It's Tea Time Somewhere

At the time of recording this episode, we had not released a podcast episode or posted ANYTHING on Taking Route for a solid nine months. Denise, Melissa, and Alicia certainly didn’t intend to go dark for so long, but we just so happened to all go through pretty intense seasons of life all at the same time. So, for this episode, we thought it might be a good idea to catch up with

A quick Google search of “culture stress” will inform you there are phases to this phenomenon. One source summarizes it with the following four phases: fun, flight, fight, and fit. It’s important for you to know that EVERYONE experiences cultural stress to some degree while living in a foreign context. Knowing this fact and being aware of the phases of culture stress will he

Are you thinking about moving to another country and wondering if you’re cut out for the expat life? If so, you’ll want to listen to this episode ASAP! If you’re a current expat, you’ll still want to listen because who among us has not continued to question if we’re cut out for this life? 😅🥴🤪 In this episode, we’ll discuss reasons NOT to move to another countr

In this episode, we’re celebrating the latest release of Liturgies and Laments for the Sojourner: Volume One, co-authored by Heather Fallis, Tamika Rybinski, and our very own Alicia Boyce. This book is the perfect companion for anyone who finds themselves living the life of a foreigner. It’s also a great resource for friends and family to reference when they want to pray more

Most of us are probably familiar with the book, “Where There Is No Doctor.” It’s a medical manual available in more than 85 languages and provides practical, easily understood information on how to diagnose, treat, and prevent common injuries and illnesses. Of course, nowadays, folks are more likely to consult Google, WebMD, or send a quick WhatsApp message to their doctor f

In this episode, we’re doing our second round of “ask us anything.” We didn’t have time to cover all the questions, but we do discuss boundaries, hosting guests, our expat marriages, advice for our first year selves, emotional/mental health, and the most interesting gifts we received from our host culture friends. We also give some rapid-fire answers to questions about boo

We thought it might be time to do another Christmas episode since our last one was in the Year of Our Lord 2020. This time, we’re taking a look at the story of the birth of Jesus from Mary’s perspective. At first glance, we might not feel like we can relate to MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS THE MESSIAH. But we know she was a sojourner—an expat, if you will. So for this episode of It�

We don’t claim to be experts in this department, by any means, but we do have some experience with raising TCKs. You can treat this episode like a buffet line—take what you like, pass on the things you don’t. As Melissa said in this episode, “You’re smart parents. I’m sure you can figure out which ones to do and which ones to don’t." Ultimately, we hope you feel enco

It’s been awhile since we’ve gathered for some tea time chatter, so we thought we’d spend an entire episode sharing stories from our life lately. For starters, we’ll be talking about ghost fish, roach infestations, and dengue. But we’ll also be talking about tattoos, hermit crabs, and what to do when life hands you a fish in a bag. Pour yourself a warm beverage because we

What is rest? What does it look like—especially for those of us whose personal lives blend right into our work/ministry lives? How can we tell if we’re just exhausted or if we’ve tipped over into burnout or depression? These are a few of the questions we discuss in this second segment of “do’s and don’ts.” Don’t forget to check out our show notes for this episode fo