Top 5 reasons to have family visit you in another country:

5: They can bring you things that can't pass through the post's customs, like prescription-strength acne medication which you have been scrounging for the past month for fear of what your face will become without it...

4: If they go on a tour and find something and think of you, they'll buy it as a gift. Even though, really, you should be buying them the souvenirs.

3: They'll tell you how much you've changed, and it'll all feel so good. ("You do look skinnier!"/"You've lost your MN accent!"/etc., etc...)

2: Your mum will make sure you're fed, no matter what.

1: It really does open your eyes to how big God made the world, yet He's bigger; how surreal life is, yet He's so real; how time can fly so quickly, though He's unchanging.

Northern Irish family, meet my Minnesotan family.