Two years ago we had the opportunity to share our home with a young man from Poland. Daniel stayed with us for about a month and simply became a member of the family.
This past week he came again for five days. We loved the time spent with him. We continue to help him with his English and he blesses us with his cooking and his conversation.
He is my Polish son and he says that I am his American mother.
In my book, My Hearts at Home, I talk about the value of home being a cultural center. In an effort to help our kids understand the world around them, we have to bring the world to them in whate
ver ways we can.
Hosting Daniel, and then last year his brother Irek, did that for my kids.
Exploring our son, Kolya’s, Russian heritage is another way we do that.
And sponsoring a Compassion child is yet a third way Mark and I intentionally make our home a cultural center.
What about you? How do you make your home a cultural center?
Through our kids, we learn so much. Our oldest daughter is now friends with some amazing Russian Christian girls she meet that have come here from the Ukraine with their families. The things we have learned from them and through their faith has taught us to be more appreciative for what we have here in the US with regards to our faith.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
I was just talking to my husband in the last week about needing to expose our children more to international people and cultures! I was feeling a bit like a failure so thank you for listing Compassion sponsorship as a way to do this. We sponsor 3 children in Uganda and it is definitely opening our eyes to how spoiled we are.
International missionaries and MKs (missionary kids) are also a good resource for learning about other cultures.
If you live in a college town, some universities have great programs where international students can have a host family – you take them out in the community, dinner at your house, meet for coffee, etc. Since we don't have the money to travel the world, we bring the world home! We have had students from Pakistan, Phillipines, Thailand, Germany, Saudia Arabia, Korea, Japan, Lebanon share their cultures with us and our 2 daughters. We've hosted Muslims, Christians, Buddists, atheists, agnostics, etc. even though we ourselves are Christians. This summer we had our daughter's friend here from England for 10 days. I now have a British daughter! Karen was a Christian and it was such a blessing! When I got lost traveling to take her to Arthur and Arcola she prayed then the next thing we saw was a church in the middle of nowhere with a sign that said STAY THE COURSE! We laughed and praised God for that! I encourage everyone to help an international student!