Raising kiddos on the mission field

Raising kiddos on the mission field.

There’s a lot of negatives to this theme that I could go into – such as gymnastics and tee ball and Fathers Day baseball games missed. But instead I want to share a few neat things that I’m getting to experience with my kids lately because they are growing up on the mission field.

Language: It’s one of the first things people ask me – ‘how’s their Spanish?’ My response is that they can understand well but don’t speak much. Maddy, now 6, has recently realized that it’s cool to be bi-lingual so she’s trying harder. And I’m realizing that she knows way more words than I thought! The other night I was reading a bedtime book in Spanish to them and Maddy started translating it for Ali. Ali on the other hand asked me to ‘read it as you are Mommy’ (in English) and then proceeded to tell me that ‘cherry’ in Spanish is “cheerioso’ – as you can see, she’s not that into it. We have been working hard to be more intentional with having kids over to play which has also helped their Spanish – the language doesn’t hold them back from playing. 

The gap: Last week in the car Maddy commented that her friend needed shoes because her only shoes were too small tennis’ that the girl slips in her toes but her heels hang out.  It’s true – I had noticed as well. The day before we had been organizing our girls shoes – all of them – the tennis shoes, church shoes, sandals, rain boots, and water shoes.  What a drastic comparison. She saw it. How do I explain to Maddy why she has a lot of shoes while her friend has not one properly fitting pair of shoes?  Honestly I don’t know how to explain that very ugly gap. But what I do know how to explain is that we have a part to play: generosity. When we got home, we picked out a pair of Maddy’s shoes and walked to her friends house. In Maddy’s sweet 6 year old innocence, she happily handed the bag over to her friend with not one ounce of pity or self-righteousness, but instead with joy of giving.  Our kids are getting to experience loving generously.

Missionary kids: The church we attend is very missional –both in the city of Comayagua and even internationally. That’s pretty humbling seeing as we’re missionaries here to their country – I hope we represent the idea of missions well to our church. This month the emphasis was on missions – and Maddy & Ali came home talking about missionaries and asking what they were. Hm… I guess we should talk about that more and help them realize they are missionaries. Since they were born here, this is just normal life – it’s not a sacrifice or an oddity (at least not yet). The fact that this is where they identify as ‘home’ brings me peace and also makes me a little sad that their home country is not my home country.  They have this very neat bi-cultural perspective of 2 normals. 

I’m proud of my kids. They have a big view of the world. They find snake skins in our garage (don’t worry mom, we didn’t find the snake) and are learning about making larva for sustainable chicken food. (weird I know but hey, it’s learning right?) Sigel translates when he’s able. Maddy loves VBS’s and Ali absolutely loves beans and tortillas :) And more than anything, I pray that their hearts will be formed choosing to love others.