A Loss

This year our kids have lost a Grandfather. He was born in 1938 and lived alongside his wife, half his life in Canada and the other half in Croatia. He was a dentist and a popular member of his community. Mario was my husband's father. It is unfortunate that they were not as close as can be. Mario and his wife were not the kind of grandparents who babysat the grand kids. They were professional people and they led busy lives. As the kids grew up they lived an ocean away and we often wondered what they were doing. We heard from them sometimes when they needed something. We will remember Mario's messages he left on our house phone, usually starting his message with a very deep and slow tone, "Charlie this is your faaaathaar." We found it comical and kids often imitated it. I would think it will be something they may always remember. They've been some good times and there've been some bad times with Grandpa and the bad times got us angry and frustrated but I think once someone is gone you try to get past those times and try to think of some good ones. No matter how he led his life a loss is  loss and we will actually miss saying, "What is grandpa up to now?"  May he rest in peace.

with his parents and brother

  

1971

2006

when we went to Croatia with all our kids

2009

when we visited with Steven

2010

in Canada at Christmas

2011

in Canada

2012

in Croatia with just the two of us

Jan. 11, 2016

in Zadar, Croatia - last photo

1938 - 2016

Smile of Fear

These are some scans from videos and just watching those again it reminded me that Maya can be a live wire and she was one in China almost all the time. She was a wild one. I realize however that separation, anxiety, new parents, new surroundings can all do that. She was either way up there or she checked out. I'm sure it was her way of dealing with all the changes and the strangeness of everything that was going on around her. Not only were we strangers but we were in a large group of many strangers all travelling together where-ever we went. Plus she's seeing documents being signed left and right. Who knows what she thought about that. People were telling her about where she was going, about Canada but really she had no idea or at least it was not real to her at all. She smiled a lot, giggled a lot, goofed off a lot and got angry a ton of times. So when she checked out was a time when all these emotions came together and it was just too much for a nine year old girl who was scared out of her mind. The fear is lessening.

Her smile is quite captivating but it hides many different emotions.

A rare moment of no smile when reality sets in.

When we went to the Great Wall she would not walk with us at all and kept running ahead. The trip had to be cut short. 

And here she is now with her baby nephew Jax. The smile is toned down, she's matured and is feeling less scared but we still have a long way to go.

China Videos

Not sure how the videos work on a blog since I've never posted them before but I thought I'd try to add some short clips here because we have quite a few from China that are interesting. Like the first one is of Maya reading on the first day we met. She was reading everything in sight to show us how good she at it. Then Maya and her new father are doing a breathing technique. The fish were interesting as they fought for food thrown down by onlookers. They were just going at it like mad and at the end Maya is eating her favorite dumplings of which she had two portions of and wanted more. That girl can eat some dumplings.

https://youtu.be/TG6RxzGWqZg

https://youtu.be/A8-pUAzqHGs

https://youtu.be/VsJNX79_mAY

https://youtu.be/sHNCoNWjsGg