“Where are you from?” must be the hardest question ever answered. I’ve stumbled over it all my life. Am I from where I was born? Am I from my parents’ and grandparents’ country of origin? Am I from where I grew up (both places)? Am I from where I lived last? Am I from where I live now? I’m actually chuckling a bit as I write this, thinking of how many times I’ve answered this question.

I’m blessed to have a multi-cultural heritage {although my childhood didn’t necessarily reflect that.} There’s a splash of England and Germany in my grandparents’ history. I was born in Virginia, and spent part of my childhood in Pennsylvania and the rest of it in North Carolina. Upon marrying a native North Carolinian, we moved almost immediately to Nova Scotia, Canada in the fall of 2005.

Culture shock? Definitely. But not like we thought it would be. No big bang as soon as we hit northern soil. No shock of a lifetime or thoughts of “Where are we and what have we done?” Just the slow but sure trickle down effect of noticing over time how different things were, coping with the loneliness of not knowing anyone in the new country, adapting to the culture of our new homeland, and making our own pathway in life, with no family nearby to bail us out when things got tough.

As we’ve pioneered our family through the immigration process, I’ve been immensely thankful that we had no paperwork for our children. They are Canadian citizens by birth. And as soon as they could go 15 minutes without a feed, we carted them off to Halifax to the United States Consulate, where in a matter of hours and a few papers {and a fine chunk of money, of course}, our cherubs became instant American citizens.

My children~ dual citizens. That’s the coveted position that my husband and I have been waiting for for almost 8 years, and now it’s so close we can touch it. We’ll soon be like our kids! 🙂

If I’ve said it once, I’ve thought it a thousand times:

I’m so glad I’m raising my children in a foreign country.

{Maybe you’re thinking, “Canada’s not a foreign country!” Yes, yes it is. Just because we share a border with the USA doesn’t mean we have all that much in common. And after all, the term “foreign” is relative, depending on where you actually live.}

So what are the benefits of raising children internationally?

1. Children raised internationally learn to see themselves as part of a bigger picture.

It’s like the difference between using a zoom lens and a panoramic setting. It’s part of our nature to zoom in on us, where we live, who we know, what we do, etc. Children need to be taught to see far and wide beyond their own scope of surroundings. They need to learn at an early age that there’s a world out there. There’s something bigger than just them. Growing up in a different country certainly presents an advantage to this concept.

2. Children raised internationally can help others adapt to cultural differences.

I call it amazing how my children have helped me adapt to living in another country, even though I got here first. International living is all they know. And so they teach me to look beyond the way I was raised, and where I was raised, to the very different life in front of me. It’s not different to them- it’s normal. {And the flip side of this point is #1 above.}  So I willingly tag along as they pick up the French language with ease, suffer when it’s 21 degrees {that’s about 70 F.}, use Chinese phrases mixed in with English {learned from their Chinese Nan}, and recite their multi-cultural friends’ names perfectly. And the longer we are in Canada, the more Canadian I feel, think, am. Thank you, Small Son and Tiny Daughter.

3.Children raised internationally help shape their future generations via the snowball effect of multi-cultural experiences and heritage.

Take this USA raised guy and girl and give them Canadian children. Canadian children learn USA culture from Dad and Mom. Dad and Mom give said Canadian children multi-cultural experiences through study and hands-on activities, missions exposure, and traveling. The end result? While I am more multi-cultural than my parents are, my children have the potential to be far more multi-cultural than I ever could hope to be. And my grandchildren could take it even farther. See what the snowball effect can do?

It is no secret that folks with an expanded world view make stronger citizens, leaders, church members, community advocates, etc. Ironically,  the strongest members of an organization are not the ones who have been there all their lives. The strongest are the ones who have come from away, because they bring with them an experienced, expanded and practical world view. They’ve been out of their comfort zones and have seen the world with their own eyes. They often develop a great burden for missions because they have allowed themselves to be affected by the needs of the people around the world…needs for the Gospel most importantly, and physical needs secondarily.

So where am I from? I’m happy to not be able to answer that question, and I hope that in the future it will get even harder to answer.  After all, it’s not just about kids.  As adults we should be continually sharpening and expanding our world view, thereby exploding the opportunities to be used by God during our small slot on His timeline.

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