Danny and I finally get a date night! We went to a Greek resturant in Devenport.
Hello All,
It is Sunday morning in NZ. It is pouring rain and windy. I guess this is the worst winter in the history of NZ!!! We are in the adjustment phase and it is tough at times to say the least.Everything is very different here as I have said. This is going to be a time of perserverence for the Evans Family. Right now Maddi would be on the next plane home if she could. I have spent a lot of time with her explaining that we are going to perservere and learn from this experience. She is very scared here, and lacking confidence. I have never seen this side of her, and I am very glad that I have and know that she needs to learn to adapt to new experiences and not just run. She starts her new school tomorrow. The name of the school is Carmel College. Her and I visited and toured the school and it is awesome. It is much smaller and it is an all girl school. There are several girls from her swim team that go to this school. Her attitude is not the greatest, but she knows she must go and try. My gut feeling as her mom is that once she starts to have girls talk to her and have some normalcy and schedule to her life things will be better for her. I want to teach Maddi that she can do this and to make the best of this situation, and pretty soon she will find she likes it!!!!!
Andy is doing much better than Maddi. I attribute that to his school. His teacher and headmaster (Kiwi for principal) have taken him under their wings and have loved on him. Maddi's school did not do this they just threw her out to fend for herself in a huge place with no clue where to go. The girls that were suppose to show her around did a lousy job. Andy starts basketball tuesday. He tells me he likes Windsor way better, but he is ok with it here and wants to make it work. He is encourging Maddi to try to like it, it is very cute to watch him talk to his sister. Andy is not lacking any confidence here he is his normal cocky self which I love. He misses his friends in our neighborhood especially Spencer. Andy is sharing a room with Ella and is being a good sport about it. We bought him and Ella a bunk bed and they love it. We also bought Andy a scooter and he is having fun with that.
Ella is doing good. She knows she is in a new environment and it pretty clingy with me. She starts preschool tomorrow. She will go 2 times a week from 9:00 to 12:00. The first week they ease her in slowly, with me staying the first day with her and the second day I stay one hour with her and she stays one hour by herself. She is in desperate need of kids her own age so I am excited at the prospect of this school. Pray her anxiety lessens and she enjoys it. She still
calls Laney and Walker everyday on her play phone and has conversations with them it is quite cute. I want to find some play buddies for her. Her schedule has settled down and she is napping and sleeping great. She really is amazing with the change. She has not missed a beat. Aside from being clingy with me she is adapting well.
Danny job is good with very nice people. His learning curve is high as well. We went out on a date last night, and he admitted that this has been harder than he expected. We are relying heavily on each other and are growing closer as we cling to each other and in our faith in God. Our attitudes are good. We have had some bad moments, but know that with time it will get better.
My swimming background is coming in handy, because I realize that we have to work hard, have a good attitude, and like with all hard things not give up and perservere. We went for a long walk on the beach yesterday it is so beautiful here. We started a journal yesterday where as a family we write our feelings, and all the joy and graces God gave us that day. Keep praying for us and know that we are doing well even though it has been hard lately.
Love,
Suzy
