Hello from the Eggman's! Jesse's recovery from surgery is nearing completion and he is very happy to be enjoying exercise and mobility again! He just finished another semester of full-time classes and is happy to have maintained a 4.0-grade average. He is thoroughly enjoying his classes and has learned a lot, much of which he has already been able to put into good use. In fact, the main portion of this update is made up entirely from the things he has learned through his studies and school assignments. Sara continues to manage our household very well even as she leads a children's class at our church and continues working on behalf of MK's all over the globe. Makai has learned so much in the past year and is getting ready to graduate Pre-K which he is very excited about. We are currently enjoying a season of birthdays. Jesse turned 34 on April 6th and Amelia followed shortly after by turning 1 on April 17th. Makai just turned 6 on May 9th and now we are looking forward to Sara's 30th birthday on July 6th which we will get to celebrate while doing missions work in Cyprus this Summer. Our summer is full of many wonderful things. Jesse is currently in a short 2-week summer course. After he finishes in May we will be doing some partner development and then will be heading to Jacksonville, FL for Go To Nation's Leadership Development Summit. After the Summit, we will be flying to Cyprus to work with some of GTN's amazing missionaries for about 5 1/2 weeks before returning to Texas. After we get settled back in, Jesse plans on going into full-time partner building until our funding is where it needs to be for our mission at hand. Many of you will probably be hearing from him as he makes his way around the States updating our current partners and working to build new partnerships. He is very much looking forward to getting to spend some time with those he can! 

While many people know that MK stands for Missionary Kid, many less know what TCK stands for or what it means. The book Third Culture Kids defines a Third Culture Kid (TCK) as "a person who spends a significant part of his or her first eighteen years of life accompanying parent(s) into a country that is different from at least one parent’s passport country(ies)". This traditionally means kids who accompany their parents to one or more foreign nations for significant amounts of time for work, education, or religious purposes. TCKs grow into adults (ATCKs) who are characterized by their experiences and share many unique characteristics not found in individuals who grow up in one place or within their parent's passport country. In some circles, TCKs and ATCKs are called Global Nomads. The reason this interests us so much is that MKs who spend any significant amount of time overseas are TCKs who grow into ATCKs. There are many unique challenges and benefits to being a TCK/ATCK which mean that there are many unique challenges and benefits to being an MK. 

While the wonderful experiences and benefits of children experiencing foreign cultures are often emphasized, few realize the challenging psychological trials and aftermath associated with or caused by the experience of growing up as a TCK (MK). TCK’s developmental years are quite different from the norm. Most TCKs are raised in a highly mobile world since their parents tend to move around a lot for work. One of the most permanent things in the life of a TCK can be impermanence. TCKs have a culture in their house that is different than the culture outside their house. As such, TCKs grow up in a  world in which it is normal to transition between cultures multiple times every day.

Because TCK's are so good at adaptation and blending in,  they are often adept at hiding their pain and discomfort and are often able to give off the surface appearance of being ok even when they are not. TCKs go through lots of hard challenges, but those challenges work for them in the formation of some of their most beneficial characteristics.