Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

Oliver Wendall Homes

I have something exciting to share today. The official news, taken from the Intentionally International Instagram page, is that, this summer, our son Andrew and his family are moving back to the United States.

This makes our hearts happy, as it will mean a little more accessibility after all these years living overseas. As of the end of June the A-Team (Andrew, Alicia and Mr. T.) will be based in Midland Michigan, where their commitment to world peace via teaching will continue.

Frequent readers likely remember that Andrew and Alicia first met in Northern Italy – while he was living in Tuscany and she was based in Kyiv (International Love Story Covers Three Continents).

They then made their home together in Vicenza Italy, Tashkent Uzbekistan, Dresden Germany, Manama Bahrain and Krakow Poland. Rebekah and I were privileged to visit them in Italy, Germany, Bahrain and Karkow.

Both Andrew and Alicia have lived abroad the majority of their adult lives. Our grandson, Mr. T., was born in Germany, lived three years in Bahrain, and has completed both Kindergarten and First Grade in Poland.

As a family, the A-Team is/are committed to being intentional internationalists. But making Midland, Michigan home base looks like exactly the right move at this time. It’s where Alicia was raised and her parents still live, it’s where they have been based the past few summers, and it’s the kind of “slice of classic Americana” community that will give the family a close to idyllic setting for the balance of our grandson’s childhood.

Our world travelers are not only bringing a unique set of qualifications to their new jobs in Michigan, but passion, experience and a sense of mission. Both the children and the professionals they work with are going to have their views of the world broadened.

Andrew and Alicia often had more than a dozen nationalities represented in their classrooms. The experience, along with their extensive travels, has given them a perspective their new students will thrive on.

After two decades living in a variety of countries, the United States is more than another stop on the world tour – it is home.

And it is our home too, and for that we are grateful. And, as Paul McCartney put it so lyrically as the credits rolled on Steven Colbert’s last show…. “I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello…”

Always grateful – DEREK

I don’t know why you say, “Goodbye”, I say, “Hello, hello, hello”
I don’t know why you say, “Goodbye”, I say, “Hello, hello, hello”
Hello-ooh!

McCartney