Fitness, nutrition and health are all concepts we sometimes understand, sometimes embrace and sometimes are confounded by. Join me for a conversation with 3 foreign service women who are "fit" and also looking for answers.

Long talk with 4 FS women about fitness, nutrition, stress relief, menopause, FS life and times zones.

Participants: Hillery Midkiff, Lisa Tilstra (of Make Life Less Difficult), Morgan Loosli, Susie Csorsz Brown

If you are a Foreign Service family, and you're about to send your kiddo off to university, you might have some questions about how that travel can happen, and if there are allowances that support that. As a matter of fact, there are! The allowances are not always easy to understand and are open to interpretation by your Finance and Management Officers, so be sure to have that conversation with them so you fully understand their interpretations.

Plan ahead, have your kiddo get their items ready, and let's prepare for a successful send-off to university!

Having the opportunity to take an R&R is phenomenal. Some destinations can be more rewarding and enjoyable than others, though. Here are 4 Women Talking (Morgan Loosli, Hillery Midkiff, Lisa Tilstra, and myself) sharing our top R&Rs destinations and briefly why (top 2 each) and suggestions to help make R&R or extended vacation actually enjoyable and relaxing.

Friends, no one likes packing out from their home. It's stressful, emotionally draining, and just tiresome. Some suggestions to make it maybe a little less awful, some funny (I think) pack-out stories, and hopefully some advice that will be useful to get through the process. And don't forget the best part about packing out: the tape ball war once the boxes are all stacked up and all that is left is empty space and the ends of the tape rolls!

What can we do for employment, to connect to our (new) community, to keep doing things that are meaningful? And yes, absolutely, parenting and contributions to home life are 100% meaningful but sometimes we want things outside the house, too, right? Join me for a conversation with Lelania Van de Berg, one of my favorite sweat session instructors, and we talk about what you can do outside of the "traditional" job options.

Here we are, in our 8th tour, and we still make dumb rookie mistakes. Don't be like us, learn from our experience. A house break-in is not just aggravating because you lose stuff, but more, it wreaks havoc on your peace of mind and sense of security.

Join me for a conversation with my fellow Big Purple Blobbers, Angi, Lisa and Sharoya, talking about our start up stories, joining the FS and our a-ha moments. What's your start-up story?

Join Sharoya and I for a conversation with Megan Norton, a TCK herself, sharing an opportunity she has created for connecting with and sharing your story and your FS experience.

“Letters Now Sent” Book Invitation:

You are invited to submit a written piece for the book, “Letters Now Sent.” Inspired by Ruth Van Reken's book "Letters Never Sent", "Letters Now Sent" will be a collection of letters from TCKs, parents of TCKs, and system leaders to share personal stories about their experiences with TCKs/being a TCK themself/raising TCKs. This book is a fusion of both memoir and anthology written in a specific "Dear ___[name]___" format. Here is the Google Form link to submit a letter with additional details about length and content prompts: https://forms.gle/jQyzq3TtFqfyznvCA. The deadline to submit a letter is April 1, 2025 and the book will be launched at Ruth Van Reken's 80th birthday celebration on Saturday, July 26, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Families in Global Transition is hosting this Global Gathering event. Registration is open to all. Please contact Megan Norton (megancnorton@gmail.com) if you have any questions about this book project.

“A Work of Heart” Book Invitation:

“A Work of Heart”, a project led by Simona Wiig and Megan Norton, invites any individual who has had a Third Culture experience to submit their artwork expressions depicting their cross-cultural story for the first volume of art collections (including any visual rendering, song lyrics, poetry, videography, etc.) for and by CCKs/TCKs/migrants/global nomads/whatever ‘label’ that encompasses the Third Culture experience. Both Simona Wiig and Megan Norton are creators, artists, dreamers, and Adult TCKs who desire to showcase the Third Culture experience through visual artwork created by fellow friends who have grown up crossing-cultures. Submissions are due by May 1, 2025 for Volume 1. Please contact Megan Norton (megancnorton@gmail.com) if you have any questions about this book project.