Adoption and Beyond: A Bittersweet Day

Today I got the phone call that I had been expecting for the past few days - my beloved Old Pop passed away last night at the Mersey Hospital. He had been admitted to hospital almost two weeks ago with stomach pains, and gradually became sicker until he went to meet Jesus in the early hours of this morning. He was 94 and had lived an amazing life. He was Devonport born and bred, left school at 14 and worked in his dad's bacon shop. He turned that little shop into an international meat exporting business, became Mayor of Devonport in the 1950's and was involved in many, many local service groups and organisations. He even received an OBE from the Queen in the early 80's. He was a beloved dad to his three children, adored pop to seven (me included) and Old Pop to eleven great kids. He outlived his wife Joyce by nine years, but they were married for over 60, which is an amazing achievement. Vale Pop - we love you and will miss you terribly, but know that you are with Nan and dancing with the angels.

On a much happier note, I had the great fortune of spending the day with my lovely friend Merian and her daughter Bo, at Boat Harbour Beach this morning. Merian and her husband adopted Bo Hua at the same time we adopted Alice and the girls see each other as 'China sisters'. They are very different kids, but love to play together and share a very special bond. Merian is a truly wonderful lady and I am very blessed to count her as a friend. So today we played on the beach, swung on the swings and generally had a wonderful time. It was the perfect remedy for my melancholy and a day well spent with a great lady and her girl. Thanks Merian for being there. So, some photos below of our fun day at the beach and one of my lovely Old Pop. I am sure I have better quality ones around but this is the first I found.