A TCK is a “third culture kid” or a child who has lived a part of their lives in a culture other then their passport culture.
We know many of you love our children dearly and I cannot express deeply enough how much this means to us. Your prayers and concern for them and love for them echoes our own.
I wanted to take a moment to share a bit about what is the same and different for our kids to empower the many of you we will see face to face to love them well.
Our kids are just kids.
They are just like your kids. 
Nothing magical happened to them when they lived in a different continent.
They are sinners desperately in need of grace, from our heavenly Father, their parents and themselves.
They will not be perfect so please don’t expect them to be anything other then kids. We want our children to be free to be kids wherever we go – they will not be perfect children – and we pray that by understanding their imperfections they will be driven to the arms of our loving God.
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Questions relating to home are especially confusing to them. A simple question like, “does it feel good to be home?” can be paralyzing for a child who associates home with a group of ideas rather then a location. Awesome questions are: What did you like best about….? What do you miss most about…? What do you like best about being in here…? etc… They want to be engaged and asked questions but the “home” one we are all still navigating.
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Our kids are hungry for friendships. Please invite us over, lets get together as families, we’d love to come to your birthday party to celebrate you, or join you for a day at the park. Our kids love to do kid things with other kids!
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This next one we feel strongly about, but is not true for every TCK or family that serves overseas. It is best explained this way:
A child whose father is a dentist is not asked to explain how to do root canals or give presentations on dental work…he is just a child whose Dad happens to be a dentist.
While we believe God’s good plan for our children was to live with us and love God with us overseas we don’t want to put them in situations where they are asked to formally present or share unless they want to. Please do not ask them to share at a Sunday school class or in a small group unless you chat with us first. If they want to share about their lives awesome, if they want to blend in to the crowd or are afraid to speak in front of people in that moment awesome, we want to respect their wishes.
Lastly and most importantly. We are so excited to see so many of you, the kids are excited…we know it will be a wonderful time of hearing all that God has done in and through you these past years and we cannot wait.
We know you love our kids and any action of love you give to them is so deeply appreciated and valued, by them and us. We hope this is empowering for you as you interact and can be used as tools to express your love and support in ways that bless us all. With deepest love,
-Abuk
