross-cultural training last fall.  To illustrate the great paradox of a life lived in two worlds, our teacher brought in two ducks. The “yuck” duck, and the “yeah” duck. These ducks were borrowed from our kids’ classes were they were learning about this ever-present “pair of ducks” which was an appopriate way to teach them about paradoxes. Since then our family has often referred to the “yuck” and “yeah” ducks when talking about our cross-cultural experiences. Right now we are right in between that pair of ducks as we re-enter our daily routine in El Salvador. The “yeah duck” is that we are back to our house […]

Home For The Holidays????

Crossing Cultures, Discovery, Family, Holidays, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

I realize that my blogging has been a bit scarce lately as we have been spending the holidays in the States visiting family and getting a little vacation from El Salvador. We spent a week and a half in the Baltimore area with my family, and we are now beginning to wrap up a week and a half in Pittsburgh visiting friends and family here. This whole experience of being “home” has been a very strange one for our family. This is the first time we have been back to the States since we moved to El Salvador and I know that we will need to get used to living among worlds, but it’s been strange nonetheless. A few little observations of “reverse culture shock” have been noticed. For one thing, […]

One Year Ago Today…

Crossing Cultures, Language Learning, Life in El Salvador, Thinking About God, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

On this day last year, I remember stepping out of the airport into the bright Salvadoran sun. I remember blinking my eyes, looking around, and feeling  shell-shocked. I remember turning to my friend who picked us up from the airport and saying, “I can’t believe we actually went through with it!” That was a year ago today. The best thing that I can compare our first year in El Salvador to is my first roller coaster ride. I made the choice to get on it, not knowing what to expect. The twists and turns were terrifying, yet thrilling at the same time. And that’s what it’s like to cross-cultures. To be honest, this year has been really rough. We have missed our families terrribly, and I have particularly missed my […]

Expect the Unexpected

Crossing Cultures, Life in El Salvador, Thinking About God, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

Right now I am experiencing something that I never expected to experience in El Salvador. I am experiencing cold! I am shivering, wrapped in a sweater, and drinking hot tea just to stay warm! What the heck? I moved to the tropics to get away from the cold…so unexpected! And yet here we are digging through closets for all the sweaters and blankets we can find and just trying to stay warm. Temperatures are a very windy upper 50s at night which is downright cold in a concrete house with no insulation. I find myself once again surprised by El Salvador, as I have been time and time again. One thing I have learned living here is to expect the unexpected. Every week seems to bring some new, random situation. […]

What Can We Do Better?

Crossing Cultures, Thinking About God, Transitions -

Many of you who know me well already know this fact about me: I like to self-examine and reflect a lot. I often find myself asking the question, “How can we do this better?” Many of you have often been on the receiving end of my famous “…and here’s how I think you can do better.” My self-reflective attitude can lead to a lot of negative thinking, discontent, and general criticism of myself and others. I could go on for a significant amount of time about this internal struggle, but I’ll save that for another day. So, what’s my point you may ask? Well, my point is that every year on or around my birthday I tend to reflect on the previous year and ask myself, “Danielle, what could you […]

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