I became a New Zealand citizen!!

I was very excited to finally finish the paperwork and do what it takes to become a New Zealand citizen. After being sworn in with the mayor we hosted a party - hard to believe we've only been here 8 years and made so many lovely dear friends. The party would have been even bigger but unfortunately my running friends, of which there are many, couldn't join us because they also had a celebration on that same evening. We are so grateful to our little community for welcoming us in and being so supportive all these years. At the end of this post I've included the speech I gave at the party. 

Thank you so much for coming to celebrate this momentous occasion with me. You lovely people have been so welcoming from the minute we arrived here in New Zealand a little over eight years ago.

I remember meeting Fleur for the first time and realizing just how small Wellington/Karori really is. We had met Alison and Pippa at ballet and Alison was graciously helping us by being a friend in what was a tough transition to our new lives. She mentioned that Fleur lived up the street and had girls about the same age as mine and that we should meet. Very soon after that Fleur herself approached us while we were at Ben Burn park and introduced herself and said “You must be Dawn”. At the time I was gobsmacked that she had worked that out so easily  - but now I see how much we probably stood out being loud American homeschoolers! And here I thought I was blending in. Fleur immediately invited us over for afternoon tea and from there we hit the ground running thanks to the Sheppard and Hogg families.

I soon became a part of Fleur and Alison’s swimming group, the “Monday Morning Ladies”. I will NEVER forget how terrified I was the first time I joined them . . . togs, swimming, Steve  – and it wasn’t just ladies swimming . . . it was all a bit much and I only survived because of the promise of coffee after. Being a part of that group has been one of the highlights of my life here. There is no world or family problem that we cannot solve at Gipp St on a Monday morning.

Our camping buddies are another huge part of our lives here. It’s been so much fun all these years watching our children grow up together - I would have never imagined that I would come to love camping, and we certainly didn’t have much experience at it as evidenced by the fact that we still cannot put our tents up by ourselves and invariably our car battery dies after blowing up all of our air mattresses and being opened and closed a thousand times - but you lot have carried us through and we’re so privileged to be raising our family with you beside us. I am thankful for how your lovely children have befriended my girls and brought so much adventure, fun, acceptance and love into our lives.  And our adult friendships have been the family I don’t have here – thank you.

When we finally took the plunge and stopped homeschooling our girls we chose Marsden for them and have gained so many lovely friends from being part of the Marsden community. You all have been so gracious as you have loved on our girls and we’ve been through a lot together as we navigate these years – you’ve given us grace when we needed it and your girls have been incredible friends to our girls.  And a super big thank you to those of you who helped me with my first ever Gala convener job last year - there is no way I could have pulled that off without you.

Our little family has been through some real ups and downs in our eight plus years here – the highs have been high but the lows have been very low and we have been so blessed by all of your friendships. You’ve sustained us through the deaths of Lloyd and Hugh and Margaret. You’ve celebrated with us too – I am so moved and honoured by so many of you being there for my children as family at birthdays, baptisms, school plays and the like. It means more to us than you will ever know.

So thank you – I’m really blessed and proud to be a citizen here in this great country I love so much. I’m glad you haven’t built a wall. But seriously, I’m even more grateful for each of you and it has been a privilege to call you friends. So here’s to you! Cheers.