George and Jenny will be in England from Friday 9th February (evening) to Thursday 1st March.

Our 4 Middle White pigs were taken away last Sunday, and now we have lots more pork in the freezer!  We now have 8 new Gloucester Old Spot weaners who are about Holly’s size.  It’s all very appropriate as 2007 is the Chinese Year of the Pig!  We kept them shut inside their barn for the first few days as their field was so muddy.  When we let them out they were so excited and all ran about very quickly in the field, but couldn’t get very far because of the mud!  Photos coming soon.
On Daddy’s birthday, Auntie Anwyl & Uncle Mike came for tea, and stayed for supper too which was really lovely.  We had Applefield sausages with mashed potatoes.
I started back at work on Friday 5^th January, which seemed terribly soon after the festivities.  This term I’m working with year 3 children, doing more booster reading work.  I am really enjoying having some older children as they are much easier than my last group of year ones!

We had a great time over the festive season with something in each day.  We shared our Christmas Day meal with Auntie Anwyl and Uncle Mike, and had Sheryl and her family here on Boxing Day.  On 27^th and 28^th we shared meals with Naomi, Richard and Barney with Richard’s parents and brother who were staying in Rustington.  On 29^th it was Kory’s 2^nd birthday, and we went to Sheryl’s house for a little party.  Jecca (my godmother) and David her husband arrived on 30^th and spent New Year here.  We had a lovely time with them and Daddy and David enjoyed a bike ride and a walk together.  I helped Jecca learn how to use her new laptop which she got for Christmas.   On New Year’s Eve we all played a game then watched the spectacular fireworks in London on television.  Sophie visited with Auntie Anwyl & Daniel and Ella on 2nd Jan and Sally Clayton ended our Christmas visitors on 4th.

George & Jenny married at 3am GMT, so when we got up they were already Mr + Mrs Baily.  We received a text message later in our morning to say that they were ‘stepping out’ which made us all feel closer.  We played our Chinese music CDs all day and put up photos of them.  When I got home from work we held a tree planting ceremony in the kitchen (it was getting dark and raining!).  Sheryl and the girls were there to help along with guest of honour, There She Is!  The weeping willow tree and crab apple tree were transplanted into bigger pots and There She Is laid the topsoil on each one.  We then had a Chinese tea drinking ceremony using the tea-set George had brought back the first time.
In the evening we went to the Beijing Palace restaurant where we were joined by Auntie Anwyl, Uncle Mike, Naomi and Sheryl.  Daddy made a little speech and we had a champagne toast.  The first course arrived: spring rolls, spare ribs, satay chicken, seaweed…then the 2^nd course: crispy duck with pancakes, 3^rd course: more meat, fish, rice + noodles.  Then for pudding we decided to get one of each off the menu and put them on the turntable!!  There was a photo of George & Jenny in the middle and we kept spinning them round so we all remembered to think of them (now fast asleep).   We had fun letting off our balloons around the room.  Unfortunately, one landed on another table and brought over to our group a rather drunk lady who wouldn’t leave us alone - it added to the story of the evening!  We all left at 11pm feeling so full but all very happy.

We went to Jennah’s end of term ballet class where she received a medal for 3 years attendance.  The next day we went to her school play where she was a singing Elf.
Helly came on 9^th and helped out with my Craft Club and on 10^th we all went for a lovely day with Tory for Mummy’s birthday.  We also had an Applefield birthday tea on 11^th.
Wuzzy was brought down by Auntie Jobox on 13^th for lunch which was really special.
We all sat outside in the garden on Sunday reading Christmas cards and talking to George on the phone.  It could have been Easter it was so warm!  The dogs and cats loved us being peaceful outside with them.

At the beginning of November, we had a visit from 2 cellists from the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra who came to play to us.  This was organised through Anda’s godfather’s uncle (who we met in Yorkshire in April), who had heard about ‘Musicians on Call’ on Radio3 and had nominated us as people who would enjoy the experience.
It was a very special event for all of us and we thoroughly enjoyed the unique experience of having two cellos played in our sun room!  It was amazing to be able to watch Liz and Clare so close up.  Holly really enjoyed listening to the music too and Ginger also made an appearance!

We ended my birthday celebrations with a tea party, and the next day had our bonfire party.  Naomi, Richard & Barney came with some of their friends as well as Sheryl + family.  We held the party in the orchard where we were safe from the fireworks being let off in the field, accompanied by Ram!!
We had a lovely visit from the Bewes’ and Sarah TR and Ellie came to join in my Craft Club which was great.  Wellspring newsletter celebrated its’ 10year anniversary and I took along an Applefield cake to the committee meeting to celebrate.
Our big excitement was the news of George’s engagement to Jenny which we marked by making their initials and 2006 in apples.

George & Jenny are getting married on Tuesday 5th December at 11am Shenzhen time = 3am GMT.

Jenny and George are happy to announce they’re engaged and getting married in December!

We’ll be visiting in January - February 2007 and Jenny is looking forward to meeting everyone.

jenny-and-george@jennyhong.com

All the October photos are now in the Gallery.  Some November photos and news coming soon…