Hurricane evacuee Brittney Ladner cried when she landed in Hawai'i.

For a month, she said, she struggled with the emotions of being torn from home, family and friends.

Time — along with new friends and a new school — has helped the Mississippi teen ease the pain of her losses.

Brittney, 16, her mom and two brothers were among dozens of evacuees who made their way to Hawai'i after Katrina struck Aug. 29.

After two months in the Islands, many of the Gulf Coast evacuees have settled into a daily routine, and others are trying to make a new life here. All said they are grateful to the many people who made it possible to heal from the devastation they left behind.

LONG WAY FROM HOME

The Ladners arrived in Hawai'i Aug. 30, not knowing that their home of 10 years in Diamondhead, Miss., was destroyed by floodwaters and wind. Brittney's father, Morgan, remained behind to help in the rescue efforts after the storm, and tried to pick up the pieces. Lisa Ladner's parents live in 'Aiea and she was born in Honolulu.

Being separated from friends and not knowing what happened to her home were particularly difficult, Brittney said.

"There's an ocean between me and my friends so that was really hard to deal with," she said, adding that life improved once she began classes at Le Jardin Windward O'ahu Academy in Kailua, where everyone was friendly, helpful and welcoming.

And although she wanted to be with her friends when she turned 16, she finally decided that being here was not so bad.

"I realized I got to spend my 16th birthday in Hawai'i," Brittney said. "Who gets to do that? After that I started to open up and tried to enjoy it more."

Lisa Ladner, Brittney's mother, said her family's experience in Hawai'i has been so good that it will be difficult to go home. The children are in a school they like where the tuition was waived. Her youngest is playing soccer, something that was very important to him, and the other boy is on a math team.

Like many evacuees, the Ladner family is healing, making new friends and sharing new experiences. Still, Lisa Ladner said, she longs for her friends, family and lifestyle she left behind. But she knows that right now there's only devastation to go back to.

"My (boys) love it here." Lisa Ladner said. "If they had their choice they would stay. My daughter in the beginning wanted to go back. She cried all the time. Now she's made friends here. She could go either way."

Difficult decisions lie ahead. The family has to be out of its Lanikai home on Dec. 1, and school is not out until Dec. 18. The house they have been staying in is a vacation rental. The homeowner, who is in New York, had told the property manager that if any Katrina victims made their way to Hawai'i, they could stay rent free — which the Ladners have done after originally moving in with Lisa's parents.

The Ladners had planned to go back to Mississippi for Christmas, but they are still pondering their options.

"I feel like we're in Katrina limbo because there's so many thing we haven't decided," Lisa Ladner said. "We're still waiting on the insurance company and once they settle with us, then we can make some decisions. We're still confused right now."

REASON TO COME HOME

Lisa Montgomery had planned to return to Hawai'i before the hurricane hit New Orleans. The storm, she said, just moved up her timetable of when to come back to the place she fell in love with when she was a student at Brigham Young University in the 1980s.

"It was one miracle after another," Montgomery said of her flight from the storm. Initially she went to her brother's home in Dallas. Six days later, she returned home along with a convoy of armed neighbors to rescue her cats and collect all the belongings she could fit into her car. Finally she traveled to Hawai'i.

All along the way, she said, whenever she had a problem to solve, someone came through for her. One person helped her find a foster home for her cats. A stranger who found out she was an evacuee simply handed her $100. Her sister helped, too, paying for her trip to Hawai'i.

"Every family member helped in some way," Montgomery said. Her daughter came with her, but she left her 14-year-old son in San Diego with her parents because he thought he would be happier going to school there.

Arriving on her daughter's birthday Sept. 16, the good will continued. Lei and balloons were hung at the airport by a friend from Hawai'i Kai. Another friend arranged for an interview at Mid Pacific Institute and Montgomery's daughter, who carries a 4.0 grade-point average, was admitted tuition-free. In New Orleans, her daughter was the captain of her speech and debate team, yearbook editor and in the top 10 academically.

Now settled in a new apartment, Montgomery's next task is to find a job and furnish her home. Montgomery left all her furniture in New Orleans and told a neighbor to give it to someone in need. She said the storm brought out the best and worst in people, but she was very lucky to be touched by good people.

"All along the way we've had little angels watch out over us," she said. "People in general are good-natured, giving and wonderful."

NEW HOME IN HAWAI'I

Like Montgomery, Gale Scott, 52, has decided to stay in Hawai'i. The New Orleans evacuee and her 17-year-old daughter, Amber, left their ravaged home Oct. 9, realizing that there was nothing left for them. Amber was depressed and angry and her friends didn't seem to help, Scott said, because they were crying all the time.

"She would say, 'Why did this happen to me. What did I do?' " Scott said.

Originally from Wahiawa, Scott had lived on the Mainland for 16 years. Her return home offered a haven, something New Orleans could no longer provide, she said. Although her New Orleans' apartment wasn't damaged, looters broke into her home.

Through FEMA and the USDA Rural Development, Scott rented an apartment in Kekuilani Gardens in Kapolei. For now, she's surviving on food stamps, but she said she is lucky.

"People (in New Orleans) are standing in line overnight just to get help, vouchers," she said.

Scott is looking for a cashier job. She said she's lucky to have friends and family here and she didn't have much trouble adjusting to the new environment filled with flowers, green grass and birds. Her daughter was amazed by the rainbows and flowers and now that she's in school and holding a part-time job, she's happier, Scott said.

"People say when you move to the Mainland you forget, but you remember the things you have back home," Scott said. "You remember the food."

THINKING ABOUT STAYING

Thirteen first-year law students displaced by the hurricane were given internships in Hawai'i working for various lawyers and a judge.

The work has been challenging, sometimes overwhelming, but filled with practical experience, said Mary Reichert, 26.

"I feel that we're going to end up having an advantage when we go back to school," Reichert said.

Though law school is thousands of miles away, students had to decide whether they would return. Tulane Law School will offer an accelerated program for the first-year students that would put them on track to graduating on time.

But at least one student said she won't return.

"When I made my pros and cons list of schools I was going to, the No. 1 con was hurricanes," said Sarah Stevenson, 26, of New Mexico.

At first, fellow law student Aimee Scheuermann, 24, said she felt a little guilty about being in Hawai'i and continuing with her education while her whole family dealt with recovery after the storm. A New Orleans resident whose family scattered across the East Coast after the storm, Scheuermann said the best thing is for her to stay on track with her career.

"I think it's more helpful for them for me to be taken care of here and for me to get the experience I need here," Scheuermann said. "It's less for them to worry about."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.