happy New Year

not posted for a couple of days...Xmas has been a bit of a roadtrip seeing friends and family, currently in Bournemouth staying with Gabs and Jonny for the New Year. A very wet and windy one, but it will be fun as usual too much good wine good food and lots of music...went out for a walk this morning and were almost blown way.!

Had an email from the guide today to say that the care package has arrived with her - so as I write she may be looking at pictures of us!

Just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to all - in about three weeks time we will be in China with little Nelly ....cannot quite believe it!

The Care Package Has Gone ..........

On its way to Dianbai now is a little cardboard box - as a friend said yesterday to her daughter a Box of Love; filled with two disposable cameras, blanket, a little soft zebra and a photo album with pictures of us, her home, her cat, grandma, pappa, auntie and cousins...some chocolate buttons and fingers of fudge! it left the Phillipines a couple of hours ago and they anticipate that it will arrive on the 22nd....so maybe on my birthday she will be looking at picture of Rob and I on my birthday last year in Roast in Borough Market on a beautiful crisp sunny Christmas eve...

last few days have been a bit eventful too...Friday poor little Delilah had to have three teeth extracted and they have found she has a kidney problem ( £236 later ...) Saturday lunch in Brindisa in Borough Market with Frank and Kate later in the afternoon had an accident about two minutes from the house as I nipped out to get the final 11 Xmas cards!!!!! not only an accident but the other car was a Porsche!...... Sunday home late on Saturday evening no parking spaces parked in the disabled spot in the street ( the person for whom it was put there died about 4 years ago ) intended to move the car early in the morning ...ten o clock bang Parking ticket from some keen Lambeth Parking Attendant - £40 ! all in all expensive weekend....oh well we still got Nelly waiting for us ...and she will love the toothless cat - now know as Gummy Girl rather than Delilah...

Over and out in the meantime....

ENJOY DEVON
SIMONE KIFF AND BRAM

End of an Era

Another of our closest friends left London for the coast yesterday -

I met Simone in 1987 at work and have been best friends since then. In the trend towards moving out she put her house on the market in the summer....I looked at houses with her in Berkshire and Oxfordshire , found nothing suitable and then she found an amazing opportunity in Bideford, not as close to London but plenty of opportunity to develop and build etc and also to let Bram grow up in the countryside...

Anyway it will be weird - she has always been around the corner - we have had plenty of late nights, drunken New Years, Guardian Crosswords, Squash Lessons,Theatre trips, Suzanne Vega concerts, exercise stints,shopping sprees, having our colours done, cinema clubs, getting taxis to collect booze and fags for everyone at two in the morning in Tooting, choosing spectacles together, buying very 1980s suits together in Jane Norman! buying the best ever suits in Cerruti in the 90s, being the massage guinea pig, reading Chinese Horoscopes and believing them, accompanying each other to Mysteries to have our tarots read, been loud in central London restaurants, getting a whole restaurant standing on chairs in Kensington to the tune of We're Going up Sunshine Mountain', cooked more dinner party food in your house with our other great friend Emma than I can remember and more recently frequented the swings at Dulwich Park while waiting for Nelly - even one day losing her son Bram one hot sunny afternoon! only for five minutes don't worry! ...enough enough I could bore for hours about the good times we had so let's not get sad....

2007 New Beginning all round .........

I lent my vacuum cleaner so Ganka, our shared cleaner, could tidy up before the new people arrived and went round this morning to a very empty house...We had a brief farewell yesterday afternoon and decided that we should all now invest in Skype phones so we can conference call together at about 6 30 in the evening when we usually congregate at her house for a cup of tea or glass of wine ( usually the latter ) .. Anyway if you read this - Thanks Mate - for all the good times, the stair gates, playpen, changing station etc etc ....we sure are going to miss you and we will be down sooner than you think. Looking forward to picnics by the sea

Anyway China - our acceptance letter is in Beijing we now have to wait for the ITT..think we will book our tickets in the New Year and maybe go to get our visa next week....

Off now to collect the poor pussy cat who had three teeth extracted today ....
tune in again for next China update.....

Acceptance Letter on the way back to China

the letter is winging its way to Beijing as I write - about four or five of us are sharing a courier to get the letters there so will be progressing its journey ..we then have to wait for what is know as and ITT Invitation to Travel...so left to do are the following....

1. Finalise the care package and mail to Orphanage... by the end of this week

2. Visas - we should wait for the ITT but people have got theirs with only an acceptance letter , so I may be off to the Chinese Embassy one morning early soon!

3. Currency - Unused dollar notes, at the moment it is v. advantageous exchange rate ..so that is good..

4. Book tickets - as we are traveling via Hong Kong this should be OK, hope to fly on January 18Th - we will then take a train to Guangzhou on the 21st Jan only 1.5 hours ...so am just investigating flight details - thinking of traveling Premium Economy to get some extra leg room

5. Pack!!! at least it will not be ridiculously cold as it would be in Beijing...so should be OK on that front.

6. Finalise details of the hotels in Guangzhou with our guide Chris Tao Ping. We then need to book hotels in Hong Kong for about two nights either side of Guangzhou...

In the meantime we are buying bits and pieces - Rob's latest purchase were some brightly coloured wooden letters to put on her bedroom door....now knowing Rob as most of you probably do, where everything is about empty surfaces, efficient hidden away storage and white walls you will be amazed at this picture!!!!!!!

Accepting Nelly...

Still cannot help putting on another image of Nelly Xiao'En - En means grace ...




We had to have a meeting with the Head of Adoption at Lambeth today, we signed the acceptance letter and now this will be sent back to the DFES so it can be mailed back to China and they can issue us with what is known as an ITT - Invitation to Travel - then it is getting visas etc and then the wait to fly..we think we will be flying on or around the 19th / 20th January to Hong Kong and then fly / seacat onto Guangzhou we will then meet Nelly on the Monday 22nd -

here is the email from the guide!

Sunday you get to Guangzhou, Monday you get the child if we can get the appoitment for Monday, Tuesday have the adoption procedures, Wednesday go to the Police station for the child's passport, Thursday rest, Friday go to the notary to pay the notary fee and get the notary books and check to make sure no mistake, Saturday and Sunday visit in Guangzhou, Monday rest, Tuesday get the child's passport and Wednesday go to the Consulate for the visa in the morning, You can go home on Wednesday afternoon.

stay tuned....

HERE IS NELLY XIAO'EN

A cutie if we say so ourselves !

how to cheer up a grey day in London

Dianbai ...

this is where she is at the moment ....




She was born in the year of the Dog

thsi is where she is at the moment ....

People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people¡¦s confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They care little for wealth, yet somehow always seem to have money. They can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dog people make good leaders. They are compatible with those born in the Years of the Horse, Tiger, and Rabbit. ( I am a rabbit! )

We have a child

called

Bai Xiao En born on Feb 28th 2006 and is at the Dianbai SWI in Guangdong....we do not have a photo yet should have one next week so will post that as soon as....The SWI is on tyhe coast about 150 miles south of Hong Kong...more to follow ...............

More confirmation that she is on her way

got this email this morning from the Bridge of Love Adoption Service ......it is starting to feel really real

Dear Family

We are glad to inform you that CCAA has finished the new matching and you are lucky to be matched a child. CCAA has already sent the orgininal referrals to DfES the day before yesterday.

We have already got all the referrals for UK families from CCAA and sent them to be translated but unfortunately CCAA has not informed us the child's name to each family because they think it is fair to all the families. We are sorry we are not albe to send the translation to you at the moment. Please let us know your child's name when you receive the original referrals or when you got the name from DfES. We will try to send the translation to you immediately. Thank you for your understanding.

Have a nice weekend!

With Best Wishes

Consulting Department
BLAS