I grew up in a muscial family. My father played guitar, he and my mom were both singers, and all of us took piano lessons. It was not unusual for us to do impromptu shows or to break into song throughout the day. I loved growing up around music – both listening to it and creating it.   Earlier this year I went to Idea Camp and stayed in a house with about 16 other friends. Some of the guys brought guitar and every evening we had a sing-along. It reminded me of how much fun music is, and . . .

There has been a lot of talk in the past week about the race of Santa, as a Fox News anchor had an on-air rant about the “fact” that Santa (and Jesus) are both white. Now, Santa is a fictional character who lives in the North Pole, and last I heard Jesus was from the Middle East. Santa’s race seems like it could be a fluid thing that could change based on context. Jesus’s . . .  not so much. Though judging  by the preponderance of blond Jesus pictures I saw in my childhood, it seems . . .

The Third Culture Kid’s Struggle To Fit In | Paige Porter For Djibouti Jones I would need to play along like music and football are important to me too. I would need to pretend I care about the things they care about and stay quiet when ignorant or hurtful things are said about the poor about the minority or about the hurting. I would not be free to explain my heart and the things I’ve learned to love because of my beloved third-world country that raised me. The thing is, it feels to me like . . .

I've written before about how hard it is to balance all of my kids' activities. My kids are involved in music lessons, dance, chess club, scouts, and sports, and it's hard to keep everyone going in extra-circulars without sacrificing quality family time (and downtime). I've found this to be particularly true with sports. Previously, having each of the kids in a sport has meant that we have four kids on four different teams, usually translating to multiple nights of practice. And then don't even . . .

One of the traditions that is a part of our holiday season is getting a family portrait taken. I’m sentimental about family portraits. Since I’m usually the one behind the camera, it’s rare that I get photos of myself with the kids. I love that hiring someone gives us a series of pictures as a family together, and captures that stage in time. This year, I hired Kristin Rogers to take our photos. I’ve been a longtime fan of her work on instagram and was thrilled to find out she is local to me. . . .