10 December 2014

Your questions answered, part 1

Thank you to those who asked questions :)

Amy asked, "What's your favorite color?"
I go through phases and currently I'm drawn to anything in the turquoise / aqua range.

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Lyn asked, "How do you adapt to moving especially to another country? I am in awe of you and your family as you all seem to have adjusted so well."
A fair enough question, but you might be disappointed by my answer - I've perhaps made it look easy here on my blog, but it certainly hasn't been. I had heard repeatedly, "It takes two years to settle into a new country," and it took every last day of those two years, plus more, before I felt like this was my home, as much as I absolutely fell in love with New Zealand when we first moved here.

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And while I do feel more settled now, it's been a very long, hard road, with adrenal fatigue, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (an incurable auto-immune disease), PTSD, and counseling along the way, that I'm still dealing with. The stressful and unsettled two years prior to our moving here; leaving precious friends and family in England; the 3 months without our belongings as they were being shipped over; the 4 and a half months of Grant being away at training college shortly after we arrived in NZ; the three months of back-to-back houseguests; the landlord selling the house we were renting, forcing us to move after only being in the country 16 months; all of these things brought me to my knees and resulted in permanent health damage, as well as emotional scars.

It's kind of become a joke in our family that if there's an easy way and a hard way that things can go, it will go the hard way for us. It's uncanny.

BUT it was all worth it, and I still wonder in gratitude at our good fortune to be able to live in New Zealand. We are so much happier here. The last few years have been an intense growth spurt in terms of personal development, along with the agonising growing pains inherent in the process. Every trial brings its own blessing. I'm so grateful to have come out the other side with a little more wisdom and experience, and with our family closer than ever.

To answer the question of how we adapt, my answer would be:
- with faith and prayer
- with meaningful friendships and support along the way
- with whatever professional help we need (counseling, kinesiology, and holistic doctors have helped me)
- by making a commitment when we make the move - no back-and-forth for us; when we leave it's for good, and when we settle it's with the intention of making a home for ourselves and embracing our new country


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