School in Canada and China

School started for Maya on Sept. 2nd and she fought it all the way. She was not looking forward to going to school. I can imagine how scared she was to go to another new environment and with more strange people. In China she completed grade 4 but here according to her age she is back in grade 4. She was not happy about that especially when she found out that her friend from the orphanage is going to grade 5 but she was born in Dec. On day of school anytime anyone mentioned grade four she loudly protested - grade 5 not grade 4, eventually it sank in that grade four it is. The first day was very hard. She would not let go of us. I took her to the yard where her teacher waited for all her new pupils but I had to stay with her, I wanted to stay with her but the longer I staid the harder it got. By the time we got to the door she was running the other way then another teacher helped get her inside and I turned and left barely containing myself. It was hard on me too to have to leave her after a solid month of being together, knowing she may think I'm leaving her for good. I tried to keep busy during the day so it went by quickly and I could pick her up again. I originally wanted to pick her up for lunches but I didn't think I could get her to go back so I let her stay at school. As well lunches are good for learning English and making friends and she needs some right now.

I let her wear the shoes she came with when we adopted her to make her feel more secure but told her she'd have to wear running shoes from now on. She was not happy with that either, no running shoes and everyday she gets in the car the running shoes come right off.

There were some smiles at first but later tears. I braced myself for the days to come but I'll say right away that it got easier. Perhaps she found out school wasn't so bad or she just resigned herself that just because she is out of China doesn't mean she no longer goes to school.  She seemed to like school there well enough but I don't truly yet know if she was an outcast because she was an orphan of how she was treated. As far as I can see she had friends. She did tell me their schools and classes are a lot bigger as seen in some of these photos I was lucky enough to get from a US orphan foundation in China called, Love Without Boundaries who were wonderful enough to sponsor her education. They also sponsor surgeries and other needs of the orphans of China.

There are more photos but I will keep it for another post. Here are more photos from the rest of the week of school in Canada. It got easier each day. She did manage to bring home some teacher notes, parent letters and homework. She did not mind doing homework with me.  There was a little impatience here and there as I tried to explain things she did not understand but overall she does her homework and packs up her backpack for next day.  These photos are not necessarily going to school but as shown here she did love me still even though I said she had to go to be like all the other little kids and go to school.

Here she is singing some Chinese songs in the evening, maybe dreaming of China, even though it was an orphan life, it was her life and surely she misses it at least to some degree.

This is the backpack she came with when we adopted her so I let her have that too but it is a large one with many compartments and I thought she might need all the slots for schoolbooks etc but that is not so. Most of the supplies are provided at school and after a few days she complained that her backpack was so big and other kids had a small backpack so we exchanged it for the one we brought with us to China that only had one compartment for everything and so that seems to be good for now anyway.

During the day we saw Brandoman, he is such a cutie, just wanna kiss those cheeks.

The first few days she did not eat her food. Anything I gave her was no good but I guess when one gets hungry one eats and now she eats everything. As soon as she gets out of the yard she has to show me that she ate it all so we were both quite proud of that and that she made it the whole week at school without phone calls home. I half expected that school was going to call saying Maya was missing because she ran off trying to go home but I never did and now already a second week is done because tomorrow is already PA Day, yeah.

Maya gets very preoccupied in the morning deciding what jewellery she will wear to school. I told her she does not need any jewellery in school but she will sneak it anyway. Can't imagine she wore it in class in China but maybe only because she now has jewellery now the girl wants to use it.  Today she put on a rosary she found hanging somewhere, I told her that is used for a prayer and granted she is in a Catholic school but she did not need to wear it to school, still it was around her neck when I dropped her off at school. So she has a lot to learn about what's appropriate and when but small steps.

This is the first project that came home from school. Of course we have to keep this forever :)

At night she still reads a Chinese book, mostly the fairy-tales we got her there.  She has other books too but she rarely picks up those. Hopefully when she's done with these two hundred pagers she'll move on to something else. I like to take turns reading so I read in English to her and she is to listen but again because mostly she has no idea what I'm saying overall she gets impatient and will suddenly get out of bed and start doing something else. I gently stop her and guide her back to bed so I end up reading once every three days or so because I don't want her to lose her mother tongue.

Maya's Party - part 2

Just making this a short post to add some more pictures from the party on Aug. 30th. Fun was had by all even when one of the sand castles pitched forward a little. Good thing there was a tree to stop it and the kids were ok. You know how sometimes parties can go very wrong but this one went very right and I think Maya enjoyed it very much too. Every time I mention a birthday coming up or something special she wants to know if there will be a party. Perhaps she's expecting presents every time as kids often do.  Just to mention that today Maya received her Canadian citizenship certificate and she is now officially a Canadian girl.

I wish I'd gotten a bigger cake or got more dessert but thanks to Brandon's daddy John he whipped up a platter of chocolate treats that were yummy.

Time out for a selfie  and then a water balloon fight. Balloons were everywhere. No one was safe. I could just see the worry on mom's face over the soaking grass but I told her it will be okay, it's just water.

Catching up with old friends and new. Love the bottom photo of my hubby with a backward Duck Dynasty hat. He is the life of the party, filled with stories and laughter and a good heart and that's why I love him so much.

In the evening we our Polynesia hats on that the girls made. They were so cute and the bottom photo is a wonderful portrait by Maya. 

Welcome Party for Maya - part 1

On Saturday, August 30th we had a welcome come party for our new daughter. It was time that our family and friends meet Maya and that she knows how big a support she and we all have. She is realizing it's a big family, I'm sure a lot bigger than anything she's experienced in China. And our family keeps growing. Of course we only have one grandchild right now but hopefully there will be many more to come from our kids, our niece and nephew, from our cousin's kids etc. She has no idea yet that she also has family in Croatia, Germany and Australia. I've told her mom and dad were born in Croatia and I've shown here where it is on the map of the world and that co-incidentally all three countries that our involved in our lives start with letter C - Croatia, China and Canada; the three Cs, lol.

We got dressed in our silk outfits for at least some of the day before we made ourselves more comfortable as the day became very hot and humid. It was suppose to rain but we lucked out. There was only a sprinkling in the morning and the rest of the day was beautiful and full of sun, perfect for the kids to run around in my parent's beautiful backyard and park, not to mention the bouncy castles we got for them as well.

In hindsight we should've put Brandon in his silk outfit too which is just too cute. We will have to remember it for next party. Here is a little peek at it again.

We had a lot of food that included some Chinese food as well for everyone to enjoy. Almost everyone invited showed up which was very nice to see. We hope to have another party for those who were not able to make it this time. I explained to Maya before hand that she will meet many people and that she could shake hands with them and say Hi, how are you; she knows that well and she knows how to answer. That's one of the first things she learned.

Just love this photo of the two little ones running to the park. I mean what does a kid want to do more than play on the swings and slides but it reminds me of what I have missed with Maya that we hope to make up for.

Maya and her friend from China enjoyed the park too and started to open up to each other again. At first we didn't really know if the the two really wanted to connect as they would not say much to each other but soon things changed and they started to realize that they were once friends and they could be again even though life changed for the both of them dramatically. The friendship is now in a strange land but it could still be good, they can still keep in touch.

  

  

Friendships sometimes span time and land. We hope that these two will see a lot more of each other and continue to be friends for many years to come.  We also enjoyed the company of the rest of her friend's family. They are wonderful people who are great as parents and as new friends we were lucky enough to meet.

With her daddy's help Maya opened up lots of presents which she quickly learned how to display so everyone could see what she will enjoy. At times she was overwhelmed saying So Big, also meaning so much and not sure if she knew right away she was taking it all home but she was patient as she looked at cards and presents in front of her. A quick selfie here with the pink roses we received from my aunt who follows my blog :)

  

  

Our family and friends were very patient as we muddled through the party first with greetings and meetings then serving dinner, having coffee and cake and opening presents. I tried to have as many chats in between as I could but for the most part I was very busy making sure everyone had food and drinks. I hardly ate myself but I wasn't feeling hungry at all because I was so excited that we were actually here at home with our girl and our lives with her has begun.

  

Here are our photographers at the party, Holly and Tanner so stay tuned for lots more photos to come each and everyone a precious and wonderful memory of this special time. Thank you to the photographers in advance.

  

Borrowing a selfie from my sister Susie of the her and her new niece, love this picture, both looking so happy.

  

Here is my youthful mother who will soon have a very special celebration herself, turning 70 in October. She is still so active and so involved with the family that it hardly seems that much time has gone by. I'd like to thank my parents at this point for allowing us the use of their beautiful premises for Maya's party. We certainly enjoyed it all the more because of this beautiful scenery. The kids especially enjoyed the yard, the playground, the meadow and the creek nearby.

Our beautiful daughter Kristina standing nearby to watch her little sister clean up in the present department. Our other daughter Sherie was busy with me serving food and watching out for her little son Brandon who is just too quick on his feet and keeps his mom busy making sure he does not get into trouble.  I'd like to thank Sherie for all her help in planning and executing this party.

  

I see now that I have a whole block of photos I've not processed yet plus the photos from the photographer so I'm afraid this post will still go on for at least one of two more parts.  However I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the family and friends who came by to help us celebrate this very special occasion of welcoming our daughter Maya Lanlan Josephine into our family and to show her just how much she we hope that she accepts us as much as we accept her. Thank you for the presents, the support and your company on this lovely day of August 30th, 2014.

More to come.