Two Lists

It has been interesting to walk through this transition with Eli and Evan. In general, they have both been very hyper. Most of the time they seem to be having fun, but Eli, especially, seems to have some underlying sadness some of the time. I heard him saying to Evan, "I wish we lived in Goshen. Do you feel sad?" About a little boy in his Sunday School class he said, "Logan's so lucky because his grandma is his Sunday School teacher." Friday we were with another group of moms and kids. He said he had fun, but both boys seems somewhat sad on the way home from that event. And when I referred to a boy there as Eli's friend, he corrected me, "He's not my friend." Yesterday his new church friends were not at church. After church Eli threw a huge fit about how I cheated racing in from the car. He punched me really hard. When I sent him to his room he was furious, slamming things around. When I went into his room to talk to him, I acknowledged that this church probably isn't as much fun for him as Siloam. As he cried, he said, "I miss my friends."

I have my own sadness and feelings of being somewhat lost to deal with, but I think it's good for me that I need to focus on Eli and Evan so much. I know I can't take away their sadness, even though I would love to. But I can try to help them deal with it and to find the happy things here. So this afternoon during Evan's nap, Eli and I sat down over "cappuccino" and made two lists. First we listed things Eli misses about living in Goshen. Here's what he came up with:

My buddies

Grandma & Grandpa and Nana & Papa

Our old house

Our downstairs

Dad's workshop

Our neighbors

 

This is the list we came up with of the good things in Canada:

Going fishing

That Grandma & Grandpa got to be here and that Nana & Papa get to come today

When my friends come and have sleep-overs with me. (I think a future hope)

The toy library

"That we bringed our tractors"

The yard- That it's bigger than our other yard

Living by Kendra (the other renter in this duplex. We love having her here.)

Caleb and his brothers (from church)

Vacation Bible School

That Mom stays home with him and goes to Bible School with him

The beach

Then he concluded his list by saying, "I like this little town- all of it that I sawn."

 

My personal lists would both be longer. Maybe I'll go into that sometime. And I feel hopeful that the second list will keep getting longer as time goes on.